*Warning: long post ensuing*

I’m not an expert. I only have two kids. But, in my experience with both of these kids, I can tell you that the first birthday is a special one. Of course it’s special for the baby since it’s the pinnacle of a year’s worth of milestones. But, the real celebration is for the parents.  That first year in raising a kiddo is no joke. I know, I know… there’s lots more trials and tribulations ahead, but when you think back to ALL the the stuff that gets jam packed into 12 months, you remember what hard work it is.  It’s ok if you don’t remember. Honestly, I had forgotten a bunch myself. The universe does this little trick to us to encourage further procreation.  Sleepless nights? Yeah yeah yeah, it’s not so bad, right? WRONG. It’s really NOT fun to feel hungover all the time and never drink.  Oh, and care for two kids under 3 at the same time… or go to work and act smart. (who am I kidding? I don’t do that on a good day).

The first year is full of trial and error. Trying sleeping techniques, trying different foods, trying different clothes (I didn’t realize you hated that onesie so much, buddy), trying different bottles, trying different pacis, trying different toys (so, the teddy bear scares you, but you love the dinosaur? okay…).  All of this with someone who can no more than scream at you to communicate. Sounds pretty miserable, huh? It’s quite the contrary. It’s amazing! You find rewards in little things like smiles and giggles and life is good.

So, to celebrate our survival of the first year, we threw a rager. Ok, fine. It was a super tame birthday, but we served adult beverages.  Our theme was baseball because our kids have sports written in their DNA and summer = baseball.

The best way to describe the party is in pictures, but first there are LOTS of thank yous…

• To my mom for helping set up, entertain, and clean up. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much without her helping hands!
• To Becky for challenging daring encouraging me that I can make my own cake pops 🙂
• To Richard Z for being a last-minute photographer when I realized I forgot a VERY important detail! (and for Stori for brokering the deal)
• To Heather at Design Roots for bringing the theme to life. It really wasn’t a party until you got your hands on it!
• To my amazing, wonderful husband for not only letting me plan this outrageous party for a 1-year-old, but stepping in to help with the details 🙂 I love you!

A centerpiece for the party were the cake pops… all 60 of them.  Chris decorated ALL of them.

I made cake balls all.week.long.

dipping and dipping and dipping…

I had a custom baseball bat made with Oscar’s birthday enscripted on it. Everyone signed it.

Since I threw such a huge party, we decided to do donations to The Miracle League of Frisco in lieu of gifts

An anthology of Oscar over the past 12 months…

It’s not a baseball party without popcorn!

And everyone likes a nice, hot pretzel, right?

And lastly, nothing says baseball like a ballpark frank!

Here are all the cake pops and Oscar’s smash cake (which you’ll see is a terrible name for this cake).

Someone’s all ready for cake!

Oh boy! Everyone is singing and he’s excited!

inspect the cake…

hate the cake.

Mom. I hate the cake!

He was totally miserable. I roughed it up for him. Even put some in his mouth and the more he got into it, the more he hated it.

That’s ok. Reese and Walt liked it!

The Allen’s enjoyed the sweets!

Kimmy and John Duncan wish the baby boy a happy day

Our friends Jeremy and Matt brought their precious baby, Audrey, to join the fun.

What a bustling party it was!