Grant turns 1!

Last Friday on May 15th, my little buddy, Grant, turned 1 year old. 

 To celebrate the occasion we had a birthday party with our South African family.  13 kids, who out-numbered the adults, joined us this past Sunday at our home for a few hours of food and fun.

Missing Adalyn and Grant because neither wanted to take a picture and their buddy Owen.
 Pretty good to get 10 out of 13 I guess. 

I rented a bounce house for the older kids to play on (which amazingly you can get in this country from Friday-Monday for only $50!).

The littles enjoying time together.

 After some fun we all enjoyed the Dr. Seuss themed food such as









Roast Beast Sandwiches.

Green Eggs and Ham, Poodles with Noodles, Truffula Fruits,Assorted Greens and Other Things, Hop on Pop-corn,and One Fish Two Fish crackers.

  

Grant was scavaging the table for left over food, the boy can eat.

It is so nice to have Pinterest to put your party together for you.

Opening gifts was next and I was delighted all the kids were into giving their gifts and helping Grant to open his.





We have such a wonderful South African family here, I know the kids so well and it warms my heart that they all genuinely care for each other.

With torn wrapping paper everywhere I put Grant front and center so we could sing "Happy Birthday" to him and give him a mini cake.

I knew that he would not eat the cake as we had a smash cake photo shoot earlier in the week and he was only interested in smearing the icing around.

smash cake which looked more like an Easter cake to me

It was a wonderful day celebrating Grant and enjoying the company of great friends.

Clearly someone is not happy it's not her birthday

Grant enjoyed his party despite his poor teething as his 4 canines are coming in, 3 already through the gums and one left to go.  So a grand total of 11 teeth by his 1st birthday.  Grant has had his 2nd hair cut, not enjoying it much the 2nd time around.  He is in 12 month clothing, and enjoys eating everything in sight.  Current favorites includes grapes, yogurt, biltong, nutella, lasagna and pretty much anything we are eating.  He has mastered the sippy cup, but prefers to drink water rather than milk from it.  Grant is still nursing but I am hoping to transition him fully to whole milk soon.

My once pudgy little boy who would sit and play with toys happily is now mobile, crawling and cruising all over the house.  He loves to climb the stairs, and walk holding onto our hands.  He loves taking walks, filling buckets with toys then dumping them out and repeating, bath time and any water activity.  He does not enjoy having his clothes or diaper changed.  Taking him away from what he wants to do leads to high pitched screaming (probably got that from his sister).  Adalyn is constant entertainment for Grant and she loves to make him laugh.  He always has a smile on his face and his eyes are the most majestic blue color.

We love our little buddy and it's bittersweet to see him grow up turning into a toddler and less like a baby each day.