Sam's birthday

It's crazy to think that a year ago we brought home this little thing -

And now we have this big thing -

Yup, March 4th was Samuel's first birthday. It's kind of funny having a birthday for someone who doesn't really understand what a birthday is, but we had fun all the same. Sam and I were home alone the night before since Eric had Omniture Summit up in Salt Lake that day, so it wasn't too special during the day. I made him french fries for lunch because he loves them, and I would read to him whenever he wanted, and I sang Happy Birthday to him in place of his usual lullabies. Not exactly major concessions, but I wanted him to have a good day. We decided to only have a very small celebration for Sam since he's still a little wary of most people. So we had Grannie & Grandpa Hansen and Taylor and Ryan Lockwood (my sister and brother-in-law) come over for dinner. We made Chicken Fettucinne Alfredo for dinner because Sam thinks it's really funny to play with noodles. Also, have I mentioned that it's an AWESOME recipe? Oh yeah, like every other post since we discovered it. Well, we still love it and I don't feel bad about posting about it because it's not my culinary expertise (read: I don't have any culinary expertise) that makes it great, it's just a delicious recipe.

Taylor came over a little bit early to help me get the meal ready which was especially helpful since she was able to go pick up some ingredients for me as Eric still had the car in Salt Lake. Eric tried to get out of Salt Lake as soon as he could but ended up having to stay until the end of the closing ceremonies for Summit. Unfortunately that meant that he had to drive home while it was snowing AND rush hour. Not a fun way to have to make that commute. But he still made it home in pretty good time, all things considered. AND he beat his parents here, so he could still be a good host (it probably helped that they were also coming from Salt Lake and had to deal with the same conditions :P ).

Dinner turned out well and we enjoyed the people that we had here. After dinner was cleaned up Sam opened up his presents. Grannie and Grandpa had brought Sam Green Eggs and Ham (because it has Sam-I-am in it!) and a touch and feel farm book. Sam LOVES to read books, he spends most of the day trying to hand me books and get me to read them. He even likes to turn the pages on his own which I think is super cute. So the books were perfect. He loves to touch all the different textures in the Farm book too which makes it an even better sensory experience for him.

Eric and I got Sam a little toy bus to push around. Just before Christmas I'd decided that Sam was too young to play cars and decided against getting him any for Christmas. The day after I finished my Christmas shopping we were at a bridal shower and Sam started playing cars with another little boy there. Guess I was proved wrong! So, I'd been planning for awhile to get him a car for his birthday. What I didn't realize was that in addition to having little people inside this bus the people bounce as you push the bus, and you can push the driver to have it sing songs and light up! Score! The bus has been a big hit with him too.

Then of course came the most fun part of a first birthday party - the cake. Eric informed me before we got married that there is a tradition in the Hansen family of giving kids their own cake on their first birthday and letting them go to town with it. This seemed like an awesome tradition so we definitely wanted to keep with it for our family. Here are the results -

He started off eating with a spoon...

Then decided to ditch the spoon and eat with his hands. You can tell he's pleased by this decision because he's clapping.

Then his Aunt Taylor shoved his face into the cake (hence the large amount on his forehead. Surprisingly he thought this was the best part yet and kept insisting that she do it again

He really got into the whole cake eating thing at this point. Just dug right in face first

Our very happy birthday boy!

Thanks to everyone who helped make Sam's first birthday a wonderful day! We love you Sam! Thanks for being a part of our family :)