Mike, Van's multi-talented architect father designed the invite...
And his crafty momma made the bunting and the tissue paper poofs...
He is the cutest freaking kid in the whole wide world.
Mike never does anything half-assed. He grilled the burgers, slapped on some cheese, toasted the buns, grilled the pineapple- so that we could all have delicious teriyaki burgers- just like at Red Robin. OMG. They were so good.
Loo-loo and I picked up some balloons...
Van and his poppa.
I based the cake design on the invite- super easy. It was lemon cake with cream cheese frosting. Only the best for my only nephew! I was going to make the yellow dots with fondant, but I freaking hate fondant- it's gross and expensive and I hate peeling it off so you can eat the cake. So I used the Wilton candy melts- perfect.
And do you see the cute "1" tee shirt that matches his party hat? Yeah, Nan made those too.
After picking the "1" candle off the top, he licked it to see what it was...
Then he decided it would be fun to smack it. Pat-a-cake. At this point, Loo-loo decided to start chanting "Van! Van! Van!" It was so funny!
He was picking the candy dots off the top and eating them before he would "dig in". So we took them off because we wanted the destruction to begin!
"Why is everybody watching me? And laughing?"
"NOM!"
He did an excellent job.
The cupcakes for everyone else. Lemondrop with cream cheese frosting. I will post the recipe, uh, soon-ish?
Rinse-off.
Ok, time for presents!
He kills me.
Loo-loo brought along her camera too- so here are her shots...
Yellow!
Balloons!
Banner!
Sandy!
Cheese!
Hamburger!
Watermelon!
Cheese!
Presents!
Pineapple! Uh, yeah. Sometimes her aim is low.
Phillip!
Alexa!
Van and Jessica!
Cake!
Jessica!! i miss you! i haven't read your blog in a while so i had some catch up....is it bad that it took your blog post of van's bday for me to realize how perfect it was? i HATE that i stress out about things! arg...MUST learn ways to prevent. i seriously teared up with this one, THANK YOU for being there!! and for being the best auntie ever. every night van grabs his monkey and squeezes his ears and touches his eyes...and then throws him! he throws everything though so i know he loves it! thank you for painting mike and i as very amazing talented people! it made me feel special. you are RAD and i love you! please post the recipe for those cupcakes...i know people will never get sick of vanilla bean, but i'd like to seem even more amazing by making another jessica creation and pretending like its mine!
ReplyDeleteI always need space and time to step back and realize all those little things I was so stressed about didn't even matter. I'm always surprised and like "WOW!" So I feel ya!
ReplyDeleteI know- I need to post that recipe. But I need to make it again, so I can take photos again- the first ones didn't turn out and I'm minus a lens so it might be awhile! Mmm those were so good!
I MISS YOU TOO!!! Love you!