Oops - I almost forgot my cupcake...

I discovered that I neglected to recap Luke's first birthday party on the blog. I shared all about his actual birthday, but I forgot the party. Oops. I'm going with 'better late than never' and adding it now. Besides, I hope someday the boys will be able to look back through the blog and I don't want Luke to think that we didn't throw him a birthday bash! So, here goes.

I love a good theme so I searched the internet and local party supply stores and fell in love with the little cupcake theme.

For the menu, I planned a potato bar. A ridiculoulsy detailed potato bar, but I learned my lesson (Seth's birthday party update to follow). We had the fixings for a philly steak potato, a mexican potato, a ham and cheese potato, really any kind of potato you could desire. But the party started at noon and the potatoes baked for nearly an hour and were still not done. We ended up with my mom, sister, and myself shuffling potatoes from the oven to the microwave (to finish them off) to the roasting pan (to keep the warm) all while the guests milled around in the kitchen waiting for food. But it was yummy when they finally got to eat.I have discovered that every first birthday party must include a time when the guest of honor lies down in the middle of the floor and pretends that participating in the opening of gifts is pure torture.

Thankfully, Luke's big brother (the train conductor) and his cousins were all too eager to be helpful during this protest.And then Luke found a gift that he decided to love. Truth be told, the train conductor was probably trying to rip it out of his hands. Luke got lots of great gifts - noisy toys and clothes and books and gift certificates for books and money for the new swingset we are hoping to purchase as a combined gift for both boys.

There was a lot of catching up amongst family members who just don't see each other often enough. And I suppose you couldn't expect everyone to stay awake for such a fun-filled day (especially not with all the great food!).

And finally it was time for cake. Well, cupcakes to go with the theme of course! Luke loves nothing more than to demolish a sweet treat so away he went. Unlike a lot of one year olds, he didn't really need any help with the cupcake. And no, these pictures are not staged and we did not pose him with the icing. This is the look of pure enjoyment!

Happy first birthday my little cupcake!!