Weekend Recap: Hadley's Birthday Party and the Super Bowl

This past weekend was such a fun weekend! We had Hadley Kate's first birthday party and it just brings a smile to my face every time I think about it! Being out here and away from family is hard a lot of the time, and I worried that not being able to celebrate Hadley's birthday with our friends and family back home would somehow make it not as special. Oh how happy I was to be wrong!  Even though I so wish we could've had our families here to celebrate, our "Kwaj family" rose to the occasion (like they always do), and helped shower our babies in so much love and birthday fun. I know that even if Hadley doesn't remember this birthday, Johnathon and I always will! I'm even more thankful that Hadley got to have a joint birthday party with two of her BFF's Maya and Aksel: 

Hadley, Aksel, and Maya a little over a year ago...

And here they are now...

Hadley, Aksel, and Maya on the front of their birthday invite :)

Sarah (Maya's mama), Lindsey (Aksel's mama) and I were brainstorming birthday party ideas when I stumbled upon Amber Massey's blog and the Pancakes and Pajamas Party she threw for her twin girls. We thought it was a super cute party idea, and decided to go with it, but make it a little more unisex for our man Aksel!

We invited a small group of friends to come over in their finest pajamas to Sarah's house around late morning, and had a great time mingling, playing and chowing down on some yummy breakfast food!

Hadley loves her some Aiden! The fact that he let her sneak some bites of pancake didn't hurt either ;)

Some of our group enjoying breakfast and new toys :)

I'm pretty obsessed with Hadley's Birthday bow. It's from one of Hadley's favorite bow shops Jameson Monroe

I was also pretty giddy about her giant bow skirt that is from one of my favorite baby boutiques Sugarplum Lane Boutique

FOOD/DECOR

Food wise, we centered the food around a "pancake bar" idea by whipping up some regular pancakes and then offering a wide variety of sugary/fruity goodness to put on top. Lindsey made her famous sticky buns, and we decided to make an egg casserole to offset all the sugar! We also made some mimosas and lattes for the adult crowd, and water and apple juice for our underage guests! :) And just in case there wasn't enough yummy food to go around, Lindsey made a chocolate liquor bundt cake that was out of this world good!

Sarah and I went with a pink, gold, and white color scheme, and Lindsey worked in her blue and white color scheme for Aksel.  We hung fun streamers from the ceiling that the babies were VERY into, and finished off the wall decor with a happy birthday banner, and monthly photo banners of each baby! 

CAKE SMASH

Maya, Aksel, and Hadley lined up and ready for cake

Oh the cake smash. I feel like between all three of the babies we had every possible reaction to the cake smash that a kid could possibly have. After our guests had a chance to get plenty of food and drinks, we set the babies up in a row so everyone could watch them smash their cakes. The babies did good getting in their highchairs, but sweet Maya was not feeling the cake and all the attention (I hear ya Maya! I cried at all my Chuck E Cheese birthdays when everyone including that scary mouse sang to me!) so she opted out of the cake smash. Aksel was politely interested in his cake. He took some nibbles out of it, and definitely enjoyed it, but managed to stay exceptionally clean throughout the entire process. Then, there was Hadley...

Gosh let's be honest, homegirl has never shied away from food. She loves food. She loves eating food. She loves shoving food in her mouth by the handful. She loves rubbing food all over her face. She loves rubbing food in her hair. As you can imagine...the cake was no exception. I set it down in front of her, and no sooner had I backed away than she lowered her face to the cake and took a huge bite out of it. 

She didn't hate it. In fact, she liked it so much she ate half the cake! She definitely gets her ability to put a dessert AWAY from her mama! I seriously thought we were going to have to cut her off. Eventually she tapped out, and we proceeded to have to hose her down on the back patio while everyone else partied on. 

We decided to wrap up the party with a massive group picture of all the kids at the party. As you would imagine there were smiles, tears, naked babies (Hadley hadn't gotten dressed from getting hosed off), and only about half two kids were looking at the camera, but I'm still so glad we got the photo! It was such a fun day, and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our big, one year old's!

The next day was the Superbowl, and since we had all partied hard the day before, we watched the game with just our family of three! The game was on pretty early here because of the time difference, so I made one of my favorite breakfast casseroles to eat while we watched.

In case your interested here is the breakfast casserole & recipe!

Sausage-Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

 

1 pound mild ground pork sausage
1 pound hot ground pork sausage 

1 large white onion
1 (30-ounce) package frozen hash browns
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided 

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
6 large eggs 

2 cups milk

Cook sausages in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain well.

Chop onions then add them to pan, and saute them until they are translucent.
Prepare hash browns according to package directions, using 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.
Stir together hash browns, sausage, onion, and cheese. Pour into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish.
Whisk together eggs, milk, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Pour evenly over potato mixture.
Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes.

The game wasn't the same without all the commercials (we got to watch riveting military sponsored ones instead...yay), but it was still fun none the less. And for the record, I was a big fan of the halftime show and Lady Gaga singing the national anthem. This, however, made me laugh real hard:

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and once again we are so thankful for all the love we felt for Hadley and her birthday this past weekend!