The Burrus Family: Charlie's First Birthday Bash

We celebrated Charlie's first birthday in style (family-style, that is :). Since most of my family was in Seguin for the Easter holiday, we went ahead and did the first birthday bash then. I hated not doing a Dallas-friend bash as well, but I just didn't have two parties in me this year. :) My Aunt Dede and Uncle Robie were sweet enough to host our fabulous pool party and they were the most amazing hosts--their yard and pool looked beautiful when we arrived, they got an awesome pinata that was filled with the best treats, and they also surprised us with confetti eggs! We really had the best day, and the almost 1-year-old absolutely loved his party. Charlie really always loves a party, but when it includes a pool, swings and slides, his favorite snacks, and all of his cousins, it is just about perfect.

Here's the honoree preparing for his big bash with Aunt Meggie. He was quite pleased with his party hat.

Showing off his age in style...

Charlie thought it might be a good idea to test out the cupcake icing before the party.

Party time!

The favors...

Our food and our sacrificial bunny/pinata...

The birthday boy and his favorite hostess, Aunt Dede. Charlie loves Dede and has been practicing saying her name. He's getting pretty good at it!

Cousin love (plus the bunny/pinata).

Julia, preparing for a swim.

Little Katie dove off the diving board like a pro!

Jackson is always quite the fish.

Lizzy and Emma were such sweet little guests!

Samuel, another little fish!

The birthday boy, preparing for his dip in the pool (and no, I don't always make him wear Speedo-like swim diapers; I just hadn't gotten him a proper swimsuit before the party :).

NOT happy to be missing the action.

One of our few family pictures.

And we're in the water!

Charlie LOVES being thrown in the air. Can you tell??

After all that excitement, he relaxed with a little surfing.

Cupcake time!

Charlie wasn't as thrilled with the cupcakes as I expected. It might have been the proximity of the slides, but he really didn't want to take time to stop and eat.

He quickly moved on to climbing up the slides, his favorite pastime (after swimming, of course :).

Then we took turns trying to bust open the pinata. Dede and Robie filled it with the most wonderful treats--even some Mum Mums and Yogurt Melts for Charlie! What a lucky little guy. :)

Sweet Jane Ann, showing off her loot.

Charlie received wonderful, thoughtful presents (and some very valuable help opening them).

We tried to get a cousin picture, but it was harder than it looks with this crew (Charlie didn't really help matters--he's heading back to the slides).