Day 3 - Celebration Station

Yesterday was party day! So you get to see 4 million pictures today instead of the usual (Pic a Day for Larkin's BirthMonth).

First, let's set the scene.

Larkin's House.

 It included a banner of his 12 monthly pictures from the Larkin Monthly Review.

 Larkin had his own cake, plus a cake made by Aunt Debbie because she's such a good cake maker, plus little individual cakes baked in baby food jars. Oh yeah, and there were a lot of people coming so Kroger made us a sheet cake too. Lots of cake.

 The important stuff all happened in the backyard, which was painstakingly decorated by Larkin's Daddy and the other Taylor's who stayed with us this weekend.

 It looked even better once it was filled with 49 people.

 The Birthday Boy was sleeping when the guests started to arrive, so we had to wake him up. Then he peed ALL OVER his Birthday shirt.  But he wasn't embarrassed. He jumped in the bathtub then came out to join the party!

 First order of business: play in the house that Papaw and LaLa got for him. This perked Larkin right up!

 To get the party guests similarly perked up, we had a traditional Link Water Balloon Toss.

 Everyone was a good sport and joined in the fun.

 Until there were only 2 left...

 Here are our winners posing with their prize: a hug from the Birthday Boy. Congratulations Uncle Lukie and Nicole!

 Next; time for cake.

 We sang Happy Birthday to Larkin while his Gramps played the harmonica.

 Before the song was done, Larkin had his finger in the icing to test it out. He was a little hesitant at first, but then he dug right in.

 Literally.

 He dug a little hole into the side of the cake and ate out of there.

 He couldn't be bothered to stop to pose for pics with his mommy and daddy.

 When LaLa came over to see him, he tried to eat her cake too.

Sugar high. 

 Once we took the cake away, he stood up to signal that he was done and that was that. Never cracked a smile, which is normal Larkin behavior when there are a lot of people around.

 He wasn't thrilled with the clean up process either.

 Then we decided that everyone else should get some cake too.

 Larkin got pretty pumped about present time.

He opened them nicely and read all his cards.

 

Until Uncle Lukie brought out his gift.

 The pool was a big hit with all the kids. With or without water.

 Larkin had to stand in it to open the rest of his presents.

 He got a lot of great things, but few looked as good in the package as his 4 wheeler.

He couldn't wait to get it out of the box, but that wasn't a problem. Just jumped on and he's ready to go.

 It was nice of Uncle Adam to take it out of the box for him though.

 The party officially ended at 4 pm, but lots of people lasted longer than that, even if the balloons didn't.

 We had a good party for a great little boy.

Happy 1st Birthday Larkin!