Jacob's 1st Birthday Party.

I finally am getting the chance to post photos of Jacob's 1st birthday.

It's only been a week so that's not too bad, right?

It was a fantastic party, so much fun, good food, and I was stress free. 

I'm never stress free for a party and boy does it make a difference.

Come the morning of the party I seriously had no worries.

Which secretly made me a tiny nervous because parties equal stress, right? 

Anyway everything went wonderfully, except that I forgot to take a lot of pictures. Opps. 

So I have no pictures of the fabulous cupcakes my sister made. 

I'm really sad about that. I guess we'll just have to make them again and takes some photos. 

Oh bummer. 

On to the details...

I had so much fun creating all the decorations thanks to DimplePrints.

I loved being able to print out what I needed and create my own decorations.

I was super excited when I found these popcorn bins at the dollar tree. I knew they were just what I needed.

Since we had the carnival theme going we set up a few games for the "bigger" kids.

We had some yummy treats to start,

and an even better lunch.

(Costco pizza is the way to go. Cheap, easy, and so good.)

Everyone had a great time eating, playing, and enjoying the day.

My favorite part of the day was the cake. 

For me, it's always the best part of the 1st birthday.

Jacob was slow to start, surprisingly, but once he had a taste he dove right in.

Such a messy, sugary little guy.

At some point the kids, big and small, got a little crazy with the face paint.

This is my favorite picture of him ever.

And lastly, the books!

Remember how we collected books for The Joyful Life Library?

Well we received 59 in all!!

Awesome!

Thank you everyone!

We had a wonderful 1st birthday for our little guy.

I can hardly believe a year has already come and gone.

I love you little Jacob.

Ethan's 3rd Birthday Party.

On Sunday we celebrated Ethan's birthday with our family.

When I asked him what kind of party he wanted he told me Monster Trucks.

So Monster Trucks it was. 

I didn't do any big planning or go crazy with food or spend a ton of money on decorations.

I kept it simple.

The kids played in the sandbox, raced monster trucks and drew with chalk.

We ate lunch.

 

Opened presents.

 (yes, that is a big boy drum set. my neighbors are thrilled.)

And sang happy birthday.

But the main event was the pinata.

I'm almost certain none of the kids had hit a pinata before and they loved it.

Even my Uncle Jimbo got in on the action.

I think they were all on a sugar high for the rest of the day. At least Ethan was.

The kids had a blast and most importantly Ethan had one of the best days ever. 

That's what he told me. 

Happy 3 to my E!

Ethan's 2!

On Saturday our little man turned 2 years old. 

It's hard for me to believe that only 2 short years ago I was in the hospital getting ready to meet him. 

It was by far my proudest moment and favorite day of my life.

It seems crazy that only 2 days later we got to bring this little tiny person home with us and instantly we became parents.

We started off the day with presents from us. He loves tractors right now so that's what he got, plus some play-doh, which was not as interesting.

Later in the day we celebrated with our family by having an ice cream party.

It was a blast!

The kids ate tons of ice cream, swam in the kiddie pool and played til they were wiped out.

Here is a glimpse of the party...

It really was such a great day! I had been a little stressed earlier but by the time the party came around I was stress free and I got to enjoy myself. But the best part was that Ethan really had a wonderful time and you can see it on that little handsome face.
Happy Birthday!