Happy Birthday Ryan!!

***Warning: Long post with many pictures ahead***

With Ryan's birthday falling on Thursday, we opted to have his party this past Saturday. We are so fortunate that family and friends were willing to travel all the way from New Jersey (some just for the day) to be a part of the celebration. We rounded it out with those from Virginia and had a wonderful time was had by all.

Ryan's favorite book is called "Baby Danced the Polka". It's about a little baby who should be taking a nap but instead decides to dance with his stuffed animals. With that in mind, Lisa made him an amazing cake - all from scratch - including little models of the baby and his stuffed friends...How cool is that? She put so much work into it. Check the SmugMug site for closeups of the animals. They are awesome. My mother-in-law also made adorable banners for Ryan making him the star of the book...As for the party, kids were the center of attention. Ryan's party outfit came courtesy of his Great Grandparents in Florida. It seems that in the hustle of party organization, we forgot to do his laundry. He was still an incredibly happy little guy. By the way, have I mentioned that he has two top teeth now :)

As for his cake, Ryan was pretty reserved. He took a very methodical approach. He peeled off a few polka dots, calmly made his way through the icing and eventually got to the cake. There was no real smashing. I think he spent a solid 20 minutes working on it.



Nothing a quick dip in the sink can't fix...
After all the food and fun, we had the chance for a great Zolandz family picture - Great Grandpa Zolandz with all three kids...Next time well get everyone looking in the same direction...