Birthday Boy!!

I promised in my last post that I would post again about Levi's birthday.

Messy birthday boy

We had a super fun party at Grandma and Papa's.  I wanted to keep it simple so we invited just a few friends.  He really hasn't shown any type of preference towards toys or tv shows or anything (probably because we don't watch very many at all), so we went with a general sports theme.

We had hot dogs and nachos, like at a baseball stadium.  And then threw in some baked beans, macaroni salad and fruit salad for good measure.
My friend, Dawn, made the cake.  She did an awesome job and it was delicious!

She was a little embarrassed by the soccer ball, but I told her it was very 'creative.'
Grandma made the baseball 'smash cake.'  Levi did a good job smashing.

Levi got tons of gifts.  Sand toys, books, clothes, puzzles, etc.

Levi did great with no afternoon nap that day.  It was super exciting for him, I'm sure.
We had a special party inside after everybody left.  And after we tried to figure out what to do with the literal ton of nacho cheese left over.

New pjs

New chair from Grandma and Papa

Our celebration at home was on his true birthday.  I took more video of that than pictures, but here are a few:

We're not too happy about the bib

Presents from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike

"Tell him what he's won, Alex."  "It's a new car!!"

This was his present from mommy and daddy.  And his favorite, by far.

Our neighbor's trailer-we thought it was funny

We take walks/rides every morning and after supper, if it's nice out and if daddy has enough energy.
It was so much fun to celebrate his birthday but kind of sad, too, since a whole year had gone by so fast.  I try to remind myself to savor each day, but in the ordinary-ness that's hard to do sometimes.  Getting caught up in laundry, his appointments, nap times, scheduling shopping trips, etc. is pretty much my focus every day.
He's all of a sudden super cuddly when I go to put him to sleep.  He just hugs me and lays his head on my shoulder.  Sometimes slobbery mouth in, sometimes slobbery mouth facing out.  I just stand there, holding him and close my eyes.  I want to remember those times.  I wish I could bottle them up to open later when he's all grown up.