Andersen's 1st Birthday

 With Andersen's birthday falling on a Monday this year and Nate having school those nights, we did Andersen's party 2 days before on Saturday October 9th so everyone could be there. We started out with yummy soups for lunch while Andersen opened his presents. Good thing he has an older brother and so many cousins that know what to do, because his presents were opened faster than I have ever seen any one year old open presents before.

 

He got a bunch of fun new toys and clothes, but this ride along Thomas the Train from Uncle Chase I think was the favorite for all ages.

After presents, we did cake. This is my favorite part of the 1st birthday. I think it is so cute to watch them make a mess of the frosting even though I am the one that has to clean it up afterwards. This year I lucked out though and only had to clean the birthday boy, while the Grandma's cleaned the kitchen. Here is what the giant cupcake looked like before we started.

 I was going to have Andersen sit in his high chair like we did with Jackson but all the cousins insisted that he sit on the table and what a good idea that was. It made it way more fun to watch him devour his cake. At first Andersen didn't know what to do...

but thanks to his big brother Jackson and a little help from Grandma Kay it didn't take him long to get to this.

 He was loving every minute of it. I don't know what he liked more... the cake or all the attention. Either way he was hamming it up for the camera.

Andersen even figured out how to put his feet in the cake!

Can you tell he enjoyed himself! Now it was time for the bath...

After his bath he chased his cake down with a bottle of milk

and right back to the toys he went. I would have totally thought he'd want a nap but all he wanted was to play.
 
But I guess so did these guys! What a fun day it was surrounded by family. Sometimes birthdays and holidays are the only times we get to see my side of the family, so it was fun to have another "excuse" to get together and celebrate Andersen's special day.
 
Two days later it was October 11th... Andersen's real birthday! This is right as we went in his room to get him out of his crib in the morning. This kid doesn't really sleep in but I guess he was celebrating his special day already by sleeping in for me! Can you see that smile behind his binky... my favorite, but don't let that smile fool you. Rather than Andersen's birthday being filled with fun, we ended up at Dr. Boud's office shortly after he woke up. Both boys woke up with pink eye and Jackson's burn on his arm from two days ago had turn from bad to worse as it looked majorly infected and swollen.

 So off we went to the doctor's office, a couple errands ending at Walmart's pharmacy getting 3 different types of antibiotics for these sick kidlets! We did celebrate with McDonald's for lunch with Daddy though before nap time. After naps, Nana invited us to go visit Grammy in Bountiful. It is always fun to go visit her and then of course Nana needed a Dairy Ann stop for dinner and ice cream before we made the drive home.

Even though Andersen's birthday wasn't the way we expected or planned it to go, it was still a good day spent with family. And even though both boys had a trip to the Doctor earlier in the day, good thing it ended with a night out with Nana because she makes everything better! 
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY LIL' STINKER!

We all love you very much!