Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Joey's 1st Birthday

The tent arrived on Thursday.  Oz and the yellow brick road came on Friday.  The cake was delivered early Saturday morning.  Throughout the week the party came to life and we stayed up nightly until 1 and 2 in the morning getting everything ready.  But it was fun-- it was great!  We have so much to celebrate and so much to be grateful for.  

The rainbow arrived shortly after the Jump Jump.

Then Mark Difeo arrived with our Munchkin Sandwiches, Lion Lollipop Wings, Scarecrow Salads and more.  

Eventually we had to put up a giant sign that said NO KIDS to the punch.

Finally, only minutes before the party began, Doug from Personal Creations delivered the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion.  

Then, on what could not have been a more beautiful day, Tom, my Mom and Dad, Tom's Mom and I worked like busy bees from sun up until party time at 4pm to make sure our little warrior, Joey, had an awesome celebration of his triumphs and of his first year of life.  After an incredibly long, but magical day, my parents stayed and helped us pick up every stray lollipop stick until about 1am.  Joey and Tommy have some awesome grandparents!!

Centerpieces of lollipops, bobble heads and lollipop bouquets.

Glinda the Good Witch's Craft Table

Flying Monkeys for every child.  From Office Playground. 

We had been warned that Joey would be different.  That he would have low tone.  That he might not hear very well.  That he would have lots of respiratory issues.  That he would have vision problems. That he would have cognitive issues.  That he would feeding issues.  


What someone forgot to mention was how incredibly fun and awesome he would be.  How every single triumph is that much sweeter.  That while he does have a number of the above mentioned "issues" we try not to dwell on the "what ifs" or the "most like-lies".  We try to live in the here and now and celebrate his incredible little life that has brought joy, pride and immeasurable happiness.


No one told us that family and friends would not only support, but love this little guy as much as we do.  After we had Joey I thought for sure we would never be invited to go anywhere and that we would never get together with all of our friends and kids.  Instead, the opposite has happened, our friends and family have embraced Joey more than we ever imagined.  He has been accepted.  Loved.  We couldn't ask for more and so we celebrated his first year and thanked everyone who has been there along the journey.

Dorothy's shoes made a quick appearance...

Hmmmm...maybe we should put the life-like ax away?

The last of the slippery ruby slippers-- made of Red Jello

LoLo and Catie 

Ummm... Miss Ella-- girl, you are rocking those shoes!!!!

Marty Draime created a piece of art that was, at the end of the day, painful for me to cut.  But, there was a throng of hungry children who were not so sentimental about the cake and who was I to stand in their way?

Baby boy LOVED his first bites of birthday cake.

And after the cake, the party kept going in full swing as children batted down the pinata and adults lost track of how many lollipops their little ones had consumed in only a couple short hours.

Casey and Conner-- from the 3rd 21st!

By the time the party was over, Tom was putting Joey to bed and I was hanging out with my parents cleaning up, but before we said good-bye to the Jump Jump, Thomas Henry and I got in together for one last jump as we sang "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead."  There's no place like home.