A Tale of Two Parties

Abby got to celebrate her first birthday is style. Because we were in Michigan up until a week before her birthday AND Uncle Scott had plans for her birthday weekend (his 25th class reunion - he was a little excited to say the least), we decided to have a Michigan party AND a Kansas party. This was especially exciting for me because it meant we got to celebrate with a lot of special people from home that are not usually included because they are so far away.I'll be the first to admit I went a little overboard on the Michigan cake. Perhaps taking on a multi-layer AND rainbow cake for the first time was a little much, but it all turned out. AND Grandma Bonnie got the cake to the restaurant without it falling apart - another bonus. We had the party at Little Caeser's because there was supposed to be a hot air balloon show that night. The restaurant was right across the street from the airport and would have been perfect viewing had it not been only 65 degrees and rainy. (I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that is the coldest birthday Abby will ever have.) So, we missed out on the balloons but that just meant we got to spend more time inside visiting with our guests. Abs did a great job tearing her cake apart. She didn't eat all that much but she loved playing with it. (Daddy thinks she just ate too much pizza.) Unfortuntely, we ran out of time to open gifts so we had to do that at home. She did pretty well with her first paper ripping and seemed genuinely interested in what was inside the packages (unlike her brothers - they were more interested in the paper). So one party down and I'd say it was a big success. Two weeks later we celebrated with our family and friends in Kansas. Once again, she was in to her presents. I let daddy help open gifts this time. He loved it. Just kidding, daddy. I think maybe he just wanted me to stop flashing the camera in his face. Again, she loved opening the presents.I opted to go a little simpler on this cake. Noah and Eric helped with the sprinkles. I think it turned out very nice. And Abby made sure to pace herself at dinner so she had room for cake. And eat it she did. Now I thought I got a video of her shoving it in - turns out I didn't. But you can see that how neatly she just picked it up and put it in her mouth. She ate pretty much this whole piece and didn't have a but a drop on her dress. Good job, Abs. We are, of course, looking forward to many more parties with our sweet girl. Hopefully she doesn't grow up thinking she needs two parties every year.