Walt's First Birthday Party!

This might be a long post, but I've got a lot to say!  In my defense, I was such a crappy picture taker at Walt's party, that it deserves at least some description.

Anyone on Pinterest that follows me could easily have figured out months ago that we were throwing Walt a Sock Monkey party.  How fitting for the Munka Man himself, right?  While the theme is fitting, it wasn't terribly creative b/c I had zero problems finding sock monkey-themed memorabilia.  So much so that I really had to narrow down what I wanted to do to save our house from looking like a sock monkey spontaneously combusted!  Here are some of the (very few) pics I took of the actual decor:

Super fun banner of Walt at each of his months.  Got the banner from Stylish Celebrations on Etsy. (I mounted the pics on scrapbook cardstock to make them pop a little more)

Full view of the pics. Wish I would have got the balloons in this pic!

The Dessert Table (all caps on purpose!). In front are Nutella-dipped Frozen Bananas, to the right is Walt's smash cake courtesy of Elizabeth's Cakes in Plano, and the cupcakes are a Pinterest creation courtesy of Stori Zicchino (they were a HUGE hit!)

Sock Monkey plates and napkins (Amazon) and the super cute food labels (Oh My Gluestick on Etsy).
I wanted to have BIG BIG party (if you know me at all, this is certainly no surprise), but I also didn't want to be overcome by gifts. Walt's birthday is so close to Christmas, and frankly, he really has everything he needs.  We are insanely blessed, no doubt.  Instead, we asked our guests to bring a book to donate. And did they ever!! Check it:

I bought a large moving box and wrapped it (so it's a BIG box)...(there are the balloons!)

Not even kidding, the box is filled to the brim. Probably 75-100 books?!
Finally, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Walt and gave him a cake bigger than his head (now that's a big cake).  We caught the whole thing on camera (thank goodness we captured something!) and it's great!  I have to admit, the whole time while planning his party (seriously, months) I was getting heavy hearted. Of course I'm sad to not have a little baby anymore, but more so that I'm proud of what a little boy Walt is turning into. Yes, he can be a stinker at times, but in hindsight I even love those moments.  That being said, I was so amped up for the party, I never considered actually getting emotional AT the party. Welp, I did. And it's all on camera :) Enjoy....



A few quick and final words.  This time last year, I was blissfully naive about motherhood.  You really truly have no idea what it's like until it happens. I actually mean that with 100% positivity and not a lick of sarcasm.  There are so many changes I thought would be really tough (not being able to go out to eat like we used to, long nights up with baby, shopping, traveling, etc).  What's funny is we've still done ALL those things! It's CERTAINLY different and requires about 700 times more planning, but what can I say? I'm a planner and maybe I kinda like it?  I'm happy we've been able to weave Walt into our lifestyle and at the same time learned from him how fun it is to stay at home and play with bubbles. :) Having a kiddo(s) is what you make of it... and each recipe is perfectly crafted for each family. It's a wonderful thing. So, Happy Birthday, Walt and thanks for adding some new ingredients to our life!