Saturday night we celebrated Brody's 1st birthday with a dog themed paw-ty surrounded by family and friends. It was a wonderful evening and I'm so happy with how everything turned out... especially since I've been planning since I was pregnant. (No judging.)
A huge thank you to Mama Z for all of her help with food preparation and making sure the entire party ran smoothly. Couldn't have pulled it off without her.
My initial thought was to create a pennant banner across the room with my favorite pictures of Brody spanning the entire year. As I went to hang them up, I realized I had, well... a lot. So they took over the entire perimeter of the room. Oh well. :)
Yes, that's puppy chow... in a puppy dish... on puppy paper. The adorableness is overwhelming.
I took a picture every month of Brody in the nursery rocker wearing a white onesie. I'm so pleased with how this turned out. For a better view, click here.
And no puppy paw-ty is complete with fire hydrants, so I made 3 of these little guys. Super cheap and easy to make... oatmeal canister, cheap Dollar Store bowl, pop bottle lid, floral arrangement foam cylinder (cut in half), egg carton, cardboard and red spay paint. I used skewers poked all the way through hold on the foam and glued the rest. Pretty self explanatory.
We feasted on salad, garlic toast, spaghetti and meatballs, and...
...dog bones. Adorable, little dog bone breadsticks. Gaaaaah. Pillsbury breadsticks rolled out and the ends tied in knots. Had to do it.
We went all out on the desserts (of course). The main puppy cake was made out of two heart shaped cakes (one white cake, one black magic) and the tongue is a biscotti cookie (the kind they serve you on airplanes).
Then we carved a tiny smash cake for Brody out of one circle black magic cake. Gaaaahhh. I die.
There were also pupcakes up for grabs. The paw pieces were made from a chocolate sugar cookie recipe and punched out from this cookie cutter. The bones were a classic sugar cookie recipe brushed with a powdered sugar frosting.
At this point, Brody was on his fourth cake of the week, so I was a little nervous that he was going to look at it and hurl. He didn't go quite as balls out as I would've hoped, but he loved it and it was perfect.
Had to show him how it was done... right?
Mmm, chocolate kisses. Or licks. Whatever.
Brody was showered with the most awesome gifts from such an amazing group of people. A huge thank you to my parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends for showing so much love and support on such a special day. Minus the fact that we were missing just a few of my favorite people, the day was so perfect. Thank you all!
I've been working on this busy box for Brody for several months now. He seemed to love it! ♥ A step-by-step tutorial will be on the blog later this week.
Future Ferris Bulldog and lovin' the bat mobile from Grandma and Grandpa Z.
Both Brody and Zora are huge fans of this new car... already had to fish the loose pieces out of Zora's mouth. Oh pup.
Thanks Aunt Z for the cool puppy hat and new truck! Mama loves pushing him in circles around the basement over and over and over and over and... ;)
Other than our one playdate with cousin Jack, Brody hasn't been exposed to other lil ones. Friends Sarah and Josh and their son Asa joined the celebration and Brody was fascinated with this other small person running around. I can't wait to have future playdates!
Thanks again for all the birthday wishes, wonderful gifts and the support and celebration as we look back on an incredible year for such a precious little boy.
Read my open letter to Lil Man here.
