Little Lion's 1st Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DRAKE!!!

I have not looked forward to Drake turning 1 whatsoever, but I HAVE been planning his birthday party for months now! I've never hosted a big party so I got really into it and had a blast planning and preparing for his big day. It ended up being such a fun day! I had many people tell me that he wouldn't remember or care about all the work I put into his birthday, but I truly believe he knew he was special that day! I could just tell he knew something different was going on and he knew he was the center of attention!

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Drake lots this last week and I sang to him the moment he woke up! He started laughing and jumping in his crib. He loves to dance when we sing songs.

Drake really thinks my computer is interesting and is always going after it when it's out. I never let him touch it, but since it was his birthday, I turned it off and let him pound on the keyboard. It's a piece of junk anyways. He was quite excited!

 He had a yummy birthday breakfast consisting of fruit, crepes, and juice. He picked it out! :)

We had lots of fun playing in the morning and then my mom came over. My mom is so great and spent the whole day at our house helping me and playing with Drake. She wanted to spend the whole day with him and he loved it!

My mom and I making food and cake!

I really wanted to make Drake's 1st cake and after that experience, I don't think I'll be going into the cake-decorating business anytime soon. But, it was really fun to do and I was proud of the end product.

My mom brought Drake a push train to play with before his birthday party. What a lucky kid! I think he'll be walking in no time now that he has this. (Not that I'm encouraging him to walk soon!)

Drake loves to say "Rar-Rar" in this deep voice. My dad taught him to say it when he would show him his stuffed, mounted cougar. So...because of this funny thing Drake does, we decided to throw him a LION party!

I decorated the house with a safari kind of theme and made the banner below.

Photo banner I made reflecting on Drake's first year.
Game Table. We played "What Can Drake Do?" where everyone had to check whether Drake could do certain things "now" or would be able to do them "later". They also had to guess how many Cheerios were in a jar- 2,837! If you're wondering- Yes, it did take a while to count all those cheerios. :)
And of course party hats, blower-things, and favors with animal crackers and animal cookies! Even though most of the guests were adults, everyone was really great to participate and I appreciated it!
I served soup, breadsticks, and cheese/olive/pickle spears.
Then we had cake and ice cream later.

And now, for all the wonderful friends and family that came to celebrate! Sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone!

Opening presents.

Drake did awesome! I think at times he got a little overwhelmed with all the toys and sounds we kept throwing his way, but he still loved it! And, he is having so much fun with all of his new toys. He plays with them all day everyday!

Drake was acting slightly shy and overwhelmed up until this point. Then it was like he suddenly realized he had an audience and he went crazy! He was laughing, scream talking, waving his arms up and down, and just being hilarious!

Here he is sitting on top of his new carseat doing "Sooooo BIG!"  What a performer!

Next, came the event we'd all been waiting for...

CAKE!

As you can see from the following pictures, Drake was one of those babies that hated his cake and hardly touched it. So dainty!
HA. HA.

Actually, he did exactly what every parent wants their 1-year-old to do. He went NUTS! He threw the cake. He pounded on the cake. He laughed. He screamed. He devoured it. He stuffed it down his onesie. Etc, Etc, Etc.
In this picture, you can actually see pieces of cake flying through the air!

What a mess! Way to go buddy!
(And this is the only time you will hear those two phrases together!)

And this is NOT the face I was making the whole time! haha!

The result: HYPER BABY! Getting all clean!

Drake loves all his gifts!
Thank you so much to all of those that came and celebrated with us!
Look at all that loot!
Spoiled??? Nah... :)

Such a great birthday!!!

Wow, I have a big ONE YEAR OLD. What!!!??