Amerman Family Adventures: Henry and Holden's First Birthday Party Part 2: Cake and Presents!

Smash cakes

Ok, now for the best two parts of birthday parties...cake and presents! I wanted to buy a whale cake at a bakery, but Alex was really insistent on doing it himself. He said, "That's what makes your birthday cake special, is your parent making it for you." So I thought that was pretty cool he felt strongly about it, and so he made the whale cake from scratch! I think he did two circle cakes and one sheet cake. He cut the tail out of the sheet cake and that was the bottom layer, then he used the two circle cakes on top of that to make the body. I think it turned out cute! (And I think it tasted good, too, I don't think I got to eat much since it was mostly gone by the time I went for a piece! I guess our friends and family know how awesome Alex is. :) The smash cakes were just little 5 inch round cakes that we iced and decorated a little. Nothing fancy...since I knew they'd probably end up on the ground!

I call this the "Alex face"

We put their high chairs outside in the grass and I stripped them down to their onesies. We all sang happy birthday to each of them, and that was the only time Henry cried! I think he saw the cake and didn't know why he couldn't dig in until we were done singing. :) They enjoyed the icing off of the candle, but Holden wasn't interested in much more than that. I didn't force it and let him get up and hang with Grandpa instead. Henry enjoyed himself! He played with the icing and maybe got a little taste of cake. His did end up on the ground, though! So we got some cute pictures of him enjoying the cake and with blue icing on his face.

"What's the big deal here? I'm not enjoying this."

"I think it's pretty good!"

Ok, had enough.

Bye bye, cake!

Now it's time for presents! The boys were extremely spoiled by everyone. They got lots of Fisher Price Little People stuff and vehicles, an elephant ball popper, some bouncy balls, lots of great books, and several cute outfits. They got a toy remote and cell phone, and some fun bath toys, too. Uncle Evan had to be the one to get them their first basketball goal. He even got them an extra basketball so they wouldn't have to share. (They probably won't get to open it til spring, but he was thinking ahead!) Grandma and Grandpa Suttner got them a Children's Museum membership, so I can't wait to make a few trips there this winter! Hopefully they'll be walking soon, and that'll give us a great place to run around when it's cold outside. Alex and I got them plenty of stuff, too. We got them the climber for the yard, a little trike, the blue wagon, and the wood train and animal set. The boys were interested in looking at everything we opened, but weren't really helping yet. I think by Christmas they might have the idea of opening presents figured out! I had lots of other little helpers with the presents though. :) So thank you again to everyone for all the great toys and presents! I'll have to have a big playdate at my house soon so everyone can come play with our fun new stuff!