Finally, my b-day pictures!

My birthday invite that shows my growth from month to month. Isn't it amazing how much I have grown and changed this year?!?!

If you haven't seen my blog entry from earlier this week, page down. We ended up with a computer virus, so after two days and a bit of money, we are officially up and running again. Whew! As promised, I am now writing about my birthday, since many of you have asked how it went. First of all, I had a monkey themed birthday party, since I love monkeys and Mommy and Daddy say I act like one. My invitations went out and this is how they looked (minus our address and phone number, thanks to the fun airbrush option .... no worries Grandma!)

Since my official birthday was on Wednesday, we just did a small party at our house with Grandma Lois. We had Papa Murphy's pizza and Cold Stone Creamery cake. It was my first time eating these delicious options, so it made my birthday even better!pizza=happy boy!
I am now a fan of Cold Stone Creamery (Mommy said I was a fan when I was in her belly too)

I think Mommy was confused and thought it was her birthday. Why else would she blow out MY candle??

"What is this interesting, cold stuff?"

My first taste of ice cream...

I LOVE ice cream! I sometimes would shake and scream thanks to the freeze headaches. Mommy, Daddy and Grammy would just laugh when I had one of these. I guess I did eat my cake a little fast, but it was the b-e-s-t!

Now I know why birthdays are so great! I opened a lot of wonderful gifts. Mommy and Daddy gave me this mailbox toy, a remote control of my own, a huge ball,some clothes and jammies, and (I can't remember what else...)

Ahhh! Here was my favorite gift of all. A sweet card that Mommy read to me. I think she cried a bit while reading it. Grandma gave me some really cute outfits, a book and CD, and money for my saving's account (always a great option!)

Since I was a little wound-up, Grammy thought she would help me out by playing airplane, pat-a-cake, and "so big" with me!

Next up... my birthday party. Please don't feel bad if you didn't get invited. We decided to invite family members who were close by. Mommy and Daddy said I will have lots of parties with my buddies when I get older. For my party, we had people over to visit, eat sandwiches and other foods, open presents, and celebrate ME! We had at least 30 people at our house, which made it busy and a bit like a zoo. Mommy feels horrible that she was not a good paparazzi this day and only took a few pictures.

Just me and the guys hanging out (cousins Sam and Camden... notice that Camden's arm is stuck in my ball popper! See our concern written all over our faces!!!)

Whew! Got it out. Back to playing with my guys.

Opening more wonderful presents (Mommy still thinks it is her birthday. See her opening MY gifts?!?!) I received cardboard building blocks, a sand and water table, money for my college fund, books, clothes, beach towel, maracas, cars, more toys, a trip to Hawaii (just kidding)... Thanks everyone!!!My most unique gift was a gun. Yes, you heard me right and the picture above is proof that I am not making this up. How many one year old's get a gun for their birthday? Mommy is cringing right now. The story is, Great-Grandpa gave me a family heirloom, a rifle from a Great-Great-Great Grandpa (the gun is like 100 years old). He figured I would be a hunter someday, and carry-on the family tradition. Daddy and Mommy thought this was a very special gift and they will be taking care of it for me until I can hunt (Mommy says that means I will be at least 30 years old). Anyhow, it was a gift that Great-Grandpa thought of on his own and presented it to me. How cool is that?!?!

Mommy's friend Jeannie made me a monkey cake filled with REAL bananas and also she made cupcakes with monkey faces and some cupcakes with banana runts on top. They were DELICIOUS and adorable at the same time! She even made me my own monkey cake and I ate almost the whole thing!Hmmmm.... the best thing I have ever tasted was this cake. I think this picture says it all. Jeannie is going to make me the poster child for her cakes with this photo. After eating my cake, I immediately went into the tub for a good scrub. Liberty, enjoyed eating the cake on my high chair (Mommy had to remind Daddy that dogs can die from eating chocolate). Everyone laughed and loved watching me pig out on my cake. The shirt I was wearing is ruined, but it was well worth it!

Great-Grandpa Bud was able to leave the nursing home for a bit to come to our party. It was so nice to see him! In this picture is great-auntie Judie and great-auntie Janice and you can see part of my auntie from GA, Erin, wearing the brown dress.

Great-Grandpa John and Great-Grandma Helen also came. Great-Grandma hasn't driven for 15 years, but Great-Grandpa didn't pass his driving test the day before (sore subject) so Grandma decided to drive. Thank God they made it to our house and home safely! That's dedication!

Mommy apologizes that she didn't take many pictures. Some of our guests included my auntie from Georgia who was in town, my great-grandparents, cousins, grandparents (welcome home from Florida Papa and Sharon), and my aunts and uncles. Mommy is hoping to get some of the pictures that everyone took to add to her scrapbook pages (hint, hint). I look forward to my 2nd birthday and THANK YOU to everyone who sent well-wishes, cards, and gifts. I had a great day and love being ONE years old! Love, Caden