Mikey's 1st Birthday

Our sweet boy turned one and this past year has truly flown by.  Isn't he gorgeous?

I promised myself and my husband that I would not throw anymore over-the-top parties, and I did stick to that...  I mean, I still feel like I paid attention to a lot of the details, but I didn't spend nearly as much money on this party as I have on past birthday parties (for my sweet Caroline).  I was going to stick with an intimate family dinner, but when I got the idea for this "mustache/little man" party, I just had to do it!  

The little man loves chocolate and I let Caroline pick out what kind of cake we were having, and of course she picked out whipped cream (her favorite!).  So I made a small smash cake for Mikey and bought a number one candle for the top of it.  Simple.  And easy, too. 

And here is the official birthday cake.  A four layer chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and fresh whipped cream.  Topped with a home-made banner that my sweet Caroline helped me with.  Just two paper straws, some twine and burlap.  I used some acrylic paint to paint on the mustaches.  

And Caroline helped me with all of decorating as well.  We hung a banner in the living area.  I found it at Hobby Lobby and used the color scheme for the rest of the party.  I have two picture frames hanging on my shutters that I use to display the kids' artwork, and I had Caroline create birthday pictures.  This one is Mikey with a mustache.  Can't you tell?

And this one is his layered chocolate cake with a candle on top.  How sweet!  I'd like to think that her art could be displayed at world famous museums and sell at Christie's auctions for like...a million bucks.

I really wanted to serve some adult drinks at the party, and couldn't resist doing a "wet your whiskers" sign.  I used dafont.com as inspiration for the letters and just tried to copy them to the best of my ability.  The frame that I used had an old print in it and I just used chalkboard paint to turn it into a chalkboard.  

That's cranberry juice in the pitcher, by the way.  I have to say, the cranberry and vodka went over quite well. 

I was inspired to create this sign by one that I have seen on another blog.  It took F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to design the whole thing and pick out the fonts, but it was well worth it in the end. 

And I HAD to display the pretzel rods in my sister's cigar box.  I saw this on Pinterest.  See how one thing leads to another, leads to another, leads to another...?  This is exactly how I get carried away.

And when I saw these napkins at the Walmart (I mean, aren't you supposed to say "the" before Walmart?), I just couldn't resist, and neither could Caroline.  She threw them in my buggy.  That's right sister!  She is going to be quite the party planner one day!

And these plates and napkins came from Hobby Lobby and matched the banner in the living room. 

I wanted to include Mikey's newborn pictures, so I just used some clothes pins and some twine and hung them from the buffet.  Super easy, and free.

I had left-over cake batter from the smash cake, so I made cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  And my dear sister-in-law was too kind to come on over and do the piping for me.  I found the toppers at Hobby Lobby.  Yes, HL is my favorite store.  I could live there.  Almost.

I wanted to put out a few snacks and for some reason I was very determined to make sausage balls.  My sweetie, who is from Ohio/Pennsylvania, has never had sausage balls and can I just say that he was in love!!!  I also made jalapeño cheese dip, veggies with ranch dip, Mexican pinwheels, and kettle salt and pepper chips.

And I think it's absolutely hilarious that I spent two hours printing, laminating, cutting, and gluing these props for photos and they were never used.  Oh well!

And if you are wondering about the burlap, it came from *the* Walmart!  Can you believe it?

And maybe I should let you all know about the cake...  I think it's better than any other chocolate cake in the world.  If I do say so myself.  And I've perfected it even more.  I use the recipe off of the back of the Hershey's cocoa box, but instead of adding water, I add hot coffee.  And I use instant coffee in the frosting.  Ina Garten was sooooooo right about adding coffee to your chocolate!

I found some pretty cute iron-ons at Hobby Lobby and made Mikey this bib to wear while he ate his smash cake.   I also used the same package of iron-ons for the cute shirt that he was wearing.  I normally would have gone to our downtown monogramming boutique and paid $40 for a shirt similar to this one, but I paid $5 for his shirt, and $3 for the iron-ons.  So proud of myself!

I found the perfect shirt for Caroline for the party (Children's Place).  She was so excited about getting dressed up.  The glasses/mustache thing she is wearing on her face came from Dollar Tree.  Oh, her shirt says, "Big sister to a little mister."

How cute is this little mister's shirt?  Kids get so excited about parties... even if it's just cake and some balloons.  

Did you know that there has never been a jealous bone in my little girl's body, when it comes to her baby brother?  She truly loves him so much and the "little mama" comes out in her quite often.  ...well, there was this one time when he was a newborn and I mistakenly started singing "her song" which is "You are my Sunshine," and she glared at me.  I stopped singing immediately, apologized, and asked her, "What is going to be Mikey's song?"  And she replied, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

And that was that!

This was her first time with a lighter.  ...and I know this party isn't all about her, BUT it HAS been all about her for the past 6 years, and I have to say, she has dealt with a new baby perfectly!!!  And she knows that she will ALWAYS be my baby, too.   

He truly enjoyed everyone singing to him.  He didn't freak out.  He just smiled.  And then, he didn't know what to do with the cake.

So sister blew out the candle for him. 

And then when he would not dig in to the cake, she dipped her finger into the whipped cream and stuck it in his mouth. 

And then it was on like donkey-kong!

This picture was taken a day before his birthday.  His last day NOT being one-year-old.

And this was the actual day of his birthday.  It was the Sabbath and we were having our usual biscuits with milk gravy.  He LOVES biscuits and gravy!  I stuck a candle in his biscuit and of course Caroline was so excited.  We had to sing "Happy Birthday" and re-light the candle twice just so that I could get a picture.  

And they loved this just as much as cake!

Mommy loves you, Caroline and Mikey!  Happy Birthday to my little boy/little man!
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