Happy Birthday, Little Man

So, I really meant to post this back in June after Ry Guy's birthday party, but life happened and I never did. So this is me catching you up.  Here's the original post:

Where has my life gone? Hard to believe that my little man is one! He has grown and changed so much this year. I still can't believe I'm a mom sometimes, let alone a mom of a busy one year old.

Crazy.

 We had a small-ish party to celebrate Ry Guy's big milestone. I wanted to keep it pretty simple, with just friends and family that Ry is comfortable with, since he tends to get fussy and clingy when he's overstimulated.

Theme and Decorations
We decided to go with a "Little Man" theme, and decorated with blues and greens, and mustaches and ties.  There were so many cute ideas on Pinterest that I wanted to use, but didn't end up having enough time and energy to do it all. But, I still thought it turned out pretty cute and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I decorated with a pennant banner (on the wall behind the food table, bottom left pic), a little man banner (on the mantle behind me in the pic above) and some balloons.  My friend, Beka, sent her gift in an adorable mustache bag, so I re-purposed it as part of the decorations (you can see it next to the cake in the bottom left pic). I also did a pennant cake topper (bottom right pic).

Menu

• Limeade
• Iced Tea
• Bacon Ranch Chicken Salad Wrap (w/lettuce)
• Turkey and Cheddar Croissant w/spring greens, served with mayo, yellow mustard and Dijon mustard on the side
• Italian Sandwich Minis
• Spring Potato Salad (egg free!!)
• Broccoli Salad
• Brownie Bites w/ vanilla German buttercream
• Blueberry Lime Cake w/ cream cheese German buttercream
• Mr. Mustache Cookies (chocolate sugar cutout cookies dipped in chocolate )

We all wore neckties to go with the theme. I had wanted to get these stick on mustaches for the guests to wear too, but it just didn't happen.

Of course, everyone wants to know if I did a smash cake for Ry Guy. Sort of. I made a grain-free, egg-free, honey-sweetened, carob brownie with carob sweet potato frosting for the 2 of us. Sounds weird, I know.  But it was actually really good. The brownie was dense and chocolate-y and the frosting was sweet without being 'potato-ish'.  He got a little carried away and we had to clean out his chipmunk cheeks so he wouldn't choke...he just kept stuffing it in!

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After smearing brownie everywhere, we decided to rinse off in the kiddie pool, which is where he pretty much stayed the rest of the party.  I kind of wanted to join him... it was hot outside!

Hmmm...now what should we do for next year's party? :)