Andrew Turns One: The Recap

When your baby reaches their first birthday, celebrations are definitely in order. It is a milestone not only for the kiddo, but for the parents as well - especially when there is an older brother in the mix. Andrew recently turned one and we all put our best party shoes on to celebrate.

The celebration began the morning of March 25th with birthday presents, balloons and breakfast with big brother, James.

Our birthday friend made an appearance for Andrew donning a new t-shirt for the occasion. This guy joined our family back when James turned 1 and has become part of the Mangiaracina kiddo birthday tradition each year.

After a fun day at school where he donned the birthday hat, it was back home for birthday dinner and presents with Grandma and Grandpa Q. His favorite part of the night - the ice cream cake of course! The kid is now hooked. 

All in all, it was a great first birthday for our little guy. He got some great gifts and his first sugar rush making it stellar in his book. And the best part - it was not over. 

Fast forward 1 week and here we are at Andrew's 1st birthday party. Welcome to Andrew's 1st Froggie Party!

I would be lying if I told you that I tried to keep myself in check with this party. It's a sickness, what can I say. I can't help myself!!! Your second baby only turns 1 once! 

The frog them was in full force and was a BIG hit with the birthday boy.

We hosted the event at the neighborhood rec center room because our itty bitty townhouse is still too itty bitty to handle a party of this magnitude. After a very quick set-up thanks to my super-star party team (you know who you are!), we were ready to roll. Andrew was greeted by family and friends who were all there to celebrate his big day. Lunch was served, cookies were decorated and wine was consumed! I'd say that equals party success.

And in keeping with first birthday tradition, Andrew was treated to his own birthday smash cake. We moved the party outside to partake in this fun and messy milestone!

Does this kid love his sweets or what?!

And how freakin cute are these boys?!!!??!! They kill me!! :)

All in all it was a great party and a great first birthday. And I know that Andrew won't remember it, but hopefully these photos will show him how much he is loved. Happy Birthday, kiddo!!

Trick Or Treat

More like Trick or Trick in our case seeing as we never made it out to get the treats.  Halloween 2013 has been one for the history books and one that we will look back on in 10 years with a laugh.  Our little buddy is going through that phase in childhood known as "terrible two's" but the word "terrible" doesn't really do it justice.  Life has been rough in the Mangiaracina household these days, but we are doing our best to get through it.  The ample bottles of Dogfish Head Black & Blue beer helps too.  But I digress...

For us, Halloween started on October 30th with a party at Willowcreek Academy.  All of the parents were invited to join the kids for a costume party at the school and boy was it festive!  I had been in New York the days prior so when James saw me arrive, he was the happiest kid in the room.  The unfortunate part of this was that he did not want to let go of me making his participation in the party a little tricky.  Luckily the view of cookies and cupcakes helped.

 He was a happy guy...

... until Mommy walked away to take a picture.

He did pull it together long enough for us to get 1 photo with him wearing his Clark Kent glasses.  Look really, really close and you will be able to see it!

The end result of the party was an extreme sugar high followed by an epic sugar crash when we got home.  It wasn't pretty, but lucky for us, bedtime was right around the corner.

Halloween brought about a new day that started with a James/Mommy photo shoot before school...

... and ended in tears.

Our little Clark Kent was just not in the Halloween mood - too many ghosts and goblins in the night I guess.  And once it started raining, we decided to call it.  We did manage to get a few photos in before the meltdown of all meltdowns commenced.

Aww well...there will be plenty more Halloween's in our future.  Hopefully our little Superman won't be taken down by kryptonite next year and Daddy he can get some candy!