It is hard to believe that little Nate is almost 1 year old!!! On Saturday, we celebrated with a big first birthday party just for him!! The theme was Jungle Safari but at this age, I just do a few little things!
I made him this Lion cake. It was so fun and so easy! I must say though, the cupcakes were very dry - sorry to all who tried them. I had made two batches and Darryl and I tasted the second batch. They were awesome! I was so disappointed when I bit into mine at the party and found it not nearly as good as the one I had tried the night before :-( Oh well! (And to think, I used a Paula Deen Recipe - I think I might need to pracitce more hehehehe)
Of course, Nate got his own balloons :-) (From my favorite Balloon Store . . . The Dollar Tree)
A special birthday banner and his "year" in pictures. It is amazing how much he has changed since he was born.
I found the 1st Birthday banner at Party City for $1.00. It was huge - I cute it up and put it all over the house
The whole gang at the party! This was taken after our game and lunch. The game we played this time was the ABC game. It was so much fun. Very simply, I wrote out the alphabet on index cards. For a group this size, I did three sets of cards. They drew names to form teams; each team than divided up the alphabet cards among themselves however they wished. Once they were ready, I called out an animal name, like Zebra, and they had to get the cards in order so I could read the word. In between rounds they had change places with someone on the team so they never really knew who had what cards. We laughed so much.
My sister-in-law, Kelly, got this toy for Nate - it lights up and spins and, as you can see by his face, he was mesmerized (I need to state that everyone was mesmerized by it!) Notice even China, the dog, is wondering what is going on with that thing?
It did not take Nate long at all to figure out how to open his gifts :-) He was blessed with some great toys (lots of cars, his own little barn, and more) plus some really cute clothes. Notice Josh's face in the background? Darryl and I got Nate a music box for his crib - it is the same one that Josh has and L.O.V.E.S. He was a little upset because he was sure it was his. Even now, he is sitting in Nate's crib since I just hung it up - he hasn't figured out yet that they each have one.
And, of course, cake. Unlike his brother who didn't touch his cupcake, Nate inhaled his - it was adorable.
The hit of the day, though, was this:
Yep, a chocolate fountain. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it OR the line up to do dipping all afternoon! It was so incredibly yummy! My favorite was the pound cake but there was also marshmallows, bananas, and pretzels. I haven't used my fountain in quite awhile and I'm not sure why? It is so easy - just melt some chocolate (and add a little oil to make it smooth) dumb it in and turn on the fountain. The fun begins! The bonus? Today, I have a cup of melted chocolate on my counter with a bag of pretzels next to it :-) All day, I keep dipping pretzels into chocolate. I told Darryl, I would eat banana's every day if I could dip them in chocolate (I'm not a banana fan!). So, I do believe, all future parties at the Koll house will have the chocolate fountain!
The day was just a blast with lots of laughs, great food (If I say so myself), fun times, and just an overall great day. The boys are both enjoying the new toys today and are both "recovering" from a super busy day.
