Arie's First Birthday (Woodland theme)

I can not believe my Arie Michael is O N E !!! What a wonderful year it has been. He was truly an angel from God... I believe that with my whole heart. He is the happiest, cutest little guy & I am so glad he is mine! His daddy & brothers love him equally as much... he is one lucky babe (so are we!).

On his actual birthday, it was mostly just him & I until about 3:00. Matt had to go into work & the twins had school. As soon as we woke up, the twins JUMPED up & screamed (in his face, naturally) HAPPY BIRTHDAY! They gave him all the hugs and sugars they could before they left for school and helped him open up his gifts from us. Arie & I went for breakfast after drop off and just spent the rest of the day playing until we picked the twins up from school. Once Matt got home, we ordered from our favorite hibachi place because Arie loves loves loves their fried rice & noodles... literally, I never saw anything like it! We sang after & ate cake & just relaxed the rest of the night with our little family. It was a great day!

On the weekend we had a party at our house for his birthday filled with family, friends, & food... our three favorites!! We had 40ish people over for brunch around 11:00, and the party lasted well into the night! Arie had so much fun trying to keep up with all of his cousins & friends (after he napped for the first two hours of his party... it's hard being one!).

I decided to do a "woodland" theme for his first birthday. He really isn't into anything particular, so I figured I would base it off the way I am decorating his bedroom. I ordered the cutest little trees, animal figurines, posters, balloons.. and my hubby & his friend made the wooden platters I used all over the island. They turned out SO good. I loved it. All of the food was wonderful... my mom was a huge help in that department... she is the best..I've said that multiple times over my last several posts...but it's true! Everything I learned about hosting, I've learned from her! We had tons of food to choose from...it was fun to make it "brunch"!

MENU:
chicken salad on croissants
French toast bagels/plain bagels 
[plain, salted caramel, or strawberry cream cheese]
my mom's famous pear salad
pasta salad
donuts
cinnamon rolls 
cheese & bacon quiche
breakfast casserole
fruit & dip
charcuterie board
chocolate peanut butter cake
acorn cookies
hot pretzels 
pumpkin bread
creme filled wafer rolls
mimosa bar, coffee, tea, soda, beer, juice, water

As for the decorations, I ordered most off of amazon and a few other places!  Matt made the wooden pedestals & I made the letter A that was on his cake. The twins helped me gather sticks from the yard & I broke them up & hot glued them to cardboard in the shape of an A. It was super fun for them to help with!! The balloons & gold 1 candle were from the Dollar General, and the deer antlers were from Walmart!

For the main table, I cut the paper to fit my island and taped it under so it didn't slide. Then I placed all of the platters around to see where I should lay out the trees/aniamls. Once I had everything in place, I hot glued the trees/animals to the paper so they didn't fall over or get knocked down when people were grabbing their food! Super easy!! I linked all decor below!

wood table cover (this was actually thick wrapping paper!) 

woodland signs

gold, ivory & green brush trees

multi colored brush trees

trees with figurines

round glass display stands

square glass display stands

acrylic 4 tier stand (this was my favorite!)

forest animals

more forest animals

I had so much fun planning and decorating for my boys first!! If you want any of the recipes, message me & I'll get them to you! :) and a huge thank you to everyone who made something, helped, and came to celebrate our boy! He is so loved & we are so grateful to have such wonderful family & friends

xo,

Erin

Baby's First (solid) Foods!

I've had a few moms message me and ask me what table foods I started Arie with, so I figured I would share! I exclusively nursed Arie since he was born. He is just about 10 months (he also has 8 teeth) so he is OVER eating pouches & puffs... he just doesn't prefer them anymore, and would rather have more "solid" foods. I do still nurse him in the morning & before bed around 7:30-8:00...& occasionally during the night if he reaches for me/is fussing. Other than that though, we are almost full force with the solid foods! And he couldn't be happier about it..... Obviously!

Since I started Arie on table foods, we mostly stick to BLW (Baby Led Weaning)...meaning I cut up the food and let him feed himself. We actually started that quite early with him, unlike we did with the twins. I do feed him with a fork/spoon with some things... mostly yogurts, apple sauce, etc.

these are just what we are comfortable with giving him. I hope it gives you some ideas & I hope your little one loves them as much as Arie does! Happy Feeding!!

*IMPORTANT* 

almost all of these foods I either cut up or break up into VERY tiny pieces. Please do not give your baby anything too big, as their airway is extremely small. If in doubt, cut it up more! Never leave them while they are eating! And make sure they get plenty of water between bites. :)

• scrambled eggs
• mac & cheese (we typically use Annie's)
• chicken nuggets
• french toast sticks
• buttermilk pancakes + waffles
• hotdogs (skin off & cut lengthwise into 6 long strips, & cut in the tiniest of pieces)
• arrowroot biscuits (Gerber)
• breakfast sausage (cut lengthwise into 4 long strips & cut into small bites)
• homemade mashed potatoes
• shredded cheese or cheese sticks
• meatballs
• pasta/rice
• little muffins (we get Entenmann's)
• riced veggies
• whole milk yogurt (Gerber)
• strawberries
• hard boiled eggs (no yolk)
• apple sauce pouches 
• sweet potato + broccoli bites (we get Aldi brand)
• veggie straws
• banana cookies (Gerber)
• peanut butter + jelly on wheat bread (I flatten the bread & cut off the edges before assembling) 
• lil crunchies (Gerber) /little munchers (Little Journey-- Aldi)
• baked oat bars-- we love Brekkie Bites by Simply Nature (Aldi)