Brother's birthday party

Last weekend was a weekend of parties. On Saturday we had my parents' twenty-fifth anniversary party, and on Sunday we celebrated Brother's birthday. I had hoped to be able to host it at our house and show off my newly-remodeled kitchen, but our kitchen is not finished. Instead, we celebrated in the pavilion of a park right down the street from us. The weather was beautiful: clear and sunny and warm (not hot) with barely noticeable wind.

For Brother's birthday party, I chose a simple train train motif that I freehanded and primary colors for the theme. His cake was a spice cake decorated with sugarpaste frosting and accents. (The cakes are important to talk about; I spent all day Friday working on the cakes for the two parties.) ; )

See those two dots pressed firmly into the middle of the cake? I had just finished decorating the cake and had my back turned for two seconds while cleaning up when Little Man made them and quick-as-a-wink stuck them on the cake. He was so proud of his addition to his brother's cake that I didn't have the heart to remove them.
Little Man's dots ended up being a happy-accident perfect place for the candle.

Little Man also helped make train decorated treat bags our the young guests. I was pretty proud of them. Inside each bag was a few pieces of candy, two homemade bean bags, a tiny tub of play-doh, a bouncy ball, and a sheet of stickers.

Brother was very excited about his brightly colored cake. He actually was more fascinated by the frosting than by the flame on the candle. He had a little help from Daddy blowing it out.
My boys don't seem to hesitate in the least when it comes to cake. Brother dug right in and quickly devoured his treat.
When it came time to open presents, Brother enjoyed being the center of attention so that he could make eye contact with and smile at all the guests. We finally got him a little bit interested in opening his gifts.
All the friends were eager to help.
Happy Birthday, Brother. We've had a fabulous first year with you and look forward more.