Zane's Official First Birthday Party!

While Zane actually turned one in June, our lives weren't actually in a place to celebrate at that time. Mitch was on active duty doing his summer training, we were living in Washington where none of our family could be with us, and I was just so happening to be traveling to Montana/Idaho to visit said family. Honestly, the fact that there was some recognition of Zane's special day on the actual special day was nothing short of a miracle.

Call us what you will, but we just didn't feel right about not officially celebrating this amazing little boy with our family and friends in a big hoorah, smattered cake and all. Sure, he most likely won't remember it. And yeah, it really was just for us. But I honestly don't care. We have pictures of a special day with people that are so very important, and that is what matters most. 

So, naturally, we decided to do his first birthday party when we moved back to Idaho. 

And naturally, we weren't ready for it then. We were too busy, our house was a disaster from having all of our belongings packed away and then unpacked in a hasty "I need to find this or that," and our lives were just general chaos. I had started student teaching, Mitch had started his last (and most challenging) semester of school, and Zane had started teething like mad. 

Which ended up making this official first birthday party come no later than when he was 15 months old. So if you needed a pat on the back, go ahead and take on now if you celebrated your child's birthday generally near their actual birthday (:

I would now like to present that one time we tried to pass off a giant 15-month-old as a one-year-old, dressed like a pilot. Enjoy!

Nothing tougher than having to wait to open presents.

Zane just sat and stared at his cake until Mitch handed him a fork. Then he dug right in! Such a proper little moment for someone that I've literally seen try to eat gum off the side of the road.

Perhaps the proudest moment of all was seeing that Zane was interested in the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We've been listening to the audio books and Zane loves all of the voices that Jim Dale does for the characters. I'm so excited to share with him the wonderful world of Harry Potter with pictures now as we listen to good ol' Jimmy. 

And the crowning moment of the night: Zane getting his very own set of wheels. He was absolutely thrilled! We tried to do some really cute photo-ops of his cousin and friends riding on the back and Zane was not having any it. I saw some W.W.E smack-down moves that I don't even think professional wrestlers dare to try. He threw his cousin off of the back and grabbed a fistful of Della's hair in one single movement. Seriously, he did this faster than when he snatches at food, so I think we are dealing with a world record time here. And that was just the first of many wrestling moves Zane demonstrated that night. If it weren't the little buster's birthday, we would have taken the toy away. 

Since his party, Zane has ridden on his four-wheeler no less than a billion times a day and is quite proud of it. He scoots it around, and whenever company comes over, he eagerly sits on it, waits until they are watching, and then scoots it around as fast as he can. The charmer. 

Zaney boy! Happy Birthday! We love you and are so grateful you are ours! Dad is already looking forward to your wrestling days after this weekend.