Wilder's First Birthday Party

THE RAVENNA HOUSE Somehow Wilder is one. I asked him to stay a baby forever, but he didn't listen to his mama. The little stinker!

We celebrated with a party at the Ravenna House. Since Wilder loves animals - the wilder the better (hehe, get it?) - I stuck with an animal/circus theme for the event. I sent out these amazing Rifle Co invites and everyone came: grandmas and grandpas, aunties and uncles, cousins and friends, godfathers and godmothers.

The house was decorated with balloons, fresh flowers, pendent flags, and raisin-carrying-wild-animal figurines. For dinner, we served the closest thing to non-fried circus food we could think of: brautwursts (from our favorite sausage company). We paired them with gramma's baked beans, gourmet popcorn, broccoli salad and beer-on-tap. And sometime towards the end of the party, Wilder "blew-out" a candle on a homemade apple-spice cake, the very same cake we made one year ago to celebrate his birth.

Most of the party was spent playing in the basement. Luckily, it was ready. Carpet came on Wednesday, we moved the couch down on Thursday, and Wilder littered it with toys on Friday. By Saturday afternoon, the stairwell was filled with balloons and guests.

Due to a camera snafu, I didn't end up with any photos of the actual event nor any of Wilder on his big day (that's my niece Winnie helping with the cake). But that's okay, I plan to recreate the cake-all-over-the-face moment as soon as Wilder recovers from a little cold he's picked up. In the meantime, you can expect photos of our freshly painted and carpeted basement on Friday...serious, this time.

Happy birthday kiddo! You may not be a baby anymore, but you'll always be my sweet baby boy (sniffle, sniffle).