Liam's Carnival

If you haven't read about the making of Liam's Carnival you can do so here.

So...
The party was scheduled for 3:30 pm on Saturday.  Liam's guests started arriving right around that time, some even came before and helped out with last minute preparations.

About 20 minutes into the party, Liam was walking happily around the house when he fell flat on his face nose.  He smacked it very hard and started screaming immediately.  At first I thought he was fine, but as I pulled him off the ground his nose started bleeding pretty heavily.  This was Liam's first real injury and the first time I've ever seen him bleed, so I was concerned.  He cried a lot, but was able to be calmed down after about fifteen minutes.  Blood was all over the shirt that he was supposed to wear the next day for his one year photo shoot.  My white shirt was also tinged with his blood as he cried on my shoulder.  Out of all the times he's walked around this place and fallen, of course on this day he fell hard enough to injure himself!  Poor little guy!  Once we all got cleaned up and calmed down the evening went perfectly as planned.

Food was served immediately and throughout the whole party since most of it was in crock pots to keep it warm.  People were able to snack when they wanted to throughout the afternoon.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the tattoos were a major hit.  Liam had a truck on his bicep while myself and sister sported some flowers on our wrists.

Kids got a nice lookin' bicep, huh?

Other than gathering everyone together to sing happy birthday to Liam, eat cake, and open presents the party was an open book.  Guests were able to come inside as they pleased or engage in many of the activities outdoors.  

                                       

When it came time for cake we stripped Liam down.  As soon as he was naked he got so excited he made this face...

Well, maybe not because he was naked.  Maybe it was because he saw the cake?!

As we sang happy birthday for Liam, the look on his face may be my favorite memory from the party.  It was a look of wonder and confusion as he watched everyone gather around him and sing to him.  Too adorable.

Liam probably would have eaten more of his cake if we hadn't taken it away.  I wouldn't say he destroyed the thing, but he did find it very tasty.  We hadn't given him much sweets in the months prior, so I do believe he had a bit of a sugar rush afterwards.  But I have to say he slept well the next morning!

As we opened gifts I found myself opening the majority of them as Liam was more interested in the people around him.  He received so many nice gifts, we were overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of our family and friends.  Liam is still learning how to play with some of the toys, but loves to bang them around if anything!  

Liam's gift from his Mama and Daddy was a trunk/toy chest that I bought at Michaels and painted.  The top is chalkboard paint, which I thought would be fun for him when he is old enough to enjoy it.  I wish for him to  pass the chest down to his children.  We wrote a little message on the inside for him to remember that this was his 1st birthday gift from his parents.  I hope he thinks of us every time he looks at it.  

  

The party ended for Liam at about 8:00 pm which is his normal bedtime.  Some guests stuck around for awhile longer and helped us clean up.  It was a long day, but definitely an exciting one!    

We want to thank everyone for their help, support, encouragement, and love through Liam's first year of his life.  The three of us are very lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.  Here's to many more years of happiness and health for Liam!