Matsakis Memories: Lexie's One!

Where has the time gone! I remember a year ago when Lexie was 6 days late and it seemed as though she would never get here. My sister, Ursula, had come in from Arizona so that she could be with me during the delivery and I had to take her to the airport to fly back home the day prior to checking into the hospital. Thinking back to that time, I should have known then that Miss Lexie was drumming to her own beat. She is such a free spirit and just loves life on her own terms. She is a little "Heidi" for sure.

Proud Daddy!

Lexie was only a few hours old!

On Saturday, Lexie celebrated her first birthday. It is so hard having her birthday smack dab in the middle of college football season and even though she will not remember how big or small the celebration was, I wanted to do something. My older sister, Ursula, and her newest baby, Noah came in from Arizona to help join in on the celebration. I had ordered invitations about a month in advance but was hesitant on doing anything formal since I was not sure what time we would be able to have the party. Just thinking about trying to get nap schedules to coordinate with a party and then waiting to hear about the game time was just too much. I went ahead and made the invites and left out a time but I knew that we were going to have to celebrate her birthday on Saturday, her actual birthdate, because George had to spend the night at the hotel on Friday evening and he had a long day of work on Sunday. After talking to my girlfriends one evening, I decided that we were going to have to have Lexie's party at the tailgate before the game.

I found this cute invite on Etsy

An interesting fact: Lexie's actual due date was October 16, 2010, which just happened to be the day of the KU vs KSU game last year. She did not come and instead was 6 days late. This year her birthday again, fell on the date of the KU vs KSU game. George and I laugh about that.

We got to the tailgate a little later than anticipated, which we should have expected since we were trying to get two little ones ready. I knew that the most challenging part of having her birthday at the tailgate was going to be keeping her at her own party. She just loves to explore so when I get her out of her wagon...she bolts. She now only has one speed....it's FAST! She doesn't look where she is going she just puts her head down and runs until she either falls or runs into something. Once we got to her party, I quickly began shoving food in her mouth to keep her in one spot long enough for her to open her gifts.

Cupcakes I made and Ursula helped me decorate for the party
(Idea from Pinterest)

Lexie sharing her new toys with Carter

As it got closer to kick-off, both kids were starting to get tired so we started our journey back to the house. After a much needed nap and once George got home we put a candle on a small cake for Lexie to dig into. George and I didn't know what to expect from Lexie's cake adventure. I know that she is very picky when it comes to trying new things so I knew that I would have to give her the first bite. She really liked the frosting but once she put her fingers in it, it was just too messy for her to handle. She took a few bites of the cake but sadly she only ate less than a fourth of the cake.