Party Animals

Micah's birthday party was such a blast! It was absolutely perfect, just as I had pictured it. I'll go through all the details. Side note: I did a terrible job of taking pictures during the party, I was preoccupied. I had a few people snap some with our camera but there are definitely some holes. Hopefully, others got some; I'll add those as I receive them (so if you are were there and got some pics, send them to me!).

OK, let's start at the beginning... Micah woke up on Saturday in a wonderful mood, ready to party. He spent some time playing with his new Cozy Coupe (thanks Mimi & Bubba) and Riley and then he napped, woke up and played some more, and then took another awesome nap before he woke up ready for his party at 4.

This is what the invitation looked like:

(front) (back)

For the decorations, we had lots of balloons, some of Micah's big stuffed animals from his room, a Happy Birthday Banner, and then I made circles to hang from the light fixtures in the dining room and breakfast room. The circles were animal print with a picture of Micah on one side (one from each month) and a picture of a safari animal on the other. We moved the furniture out a little bit in the living room to give the kiddies room to play. I had little beach ball animals for the kids to play with... they were a hit! The kids got to take one home as a favor along with some animal bubbles. We also had "safari" animal print visors instead of party hats, those little party blower things (animal print), and a super cute cake from Elite Treats. {Side note: I had bought all of the supplies to tackle the project of Micah's cake but realized on Thursday that there was no way I was going to pull it off (after spending 1 1/2 hours trying to make an elephant out of gum paste, throwing it in the trash, and having a mini meltdown).} Elite Treats did a much better job than I could've ever done and I didn't even have to worry about it! For food, we had a Chick-Fil-A nugget tray, pigs in a blanket, roast beef roll ups, southwestern corn dip, fruit, kiddie snack mix, and of course cake.

Enough of the boring stuff, on to the fun part! My little safari man got all dressed in his safari get up before his buddies started to arrive. Don't worry, we didn't make him wear the hat the whole time, just for a few pictures!

I know I'm cute...

with Daddy... ...and mommy...

... Suzu... ... Aunt Nat Nat...

... Uncle C & Lexi

After everyone had arrived, Micah had a blast playing with his little friends. Even David was surprised at how much the kids interacted. Before that, every time I would say "Micah's friends", he would just roll his eyes and say "a 1 year old does not have friends". Now, he believes me! We had a great turn out, almost all of his playgroup buddies were there. (I meant to get a picture of all of the kids, but forgot) I was going to have David set up a tent in the backyard for the kids to play in but it was rainy all morning so we figured it would be raining for the party. Luckily, the rain stopped by party time and it ended up being a very pretty day!

everyone playing Kate dressed for the safari

So did Beckett, you just can't see the giraffe in this picture

When it came time for cake, everyone gathered around and sang "Happy Birthday". I thought it might scare Micah to have all of the attention on him but he just seemed confused. I then put the cake down for him to dig in. He was very funny, very hesitant. I guess I don't really let him get dirty so he didn't have a clue what to do (mean mommy, I know... I'll let him get dirty more often). I had to stick my finger in the icing and give him a taste before he would try himself. After a few minutes (and once everyone got tired of watching so he didn't have a huge audience) he got the idea. He must have worked on his cake for half an hour (at least). I think he wanted to savor every bite. I wasn't sure how long to let him eat it or how much he should have. Once one of my friends looked over and said "Ally, you are going to have green and yellow puke tonight"... I realized it was probably time to take it away. We didn't end up having any puke until last night and this morning... delayed reaction? Who knows.

Tasty!

I'm supposed to do WHAT? ...hmmmm...

not sure what I think about this... ... ok I get it...

this is fun! ...let's see how much they'll let me eat...

It was pretty clear what his favorite part was seeing as he scraped almost all of the icing off the top.

everyone watching Micah put on a show the little ladies playing outside

After cake, Micah got a bath from Suzu & Mimi and changed into his "after cake outfit". After a little more playing, everyone headed home.

What a lucky boy! Riley was soo tired after the big day

We are so blessed to have so many friends and family members help make Micah's party such a fun day! I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to top this one!