Birthday Boy

We had a very special day celebrating Judson's first birthday. Paul and Becky (Judson's adopted grandparents) graciously offered to host the party at their house in Scio. None of my family was able to come, so Jeremy and Jess Nelson were the sole representatives on my side. They definitely count as family.

The three kiddos: Logan, Max, and the birthday boy. They put up with quite a long photo shoot. We couldn't believe they all left their hats on.

We chose a farm theme for the cake. My sister-in-law, Bridgett, made it. I knew she made nice cakes, but holy smokes! This cake was incredible and far exceeded anything I could've hoped for. See for yourself. Can you even believe it?! How am I ever going to be able to make a birthday cake now that this precedence has been set?!



Judson got very nice gifts...quite a few new clothes, some great books, and some very fun toys. His Auntie M and Uncle Justin got him a John Deere tractor. He's really too young for it now, but it won't be long. He sat on it for quite awhile and was very happy. He's going to LOVE it! My favorite part is that it's a pedal toy, not motorized. (Mandy found it on craigslist. Someone had one inside and one outside and had decided to sell the inside one.)



In case you don't already know this, I will admit that food messes are not my thing. I sort of dreaded the whole cake scene, but it really wasn't too bad. A certain uncle of Judson's thought I should give him the whole cake top, but I found that to be completely unnecessary. He'd never had anything very sweet, and he wasn't sure what to think. He ate quite a bit, though, and devoured the homemade ice cream Becky made.

Before...


After. See? Not really so bad. And I promise I just let him go with it. I guess I've already trained him well. Ha, ha.