The storm before the calm; the morning of Clay's First Birthday Party

The morning of Clay's first birthday party started off a little rocky but the party and the rest of the day went beautifully.  The night before the party my mom and I were baking the cupcakes for little man's party and kept commenting on how hot it was; we couldn't wait to be done with the baking portion because then our house would go to a normal temperature....WRONG!  I woke up around 4 am to find our house, which was set to 73 degrees was at 85 degrees - yikes!  It was at that time that I had to muster up the courage to tell Jim (he was still up because he'd worked into the wee hours of the morning finishing a gate that closed off our backyard and our driveway - a project he'd been working on all week so that our smallest party guests would be safe.  Once finished there, he put together Clay's big birthday presents - a "jungle gym" and a blow up ball pit).  I thought Jim was going to freak when I told him about the fact that our air conditioner was broken (especially since we'd replaced our furnace less than three months earlier) but he just laughed and said, we'll take care of it.


I called the after hours line for our heating and air service company and they were at our house by 7:30 that morning telling us that the system was kaput and that we needed a completely new air conditioner (they also showed us where the components of the unit had started melting from overheating - so all in all, a new air conditioner on party day was MUCH better than a fire any time!)  The company was great and had the unit installed about halfway through the party.  I texted all the guests that morning to let them know that the majority of the party would be outside and to plan accordingly, everyone was so sweet about it and the temperature was pretty darn comfortable (it was definitely cooler outside than it was inside).  The company was great and had the unit installed about halfway through the party.  Ironically, the gate that Jim installed was open most of the party so that the air conditioner could be installed but we now have a brand new air conditioner and a fantastic gate that makes the backyard safer!  Oh and what 1 year old do you know that gets an air conditioner as part of his/her birthday present?  :)