Birthday party

We celebrated Andrew's birthday at our apartment with a few friends and relatives on Saturday. It was an awkward affair. Andrew was having a rare miserable day (teething and constipated, poor thing) and clung to me and cried a lot. Our guests — about a dozen people drawn from different aspects of our lives — mostly did not mingle but sat quietly looking bored. I don't really blame them; I know the onus is on me as hostess to keep everyone entertained, although I wish certain individuals had made a little more effort (and I sincerely thank our two outgoing friends who did their best to break some ice). The only trick up my sleeve, besides Andrew, who was little help that day, was the five-minute year-in-review slideshow I made (which I will post here later this week). All I can say is that we will not be having another party like that if I can help it.

Even the pictures are a disappointment. Andrew is not smiling in a single shot. The props are the highlights. I'm so glad I went with a cute theme: it's called "mod monkey." Instead of buying a banner I made the little wall display on the right out of cardstock. It went above the couch. The two monkey heads will probably find a home in Andrew's room after his birthday.



Andrew adored the balloons. He kept pointing at them and wanting to touch them. At one point he batted them all around — most fun he had all day. Several days later, he's still obsessed with them.



But best of all, I am SUPER proud of the cake I made. I had no previous decorating experience and learned several new tricks to accomplish this beauty. It's a three-layer banana cake (monkeys...bananas...get it?) with chocolate-banana filling, buttercream frosting, and fondant decorations. I also made a little matching smash cake.



This is the smiliest pic we got of the birthday boy. I love his monkey shirt!