September 2nd: Landen’s Birthday Luau!

We wanted make Landen’s birthday special to celebrate the day he joined our family. He obviously had no idea what was going on but we planned to make the day fun for him. He started out with his favorite breakfast – waffles!

He also spent a little time playing in a “fun hole”. Hehe

We decided to give him one of his presents in the morning so he could play with it. He got some new cars! They’re the kind you pull back and let go. He thought they were pretty fun.

We decided to have a small celebration for immediate family in the evening. (His big party was later in the month.) We thought a luau theme would be fun so we bought decorations and ordered food from Local Place. Yummy!

A couple of weeks before his birthday we snuck Landen into my parents backyard to get some pictures for an invitation. Here are a few of them:

The outfit he’s wearing is something we bought for him on our trip to Hawaii when I was pregnant. We were pleased as punch that he was able to wear it!

I asked John use one of his pictures to create an invitation for me. He does such a good job! (And I may or may not lean over his shoulder and provide direction. Ha!)

Decorations around the house

I used Landen’s monthly pictures to create a timeline of his first year.

Even Nala put on a lei

Pineapple juice, Hawaiian chicken, kalua pork, rice, potato salad, ramen salad, pineapple, and rolls. So good!!

The birthday boy and Mommy

Soon enough it was time for the guests to arrive and the celebrating to begin!

Rollie and Taylor had a good time playing with the cars

Birthday cake!! We ordered a Paradise Cake from Local Place of course. Unfortunately, Landen wasn’t too interested in it. That didn’t stop us from gobbling it up though.

After cake it was time to dive into some presents! Landen is one very loved little boy.

At the end, after all the amazing presents he’d already opened, he got a wonderful surprise from Mimi and Papa … his very first car!!! Boy was that a hit!

Checking out the new wheels

Taylor took it for a spin too

By the time presents were over, our birthday boy was pretty tuckered out so we wrapped things up. He had a great day and we were so lucky to get to spend it with the people who love him the most.