One year already!

I know! It didn't seem right to us either. But we checked the dates and it's true: our little Lolo is 1 year old...already!


Here he is enjoying the yarn cupcake I knit for him from bits of the Bernat Satin leftover from my original Buddy Bags. The cupcake pattern was a happy Ravelry find and is available for free from Ava's blog here. It was so much fun to knit and everyone who's seen it wants one. Dada's might look a little strange with 30 candles sticking out of it though!


I made a few mods: worked 2 extra increase rows for the base (I thought my gauge was off and that it looked small otherwise...but now that it's done and is huge I realise I should have just stuck with Ava's instructions!), I also improvised an i-cord candle instead of the cherry and added a generous sprinkling of sprinkles! Finally, I filled a clean Heinz baby food tub with rice and used it to shape the bottom of the cupcake before stuffing which weighs it down nicely and serves as a fun rattle for 1 year olds!


Julian and I also baked a birthday cake for our little lemondrop. Behold our bee and hive cakes above. We cheated with the cake batter (as we always do) by using Betty Crocker's German Chocolate mix which is by far the closest to homemade I've tried (and I've tried many).

I baked the cakes in metal bowls to get the dome shapes and iced them generously with homemade butter cream and chocolate icings (using this Martha Stewart recipe). The bee also got super cute Sweet Tart candy features with a licorice mouth and host wings and was a total hit with the birthday boy! We just gave him the bee and let him have at it while the rest of us shared the hive.


Julian was a terrific helper leading up to Lolo's big day. In addition to helping bake the cake, he helped us pick out Lolo's gift and even decorated the wrapping paper with a little paint and some potato stamps we made using letter-shaped cookie cutters.


He really enjoyed helping out and getting creative and I think he even discovered along the way that doing something nice for someone else can be a reward in itself. He had such a great time helping us celebrate that I really don't think he felt left out or short-changed despite all the attention Lolo was getting and I felt really good about that ;0)

And Lolo? Well he basked in celebrations all week long long. And we basked in his delight and all the joy and wonder he has brought to our family since the day he joined us just one year ago...

Happy Birthday Lolo bean! We love you beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup ;0)