Will's 1st birthday party

Will is ONE! I can't believe it. 

Of course, we had to celebrate with friends and family. We had so much fun putting this party together. It really made the whole experience so memorable and lovely to share the planning and prep with my family and friends. Nancy, the consummate hostess, kindly opened her home and did all kinds of prep work. My lovely Rachel cooked and chopped, and Kara helped with set up. I just love thinking of all the kiddo birthdays we will be organizing together over the next 30 years!

In keeping with our family's penchant for things that make use giggle, we threw an appropriately humorous party. The theme...

Williams Throughout History!

Here's the invitation by the amazing Kate Sherlock of Kate Sherlock Designs. 

When you think about it, there are actually quite a lot of famous Williams, Wills, Bills, Billys, etc. We had pictures printed of about 40 of our favorites and strung them up over the buffet. We served William themed foods, as well. "Billy Graham" Crackers with different toppings. William Shake-spears (fruit skewers). Jello Pudding Cups in honor of Bill Cosby. Buffalo Bill Cody Trail Mix. And a bucket of beer, also known as... William BREW-ster (The Osbornes are actually descendants of William Brewster). 

I also made a William Themed playlist of songs by artists named William, but we couldn't get it to work. It would have played Billy Joel, Billie Holiday, Will Smith (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Bill Haley and the Comets, Bill Withers, and Billy Idol. 

(After all the fun... )

(Of course, we had to have a picture of our favorite William... Grandpa Bill!)

The costumes were optional. Nathan dressed up as Bill Nye the Science Guy (hence the bow tie), and our adorable friends, the Sampsons, came dressed as Will Smith and Serena WILLIAMs (very clever!). And, being the book lovers that we are, we scattered around books written by famous Williams. We used borrowed maroon tablecloths and burlap table runners to decorate the tables and tie the color scheme together. I got a little crafty and made some other decor items, too.

Some of books written by famous Williams.

(Happy 1st Birthday William!)

(A board full of William's firsts. First bath, taste of food, walk on the beach, etc., etc., etc.)

(A picture from each month, and me taking a picture of the pictures.

I made little pom poms out of brown coffee filters to cover up the tape.)

(His birthday cake with a tiny "Happy Birthday" banner on top.

We had some yard games out, as well as some other fun activities. We printed out a word search with a list of a bunch of Williams. (You can make custom word searches online here.) And we also had a photo of Will printed out so people could draw on his face and "design their own William." There were some pretty creative entries!

We also had autographed pictures of some famous Williams. We sent out about 25 autograph requests in April. (I was really pulling for some of my favorites. Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Billy Idol, Bill Hader, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Will Smith, Willie Nelson, Bill Hybels. Bummer. No response.) But we did receive a few. Come August we received replies from: Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Billy Crystal, Billy Joel, and Prince William. (We also received a photo from Bill Cosby after the party.)

(Billy Crystal's autographed pic)

(I also made giant pom poms out of brown coffee filters to use as table decor.)

(Bill Clinton's autographed pic)

(Billy Joel and Bill Gates autographed pics)

(William and Kate! No autograph, but an awesome letter!)

Each of the pictures were official autographed photos except for Prince William, though the letter accompanying his non-autographed photo was amazing. It reads: 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Osborne,

The Duke of Cambridge has asked me to thank you for your letter of 26th April requesting a signed photograph for your son, William.

It was kind of you to write to His Royal Highness, but I regret that it is not possible to comply with your request. As I am sure you will appreciate, The Duke of Cambridge receives a great number of similar requests for signed photographs and I am afraid they all receive the same response. I have however enclosed an unsigned photo graph that I do hope William will like.

I am sorry to send you such a disappointing reply. Nevertheless, His Royal Highness has asked me to pass on his best wishes and his hopes that William's first birthday is a very special day with family and friends.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs. Claudia Holloway

Well, Claudia, you will be happy to know that it was "a very special day with family and friends." We had a wonderful time, and we were so thankful for every single guest. Will had a great time playing with all his tiny toddler friends and mini-cousin Audrey, too! And, of course, he enjoyed his first taste of cake. Thanks to our wonderful friend, Leif, of Leif Brandt Photography for taking these "cake smash" pictures on your day off!

(By the way, if you want an awesome yellow cake and chocolate frosting recipe check out: Smitten Kitchen's Yellow Cake and her Instant Fudge Frosting. "Suzy Homemaker" most definitely am not, but I have a talent for finding really good recipes and following them to the letter.)

(Unsure about the singing.)

(Since Nathan got a carrot muffin instead of cake for his first birthday,

we carried on the tradition by giving Will a carrot muffin before he had cake.

He loved it.... Weirdo.)

And what Osborne party is complete with out a toddler's chocolate Hitler mustache.

Can't wait to celebrate another year with this little man!! 

(Here are some more pictures of the fun. If you attended and took any pics, please forward them to me! Please, please, please!!!)

(In case you were wondering what Will is going to look like...

Here is a picture of Nathan and Will making the exact same face.)

June & July flew by...

Where did the time go! June and July just FLEW by. We had an action packed summer, and our little guy didn't slow down for a minute. We went to Mini-Cousin Audrey's birthday party, which was amazing and adorable. So excited to have all these mini-cousins growing up together and all these celebrations! Loved every detail of her Sunshine party (well, of course, her mom plans events for a living so what do you expect?).

Will with Grandma Nancy at Audrey's Birthday Party!

Mmmm! Audrey LOVED her birthday cake!

The next weekend we had Mini-Cousin Cooper's birthday. Again, another adorable affair, this time with a delicious Cookie theme! Seriously, his mama Jenny is amazing. Such a great party!

Cousin Cooper loved his cake too!

Will had so much fun at Cooper's party! 

We also visited with Great Grandpa John & Great Grandma Betty. Our smiley little fellow had a blast with Great Grandpa's walker! We really should stop buying him toys.

Will playing with Great Grandpa John & his walker

Will playing with Great Grandma Betty

Will and I took some special pictures for Dad for Father's Day. Will even signed Dad's first Father's Day card (an Osborne family tradition). We got Dad a special book, Darth Vader & Son. It's pretty funny, especially for a Star Wars lovin' fam like this one.

Trying to fill Daddy's shoes. It's gonna take a while...

Signing Daddy's first Father's Day card!

We spent the whole weekend in Los Angeles and joined the rest of the Osborne clan at Uncle Bob's house for Father's Day, including some mini-cousin pool time with Audrey. Audrey is more of a water baby than our cautious William. It was so fun seeing her splash and play while our little guy clung to dad. HA! Looks like we need to spend some more time in the water. He did finally warm up to the whole swimming thing after a bit.

I love water (if you give me a minute)

Chillin' by the pool

3 Generations!

I love that they are making the exact same face in this picture! HA!

Then all the sudden, he was 11 months old! WHAT?! How did that happen? We have a curious, active little dude. He likes to stand up and cruise everywhere, especially at Grandma Nancy's house where he likes to push tupperware (or chairs or really anything) around the kitchen. Silly little guy!

And, of course, our favorite celebration in July, the wedding of Auntie Rachel and Uncle Chris! Oh, it was so beautiful and fun and special, and we are so happy for them! We love you two so much! Welcome to the crazy clan, Uncle Chris!

Family pic at the wedding

Nathan had the great honor of giving a toast at the wedding, and I must say, as a very proud wife of my handsome, hilarious husband, he did a fantastic job. As part of our familial duties, we also took pictures in the photo booth. Of course, we were trying to take both cute and hilarious pictures. For our final shot, Nathan suddenly turned to me (in my elegant, knee-length, strapless bridesmaid dress), and said, "Let's put our legs in the air!" Before I had a chance to object, or explain how unladylike this would appear (Who am I kidding? Ladylike?! What do I care?), He plopped down on the chair in the booth, sat me on his lap, and lifted one of my legs in the air as he kicked one of his up, as well. BAM! We were both on the ground, surrounded by shards of rented wedding chair. Yep. We broke it. And yes. It is even less ladylike to break a chair as you come crashing to the floor with both your legs in the air than it is to simply take a picture kick one leg in the air. (Our final shot turned out as just an empty picture of the background. Now you know why.)

And we finished the month with preparations for Will's first birthday party! But I'll save that for another post...