Birthday Boy! (belated blog post, oops!)

We celebrated Finley's 1st birthday on Tuesday. As I bided my time before waking him up to get ready to go to school, I looked through the two scrapbooks that I had put together for the first six months of Finley's life. What a trip! While it wasn't surprising that we all made it to his one year mark, it still felt like a big accomplishment :) I popped into Finley's room and despite raising the window shades, opening and closing drawers, and saying "Happy Birthday" a few times--Finley snoozed on. I began the birthday photo ops and continued the rest of the day...

I had originally considered taking Finley's birthday off from school, but Dan reminded me that in future years Finley will be able to vocalize his desires to have a special home or mommy day, but for now let's just keep his routine. Ah, logic. So I dropped him off at Beth's and headed off to school. At pick up, it was hard to tell who was happier to see who when I arrived. I do LOVE birthdays and it certainly felt like a special day for both of us.

We had opened one present the night before since it was a super-exciting gift from Finley's Aunt Caitlin, a year's membership to the Boston Children's Museum!!! Wow--for a whole year four people (any combination of kids and grown ups) can get in free!!! So off we went for our first of many, many visits.

So excited to go to the museum!

Each time we visit this museum, Finley does or tries something new and I think in a year's time, he'll have the run of the place (literally!). Thank you, Caitlin, for an amazing present!

Good thing we drove all the way downtown to push a wagon around...

Just prepping the Thanksgiving table.

Following my dad's construction footsteps...

We got home around the same time as Dan and after a quick dinner, it was time for Finley's official birthday celebration to get underway. We sang to him and let him eat (mangle) a cupcake. He loves being sung to and liked watching the candle, but when the cupcake was placed in front of him, we got the biggest smile of all. Most people call these "smash cakes" and, fittingly, Finley seemed aware of the deliciousness that was coming his way and after a close inspection, tore it apart.

Then, we opened a few presents that had arrived in the mail and a couple from Dan and I. Not surprisingly, Finley was unsure of the opening process. Plus, he was pretty tired and not terribly interested in the whole ordeal. Good thing all his gifts were in gift bags so the opening was fairly simple! From the pictures, he seems to be having more fun than I recall...

Finally, we headed down to the basement where a special box was waiting for Finley from his Grammy and Granddad. We opened it up to find an awesome tunnel and tent! Perfect for our emerging indoor playground!

Happy Birthday, Finley, we love you and we are so proud of you!