Chase’s birthday weekend has come and gone and I officially have a ONE year old on my hands.
A one year old who clearly was very into the whole smash cake thing…
There is no doubt about it, Chase inherited his parents’ sweet tooth.
Chase’s birthday was actually on Friday and I loved spending the day with the birthday boy and my family who came in town to celebrate his special day with us. My sister and her husband arrived early Friday afternoon and were able to join us at Gymboree and watch the ridiculousness that occurs during a typical Gymboree music class ensue.
By the time we made it home, Chase was ready for a nap, so while the guys hung out at home with Chase, my mom, sister and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some food and Chase’s first smash cake. Yes, he got two smash cakes over the weekend (one on his actual birthday and one for his party) and loved them both.
Chase woke up soon after we arrived home and we decided to sing Happy Birthday and give the smash cake a go while he was happy and in a good mood. He looked a little apprehensive as we sang to him and placed his cake in front of him, but after a little encouragement and a small taste of icing off Ryan’s finger, he was ALL IN.
Chase grabbed at his cake, smeared it around and loved sneaking bites of the cake to Kona, Ross and Leslie’s chocolate lab. (Sadie wasn’t interested in the cake at all and we always joke that she’s on a low carb diet because she scoffs at most people food other than meat and cheese.)
The adults in the group managed to sneak little forkfuls of cake here and there and called it an appetizer to the Thai food we ordered in for dinner.
We spent the rest of our Friday night opening family presents with Chase and enjoying time together before we could barely keep our eyes open and retired for the night.
Saturday + Sunday
Saturday was Chase’s first birthday party!
I am planning to recap all the fun on the blog and will share details with you guys soon. I want to go through all of the pictures my sister and Ross took during the party and haven’t had a chance to do so yet but I hope to share a recap on the blog tomorrow. Stay tuned! While we wait, let’s skip ahead to Sunday, shall we?
Sunday was bittersweet because the first half of the day was filled with fun on the lake with Leslie, Ross and Kona before they had to drive home to Florida.
(Kona’s face in that picture cracks me up. So enthusiastic!)
We made the most of the morning and took our hot coffee to go as we headed out on the water a little before 9 a.m.
The weather was beautifully sunny and since the heat of the day had not set in yet, we were comfortable and not too sweaty. It was perfect swimming weather, so we took the boat to a nearby island where we dropped anchor and let the dogs swim around and play fetch for a few hours.
They were in heaven and it was such a joy to watch them have the best time in their element.
Leslie and Ross had to be on the road by noon, so we cut our boat fun a little short. We hugged them goodbye and thanked them for taking time out of their busy lives to celebrate Chase’s first birthday with us and for making the drive up to Charlotte. It was so great to spend time with them and seeing Chase smile and light up when he would play with his aunt and uncle meant a lot to me.
After we said our goodbyes, Chase went down for a nap and my mom and I headed out to run a few errands around town. Our first stop took us to BabyGap where I returned an outfit I bought during a 4th of July sale and nabbed a cute little t-shirt onesie for Chase instead.
By the time we hit up the grocery store, popped into Target and made our way home, Chase was back up again and Ryan suggested a family outing to Discovery Place KIDS which sounded fantastic! We haven’t been to DPK in a while, so it was neat to see how much Chase has changed since his last visit. He had a great time crawling all over the large foam shapes, watching the big kids race cars and banging Legos together.
He also seemed to get a kick out of the puppet show and made us laugh when he started clicking his tongue during a song that had a puppet crab beatboxing. He was clearly feelin’ the rhythm!
The rest of our Sunday passed by in a flash, as we hung out at home and I tried my best to get a little work done on the computer before we made quick trip to Clean Juice for smoothie bowls for dinner. Chase’s birthday weekend was absolutely wonderful and I loved sharing his special day with some of the most important people in our lives!
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Happy Bday Chase! He looks so grown up! I love that he got 2 smash cakes, so much fun! Can’t wait to see all the rest of the details from the party.
That picture of Kona licking up the frosting off Chase’s hand. Too cute!! haha So glad Chase had a good first birthday!
That one is my favorite! <3
Such a cute family photo!! And he so so so cute with the cake!!!!
Great photo of the family! The smash cake pictures will be once to cherish for life time. What a fun weekend!
This post is all kinds of happy and the cake smashing photo is adorable! I can’t believe Chase is already a year old – I feel like you were doing pregnancy updates just yesterday!
I’m glad you had a wonderful weekend!! Beautiful photos… Can’t wait to see more! I’m looking forward to our first birthday party on Saturday….but also holding on to every last second of the last few days until my baby is one!!
What a great birthday weekend! Days full of family fun are the best! Ps. where did you get the dress you were at Chase’s birthday party? I’m in love with it!!
Thanks! It’s a romper and I ordered it for $20 on Amazon! -> http://bit.ly/2acGApz
Great pictures! I love your party romper – where is it from?!
Thank you! I bought it on Amazon for $20! 🙂 http://bit.ly/2acGApz There are tons of patterns and colors. I’d order a size up if you are tall (I’m 5’8”) because it’s a bit short!
Happy Birthday, Chase! Great pics and I second Brittany, I love your romper/dress!
Thanks for sharing! Our baby boy will be 5 months soon and I can’t believe how quick time is going!
What a great weekend! So glad your family could come up for the Birthday party. Looks like a blast!
I laughed at your comment about Sadie because our vizsla is the same way. My kids will throw banana bites on the floor & she will pick it up & then spit it out like, “oh wait – that’s not burger. Don’t waste calories on that.” Lol – we have a lab too & luckily he discriminates against no food.
Gosh, he is such a little cutie – I love his blonde hair! He’s looking so big!
Loved your Snaps from the fiesta. I can’t wait to see all of the details. It looks like it was the perfect way to celebrate his big day!
XO, Jessica
http://www.semisweettooth.com
Happy First Birthday to Chase! Crazy how fast a whole year goes by … your weekend looks wonderful and I’m loving the cake smash 🙂
So lovely to have your family around for the first birthday!
Happy first birthday Chase!! What a special, special weekend you guys had! I can’t wait to see all the details from his party 🙂 I’m starting to think about our little lady’s October party and it’s making me so excited!
Awe, Chase is so adorable! He looks quite pleased with his cakes 😉
Looks like you had a great weekend!!
So adorable!!! Where is your romper/dress from in the first picture? It’s SO cute!!
Happy 1st birthday Chase! You have an adorable family and I love that photo of all of you at the beginning. 🙂
What a great family pic! Chase is so cute smashing his birthday cake 🙂
I can’t wait to read about Chase’s bday party. He is seriously the cutest ever! And I have been to so many first birthdays where the babies want nothing to do with the smash cake, that’s awesome he dug right in!
Oh man, he was ALL about the cake!!! I can’t blame him for that one. 🙂
Happy first birthday Chase! It’s hard to believe he’s already one – it doesn’t seem like that long since he was born.
The boat ride with the dogs sounds like it was fun. We used to have a cocker spaniel who loved the water – he would have had a blast.
I LOVE your romper! Where is it from?
Amazon! Only $20! http://bit.ly/2acGApz
Happy 1st birthday to Chase! Love these pics!
I’ve been looking everywhere for a white lace shirt without super skinny straps — where did you find yours?
Thanks!!
Target!!
This is the cutest!! Those cake smashing photos and especially the puppy licking the frosting off Chase’s hand is too much to handle– the cuteness! Happy 1st birthday to your little man, Julie!!
Yay! Happy birthday, Chase! It makes me wish we still got to have cake smashes as we get older. An entire mini cake to myself? I’ll take it!
–> http://www.poweredbysass.com
Where do you buy Chase’s bibs?
The banana bib is from The Honest Company!
Happy birthday Chase!! I cannot believe he is one already, I feel like I know him personally! Congrats to you!
What a great looking weekend! And so many babies for Chase to grow up with ! So awesome! I hope you are resting with your feet up. We had a very small bbq for Sully’s 1st birthday a few weeks ago, read I did the least I could lol (I wanted to do more, but the Hubby was NOT into it 🙁 ) and I was exhausted!!!
It’s definitely a lot of work but it was a blast! Happy Birthday to Sully, too!! <3
Happy first to Chase! Looks like a fun party. I can really see a difference with the hair lightening stuff! Very golden! Glad your family was able to join you for this mile marker. Can’t wait to see how you organized for your party the day of, and got it all done! It turned out great! Happy Monday.
Happy Birthday Chase!! Love the smash cake pics! He’s adorable! I have that same romper, love it, especially for the price. Mine gaps at the top where it buttons though, I haven’t figured out how to fix that.
I actually wore a light blue bralette underneath which really helped! I was a little too self conscious before adding that but with a bra that offered a bit more coverage, I felt much better!
Happy birthday Chase! I love how much he was in to the smash cake!
Happy Belated 1st Birthday to Chase! It sounds like he a wonderful weekend of celebrating!
Ps. The picture of you, your sister and Kona before boating is a framer 🙂 Very nice, very nice!
How adorable!! I have been reading your blog for a long time and loved your pregnancy updates!! I was a few months behind you – now I’m celebrating 6 months with a little girl!!
I love the shorts with the lace top – where are those from? You always have the cutest clothes – I miss your fashion updates!! 🙂
Such a fun weekend! Happy birthday Chase!
Like everyone else, I love your romper:) Is it nursing friendly?
Thank you!! It’s semi-nursing friendly but since I wore a bralette with it (aka a bra that is not very nursing friendly!) I ended up just taking the top part off to nurse.