Thank you, thank you, thank you.

First, thanks to that sweet lentil for being such a great recipient of his first birthday party. He played with his friends, smiled while we sang happy birthday, and greeted nearly all of his guests.  He was just my sweet sweet boy.

Second, thanks to everyone that showed up to celebrate Zayd's first milestone. It was great to have the house buzzing with friends, family, and neighbors snacking on lemony treats and chugging lemonade or Mexican beer with lime. We Mammens appreciate the birthday wishes and gifts from near and far. Thank you thank you to everyone who thought of Zayd these past few days.

Mostly, thanks to the people I love most who arrived in droves (or woke up, in Sam's case) and accepted my militant birthday party planning style with grace. The awesome result of their efforts is not because I'm a super mom, a great planner, or creative. It's because I know how to delegate and I ignore my friends' needs for sleep, food, or compensated break times. As Sam pointed out, I expect too much from the people I love and I'm beyond blessed to have a veritable crew assemble these ridiculous events I dream up. Thank you Mom, Dad, Jon, Andrea, Julie, Crystal,  Jacob, Nunu and my obliging husband Sam.

The moral of the story is, it's probably not worth it, don't  overwork your friends, and I'll probably forget all of this around December when I start planning birthday #2.