Landon's Birthday Party.

Whew... the party is finally over and now, two days later, the house is finally clean. I, of course, put everything off until the last minute. I seem to think I work better under pressure but I've proven (once again...) that I'm wrong.

My first disaster of the day was The Case of the Missing Tomatoes. Landon and I got up early on Sunday and went to Winn Dixie for last minute shopping. I know I bought 4 tomatoes. I know this because it says so on my receipt. But I didn't come home with any tomatoes. So in the middle of prepping my avocado feta salsa I had to run to Bruno's.

I came back home, diced the tomatoes and then went to chop the avocados. I couldn't even get my knife to go through them. I knew they weren't super ripe when I bought them but I had no idea this was going to happen. I enlisted Spencer to help and his first cut went all the way through the avocado, cutting even the pit in half. Yeah, thanks for that. I tried to dig the pit out but just couldn't do it. Off to the store I went. Again.

The Fresh Market is our closest store. I spent $10 on three avocados! And I practically destroyed their bins trying to find the ripest ones. Thankfully those worked out for me.

On to the cakes... I got one cake done with no problems. I was all gung-ho about the second one. I figured that since I was using the exact same cake pan, nothing could go wrong. But as I went to flip it out, it completely tore in half. I cried. A lot. After that I gave up on my cute cake pan and threw together the french chocolate cake that I made not too long ago.

When our first guests arrived Landon was in the bathtub, I was sitting next to him straightening my hair, and Spencer was icing the impromptu cake.

And to top everything off, our air conditioner chose that very moment to stop working. Ya'll, March is practically summer in Alabama. And with the oven going. It was HOT.

Oh, and Landon didn't nap at all that day.



That's the cake that actually turned out. The party was football themed so I was super excited when I found out that Wilton makes a football cake pan. Spencer did the decorating of the cake and he was very proud of himself.

I did a plain yellow cake that I found over at Blonde Ambition and cut the football in half to make it layered.

Chocolate Buttercream

1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together butter and cocoa powder. Beat in powdered sugar and milk alternately until you reach desired consistency. Stir in vanilla.



This is the only food picture I managed to take. We had a ton more. The big hit of the day was the sweet lil' smokies from Amber's Delectable Delights. I think I made close to 50 of them and we had 4 left in the end, all of which got shoved in my mouth as soon as everyone was gone.

I also made spicy roasted chicken legs from The Pioneer Woman. They didn't make it into the picture because I believe my grandfather was hoarding them. He loved them. And he's a picky man.

My favorite buffalo chicken dip also made an appearance but for some reason it didn't go over well. It's okay though. I've got it in the fridge waiting for me.

The flat red thing is a "cheeseball" that my mom made. My dad told her it looked like a meatloaf when they were driving over and she wasn't happy with him.

This cheeseball was always my favorite growing up and after my dad dropped it at one of my birthday parties it became known as "Cheese-on-the-Floor" among my family. A few years later my college roommate and I started referring to it as "that thing we lived on during a week long drunkfest".

Cheese-on-the-Floor

8 ounces shredded cheddar
8 ounces shredded monterey jack
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 bunch green onions, chopped
pecans (a cup or so, finally diced)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
strawberry jam

Mix all ingredients except strawberry jam. Form into ball (or whatever shape you like). Spread strawberry jam over top.


Avocado Feta Salsa

1 avocado, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces feta

Toss together avocado, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and parsley. Gently stir in red wine vinegar and olive oil. Stir in feta. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.



Once everything was finally done the party ended up being a lot of fun. Landon walked from person to person the whole time and I think he enjoyed himself even though he was obviously exhausted by the end of it. He got way too many toys and a lot of practical things that I was more excited about. I still can't believe my baby is one though.