Baby J's Red Wagon 1st Birthday Party

I'm One! Can you believe it?

This picture was on my real birthday sitting in my birthday chair!

Whew! What a fun weekend we had celebrating Baby J's first bday. Baby J had the best day and that was most important to me. He LOVES to be the center of attention and he enjoyed walking from person to person. He loved having all of his little buddies over at our apt to celebrate. He is just a little social butterfly. He was so excited to have so many balloons around. He could stare at a balloon for hours. But, most of all, our little one LOVES cake! I'll post the video of him eating his cake tomorrow. Everyone was crying they were laughing so hard! He was hilarious!


We wanted to do something low key (it is a 1st bday party after all) and we didn't feel like paying $1000 to rent out a location in NYC. Being that his bday is in January, Central Park was out...so our little city apartment was the location. We invited 25 adults and 10 children hoping and praying that a few wouldn't be able to make it b/c we had no idea how we would fit everyone. Well, they ALL came! It turned out fine and was SO MUCH FUN!

Baby J is obsessed with his little Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon and balloons, so I knew that would be our theme. After researching online, I fell in love with all the red and aqua weddings and knew I wanted lots of polka dots. It was perfect for my little man's bday! I let Ashley (Rice Designs) know about my ideas and she created the perfect invite for Baby J. She also made us stickers and thank you notes to match. She's amazing! I really wanted an actual red wagon cake, but after pricing out a few locations in the city, I decided to give that idea up. A and I decided every little southern boy needs a red velvet cake (it had nothing to do with the fact his parents are crazy about red velvet cake, I promise.) Two Little Red Hens has the BEST red velvet, so we went with them. They were not the easiest to work with, but the end result was the best tasting cake ever and it was REALLY cute! His smash cake came from Gristedes. I had the lady take off the red rose, write happy bday, I added a few rubber duckies and asked her to polka dot it...all for $7.99! After all the pictures I have included the links to all the places I bought the things that "made" our party. A special thank you to everyone that helped!

Here are a few pictures of his Red Wagon 1st Birthday party. You may notice I left his name on most things, kinda hard not to since it was plastered all over everything! =) I still won't use his name on the blog, but I just had to make an exception to show y'all his fun little party. I know you'll appreciate. I hope everyone throws a red wagon bday party for their little munchkin! It was so much fun!

Jack's red velvet cake from Two Little Red Hens...the best red velvet in NYC!

Please Take a Cookie!

The sticker on the back of the cookie

Red Wagon Party Favors

Because every Red Wagon party needs, Red Wagon IPA from local Fire Island Beer Company!

Why is everyone singing? Why am I wearing this stupid hat again?

Happy Birthday to Baby J!

Ok, what now and why is everyone staring at me?

Ok, I'll have a taste if you insist...

Peek-a-boo!

It's just like a big cupcake, right?

They didn't offer me a fork. What did you expect?

Why did it take an entire year for you to give me cake? I LOVE cake!

N's bday isn't until March, but he wanted in on this cake thing! Sharing is nice.

Mama, enough of this silly hat!

I love balloons! I wish you could have seen my face when Daddy walked in our apt with 16 balloons. Who needs a party when you can just stare at balloons all day!

All This For Me??

Worn Out!

Food:
Pizza from Roma
We had wagon wheels (aka fajas) and wagon axles (aka fruit kabobs with yogurt dip)
Cheese and veggies
Spinach dip
Olives
CAKE and ice cream!!!

For the Little ones:
Cheese and Fruit (and pizza for those whose Mama's allow it)
Baby Mum Mum Crackers
Apple Sauce
Apple Juice
Animal Crackers
Goldfish

Drinks:
Water
Diet Coke
Red Wagon Cocktail (Champagne and Cranberry Juice)
Red Wagon IPA from Fire Island Beer CompanyCherry Limeade (recipe from Kelly's recipes)

Details:
Red Wagon Cookie favors from A Dozen Eggs, read about the making of Jack's cookies here.
Cake from Two Little Red Hens
Paper Products from My 1st Birthday and State News
Invitations, stickers and thank you notes custom made by Ashley Rice Lieb from Rice Designs
Bib and Hat and Jack sign custom made by Blooming Babies Boutique
Baby J's outfit, Table Cloths, Polka Dot Blue Candle from Ebay

My little cutie!

Well Hello There

Hi friends!

It's been awhile hasn't it? This is the longest blogging break I've taken in my almost 3 years of blogging. I'm alive and doing great! Nothing is wrong, in case you were worried. We've just been so busy! My little man is doing great, but he requires 24/7 attention and supervision. As some of you know, I also write a private baby blog for my family and close friends so keeping up with the two blogs has been next to impossible b/c of all the recaps I've been doing trying to get up to date before J's birthday. If you are my friend on facebook, you've seen our life in photos! It's been a great few months! Here is a quick recap of what we've been up to.

Christmas
The holidays were hectic and Baby J got an ear infection and bad cold right before we left for our 3.5 weeks in Alabama. My sister graduated from Alabama, so I decided to stay with my parents for a week, then we met A in Bham and stayed there for a week and then we went back to my parents for Christmas. Baby J had to get a second round of antibiotics and we missed out on seeing a lot of our friends, but overall it was an AMAZING trip. I was able to see a lot of my KD pledge class. One of my good friends delivered a baby boy right before Christmas, but I had to stay away from him b/c I didn't want to get him sick. Christmas was the best ever because of my sweet boy. I loved being with my family and seeing his eyes light up. My favorite gift was my ugg slippers and some diamond/sapphire hoop earrings that A bought me. Baby J received a crazy coupe car from my parents, a red wagon push toy from us, a music table from Santa and a VERY large stuffed elephant from Santa. He got lots of other small toys, but those were the highlights. He was SO MUCH fun to watch at Christmas! He is the biggest joy and brings everyone so much happiness. It was the best Christmas ever.

New Years
We had a low key New Years eve since we had just returned back to the city, but we decided last minute to have a few people over for a New Year's Day brunch. Well one couple and their child quickly turned into about 6 couples and 8 kids! It was a blast! We made a ham, biscuits, cheese grits, collard greens, black eyed pea dip, muffins, breakfast casserole, bacon, etc. It was so much fun! Baby J loved playing with all his buddies and showing them all of his new toys.

National Championship at THE ROSE BOWL
As I mentioned in my last post, we packed up Baby J and went to watch the Tide WIN the National Championship in Pasadena. We stayed in Palm Springs at my Grandmother's condo. (She died last January as you may remember, but she put in her will that we could not sell her condo for 2 years so her 6 children and 13 grand kids could use it.) My sister and my Mom also joined us in the desert. My Mom watched Baby J and my sister, A and I drove up to Pasadena for the game. We lucked out and got VIP corporate passes from a friend of mine. It was such a fun tailgate scene. I even hung out with Taylor Hicks! The game was a nail biter, but it was one of the best experiences of my life watching my team play for the National Championship. I am so proud of their hard work and determination and I am so lucky that I was there to see them win. The game was on Thursday, and Friday night Baby J got a stomach bug. On Saturday all FIVE of us had it and could barely move. It was rough. We all survived and returned back to the city on Sunday evening.


What's Baby J Doing These Days?
Baby J started walking right before he turned 11 months. He is all over the place now. He gets into everything and if I'm on the computer he closes the screen (probably one of the biggest reasons I haven't been blogging.) He loves to play, ride in his wagon, push his wagon, etc. He has a taste for Daisy's dog food and water so we have to keep it on the counter. He loves to go for long strolls, even in the cold. He babbles all the time and says, Mama, Dada, Ai-see (for Daisy), Bye, and Hi/Hey. He waves, claps and loves to give high fives. Our favorite party trip is that we taught him to do "TOUCHDOWN." He does it randomly throughout the day b/c he knows there is always a great response. He thinks he can run, which is pretty hilarious. He sleeps 7pm-7am, naps at 9:30am and 2:30pm. He has his moments where it doesn't work like that, but 90% of the time that is his schedule if he isn't sick or being packed up for another trip! He has already been to NINE states and has his own frequent flier number! We just finished up 1st semester of his music class and it was so much fun. We're taking another one now and also going to do a gym class to get some of those ants out of his pants! He will be ONE on Monday, the 18th. Can you believe it? I can't. It makes me want to cry, it has gone so quickly. He is a little love and I wish you could all meet him!

The 1st Birthday Party
I've been busy planning J's 1st birthday party. It is next Saturday and I still have a lot to do. We are having a red wagon theme bday party. The colors are red and aqua with lots of polka dots. Ashley designed the invitations, his thank you notes and stickers for his favors. They are adorable. He'll have a red velvet cake from Two Little Red Hens (the best in the city!) I ordered his hat, bib and banner from here. Lauren did an amazing job! Laura from A Dozen Eggs is making his party favors. They are little red wagon cookies with his name on them. I know they will be so cute! We are just doing cake and pizza at our apartment. I'm trying to keep it easy. I would love suggestions of other things to serve for the bday lunch that go with pizza? I would also love any ideas to make the party cuter or more fun!

MISC
I got a new coffee table from Ballard Designs. LOVE IT! Daisy is doing great! Three of my friends are going to have baby boys in the next 6 weeks. Two more recently let me know they are pregnant. I am not pregnant thank you very much, this little one is enough for me for now! I have never felt like I have so little time in my life, but also never felt so fulfilled in my life. My husband is obsessed with Jersey Shore, that is one trashy show and I like trash! I'm really excited about American Idol and The Bachelor. We want to go a tropical vacation and leave the baby for a week. I've only left him one night and it was hard. I owe y'all a few reviews that are WAY overdue! I also have lots of emails to return. I'm sorry if I haven't gotten back to you. Ok, got to get in the shower before the little one wakes up for his nap!

I missed y'all! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is off to a great start in 2010!