It's a Birthday!

Today is my youngest son's 1st birthday! We had a small party with family over the weekend, and the weather was perfect for a backyard bash. This year has gone by very quickly, but I'm excited to see how much he's grown and changed over the past 12 months. I'm looking forward to what comes next! He is a very sweet child, curious to discover new things and always smiling. I'm a lucky lady to have two beautiful children!



Newborn

 

We opted for a simple pizza lunch, with veggies and potato chips. We couldn't find a pizza place that makes large enough gluten free pizzas to feed the whole party, so we ordered regular pizzas from the bakery that made the cake, and then my son and his cousin made their own gluten free pizzas. All the food was consumed outside, and the kids at their pizzas at their own little picnic table.



The little pizza chefs hard at work

We ordered a gluten and dairy free cake for the event, because I never want my older son to feel left out in his own house. We order all our cakes from the same place, Brookelynn Bistro, a small bakery and bistro close to where we live. We've been eating there since our oldest son was still a baby, and the location went by a different name. The woman who runs it remains the same, and their food is absolutely incredible. The cakes are no exceptions.



The small uneven section at the front is our fault, not the baker's!

We ordered a round, gluten and dairy free cake to serve 10. There were 13 people at the party, and even after feeding everyone I was left with almost half a cake. I sliced it into pieces and froze them separately so that my son will have cake to bring with him when he gets invited to events like birthday parties where there aren't any gluten free desserts.



Triple layer, gluten and dairy free chocolate cake with whipped icing

The birthday boy made it through most of the party, but needed a little catnap near the end. It was great to have everyone over and celebrating with us. A 1st birthday party success!

 

Happy Birthday to my Niece!

This time of year seems to be filled with birthdays...my son, my self, my husband and my niece all have birthdays within a few weeks of each other.  That adds up to a lot of parties and a lot of cake!

My niece Mya turns four this week, and she had her birthday party at the bowling alley, where the kids got an hour of five pin bowling followed by about an hour in the party room.  The kids got their choice of meal, and the cake is supplied from outside.

The best part about the bowling is that the alley has bumpers so the balls don't all fall in the gutters, and they also have ramps so that the balls get some momentum to make it down the alley.  The kids can bowl pretty much independently, and actually knock down some pins!

Sorry for the blur, but it's an action shot!

That's the birthday girl, getting ready to bowl a strike!

That's my son's high score there on the bottom...he's a natural :)

An hour was the perfect amount of time for a group of three and four year old kids, and they were all starving by the time their ten frames were done.

Like most places that cater to kids, the food choices were all off limits for my son- hot dogs, hamburgers or grilled cheese, with fries.  They were accommodating though and offered to heat up the food that we brought from home for him, waiving their no outside food policy due to his food restrictions.  We brought along some of the pizza we had made the night before, and some oven baked alphabet fries.  He was happy, so I was happy.  He didn't even care about what the other kids were eating.

After lunch came the cake!  My sister ordered the cake from the same place that I always order for my son, Augusto 33 Bakery in Maple.  They make gluten and dairy free cakes from scratch, and that taste phenomenal.  Rather than picking the design from a book, we supply a few items that we want incorporated into the design, and then we leave the rest to him.  This time my sister wanted a mermaid theme, so she brought the top decoration and the sugar pieces attached to the sides, and this was the final result.

Everyone commented on how good the cake was, and couldn't believe it when we told them that there was no gluten or dairy.  The cake is just good, period. 

The cake was 4 layers.  The piece didn't even fit on the plates!

The kids seemed to agree too.