ledger's 1st birthday party...

warning: picture overload below!

we had ledger's party this past weekend even though his birthday isn't until next saturday. due to the craziness that is thanksgiving week and the bedlam game saturday, we figured we better "get it out of the way now"! we just had a small family get together and it was absolutely perfect. i love that birthday parties at this age are so low-stress since he doesn't have a clue what's going on!

the decorations

*a merritt's delight!

the favors

i made banana bread for only the second time ever...and it actually turned out! baby hudson got a rattle. canon and ella got a barrel of monkeys.

the lunch

the birthday boy enjoying one of his favorite meals...chicken spaghetti and green beans.

family picture. remember this family picture just 6 months ago at another party??

the plan was after eating lunch, to sing happy birthday, serve the big cake and watch ledger open gifts...

wondering why everyone was singing at him.

yay!

...but after having a bite of pop's cake, ledger was not interested one bit in doing anything except eating more cake. so we stripped him down and threw him in his seat...all the while crying to "eat".

still crying.

"oh, wait. this is good."

after just eating a finger tip of icing each bite, lane cut into it so he could get to the meat!

seriously, this is the most fun he has had and the most laid back he has been in an entire year. he sat there for a good 15-20 minutes just enjoying each bite. can we say he's my boy or what??


after a quick bath...actually 2 since lane bathed him, let the water out, ran fresh water, and washed him down again. he smelled like icing for a few hours after despite the baths!
still doesn't quite get the concept of opening gifts, but that's ok! that's what big brothers are for! i kept having to remind canon to sit by me and let ledger play with his stuff first.
it was such a fun day! we are so thankful for ledger's sweet little life and god's perfect timing. of course, we will keep on celebrating his birthday this week :)

**i did an awful job of taking pics...forgot to get a picture of all the guests...oops.