Ryan's First Birthday!

Ryan's first birthday was a mix of ups and downs. On the up side, we had an opportunity to have some family over to celebrate Ryan's day. On the down side, Ryan is STILL sick, and was having a particularly rough day (feverish and coughing). We also had some guests who couldn't attend due to illness. I guess it's that time of year. Still, we decorated with balloons and banners, catered in some good food, and had a cupcake cake and gifts for Ryan's birthday.

Ryan relaxing in his swing before the party--and he actually looks happy!

After family started to arrive, the kids went downstairs to play. Kevin was having fun on my old exercise glider.

Andrea was playing with Daddy's mini putting green.

Brigitte was hard at work drawing pictures of Andrea and Kevin as they played.

Andrea wanted to model her new jean skirt and colourful tights from Grama Marty.

Later, when the kids came back upstairs, Kevin and Papa had some fun rolling his favourite truck back and forth.

Papa sent one across with an empty beer bottle. It kind of looked like a missile launcher!

Andrea was playing monkey-in-the-middle with the balloons.

We got pasta, salad, and bruschetta from Koolini's for dinner. It was so good, but we ordered way too much!

Ryan's cupcake cake

When we lit the candle and sang Happy Birthday, Ryan didn't look impressed.

He was more interested in looking to see what Daddy was doing: "Why are you singing?"

Ryan's first cake experience was a disappointment. He was miserable, not feeling well, and totally uninterested in his cupcake. He kept dumping it off the plate, but he barely touched it.

He did, however, appear fascinated with the plate. He kept bending it and scratching it. (?)

What is that? Do I actually spy a SMILE? :)

He put a couple of fingers in to test the texture of Gram's cheesecake, but eventually went for the plate again. When we tried to feed him some, he got mad. :(

Present time didn't go much better. Andrea and Daddy opened most of the gifts, while Ryan cried.

He liked the little car from Grama Marty, but look at this sad/sick expression. :(

We noticed he kept watching the football game that was on TV. I'm sure next year he'll be more interested in presents than TV!

Kevin helped with the presents, too, while Brigitte and Izzy looked on.

Each of the kids got a goodie bag after Ryan opened his presents. Kevin was loving his candy necklace.

Ryan cheered up a bit when we let him have his party blower. He liked the sparkly tinsel on the end of it.

It took Kevin a few tries to get the proper technique, but look at the extension on that party blower!

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Overall, I would say our guests had a good time, but Ryan had a pretty miserable and sick birthday, poor little baby. I hope his 2nd birthday is a much healthier and happier event!