June was born a year ago today! Yay! We celebrated last weekend with family, friends, and fried chicken, as one does.
Since the weather is so beautiful this time a year, an al fresco party at Garfield Park in South Pasadena was the order of the day. We reserved a gazebo a few months in advance and got to planning soon after.
With the exception of selecting the theme and purchasing candy for the piñata, the entire affair was executed by two amazing and talented friends: Esme and Sarah. Delegation without guilt is truly a Mom’s best friend.
Esme set the mood for the fête with the most adorable decorations ever, complete with centerpieces and table runners.
She also created a month-by-month photo montage that gave The Astronomer and me a major case of #thefeels. The days are long, but the years are short, as they say.
We couldn’t bear to get rid of this piece after the party, so the Very Hungry Caterpillar currently resides on the bookshelf in the living room. June gets a kick out of seeing so many pictures of herself.
Sarah made sure that all our guests were very well fed. The splendid spread included fried chicken a la Ad Hoc…
…little roast beef sandwiches on homemade potato rolls with made-from-scratch pickles…
…a trio of salads: Moroccan carrot, German potato, and red cabbage cole slaw…
…and cheese, so much good cheese. June was a big fan of the smoked gouda…
…and last but not least, carrot cake! One for guests to enjoy, and one for June to do as she pleased.
June was more interested in cream cheese frosting than actual cake, kind of like her mother.
Things went well enough until she smothered her eyeball in icing. First came tears, then came a breakdown, and then a nap.
Happy birthday, June. You’re my girl.
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Stats: 19 pounds, 2 feet 6 inches, 2 teeth (and 3 on the way)
Favorite foods: smoked salmon, shrimp, avocado, beans, bananas, pears, whatever Mom and Dad are eating
Favorite toys: books, puzzles, rubber duckies, Elmo, anything with little details to discover
Favorite books: The Little Dump Truck, Baby Animals of the Southwest, errythang Spot, eerythang Jane Cabrera
Loves: Standing, climbing, crawling, toes (a.k.a. “tootsies), head-butting, being sung to, the outdoors
Loathes: Diaper changes, being “fussed” with for cleaning purposes, barettes
Happy birthday, Junie! So sorry to have missed this!!! It seems like it was a wonderful and delicious time 🙂
Happy Birthday, June!!! It looks like it was such a fun party – ditto exactly what Misty said! I love that one of her favorite foods is smoked salmon. That’s amazing. 🙂
Aloha Gastronomer,
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY JUNE!!!!!
She is a beautiful child.
My departed wife was a Kindergarten, First and Second Grade teacher for 37 years plus my aunt was a PhD Professor of Child Psychology and as such I was exposed to a lots of educational values bring up children as well as acting as pseudo father bringing up and nurturing two different young ladies from birth to intellectual college adulthood.
I have no idea what resources you have in Pasadena, CA but back on the East Coast two of my wife’s and mine resources specializing in baby to children to young adult books are:
Eight Cousins Book Store: http://www.eightcousins.com/ Located 189 Main St Falmouth, MA 02540 • 508.548.5548 • books@eightcousins.com They have a lot of soft stuffed dolls or puppets of characters from children’s books to bring the books to life as you are reading. They are very good with internet ordering.
New England Mobile Book Fair: http://www.nebookfair.com/ Located 82 Needham Street
Newton Highlands, MA 02461 • 617-964-7440 • 617-527-5817 • customerservice@nebookfair.com
This is the granddaddy of all book stores as this place is impressively massive and to visit this book store is an all-day into the night adventure. The children’s books section is unbelievable massive in size! Teachers and School Departments use it as a resource center. Also if you love to cook, you will find their culinary arts book department huge with cookbooks on all types of worldwide cuisine and techniques by multiple authors. They are very good with internet ordering.
On your next travels back to the East Coast FYI The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art: http://www.carlemuseum.org/ and Dr. Seuss Museum: http://springfieldmuseums.org/ both are a must visit with June.
Happy Birthday, baby June! (I love Garfield Park!)
awww, she’s adorable!!!
Happiest of birthday to you baby June!
wow, how did I even miss her arrival? I am seriously behind the times, what a beautiful little girl you have, congratulations to you all!
On behalf of June: THANK YOU for the warm birthday wishes, everyone!