happy birthday, wolfgang

this week has been spent celebrating our Wolfgang Kalman Mittler. he turned one year old on thursday, november 6. on his actual birthday we plopped him down in his crib filled with white balloons and put a party hat atop his blonde haired head.  sister led us in the happy birthday song right away. well, it turns out that we took our sweet boy by surprise, but not in a good way. he was terrified of those balloons and wanted out right away! at first, he wouldn't even go into his room out of fear the balloons were still in there, but by the end of the week he was chasing them around and giggling at the sight of them. thank, goodness.

today we had a little party for him. it was simple and sweet and full of love. my parents, brothers and nieces came, along with my grandparents. my husband's parents also came, along with his brother and brother's fiancee. we snacked on fresh bread with homemade butter, fancy cheese, olives, apple smoked sausage and fruit. we all sat around our dining room table drinking pot after pot of coffee while the kids ran about chasing balloons and playing with wolfgang's new blocks and wooden cars.

for wolfgang i made a simple white cake with a yellow candle on top. he was so darling as he watched sister blow out his candle and he immediately dove into his cake. i really do not think he ate much of it, he was having too much fun playing with it and rubbing it all over the high chair. for everyone else i made a lavender cake with vanilla bean frosting. i garnished the cakes with pine needles from our yard. i must admit, my favorite part of birthdays is trying a new cake recipe. you can find the recipe here. mine didn't turn out as pretty, but boy, oh boy it was delicious!

my favorite photo from the party is the one of him and my grandma. i will have it printed and cherish it always. my grandma actually made his trousers and bow tie. they were originally worn by my older brother many years ago.

i am feeling rather emotional about his first birthday. i know this is a normal thing for a mama, but honestly i did not expect it. once everyone left and i scooped up my boy, this overwhelming feeling of gratitude washed over me. like i felt so full of love for him and his sister and my husband that i could have collapsed. like it would all come pouring out of me and everyone could see what love looked like. literally. here is to our first year with wolfgang and looking forward to another year of watching him grow, keeping him close and holding him tight. happy birthday, beautiful boy.