The 1st of my last...

...and the last of my" firsts".

Last of my first baby cries. 

Last of my first baby smiles

Last first crawl,  first steps

And last of my First Birthday Parties for my babies.

 

It started slowly.  As Saturdays go around here.  The kids had to sort the laundry before Mark could open gifts.   They were slow as usual.    If you can imagine how slow that was, Mark opening gifts was slower.  All of these were 95% opened by siblings while Mark ran away, played with another toy,  or clung to mom.

I think he's afraid of gift wrapping, bows, ribbons and tissue paper. This is the only photo we have of him touch the wrapping paper.  And Alex tore the piece up for him to start with.  (Emily was the photographer)

Grant spent the morning making the last of the 24 pumpkin pies.   We didn't expect a big turnout, but wanted to drop pies by our friends who have done so much for us over the last 1+ year.   In our old Bosch fits 1/2 a #10 can of pumpkin, 1/2 a #10 can of evaporated milk, and all the other stuff needed to make 5 pies at a time.

Doesn't that look so professional?   Or mouthwatering?  Or do you like them cooked first?

At 1:30 we had the car all packed up and ready to go.  We were blessed with an offsite party.  This is our awesome host.  She cleaned her house and let us have the party there.  The amount of sanity and health it saved me was priceless. 

  

See how relaxed she is on the couch?  It's because she's not the birthday mom and the home owner!  THANK YOU LISE!     In the front is Mark in his new sweatshirt given to him by Aiden, on the left.   Now...  On to the best part about a first birthday.....

We had the party from 2-4pm  Five other families came to share the joy.  Mark started his pie, as stated on the invites, promptly at 2:30.

Mark did a great job of being a neat eater. (compared to previous siblings)  Really, really neat...so we didn't have as many enjoyable pictures or moments.  That's probably good for the blog!  In fact, the bored kids asked to have their own pie a few minutes after Mark started.

I forget that not all of you know that Mark is allergic to wheat.  We found out over the holidays that pumpkin pie and whipped cream don't give him bad reactions. 

  

So Mark's birthday "cake" was a square of crustless pumpkin pie , covered in whipped cream.  By the time we sang and Grant blew out the candle (which Mark was grabbing at), the cream had  melted off.

After 20 minutes, Mark was done.  Can you tell which of his thighs got two birthday shots the day before?

The last two gifts at the party were the best he opened.  Both were in simple bags, with NO tissue paper.  So Mark could see the gift and he happily pulled them out.   No tears! 

So Mark is my best last baby.  Cleanest eater.   And most afraid of opening gifts.  Happy first year Mark!  You made it past a year! We made it thru the year! 

We

all

made

it

thru

alive

 

(oh... he got his shots in his left thigh, which looks to be on the right of the photo.  Talk about chunky thighs!)