Par-tay time!

Aiden asked if he could celebrate his first birthday with his sweet friend Lylah, who was born eight days before him up in KS. He asked for all these special decorations and this cute UNO theme, which led me to ask him if I looked like a Pinterest party planner. He said no but Miss Lauren (Lylah's mom) did. I told him it was a long drive for a short party. No matter what I said, he was sure that was what he wanted, and, as parents, we wanted to fulfill all his first birthday dreams, especially since it was a party he would remember for the rest of his life....so we obliged.
We packed our bags and made an evening drive to KS on his birthday. (what could make for a better birthday celebration than an 8 hour drive?!?) (side note - Aiden slept like a champ during the drive....finally. we've told ourselves the last few trips he would sleep if we left at night and it didn't quite work out that way, but now that he's one, he's willing to try new things.).
I am so glad we went. Aiden was healthy (he's been sick, teething, something, most of our trips there) and the happiest I'd seen him. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Every day. He decided to take some shaky steps and to eat with a fork (that I handed him...but still, he knew what to do with it).
Here are a few pics of his party and of the other small celebrations along the way. I thought everything turned out nicely and Aiden didn't complain so I'll take that as him being happy too.

 

birthday morning!



eating a cupcake for birthday breakfast....naturally.

opening gifts from the fam

 

 

playing in his (unexpectedly large) birthday tent



first birthday Longhorns style....hook 'em!



Party! Mallory's friends made these AMAZING cookies. Seriously amazing. Tasted delicious and could not have been cuter.



In lieu of gifts we did a book donation table. Thanks to everyone for making it a successful book gathering and for bettering children's lives! 



Aiden loved the balloons!



I am pretty convinced that all you need for a successful party is balloons and sprinkles (see smash cake for sprinkles).



 

For the cake we made one box of cake mix, put it in four bowl and dyed it different colors. We put a half cup of each color in two bowls and baked it up. The colors didn't run together at all! Couldn't get any easier to make a multi-colored cake. (I attempted a 4-layered cake before discovering this gem. hah! what was I thinking with that idea?!?)



covered the outside of the cake in frosting and then covered it in sprinkles. sprinkles. thank goodness for sprinkles. festive and cover over imperfections....does it get any better?



inside of the cake - post smash - but you can see all the colors



pretty sure Lylah and Aiden thought the cakes were ok.....