we had a WHALE of a time...

sunday, the 18th was james' actual birthday party. i posted the invitation in a previous post. he had a small celebration with just mr. h and myself on his actual birthday and another one with family. i think he's loving all the attention cake. but back to the whale party. i think the party came together just how i imagined. bright, colorful balloons (like 90 of them!) were set out to greet the guests - that is until they popped in the heat - along with dozens of beach balls, a giant whale was floating fun in the pool accompanied by every cute whale i could find.  july around here tends to be pretty hot but people we had a heat wave!! so temperatures with the heat index felt like 115! this is oklahoma where we get a heat wave and a side of humidity. fortunately we were generously offered a pool to cool down and celebrate my little squirt. james even had his own whale pool so he could tolerate the heat in style.

i have a ton (TON!!) of pictures i'd love to post but i'll just post a few of my favorites.

birthday boy!

stinker face!

james' personal VIP whale pool and whale squirts

if you know me, you know i love sweets.  if you saw my birthday cupcake post, you know that my boy loves sweets too.  i was SO excited for his smash cake i thought that we'd set it down and he would go-to-town.  i envisioned cake flying and a happy baby clappy and squeeling with delight.  i was wrong. 

pre-cake pose

ready...set...GO!

fumble!!

we all gathered around to sing happy birthday, per my request, and james looked scared.  or shocked. or scared and shocked.  as soon as we finished and people clapped - he just lost it.  through his tears he tried to crawl to me and kicked the cake over.  then the real melt down began as captured in the image above.  of course i couldn't just stand by so i leaped to his side and tried to make it all better.

it worked!  mommy and daddy know how to calm this kid down.  good thing he didn't realize that all the smiles, laughs and chuckles were at his expense.  it was so sad but so incredibly cute all at the same time.  finally he ate cake.  yummy cake.

the before:

and after:

after being covered in cake, it was time to cool down in the pool.  yes, both of us were covered in cake and both were in much need of "bath".  since the formal part of the birthday party was over, we could swim, relax and enjoy the company of our guests.  our friends and family are so generous.  auntie beebs (aka sugar momma from this point forward) made all the sugars, the hancocks opened their house and pool without hesitation and andrea came to capture these priceless moments from behind her lens.  (she posted several collage pictures that really show off the details that made the whale theme a success.)  i'm so grateful that so many family members and friends were able to endure the heat and celebrate james first year of life with us.  we're one lucky family. 

happy first birthday james p. sunshine!  you make me happier every single day.  i feel so honored to be your momma and be able to raise you around so much love and support.  my wheels are already spinning for your big boy 2nd birthday shindig.  happy first birthday!