So, my daughter turned 1 on Wednesday. It was kind of a big deal. We didn’t really do a whole lot of fanfare for it on the exact day; partly because she was so young that she didn’t really understand it, but mostly because we knew we were having a party for her on that Saturday.
This party has been in the works for months now. I think my wife started the preliminary plans in January. She worked out a theme (butterflies)…
…cakes (a Princess Tiana pull-apart cake and a smash cake for her – both courtesy of Publix)… 
…and all sorts of decorations.
What did I contribute to this smorgasbord? Nothing; I got the hell out of the way and only interjected my opinion when it was told to me.
Yes, I’m serious.
Stop laughing; that ain’t funny.
Anyway, when Saturday rolled around, it was a busy day for everyone. Cakes had to be picked up, pizzas had to be ordered, and rooms had to be cleaned. Okay, I lied about my contribution: I wanted it held at our apartment. Therein lies the beginning and end of my contributions that didn’t involve manual labor. Once everything was set up, we then had to wait. My family was driving down from Birmingham, and her family and friends were driving over from Mobile.
We told everyone the party would start at 3:00, and it promptly started at 3:30 (that joke will write itself, thank you very much). When faced with the cavalcade of people in our apartment, my daughter did the one thing she knew well: scream bloody murder. Everyone oohed and aahed at her as my wife and I tried to calm her down and make sure that everyone had enough food and drink.
Sidebar: We ordered the pizzas from Domino’s, and we got what was supposed to be a pretty good deal: seven pizzas for about $6.50, with the seventh pizza free. I ordered two pepperoni, two sausage, two Meatzzas, and one cheese. What I ended up getting was two pepperoni, three cheese, and one Meatzza. One of those cheese pizzas got converted to a sausage pizza after it was made – sorta like how the craptacular Clash of the Titans got upconverted to an even crappier 3D to make it one of the biggest crapfest blockbuster of the year – but, unlike that movie, this worked out fine.
At the end of the day, everyone ate, drank, and was merry. My daughter finally warmed up to the kids (the adults were another story altogether), and she enjoyed her cake. Well…she enjoyed the icing on the cake. It ended up being a fun birthday party, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Now…it’s time to plan for next year.
NOTE: There are more pictures, of course; I just don’t have a multitude of them with me at the present. I’ll rectify that later.