Life... as we know it: Max's First Birthday- The Little Gym

Today, Suri and I spent the afternoon at our good friend Max's first birthday celebration at the Little Gym of Paradise Valley. Suri has been talking about Max''s birthday for the past 2 days (having a Mom thats a Child Life Specialist means she's always prepared : ) We have practiced singing "Happy Birthday to Max" and have been talking about the cupcakes that come with birthday parties (picture Suri with her mouth in a complete circle, eyebrows arched, breathing in and holding her breath as she shakes her hands back and forth in excitement)... oh the simple joys of cupcakes :)
Max's party began at 12 noon... the hour at which Suri has normally entered dreamland during her afternoon siesta... (for all the Mom's that know what it is like to have an "event" in the middle of nap time... ) ha-
When I arrived in the parking lot of the Little Gym, I had to peel Suri out of her car seat (she had fallen asleep on the way there) and jostle her about trying to wake her up. My little nugget was a sweaty, delirious bundle of jello until she came to life... once she realized where we were, she was so thrilled to be there! She couldn't wait to see Max and eat cake!
Suri had fun playing on the gymnastic equipment and dancing to the music (that I am certain could be heard from blocks away!) It has been a long time since I have seen so many little ones crawling all about in search of something to gnaw on or manipulate. All the little droolers were adorable and I couldn't help but think back to Suri's first birthday... just seems like yesterday...
With all the people, music, colors and commotion, I was kept quite busy chasing Suri about, intercepting bites and hair pulls of the little ones that happened to cross her path. She was definitely busy and fortunately all of her bite attempts were unsuccessful... whhew, Mommy should get a trophy after that workout!
When it was time to leave, I figured She was going to put on quite the show (she was having a blast and wanted to hear nothing of the phrase "it's time to go") but to my amazement Suri took off running toward the crowd of people... ( a bit of panic rushed over me as I was immobile and unable to chase after her as I was trying to put my sandal back on after being in the "no shoe zone") Praying she wouldn't bite or shove anyone along her jog, I finally caught up with her and found her standing patiently legs of Max's Mommy, gazing upward at Max saying "bye Max". It melted my heart to see how sweet and polite she was being (especially with no preparation) She said "bye Max" and "Happy Birthday" like a pro (and all on her own)and didn't make a peep as we made our exit... What a relief! Suri, you never cease to amaze me...

After all the excitement and sugary treats from the party, Suri was reved up for a couple hours post party. Come 4:30 the excitement finally wore off and she fell fast asleep; I have a feeling she is down for the night as it is now 8pm and still not a peep.

It is still hard to believe that little Max Samuel is now 1 year old and that Suri Rose is almost 2. As my sister said, "don't blink, these kids are growing up way to fast"... that they are. Happy 1st Birthday Max, thank you for a fun filled day!

These are the best of the photos I could capture with my cell phone camera... aside from the blur, blinks etc, there are a few that captured the moment :)