Maxwell's 1st Birthday Party!

With a busy summer, planning for Maxwell's birthday didn't really start until just a few days before the event. All we knew is that we were going to go with a "bubbles" theme. Bubbles won out over a nautical theme(over it), puppy theme, and definitely a clown theme. I think everyone agrees that clowns are a bit scary. A few days before his party, we went to Virginia BBQ in Carrolton to taste their menu, their ENTIRE menu. They were really nice and gave us a sample of everything they had. Elyce and I sat there trying the different types of pulled pork. Trying to see which BBQ sauce tasted best with which type of BBQ. It was all good. Unfortunately we couldn't take everything, so we picked what we thought most people would like, ordered enough for 25 adults and checked that off the list!

 A few days before the party, Elyce worked on some decorations while I rearranged furniture in the family room to provide room for all the kids to run and play. We came up with an idea to have an inflatable swimming pool filled with plastic balls for the kids to play in. Elyce ordered the pool and balls from Amazon and when it came in, I inflated it in the family room. The first one we ordered was a bit too big. By the time we put the 200 plastic balls in the huge 8 foot plus pool, it looked more like balls on a pool table rather than the Chuck-E-Cheese ball pit we were hoping for. So we ordered a smaller pool and a lot more balls!

The night before the party, some family and friends arrived in town and helped decorate the house and get things together. Elyce's cousin, Tasha, even stopped by for a few hours, driving all the way from Pennsylvania! She and her children helped come up with some last minute ideas, blew up some balloons, and had dinner with us before driving back to Pennsylvania.

 The day of the party was great! All of the party ideas went off without a hitch. Bubbles were flowing on the front porch from the automatic bubble maker. The ball-filled inflatable pool was full and ready for the kids. The catered BBQ was hot and ready to go. Balloons were everywhere and provided just the right amount of "bubble-ness" we were looking for. The kids laughed and played together like they've know each other for years. Maxwell had such a good time. He laughed so much and tried his best to keep up with the older children. The best part of the party was singing happy birthday to Maxwell as we gave him his first piece of birthday cake! He was a little apprehensive at first and wouldn't allow Elyce to feed him any of the cake. But once he tasted the sweet green and blue frosting, his quickly began to go for more! He eventually was grabbing cake by the fistful and trying to eat as much cake and frosting as his little cheeks could hold. He even tried to eat the paper plate the cake was on! Everyone was waiting with cameras aimed to see what his reaction would be to his first piece of cake. And little Maxwell did not disappoint. He loved it. We loved it!

 Maxwell may not ever remember the day we all celebrated his first year of life. But, when he gets older, what I hope he sees in the pictures and videos is that he was surrounded by family and friends that loved him.

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

A special thank you to Uncle Fred Woodson, for taking so many great photos and putting together the video in this post.

Maxwell's Baptism and Dedication