ivar's first birthday



We celebrated Ivar's birthday in grand style. I came up with the theme pretty easily as Ivar's favorite thing is pretty obvious. When I get him out of his crib in the morning he looks at me, smiles and says, "ball." When I ask him if he'd like more ham and cheese he replies, "ball." When we go for walks around the neighborhood he lights up with every pumpkin sighting, "ball!" He gets downright slaphappy in the produce section...all the balls...the onions, apples, melons, tomatoes, potatoes, plums and peaches, lettuce, grapefruit. Balls everywhere.

So we had a ball party. Singular. And it was good, good fun.

Our menu was simple: meatballs, baked potatoes, peas, grapes, buns, a cheeseball and cake pops. Lisa made the cake pops and they were awesome. I got a cake for free at Byerly's just by bringing in Ivar's birth certificate. The plan wasn't originally to give him the entire cake, but the family gathered insisted we let him go for it. So we did.

Mimi and Papa won the prize for best dressed. The invite asked for polka dots and they came dressed to party. It was awesome. And Toby wore his dog named Polkadot taped to his body. I was so excited to see Polkadot again...I hadn't seen him since I used to tuck him into bed with Toby when I'd babysit him as a baby. It was like an old friend surprising us for a visit

I'll share more on the games we played and the decorations I made. It was a homemade party and so super fun. Ivar is so blessed by all of his family. He was born into two fun groups of people and that was very obvious at his first birthday party.

the neighbor party

We had the neighbors over for carrot cake and cream cheese frosting to celebrate Ivar's birthday on the actual day. We feel so blessed by our neighbors. And Ivar put on a sweet show of enjoying his cake, giving lots of smiles and enjoying the new toys he was generously given. He's especially into giving big sloppy kisses to stuffed animals. A very entertaining part of our lives.

groves in costume

Lisa had us over for Halloween supper this year before we all went back to our neighborhoods to trick-or-treat. I went as a doctor who gives epidurals, my favorite Halloween treat of all time. Rory put his costume together literally as we we were walking out the door. I opened the coat closet at said, "well, you could go as a snowman..." Sara and Ruby were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, Kirby was an i-pad and Toby was Facebook. Troy was the abominable snowman, which as quoted by Ruby, "I don't even have to be scared of, because I know it is just my dad inside." Lisa made Josie's whoppers costume. She's a different candy every year...so impressive.

We took Ivar trick-or-treating and it was awesome. He seemed confussed by the event, but I was excited and so pleased at the candy we took in! We came home and played Carcassonne (a new favorite game) and ate candy until I got a tummy ache. The perfect end to a great halloween.

one year old

happy halloween!

I realized last night that I have been waiting almost half of my life to be able to go trick or treating again. I think I retired my game at age 15, but now, 15 years later, I get to throw this elephant on my hip and gather the goods from door to door. I love trick or treating! Hopeful for some peanut butter cups.

Happy Halloween everybody. One year ago today I was in full blown labor.  Just the memory brings halloween terror like nothing else. Birthing this elephant felt like birthing an elephant. But I'm so glad he's here. I still remember the pain (not sure when mama-amnesia is supposed to kick in) but I would do it again and again and again knowing the joy and love this boy has brought into our lives.