CELEBRATING "ONE" BIG MILESTONE

Although James will have a birthday party this weekend, we couldn't let the actual day pass without the Happy Birthday song (again, and again, since he likes it so much), some presents, and his first taste of cake. CHOCOLATE cake. I made red velvet cupcakes (minus the "red") using the best recipe I've tasted to date. I think James especially enjoyed the extra chocolate inside (the mini morsels), and I don't think he minded this dress-rehearsal for his party. We never expected him to just pick up the whole cupcake and take bites out of it, but that was his method of choice (at least in the beginning):

DONE with being in his Bumbo chair (which we haven't used in months), and trying to share his cupcake with Jude (sitting just off-camera, stage right):

Chocolate makes a boy thirsty (and happy). And on a sugar high:

We Skyped with James' Grambot & Grandpa (and would have had his Grandma on speaker-phone had she not been so sick) so they could join in the Happy Birthday song and witness the festivities. We took video for posterity (and for James' Grandma to watch later), but don't worry, we'll spare you our poor voices and just post a few more photos of James opening his presents: Kissing the Dr. Seuss whale Robyn & Stephen gave him: Playing with the tractor his Grambot & Grandpa gave him (don't mind the chocolate everywhere... at least we kept it confined to the blanket):
And here are a couple photos from this morning, of James on the new Radio Flyer Rock & Bounce Pony we got him. He learned how to rock and bounce pretty quickly:

So, now it's official. James turned 1-year-old this evening at 5:29pm.

What a difference a year makes (3/3/09 on the left and 3/3/10 on the right):