Aaron's First Birthday Party

Aaron's first birthday party was wonderful.

 I wanted to throw a party large enough to invite all of our friends to and all the people who supported us during this first year of his life. But as far as logistics, we couldn't fit all of them in our apartment, so luckily I was able to reserve a picnic area at a church. 

At first, Sammy wanted to do a BBQ but I really wanted to do a Dragons Love Tacos party after the children's book. At first I got too scared by the logistics, but then I decided screw it. Life is short. I'm going to do what I want. And so I did. 

I'm not going to lie, I stressed a bit about the party. I wanted to make it enjoyable for everyone. I wanted to make awesome food, but on a tight budget. And I kept thinking of all the things that people might be able to insult. The cake wasn't fancy enough, the tablecloths, I didn't have games for everyone, etc.. Now, I'm not going to lie, there was some drama about whether tortillas were going to be warmed up or not. But thankfully all that drama happened before the party.

The day before the party my family came over to help entertain Aaron while I prepared all the food. It was so helpful and so nice not to be by myself all day. I started cooking at ten and didn't finish until 7 that night. I cooked 7.5 pounds of hamburger, 13 pounds of pork, 50ish cupcakes, a mini cake, chopped tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and cilantro. I was wiped by the end of the day! 

My brother was nice and brought us lunch in the middle of it which was such a blessing. My mom made the homemade taco mix which I was grateful for. I made the pork in two instant pots. 

It ended up being WAY too much meat. We had ten less people than I was expecting, but even if they'd been there I doubt that we'd have used it all. We didn't even go through half of the meat. So our families and us have had quite a bit of meat to go through ;)

I went to the church in the morning and my family was there to help me set up which I couldn't have done without them. Sammy's family showed up early as well, and Sammy brought Aaron as soon as he woke up from his nap. I'd been stressed the week before because he'd changed his nap schedule. He went back to normal the day of the party thank goodness!

We had so many friends show up which was so sweet. It was so nice to see everyone, and thankfully Aaron didn't get too overwhelmed by everyone. As long as other babies didn't try to touch him haha!

I got a lot of compliments on the food and no complaints unlike I'd worried about haha.

My old coworker came and I got to meet their baby!

I tried to have Aaron help open his gifts but he got so entranced with the first one he wouldn't look at the others haha!

Aaron LOVED his cake. He ate half of it. He got very intense with it. He was so freaking cute, and he is my son. He whacked me in the face when I tried to help cut it to make it easier for him to eat. 

Mike and Lexy brought me this lovely Jeff Goldblume t-shirt for my birthday. I freaking love it!

Aaron decided to use his high chair as a walker before the party and show off his almost walking skills.

He received this walker from his aunt and uncle and he loved it!

Tanner helped me print these out and blow them up which was so nice.

A sweet moment after the party was getting a text from my mother in law saying how good the food was. I was so worried about them being disappointed with it, so that meant a lot. 

It was such a lovely day with all our loved ones and I'm so grateful it went the way we wanted it to. We had such a great time and I think Aaron did as well.