Jonas's birthday party

I seriously can't believe that I am already planning and executing Jonas's first birthday party. Those first few months I wondered if he or I would survive a year. I totally think a child's first birthday party is more a celebration for the mom to mark a year of survival than the child! It has been the most transitional, ever-changing year of my life, but I wouldn't trade it for any treasure in this life or the next! Jonas has brought so much joy into everyone's life. He has unified this family in a way I never imagined possible. He has granted us unconditional love and trust. Our lives are forever changed because of him. We can't imagine our family without him in it. To celebrate, I planned a "Little Red Wagon" themed party. Originally, I had planned to actually buy him a little red wagon, but my practical side won out and I wasn't sure how much use it would get so I opted to gift him a little wooden wagon full of wooden alphabet blocks. Sorry Jonas! You have an uber practical mom. Still, I loved the theme. I had a banner, balloons, and a red wagon train of pictures marking each month of his life. How much he has changed! There weren't any crazy party games or tons of kids. It was just family, which was just fine with me. We all enjoyed a yummy lunch with watermelon, veggies, chips, and various slider sandwiches.

Afterwards, Jonas opened his gifts. He still hasn't quite grasped the technique of opening presents so I helped him out a little. It was funny because with each present, he was simply content to play with that gift and gave no thought to the other unwrapped presents.

His face says it all! Presents are great!

Finally we got all the gifts opened and moved on to the classic cake smash. We stripped him down to his diaper because we knew this was going to be a messy endeavor...and it was! But not for the reasons I would have thought. He did not like the icing! As soon as he touched it, he wanted nothing to do with it. He desperately tried to get it off his hands, which meant he wiped it all over his stomach and face. I tried to help him get down to the actual cake to taste it, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He just kept fussing and giving me this look of, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Ultimately, I relented and saved him from his cake, but there are some pretty funny pictures documenting it. Silly boy! All in all, it was a great party. I can't believe my little baby is turning 1! Here is to many, many more years of joy with this little guy!

His little red wagon smash cake.

"No Mommy! Don't make me!"

The wagon wheel topped cupcakes for everyone else.

**Just as a side note, that evening Dallin invited some friends over to play 007 or Fugitive. Basically, we dropped the kids off at one location and they had a certain time frame to get back to our house. Nichole and I then drove around trying to spot them. We actually caught four of the kids. Only four made it back to the house without being spotted. The other two lost simply because they didn't make it back in the time frame they needed to. They had a blast. I was exhausted (because it was 11:00 before we finished!), but I think I won a few "mom points" on that one.