Milk and Cookies

I MUSTACHE you a question!  

Would you like MILK with your COOKIES?

Watching a birthday slip past without a celebration is almost unforgivable!  And of course, the traditions of the 1^st birthday party run deep, so we had to make sure to mark this very special day with lots of fanfare and memories.  Finn will only be this age once.  We had a very memorable Milk and Cookies birthday party to mark the occasion.  It was a blast to put together, and even more fun to participate in.  So, sit back, and enjoy the pictures of our fabulous party!

Finn Ricker - Age ONE!

First off, let me share with you some of the party planning.  Britt and I both spent a lot of time on Pinterest and Etsy trying to find just the right details.  I even had Finn’s onesie special made just for the occasion!  I had the idea for the necktie, #1, and mustache, but I had to call upon a crafter I had ordered from before to make it happen.  Heather at Beach Bowtique made this one for me, and I am THRILLED at the way it turned out!  I got his leggings online at Etsy as well from Posh Pipsqueak.  The invitations (pictured above) were from Paper Clever, the milk bottle labels and table tent signs were from Baby Buns Designs, and the photo prop lips and mustaches as well as the high chair bunting banner were from The Party Penguin.  The party favor milk carton template is from Anders Ruff and while I am so happy with the way they turned out – THAT was a tedious process!  WHEW!  My mom deserves a SHOUT OUT for doing all the cutting.  I did all the folding and stuffing…  Britt was in charge of the milk bottles and straws, which he got from Jilly Bean Kids.  We just got a TJ Maxx in our town a few weeks ago, and we found the glass milk containers there.  And the cookies and cakes were from Food Pyramid! 

While we waited for the all the guests to finish arriving, we milled about and took TONS of fun photos using the lips and mustaches!  I think the older folks at the party thought I was nuts running around with these, but the kids and families all got a big kick out of it!  I know my kids had a BLAST with it!  (You will notice a lot of folks wearing their Finn’s Fans shirts from It’s a Preemie Thing at the party – that’s because we had our March of Dimes March for Babies earlier that day – where those shirts won a prize for best T-shirt design!)

Birthday Boy!

Emma

Jake

Lara

Mommy & Daddy (aka Betsey and Britt)

The Weavers

The Rickers

Silly Nana's!

After we were sure everyone was there, it was time to dig in to the milk and cookies!  We had candy, too.  Our favorite cookies – the fall leaves – were from Katy’s Pantry in Enid, and Finn’s grandparents brought them over with them for the day!  They are SO GOOD!  If you are ever in Enid, you HAVE to check them out!

Then, on to opening the presents.  Finn didn’t get into this activity too much.  He loved the cards that had pop-outs or played music, and his favorite thing to do was pull the brightly colored tissue paper out of the bags.  He got lots of great stuff – including diapers!  I have yet to have to buy a package of diapers for his entire life!  YAY!  From his dad and I, he got this GREAT little rocking chair from Toddle Rock.  Jake got a blue one for his 1^st birthday, so we had to carry on that tradition as well!

After all the present were opened and sufficiently ooh’d and ahh’d over, it was TIME.  Time to let the baby destroy his Smash Cake!  The cake was WAY MORE blue and orange that I thought it would be (I had wanted white icing with a little blue and orange – that got lost in the translation somewhere…), so Finn was stripped down to his diaper, set center stage, and commenced playing in his cake.  Very little actually made it to his mouth – he just started self-feeding a couple of weeks ago – be he sure had fun with the icing!

Afterwards, it was definitely bath time!  We hosed him down in the kitchen sink, put the bare minimum of clothing back on him, and let him rest for the remainder of the party.  It was a WONDERUFL event!  We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who came out to help make the day so special!  We ton TONS of pictures, and I can’t wait to show these to Finn some day when he will understand them better!

We had the party at my Sister-in-Love's house - the same place we had the gender reveal party last August.  A dear friend was at both events, and she still had a picture on her pohone from last year.  We made this little gem from that picture and one she took on saturday.  It's amazing to see how far we have come! (click on image to see it bigger)

Oh – the other thing we did on Saturday?  Finn’s one year portraits!  (Nothing like cramming it all in to a 10 hour day for a baby!)  Here are the sneak peeks of the AWESOME pumpkin patch themed photos taken by KassandraRitter.  SO PLEASED with the way they turned out!

So, here we are on the other side of a CRAZY year.  It has been quite a journey, and we are so blessed to have so many caring and loving people to share it with.  We are grateful for every meal, hour spent with the kids, plan assisted with, moment spent babysitting, piece of advice, helping hand and ESPECIALLY the prayers that have been shared with us over the past year.  It is simply astounding to think about all of the lives Sweet Baby Finn has touched in his short time here on this Earth.  We are so blessed to be chosen by God to be his parents, his sisters and his brother.  He is the final piece in the Six Dream Weavers puzzle, and he fits perfectly!