Saturday, April 11, 2009

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday William!







An entire year has gone by in a flash. On one had I can barely remember WFR as a newborn, it seems so long ago. On the other I can't believe he's already walking, starting to talk and getting into a lot of trouble. On to the birthday....
Since our apartment is pretty small we only were able to invite our families. This ended up being about 20 adults and 6 kids - the place was packed!

The menu:

BBQ and Carolina Pulled Pork - I used this Baking Bites recipe for the BBQ and referenced these 2 for the Carolina. Both turned out really good!

Four Cheese Macaroni from Allrecipes.com. I have never made mac and cheese from scratch before so I just picked the recipe that had received the best reviews. Everyone seemed to like it but I wouldn't make it again. I think I would go with a recipe that started with a bechamel sauce so it would be creamier.

My mom brought coleslaw and my mother-in-law brought her manderine orange salad. I also made a huge tray of tater tots - the kids (and I) love them.

I kept going back and forth about making or buying a cake. There are so many places that sell delicious cakes!!! But my mother guilt kicked in and I decided to bake one. Martha Stewart to the rescue! I made a practice cake the week before to make sure it wouldn't be a total disaster. The cake is what started the monkey theme - then came the invites, few strings of bunting to decorate the house, and his monkey shirt.