Birthday Party

On Sunday, we hosted a spring birthday party for my family. Almost all of Aaron's cousins were here. But before everyone arrived, we took some pictures of Aaron in his new birthday outfit - linen pants and collared shirt. He was quite a little ham for the camera. There are a few more photos from the set here.

We celebrated birthdays for all of his cousins except Alex (who has a summer birthday), Grandpa, myself, Thom, Aaron (of course) and sister-in-law Barbara. With so many presents, it almost seemed like our Christmas gift

exchange.

Aaron got some really cute books from his Aunties Lia and Theresa and their families. Baby! Baby! by Vicky Ceelen juxtaposes animal photos with infants posed similarly. It's adorable! No text, just pictures, but Aaron loved to point out the baby on each page. He also got Monday the Bullfrog by Matthew Van Fleet, which is part stuffed frog, part book, part puppet, and Sandra Boynton's Moo Cow Book, which is more toy than book, but very cute. But the coolest book, in my opinion, was Gallup! by Rufus Butler Seder which has images that seem to move as you turn the pages. If you have kids or need a gift for a little one, you have to check out this book!

Aaron also got some cute summer clothes from his Uncle Jim (pictured here with Aaron) and his family. (Prior to his birthday, Aaron also got some great gifts from friends and distant family. Aunt Janine and Uncle Bruce sent Aaron a CD of Peter and the Wolf - the same version Thom listened to as a kid - and a cute figurine of mice selling apples from a road-side stand, just like Thom and his siblings did back in Ohio for so many summers.)

After presents and lunch, it was time for cake! I made a gluten-free chocolate roll for my niece and nephews with celiac disease and a Kentucky Butter Cake (search Allrecipes.com for the recipe) that was loaded with flour, sugar, butter and eggs. That is what we gave to Aaron. Thom, being the more cautious parent, only gave Aaron a portion of the piece I had cut for him. Aaron seemed to like it.

He was so tired at that point, that it was probably wise not to let him have the whole piece. After his cake, we put Aaron down for a nap, which he took without protest, despite the fact that all his cousins were still here. I think all the activity wore him out. A few more photos of him eating cake are here.

After his nap, we went to Target for a few essentials and to look for his new car seat. Now that he is 1 year old and over 20 pounds, we can switch him to a forward-facing seat. We decided to get the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 carseat since it should be the last carseat we need for him. It converts to a highback booster seat and then a backless booster seat and should last him until he doesn't need a booster seat anymore (unless they change the laws again and require them to use a booster seat until they go off to college!) Unfortunately, although it is available on Target.com, it is not available in the store. So we will have to order one online. They say we should keep him rear-facing as long as possible, and since he still fits in his infant seat (thank goodness Thom had the foresight to get the larger version that lasts until 30 lbs) there isn't any hurry to get the new seat.

Afterwards, we walked down to Toys R Us to get a birthday treat. I seem to be on a Toys R Us mailing list, presumably because I registered at Babies R Us for our baby shower. They mailed me a birthday planner about a month ago, and then closer to his birthday, Geoffrey the giraffe sent Aaron a birthday card with a $3 off coupon and promises of special treatment if we came into the store close to his birthday. So although Toys R Us is about the last place on earth I want to spend any time, I wanted to see if we'd get a free toy or something. And to find something to use my coupon on. We ended up buying a huge (100 oz) bottle of bubbles that was 3 bucks and change after using the coupon. I almost bought a cheaper set of 3 bottles of bubbles, but they were made in China and I noticed at the last minute that unlike every other bottle of bubbles, they didn't say "non-toxic" which worried me. The bubbles we ended up buying were made in the USA, if you can believe it.

At the register, we learned that by going over to the customer service desk we could get a free balloon (that says "Geoffrey's Birthday Club") and a crown and they would announce his birthday over the PA system. They didn't announce his birthday (which was fine with us, but we did get a free mylar baloon and a crown, both of which Aaron showed some interest in, but not as much in the balloon as I would have expected.

When we got home, Aaron was pretty tired, so we gave him some dinner and got him ready for bed. And then Thom vaccuumed up the mess on the floor from having 8 kids and 10 kids eating in the house.

And now I think the birthday festivities are over. Whew!