Party! It's fun being 1

Let's cut to the chase here: Friday was my first birthday. I'm 1 now. Can you believe that? I can't. We did it up right, too.

I got all dressed up for school Friday and was in a good mood all day -- I knew what day it was! Ms. Faith at school had a present waiting for me when I arrived (a cool Jeep outfit). Just don't tell my classmates. Mommy also took some cupcakes for me and all the kids at school -- had a great time partying.

Friday night I got to open a few presents. I got some really cool boxes with paper on them. Those were awesome. Mommy and Papa showed me how to tear the paper off and it was such a good toy. Kudos to whomever gives those gifts. Then I got a remote controlled car (it scared me at first!), a few books to add to my library, an awesome basketball goal and baseball batting practice tee. Great stuff.

Then we went to a party with some folks at church. It was nice seeing everyone. I knew it wasn't my party -- too many adults. But I made the most of it, hanging with the old people and making everybody laugh when I danced with the singing snowman (they think I don't know I'm on stage).

Overall, it was a solid birthday.

Saturday ... the day of the party. I really looked forward to this. Got up, played with papa and my new toys, then went to the church. Me and papa rode around for some man-to-man time while mommy and a few others did their thing ... then I fell asleep. Booooooring. But when I woke up ...

There were tons of people there. All these colors. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Orange (my favorite). Billy and Kailynn and Jake and Nati and Samantha and Caylee -- all my friends from church were there, and some friends from Mommy's work. Even got introduced to Mommy's friend's daughter Jena, who's nearly halfway to being a year old. Then there were all my adult friends from church. And we even had a special appearance by the M&M's guys (Bill, Johnny ... I knew it was you). It was awesome.

What did we do? Well, I walked around everywhere, pushed my car all over, some of my friends colored, then they played "Pin the M on the Candy" -- the adults played that, too. All kinds of fun.

The big highlight? CAKE.

Everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to me really loudly. Then we had a blue cake in front of me, and everybody was watching. I'm not sure what they were watching. Anyway, everybody was staring at me, so ... I dug in. At first, I didn't want to get messy, so I just stuck my finger in it. Man, it was sooooooooooo good. Thanks to Mary Ellen for making the cakes.

It was so good I put my whole hand in it. I don't know how you eat, but when I eat, I take my palm and make sure everything gets in my mouth. I did that with the cake, and blue got all over my face and hands. It felt really weird, so I squished a bunch in my fist.

What a cake. What a time. Ms. Amy and Ms. Kati whisked me off into the kitchen and stripped me down to clean me up (easy, ladies). So I got into my Nike jumpsuit and then helped clean up the Fellowship Hall.

I had such a good time with all my friends. What's cool is we collected tons of canned food items to donate to The Salvation Army. Instead of gifts, people brought that for donations.

Afterward, me, Mommy, Papa and Nana all went out to eat at Chili's and then went searching for Christmas Lights. It was fun for a while, but my tummy started hurting real bad and my congestion was getting to me. I was tired, and well, let's just write that one off as that -- we headed home in my new car seat (thanks Mommy and Papa, even though I got it messy the first time) and hit the hay.

Sunday I slept in a little (8 a.m.!!!), then got up and hung out with Nana and opened the presents she got me -- an awesome little puppy, some PJ's and the perfect sleeping quilt that she made.

Just like that, I'm 1. Hard to believe. One of my adult friends at the party made a comment to Papa, "Just think, this time next year you'll be celebrating the Terrible Twos." Papa emphatically shook his head no. I don't know what all that means, but if next year is anything like this one, I can't wait.

-- Hudson W. Pate

Thankful ... and ready to celebrate

OK, so I've been a little tired lately. As you know by now, I'm a walker. Even in the last week I've improved quite a bit in my balance and walking skills. Now I can go from the couch all the way to the front door ... AND turn around. Mommy and Papa laugh when I do that, but I think I'm pretty good at it.

I hope your Thanksgiving was enjoyable. Mine was. Grammy and Memaw and Paw came down, and I got to eat turkey and a few desserts, which by the way I really like. Bill and Marlene came over and brought Kailynn and Billy. We had a good time playing after we ate, and they gave me two of the best toys -- a desk and this toy that shoots balls up in the air. Love it.

I got a few other toys, too. At Babies R Us, we picked up a popcorn popper, which I walk behind, and a John Deere tractor that I can push or ride. I really like that one. It's joined my stable of two other cars that I push.

The day after Thanksgiving I went to visit Santa Claus at the mall. He was weird looking, with his long white beard and such. Oh well. To each his own.

Funniest thing of the week: I was trying to reach a toy in my toybox and BOOM -- I fell into the toybox. Everybody thought I was crying, but I wasn't. I was trying to get my toy. And, well, I got it. So I hung out in the toybox for about 30 minutes. It's cool in there.

Don't think I've forgotten. It's one week until my 1-year birthday. Hard to believe. My birthday is Friday the 12th, and my party is Saturday the 13th at church. I can't wait. One year. Amazing.

I'll report back on how the party goes. Until then ...
Hudson W. Pate