ONE!

Last weekend we celebrated Nate's first birthday. In many way--well, most ways, really--I can't believe it has only been a year since Nate was born. Not in the bad way, like 'it has ONLY been a year?! How are we going to make it through the next 17 years?!' It just seems like so much has happened since then.  Since Nate was born, we've had hospital stints for both of the kids, 2 long flights from Singapore to the USA, a death in the family, a move back to the US of A, a new city, a new job...ok ya, a lot has happened. So there is that. But also, it just feels like Nate has been around longer than a year. Like he has been a part of our family for longer than 12 months. It is hard to even imagine what it was like before he was with us.

Nonetheless, we wanted to mark the occasion with the proper celebration that one's first trip around the sun warrants. Planning birthday parties is not my forte, however. Especially for a one year old where too much excitement and sugar may very likely ruin the day, if not the entire week. As luck would have it, last weekend was family weekend at the University of St. Thomas and Saturday (Nate's birthday) happened to coincide with the annual birthday bash for St Augustine. So we (I) figured that St. Augustine wouldn't mind sharing his birthday celebration with an adorable one year old who bears a large and saintly name. Right?!

Big sister was a big help for most of the day, seeing as Nate's birthday is the next best thing to having her own birthday, replete with even a few presents thrown her way. We started the day by decorating the birthday cupcakes. I'm sorry to say that these don't look amazing. But they did have lots of chocolate frosting! Adrienne was particularly helpful in monitoring and disposing of (by way of her mouth) errant sprinkles or M&Ms that were not up to birthday cake standards. As such, about one out of every four M&Ms made it to the cupcakes and often even those got removed later in further quality control tests. Oh well, everybody ought to eat chocolate for breakfast every once in awhile.

Following that, we walked over to St. Augustine's/Nate's birthday party. This was perfect for the kids--toys, games, train rides, bounce houses, face painting, balloons, a giant pinata, and, of course, birthday cake! The kids loved it. I probably should have put more thought on that part. I think Adrienne may think this is what birthday parties should look like. She may even expect something similar for her birthday next month. You know, 'Nate got bounce houses and a train ride and all I got was this lousy cake?!' Luckily, Adrienne will get Grandma and Granddad's undivided attention for her birthday so that will be extra special. We followed up Nate's big day with presents, birthday cupcakes, and a few friends. It was a fun day for all of us to celebrate the passing of a big year with many changes, the best of which is, hands down, our little guy. Happy birthday, Nate, we love you very much!