Party Time!

Okay, so apparently I need a creative outlet. After years of working children's birthday parties that were getting out of hand (40 guests for a 3 year old?!?! $10 treat bags?!?! A nature hike with prizes isn't enough of an activity so they hire a clown?!?!?!) I can admit I had a little too much fun throwing together Matthew's first birthday. As I know one day we'll be in Target arguing over the cost and necessity of xyz-action figure plates and napkins and how he'll "have to have them or no one will be his friend" it was nice to pick a theme with a simple color scheme and without argument to spice up our little immediate family birthday party. Soo, since little man's interests are limited to spreading toys around the house, chasing the dogs and cats and books, I went with a Dr. Seuss theme. The guests of honor were untraditional in that we had 2 laptops join us for dinner after we sent invitations to grandmas and grandpas.

Matthew in his birthday hat in front of the adorable name train he got from Aunt Sharon. Boy does she know how to pick gifts (as well as grandma Dot who apparently picked up a matching train for Matthew as well!). Matthew's had a blast with the farm tractor he received as well! More photos/videos of that later.

Hanging out with Daddy and playing music in his first bday outfit from grandma Dot and grandpa Ron.

For dinner we had green eggs and ham, and poodle noodles (from Fox in Socks), for snack earlier in the day we had one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish and we finished up with some Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes (from Cat in the Hat). Our buffet was covered with very generous and wonderfully perfect gifts from family and friends. Matthew's definitely set to be incredibly stylish, well read, a little nerdy, a little country, a little muscial and a lot of fun in year two! We'll definitely have more pictures to share of Matthew enjoying his presents later.

The original goal for the cupcakes was this:

but I discovered that look definitely requires less humidity and much fresher cotton candy than the Fluffy Stuff sold at Target (thanks Kathy for the lead!). Either way, I don't think Matthew minded at all and less sugar probably didn't kill him :-) Here's his cake:

Here he is enjoying his green eggs and ham! At first he was a little confused by the dual computer monitors and having both grandmas and grandpas online, but he eventually hammed it up for them.

Note: the necklace in all the pics is an amber teething necklace. After 9 months of teething and as we counted with the Pediatrician today, 6 new, big, nasty teeth on their way, I'm at the end of my rope and willing to try anything, even hippy voodoo magic. The moms at the pool swear by theirs. The jury's still out with Matthew. Somehow a necklace (which I think makes him look like an adorable little surfer boy) has now confused many about his gender, which is a problem we've never, ever had.

Anyway, after green eggs and ham and opening some presents with awesome hiking socks from grandma and grandpa Watson, it was time for the main event. Matthew was ready to go before we finished singing and blew out the candle.

And go he did! He very artfully used two fingers to gingerly pick off the blue frosting

Then with Dad's help, he started in on the cake.

A very happy birthday boy who was "all done!"

Which for the sake of our furniture and rental carpet, meant an immediate birthday bath!

All in all, I think Matthew enjoyed being the center of attention and really enjoyed the cake and we were thrilled to be able to share with the grandparents "live" since there just wasn't enough time to squeeze in a birthday party with family and friends before we moved as I had originally planned. Yay technology!