Part I: THE birthday party.
Friday evening brought Cade's first birthday party. Each Friday we take Cade to Gymboree to play, but this Friday, I had an ulterior motive: tire her out so a post-gym nap was guaranteed! Mission accomplished. I don't typically arrive early to places anymore, but I have found that I never time the travel correctly from our house to Gymboree and ironically arrive early to class almost every time we go. Her class begins at 1:15 so getting her in at 12:55 gave her some extra play time. She was happy to be in her gym this week and eagerly climbed on everything and attempted some tough (for babies) obstacles. I hustled home so get her down for her nap so I could continue my own party preparations, aka, do my hair. She thankfully complied with my plan and took a nice long nap and woke shortly before we needed to go to Grammy and Grampy's house for the big party.
Details:
location: Grammy and Grampy's house (someday, we'll have our own house so we can use our own venue!)
Time: 5:00pm
Attendees: Cami, Michael, and Georgia, Randi, Landon, and Chase, Sophie and Christine, Joe, Jen, and Ethan, Betsy, Peter and Kelsey (who flew in from California for the weekend), Nannny, Grammy, Grampy, and of course, Matt, myself, and the guest of honor, the lovely, Miss Cadence Brynn.
Menu: veggies and dip, fruit, crackers, CHEESE, Mac 'n cheese, Swedish meatballs, and need I mention CUPCAKES!? Cupcake Royale's, of course!
Cadence was happy to see her many guests and behaved remarkably well given the amount of activity around her. The party had no structure and for a one year old, that was perfect. We all mingled and ate while oooo'ing and ahhhh'ing over how adorable Cadence looked in her tu-tu. Singing my baby "Happy Birthday" surrounded by our many close family and friends was a bittersweet moment. I still can't believe that a year has come and gone in the blink of an eye! While Matt and I have been working with her on the concept of blowing (we blow the butterfly mobile above her changing table so they move), and she does get it sometimes, she did require some assistance from Matt and I in blowing out her candle on her very own cupcake. Now, I should mention, or perhaps confess that this cupcake was definitely not her first treat. She's had cookies, ice cream, cake, soda, cupcakes, Ande's mints, you name it! This was however, the first one that she was free to devour, throw, face plant in, whatever she wanted. I was impressed that she daintily removed the sprinkles from the frosting and ate them first, before picking tiny pieces of frosting off to eat. She didn't have too much interest in the cake, (silly girl!) and only when she knocked over the cupcake and put her elbow in it did it get messy. I was anticipating a frosting in her hair experience. Shortly after we all had our cupcakes, we hit the presents.
Like many kids her age, she had more interest in packaging, paper, and plastic than the actual gift itself. She did help unopen things, though.
The loot:
a princess scooter that she can either ride on or push and walk behind with tons of buttons, lights, and sounds, a piano shaped like a cat that has many tempos, styles and yes, a microphone (yes, Uncle Bob, she will be musical), tons of clothes, bubbles (huge hit!), a rocking horse, a vibrating teether,another month of classes at gymboree, a baby cell phone, a sea animal spinner, books, and a backpack with her name on it. She's spoiled!
We loved spending the evening with close family and friends!
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| Fun with bubbles! |
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| Attempted escape. Unsuccessful. |
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| The "big" kids had fun playing outside |
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| Happy Birthday Dear Cadence!!! |
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| Uncle Pete and Aunt Kelsey |
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| The hair-pull. |
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| She didn't enjoy the hair-pull one bit! |
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| Cadence adores Michael and gives him smooches all the time! |
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| Partied out! |
Videos! (if subscribing by email, visit andermr.blogspot.com to see videos!)
Part II: Pumpkin Patch!
I took Landon to the pumpkin patch a few years ago and I've wanted to go back ever since but didn't have the excuse to until now. Dr. Maze's farm at South 47 is just a few minutes away from our house and we decided that we'd go this year with Cade. When I took Landon, Betsy went with us and we made a day of it, doing fall themed things and that's what I envisioned for taking Cade. We (when I was with Landon) played at the pumpkin patch, went on a hay ride, went to Theno's dairy for pumpkin ice cream, and went to Minea Farms for fresh cider. Having a three year old was easy and fun to do this with and since Landon is now 5 and wasn't with me, Betsy supplied the three year old since she was watching her friend's little girl, Reagan, for the weekend. We weren't able to hit Theno's although we did have pumpkin ice cream FROM there that evening, and we didn't get to go to get cider, but there's still time. We did make a family activity of the day and Peter, Kelsey, and Grammy patched with us. Cade seemed to really enjoy looking around and seeing many pumpkins, various activities, and families. Matt wasn't thrilled by the crowds but they don't bother me. Since Cade isn't walking or standing unassisted, we all took turns holding her but she sat happily on bales of hay and played with pumpkins.
The evening brough dinner at Tropea for celebrating Grammy's birthday and Cadence was extremely well behaved and didn't fidget at all in the restaurant. She was very content looking around and observing the servers while she snacked on rustic Italian bread and of course, cheerios. After dinner, we went back to Grammy and Grampy's to play Catch Phrase and Scattergories and have dessert. Cade did well for the most part but she eventually melted down and we took her home and put her to bed.
It was a great, very family and fun filled weekend.
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| My little pumpkin with other little pumpkins! |
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| Pumpkin patches can be tiring. |
How fun! I want to go find a pumpkin now!
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