Today was Liam’s big day. I can’t believe he is 1. My mom and I spent the morning decorating the cupcakes to look like Sesame Street Characters. I have my Grandma Ohls to thank for my obsession with these birthday cupcakes. I really could care less about the other decor. I like balloons (for photos and the kids love them). Something related to the theme like a table cloth or a banner is great if I have time. But I obsess and stress over the cake.
Growing up, Grandma Ohls made amazing birthday cakes for us each year. She could have sold her cakes. Now, we’d probably think they were boring or cliche since cake design has gotten more creative and fancy, but her technique was flawless. I agonized each year over what color cake I wanted. It was a bonding experience for all of us. When Grandpa Ohls was still alive, he’d bake our cakes and Grandma would do the decorating. I only remember helping her a few times, and I didn’t really try.
It wasn’t until I was pregnant with Emma, living in Texas, and bored from not working that I decided I needed to learn how to decorate cakes myself.
So cake decorating took all morning. While mom and I decorated, Mark and Emma worked on fixing the cornohole games and Liam was nice enough to nap.
Once we were done with all of that, Mark and I had to do the food shopping, which took forever. I really don’t know why lines are so slow…I spent more time in line at Safeway than I did shopping. I will say this, though; some people are just mean to cashiers. I waited in line while two women just tore apart the cashier, Kendrick. They nitpicked, argued that he scanned items too many times (he didn’t), fought with him when their coupons didn’t work, and made this poor kid second guess every action he made. I felt horrible for him…I remember being in my dad’s store. My dad had this great ability to make everyone feel special and important. I knew he would have been livid if he witnessed how the customers treated this kid, so I did my best to remind him that he was indeed a human being and build up his confidence again.
Liam’s party was great. I love the little family we have created in DC. We may not have any blood relatives here, but we are slowly growing friendships. We are so much happier here than we were in Texas. I’ll do a lengthier post on Liam and what we have learned about him from his first year with us…let me just say he is an amazing, easygoing, happy little dude that has already made the world a happier place because he is in it.
Our amazing photographer/friend Sarah from Sarah Jo Photography came at the beginning. She got some good shots of Liam, and I didn’t want her to stay all night so I got the cake shots. One of my summer goals is to grow my photography skills. I’m working hard to shoot more in manual and I’ve started using Lightroom. I have a ton to learn on how to use it, but my goal is to know my way around the program by August. All of the photos here are from Sarah, though. 🙂
Happy birthday, little Liam. Our lives are better because you are in it.
