Week 51 and a Birthday Bash

Like most of the last 52 weeks, this one revolved around Mr. Caleb. As we prepared for our "laid back, no big deal" party (really, those were my intentions), I realized I can't just do a "laid back, no big deal" party for my first child's first birthday. It still was reasonably low-key but I had to plan and coordinate the smallest details...shocking I know.

We started out the birthday celebrations on Wednesday, when we met some friends at Ted's Cafe Escondido (love it!!) where Caleb opened his first ever birthday presents.

But before Sunday's shin-dig, I enjoyed a pampering party/girls night out with my Sunday School friends. We had a blast, just chatting, exfoliating, and eating, even if some less-than-glamorous pictures were taken (see below).

OK, I know you want to see the birthday party pics so here they are:

Caleb in awe of the balloons (why do we even spend money on toys and other gifts?!?)


Our friend Brooke did an awesome job on the cakes, don't you think? Especially considering she tackled them in one evening with three kiddos running around and only one batch of margaritas. She did the sheet cake with turtle then Caleb's own special turtle. Thanks, Brooke, you're the best!!

The decorations courtesy of Aaron. The banner was painted by my former student aide from school. How cute is it!!


Where's Caleb??

"Who put this bag on my head?"


"I hate hats and you're trying to pass it off as a birthday present!"


The turtle cake before...

...and after. Actually, he didn't last long with the whole cake-destroying thing. I don't know if it was the weird fringe around the outside of his tray table, the trash bags he was sitting on to protect the highchair fabric, or the texture of the cake between his fingers, but he was pretty much done about 5 minutes into it :)

Two presents I love: my new walking cart and the ball pit. If you look really closely in the ball pit picture, you can see his molar. Yep, after two months of under the surface blood blisters, all 4 molars have finally pushed their way through!

And we received a family membership to the zoo, so you better believe we'll be making some trips there when the weather warms up a bit. Yeah!

After a fun party, we went to Cheddar's with our friends that drove in from OKC. Caleb was amazingly well-behaved for as little sleep as he had gotten. In fact, he might have been delirious by the time bathtime rolled around. Here's where he crawled to after his bath (usually he makes a beeline for Aaron in the office):

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to the family and friends that have been part of Caleb's 1st year. Stick with us...it's only going to get better :) And thanks to those that drove from out of town (do Broken Arrow and Sapulpa count??) to be part of today's celebration.

PS- Boomer Sooner, huh? I thought they might be pulling for the BSC Championship after laying such a whooping on Mizzou. Oh well, guess we'll settle for the Fiesta Bowl. Caleb received several fun OU items today, including a great football. Yippee!

PPS- This week includes Caleb's actual birthday on Monday, which he will celebrate with his friends at school, 1 year check up and immunizations, 1 year photo shoot with our friend Betsy, and our Sunday School class Christmas Progressive Dinner. Should be a fun and busy one.

PPPS- Caleb still is fighting the same darn ear infection. Our pediatrician put him on another antibiotic and if it's not cleared up by his appointment this week, we'll probably need to go see an ENT. All I said was if we have to get tubes, I want it done by December 31st since we've already paid our deductible this year :)

Have a great week!