Preparing for a Party!

My baby will turn one year old tomorrow. It felt bittersweet when Nadia turned one, and it feels even more bittersweet this time because at her party I was pregnant and knew she wasn't going to be my last baby. It's so exciting to see little ones learn new skills, but it's also sad to realize that certain special stages are a thing of the past. Since Ian isn't anywhere near as mobile as Nadia was at 1 year old, he still qualifies as a baby (whereas Nadia was truly in the toddler stage by 11 months old).

She said that what she was making was hot. What a cute little oven mitt!

Yesterday I made two pans of lasagna in preparation for Ian's party today. I also took the kids to the grocery store to buy some vegetables and garlic bread. A couple of weeks ago I had purchased a tablecloth, plates, and cups at a dollar store (spent $3.18 total). I know some spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on their child's first birthday party, but including the two gifts we bought him as well as the meal, we spent about $60, and I expect we'll have leftover lasagna and garlic bread. My parents, Paul's parents, Paul's brother, sister-in-law, grandmother, and nephew are coming to celebrate Ian's special day! Including Ian (who won't eat any of the food) there will be 12 family members here today!

Aunt Millie is bringing the cake. I have the number one candle that I bought in June 2009 for Nadia's 1st birthday party. I requested a mandarin orange cake because yesterday was my dad's 67th birthday, and he loves mandarin oranges. Ian was born the same month as both of his grandfathers as my dad's birthday is December 10th, and Paul's dad's birthday is December 20th. Last night Nadia helped me make some cookies for Ian's party. I used a recipe from the Preschooler's Busy Book. The recipe was titled "The World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies." Well the cookies are fine, but I definitely don't consider them to be the best. The recipe called for some oats, and I found out (after eating one) that although I like oatmeal cookies, I prefer my chocolate chip cookies not to have oats in them. Live and learn! In the future I'll just stick with the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips.

I'm very grateful for our sweet little boy, and I'm very grateful that 8 family members are coming to celebrate with us (my parents will be spending 7 hours in the car today driving to and from our house). It should be a very special day!!!