The Birthday Post, Part I: The Brown Bear Boy

In an effort to play catch-up on the blog, I wanted to honor all the people in my family who've celebrated birthdays recently.  What's kind of amazing is that there are three very important women in my life--my mother, one of my younger sisters, and my daughter-in-law Regina (the wife of son #1)--who were all born on Sept. 30.  They are three extraordinary dark-haired beauties--beautiful both inside and out.  Then there's our precious grandson G-Man, who turned one on Oct. 5. 

I was going to write one long Birthday Post today, but instead I thought I'd make it a two-parter.  (You people have lives, I know!)  So here's Part I, dedicated to the "Brown Bear Boy"; and tomorrow comes Part II: "Beautiful Brunettes"!

I'm going to give you mostly pictures, because G-Man's mommy, Preciosa, said it best in this beautifully written, ineffably touching tribute she posted on her Facebook page on Monday night, in honor of her son's first birthday:

October 5, 2014: The day this sweet face entered this world and turned a couple of newlyweds (married just 10 short months) into parents. There are so many words I could use to describe this year, but the one that stands out the most is gratitude. Gratitude for this life, that I did nothing to deserve, but was gifted to me by a God, whom I could never repay. Gratitude for stretching me to love until it hurts; stretching me to love someone more purely than I have ever been cap...able of loving anyone before. Gratitude for the tough lessons learned and the late sleepless nights that so many would-be parents wish they could have with a child of their own but for one reason or another, are not able to have. Gratitude for the ways my life has been put into perspective, because nothing else matters when you are worried about the health and well being of your sweet baby. Gratitude for the father I have been able to watch my husband develop into; who works tirelessly as a hands on dad, who is so quick to lighten my load when my days seems endless or overwhelming. Lastly, gratitude for the village it takes to raise a child, and the amazing parents we have been blessed with who have done everything in their power to be active and self sacrificing grandparents to love on this new soul. Our cups runneth over.

While you grab a hanky, dab at your eyes, and remind yourself of how precious your own children are to you, I'll continue on here with a photo montage from the little guy's birthday extravaganza, a Brown Bear-themed party (because Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is his all-time favorite read-aloud book).  The celebration came a few days before his actual birthday, so that both sets of grandparents could travel to VA to attend it.

G-Man's other grandmother, known as NuNu, thought of every possible bell and whistle that was needed to make this affair the birthday party to beat all birthday parties.  It was because of her efforts that the community center where it was held looked like this, once it was all set up and we were waiting for G-Man's guests to arrive.  (If she decides to start a party planning business, she'll be a smashing success.)

NuNu made the sugar cookie party favors, decorated with fondant

animal toppers from Etsy--and they looked just like the animals in the book!

Grammy was asked to make a personal-sized round "smash cake" for G-Man to attack and a large sheet cake for the rest of the guests; to top them off, NuNu had ordered custom-made fondant Brown Bears and lettering from Etsy, so that the sheet cake looked just like a page from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

See that Brown Bear material used as a tablecloth here?  NuNu managed

to find that online, too--and G-Man was utterly taken with it.  He kept
crawling over to it and trying to touch it.

There were chocolate Teddy Grahams and goldfish crackers
 (because, you know, in the book, Brown Bear sees a goldfish looking at him--
among other things). There were also fuzzy teddy bear ears for the
little ones to wear, handmade by NuNu.

G-Man's mommy decorated his high chair.

She also custom-made the two t-shirts he wore at his party, one before the cake eating, and one after.

The birthday boy liked his "smash cake," but was a little hesitant to really dig into it.  At first, he kept looking at his mom as if to say, "I don't know about this.  Is it okay if I eat this?"

But with a little encouragement, he got over it and proved that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, when it comes to yellow cake with buttercream frosting.

My favorite part of the whole event was watching our middle son read from his little boy's favorite Brown Bear books, with G-Man on his lap and the other little partygoers gathered around him in a circle.

The wee man of the hour had both sets of doting grandparents on hand to celebrate this milestone birthday.

Papi and NuNu.

Papa and Grammy.

How fortunate my husband and I are that we could be there to celebrate the first birthday of our "favorite grandson" (who shall remain the favorite until Papa and Grammy have more than one grandson!).  It was certainly a day to remember.

Stay tuned for Part II.