Bentley's First Birthday Party!

This past weekend we celebrated Bentley's first birthday! His actual birthday isn't until Halloween, but we decided to shake it up a little for his first birthday and not do a halloween themed party for him. We had a wonderful "Ball and Balloon Party" - which kid doesn't like balls and balloons! We will do a little (just our little family of 4) birthday for him on Halloween. Both of our boys were just in heaven!

Bentley woke up from his nap and was thrilled with all the balloons all over the place!



And Carter, well he just made himself comfortable!



I have been envisioning Bentleys Ball and Balloon party for a little while now.. I love doing the kids birthday parties.. making all the stuff... its actually kind of relaxing for me to make everything. I let out my creative side and away I go!



This time, I made homemade cream cheese icing for the top of the cupcakes! YUM!





Grapes on a stick! They were a total hit!



And goodness me.. these marshmallows dipped in coloured (white) chocolate... we so good and so easy! I think Ill make them just for myself one evening!



And so much more fun stuff!











I did a 12 month birthday "banner" like I did for Carter's first Birthday.. Its crazy to see how much he changed every month!







Before the party was mayhem at our house.. it was crunch time to get the kids dressed, the decorations out and the toys in the basement before everyone came but we did it and it looked great. We put the balls in the homemade ball pit and both boys went at it!











I love how much Bentley loved his birthday party. He was in such good spirits the entire time.. playing, exploring, giving friends and family birthday cuddles. He seriously is a dream baby. He even showed us his new skills when he took a few steps between his Grandpa and Daddy!



I think everyone else enjoyed themselves too.







Bentley and I had the task of opening presents. He didn't really understand what to do but was a good sport sitting with me and he was really interested in what was in every bag!





He was spoiled! He got so many cute and fun gifts. Thank you so much to everyone who came, you made the day so special!

Next was the cake. My favourite part at a one-year olds birthday party! This was actually the first time Bentley ever had cake. And judging by the experience and poof in the pictures.. I think you can tell he LOVED it!



He wasn't really sure at first how to approach it.. so this is what he did..





but when that wasn't getting him very far, he decided enough was enough and he just dove right in!







Then of course.. big brother Carter had to get in on the yummy cake action!





Bentley even took it upon himself to share his cake with Grandpa.. how generous of you Bentley.. and how brave of you Grandpa!



By the end, he was a total disaster and loving every minute of it! What a little stink!









After the cake everyone was on their way and I was informed that our basement.. former play room... was completely destroyed by a couple of the bigger kids... including Carter. It was bad! This bad...



Yah.. that was spotless before the party.. but the worst part (if you look closely) is that ALL my storage bins filled with clothes.. my scrapbooking.. EVERYTHING was dumped out! I was actually really upset.. ok totally mad! The kids blamed it all on Carter... my thoughts.. for sure he did it.. but Im sure he had some helpers. There is no way he could have done that all by himself... those bins were filled to the top and Heavy! We decided to leave the mess for the night and then spent a whopping 7 hours after church on Sunday and cleaned it all up! The good news... my house looks amazing! And the basement is totally cleaned, dejunked, and organized! I guess theres good in everything that happens!

My sweet sweet Bentley, I love you so much. I love your laugh, your smile, your cuddles.. even your little stink faces when your upset. I loved celebrating your birthday party with you and can't believe that in one a few more days you will be ONE! You are my angel, sent to me for a perfect reason. You will always be mine and I will always be yours.



Love you Stink!