Nathaniel's First Birthday!

Yesterday was Nathaniel's first birthday.  It's such a cliche, but I can't believe how fast his first year has gone, and that he is already considered a toddler and not a baby.  He is still a baby to me!

Jeff and Jane came up to help us celebrate Nathaniel's actual birthday, and it was nice to have them here to make the day special for Nathaniel.  Nathaniel enjoyed some time playing with Grandma and Grandpa during the morning while the girls were in school.

I made Nathaniel a chocolate cake mix cake in a 9x13 inch pan, and then cut it into the shape of a one.  I had a terrible time crumb coating the cake, but then froze it and got another clean layer of white frosting on top.  Megan picked out the sprinkle color, and she chose blue.  I figured it was because Nathaniel is a boy, and blue is a boy color, but Megan later told me that she picked blue because of Elsa.  So Nathaniel also had an Elsa cake, apparently.  He did NOT want to wear the birthday hat.

Jeff and Jane brought up a few presents for Nathaniel, and the girls enthusiastically opened them all for him.  I tried to let him open one present, but he really wasn't interested in the paper.  He just wanted to play with the toys.

I know he will really enjoy this road map quilt that Grandma made for him!  Right now he is more interested in exploring the wheels of the cars and trucks that he also got, but it won't be long before he figures out how to make them zoom along the roads on the quilt.  The girls played with the push and zoom trucks in our hallway for quite a while.

Megan picked out this blue bouncy ball for Nathaniel.  He really likes balls and he has played with it a few times already.  Jane pointed out that it was Elsa blue also, but I don't think Megan chose it for that reason, because at first she had wanted a pink one, but I vetoed that, and then a green one, but the store was out of green, so she settled on blue.

Following our birthday dinner tradition, I made his favorite dinner which included hot dogs, green beans, and grapes.  We also had mini tater tots, which he'd never had before, but he seemed to enjoy them.  I never know what Nathaniel is going to decide to eat, but he ate some of everything he had for dinner.  He pretty much only likes hot dogs, grilled cheese, peas, carrots, green beans, bread, crackers and most fruits.  So there wasn't a lot to pick from when planning his dinner.

We sang Happy Birthday, and then the girls helped him blow out his candle.  Nathaniel didn't mind letting the girls help.

And then Nathaniel got to eat a piece of his cake.  At first, he delicately picked the blue sprinkles off and ate them, but then he decided that the frosting was delicious, and soon he was shoveling entire handfuls of cake into his mouth.  He actually didn't get his face too messy, but his hands and his shirt were a different story.

We are going to have another little celebration in Glenview next week around Thanksgiving.