Baylor's Birthday: The Party

Taking advantage of Baylor's birthday being at the beginning of September, we decided to have his birthday party on Labor Day. As this was our first attempt at throwing any sort of birthday party, we decided to keep our guest list small and manageable, and Baylor tends to do better when crowds are smaller.

My mom made a bunting, not unlike this one, out of extra fabric from my cousins' college quilts for us to have as a reusable decoration for parties. Isn't it gorgeous?!

With all the people flowing into our house, Baylor got a little overwhelmed and retreated to the kitchen to spend some alone time with Aunt Christine.

He eventually joined his cousins and friends at his kitchen and on the porch.

We ate dinner in the garage, both to keep the mess in the house as low as possible and to have as much room as possible for people to enjoy their food. After dinner, my husband - the resident grillmaster/chef for the party - got to relax a bit with his brother while the kids played outside.

And my mom and mother-in-law got to spend quality time with the littlest ones of the bunch.

Our good friend Shaun did a little magic for Baylor, hiding a blueberry under some of his stacking cups and switching it around "magically", before dinner and Baylor hoped Grandpa E could replicate it later on. He still asks for it occasionally now, days later.

My mom brought over a slide for the kids to play on, but Baylor was content just to watch the action from the breezeway.

Mollie is a social butterfly and was delighted to see so much action going on around her.

After playing a bit while we got dinner cleaned up, Baylor got to open his presents. He got a ton of cool gifts, from some MSU gear to accessories for his new kitchen to a new quilt to get nice and warm with to a new world map. He had a little trouble letting go of each gift just to open a new one, but in the end he was thrilled with pretty much everything he got.

Finally, with the kids starting to wind down, it was time for birthday cake. We did a vehicle themed party since he is so into that kind of thing these days, and my sister pulled through with an awesome school bus cake for the little man. Unfortunately, when everyone started singing to him he freaked out and started sobbing.

But with a little reassurance from Aunt Christine, he pulled it together and was able to blow out his sparkly 2 candle.

She also made cupcakes, and he decided to enjoy one of those so his beautiful cake didn't have to be cut into pieces. He hoovered the cupcake as quickly as he could, almost seeming fearful that we were going to realize he was eating a ton of sugar and would take it away.

We did cut into his birthday cake, and it was delicious! Here is a close up of the front end of it so you can enjoy some of the detail ... the windows and gray detailing are made out of white chocolate, the stop sign is a smushed juju b, the lights are M&Ms, and the wheel and front bumper were cookies from Oreos. Isn't my sister talented?!

Everyone seemed to have a good time, and we lucked out with some wonderful weather. All in all, our first party seems to have been a success! Thanks to everyone who came and/or helped out!