The Birthday Post

Almost one month later, I've finally gotten around to posting the post of all posts, the post you've all been waiting for--THE BIRTHDAY POST. We had quite the big b-day bash for our little guy. And since we all know that I can be a bit wordy, I thought I'd break down the festivities in an easy to read, precise (and brief--well brief for me) fashion. So, here's the break-down of the b-day bash:

The guest of honor:
William Grant Madsen

The guests:
Nate, Amy, Beth and Sam Madsen (our favorite Vermonters)
Jane Madsen (Will's twin aunt)
Josh & Jessy Madsen

The activities:

Friday Night: dinner at Five Guy's Burgers (best burgers in town) to celebrate the eve of Will's birth (this is where Josh and I ate the night before Will was born, so we thought it would be fitting to eat there on the eve of Will's b-day).

Saturday:
Breakfast: steel-cut oats with raspberries, blackberries and almonds. Will's favorite breakfast at the moment
Nap
Ball party at the church, including a ball obstacle course and a disco ball. Don't be jealous of the fun we had.
Lunch: sandwiches
Nap: everyone in the house (except Beth) took a nice afternoon nap. Nice work, everyone.
Sledding: Will still hates it. Even on his b-day.
Dinner: Meatballs. Will's absolute favorite: meat in the shape of a ball. It doesn't get better than that. B/c everyone took a nap it was a tad bit late and the kids ate quickly before the adults. After the kids went to bed, the adults had a nice, relaxing long dinner of yummy spaghetti & meatballs sans kids.
Cake: in the shape of a baseball since Will hearts ball. Freaked Will out. He eventually decided to eat the ice cream but wouldn't have much to do with the cake.

Now here are the photos, documenting the fun that was had by all. To ease your viewing process, I've broken the photos into three groups.

First group: the presents and the decorations:

Oh, he got a ball. Shocking. He also got: a boat ball toy from Grammy & Pompa, a tractor and a darling book (Toot and Puddle) from the Vermont Madsens, blocks, books, stacking cups and a music set from Mama and Dada. (And, of course, he got two original songs written and sung for him by Beth. See previous post for songs).

Here are the lovely decorations, complete with the Happy B-day sign hand crafted by moi (hey, sometimes I CAN be crafty). You don't get the full effect without seeing all the balloons dangling from the fan. It was quite the piece of work.

Here's really how the present opening went: Beth opening the presents for Will while Will sat by, clearly more interested in the removal of his sock.

I love this photo. Will and Beth (especially Beth) loooooved the decorations. (Will mostly was obsessed with the balloons, thinking that they were balls. We still have a few balloons lying around the house and they are his favorite toy by far).

Second group of photos: the ball obstacle course and disco ball:

Just a cute photo of the b-day boy.

And just a cute photo of cousin Sam.

Since Will is currently obsessed with placing balls down people's shirts, this was part of the obstacle course. Beth had to put on Josh's big t-shirt and then Will had to put all the balls down her shirt and then remove them. It was a crack-up.

Another obstacle course: Will had to put all the balls in the bucket.

Will chasing around the lights from the disco ball.

Another photo of the darling b-day boy.

Last set of photos: FOOD (dinner and THE CAKE).

Oh, how he loved those spaghetti and meatballs. We made so much that we had leftovers for a week and he loved them just as much every other day.

Here it is: the baseball cake. I know you are jealous of my culinary abilities. Mostly, though, Jane did the cake. Thanks, Jane. Somehow, I've managed to fail, yet again, to get a photo with Will and Jane.

I love the look on his face, as if he is thinking: What in the world do you want me to eat and why?

And that's all there is. Whoa, I'm tired just posting about it. A grand time was had by all and we want to give a big shout out to our out-of-town guests for taking the time to come to Will's first b-day! Happy b-day, Willy!

Oh, and if you didn't get enough, here's the video of Will getting his b-day cake.