A Whale of A Tale Party

Now that it's been three weeks since Jonah's first birthday party, I want to write up a little something to remember it all!

The party was the Saturday after his actual birthday, and we themed it "A Whale of A Tale." We wanted to keep it small like we had done with Noelle's first birthday and just invite family and some friends from church. My grandma and aunt and uncle from Seattle flew out to see our family and celebrate with us, and Luke's older sister also came up from Virginia. With all the relatives visiting, and the family members who live nearby, family was an additional 11 people. And our number of friends from church have increased over the last few years (both by new people and babies!) So in the end we had 27 adults and 11 children RSVP yes!

Jonah with GG- the only picture I took at the party

For our small townhouse that was a lot of people. I remember at one point just stopping and praying that people would be full of grace and understanding because we were packed in. The weather was just icky enough that people wouldn't really want to be hanging out on the deck or backyard like we had been hoping. And of course Jonah woke up earlier than usual that morning and was ready for his nap about an hour into the party.

But I think most people were understanding (especially those with babies or who have raised their babies). After we sang Jonah "Happy Birthday", I put him to bed and the party continued on without him. It really was so much fun, and such a blessing to be able to celebrate our baby boy with so many people we love.

four generations

For food, we ordered Chick Fil A chicken nugget platters like we had done for Noelle's first birthday, and then a couple of whale themed things. My mom and sister made and frosted a ton of whale shaped sugar cookies, I ordered edible whale toppers for the cupcakes, we had whale shaped crackers, and something I found on Pinterest were little blue jello cups with whipped cream and whale shaped gummy candy. Lot's of yummy food!

Jonah at his one year check up

The next day I ran the Columbia Half Marathon. It worked out well that it started and ended by our local mall so I could drive myself without having to worry about getting lost. This was my first half marathon since running the DC Rock N' Roll half when I was pregnant with Noelle back in March of 2012. My goal was to finish, but I also [not so secretly] hoped to run it in under two hours.

It was a little chilly at the start, but once we finally got going it didn't take long to warm up. Some of the areas we ran through I was familiar with, while others I had no clue where I was. Running past the county hospital made me think about delivering my babies. We ran past the house of our friends from the UK who lived here for three years, and it made me think about all the fun we had with them.

It was a great run, and I finished in 1:40:26, which is the fastest half I've ever run! I was happily surprised, but it was a great reminder and boost of confidence to myself that my body could still push so hard after having two babies. I love running and being able to have that time to myself, and running races is a fun way to see what I can do!