Ryan turned one on June 11 and we celebrated with a fun carnival themed party with family and friends. The morning was just what we hoped for - lots of fun for the bigger kids and a chance to celebrate with those who have been our support system this past year. I had fun planning and decoraating, trying not to go overboard on the details. Still a lot of work, but I did better this time of sticking to my original ideas and having fun with it. Here is how it went down...
My friend, Amy, created these cute invitations. Favorite part was Ryan's sweet face caged up. :) Ahh...if only it were that easy to contain him! For the party favors, we put m&m's inside baby food jars with an Etsy tag that said, "thank you for celebrating my 1st birthday". I glued them to red and white stiped ribbon and tied them around the jars. I gave out animal magnets at the older kids' first birthday parties so I topped the jars with elephants, giraffes and monkeys.
Aaron White made this amazing, delicious 2 layer fondant cake! We were thrilled to see his creation - an idea I stole from Pinterest. The top layer was Ryan's smash cake.
I had the guests sign a 5x7 mat. Hannah always has such sweet things to say. Her note said, "Hannah Happy Birthday Ryan. Your turning 1. I love you." Again, this was something I did at Hannah and Luke's first birthday parties. I will put a favorite photo from the party in it and keep in his room.
I couldn't resist buying this snow cone machine for the bigger kids. It was a hit - they loved it!
For the food we served veggie in dip cups, popcorn, cotton candy, chips, fruit salad, hot dogs, animal crackers, peanuts and goldfish. I found a circus sign at Hobby Lobby (LOVE that store), some white and red striped fabric to put over a red table cloth I already had. The Dollar Tree had the popcorn containers and the cotton candy which is a must-have at any carnival. :)
To decorate the mantle, I found a favorite picture from each month and hung them on red and white striped ribbon. I anchored them with 4 foam letters - one for each row of pictures. I kept this up for weeks, it just made me happy.
My friend, Allison, has this awesome bounce house and we set it up for kids to play in alongside the trampoline. Luke had so much fun with it that we kept it up for a few days. He is still insisting that he get a "superdeduperde" bounce house for Christmas. He said he wanted to go to the mall right then and ask Santa for one. Oh my!
Ryan really didn't care for the bounce house which surprised me. Maybe it was because we put him there and didn't play with him! Oops!!
Michael's Mom, Charline, got Ry out of bed after his nap, ready for his big morning. She was out of town most of that week and threw a retirement party two nights before this party. We appreciated her making the effort to be with us after her crazy week!
My sister and Neal with Levi ready to play. Levi wasn't feeling very well this day but you wouldn't have known it! He's so laid back!
My friend, Martha and her baby Brandon. Our boys are one month apart and we try to get together for play dates every now and then. Brandon is always ready to go - he's all boy - big and busy, busy, busy.
Hanging out with Brandon having some lunch.
Jenna enjoyed the coupe car and playing with everyone.
Sweet Eloise having a ball in the ball pit.
A quick shot with my birthday boy who is pushing away as he usually does. Only recently have I gotten a few cuddles. :)
Cake time! The big kids all gathered around and sang and laughed (look at Luke here, he's so happy) as Ryan picked up the entire cake and tried to eat it.
His first taste...
Our last baby is growing up fast!
I missed taking pictures of him as he really got into eating the cake (I think I was serving cake at this point) but here is the aftermath...
We tried to get a shot of the baby cousins but they were not having it! Hilarious!
My parents weren't able to be at the party, but joined us that evening and the rest of the weekend. They gave him a really cool mini kitchen. So fun!
Playing with school bus that his friend, Alisa Compton got him. Sweet baby is so thin here. He lost about 1/2 lb - 1 lb the week before his party having come down with bronchiolitis and an ear infection. Thankfully he felt better and we could go forward with the birthday weekend!
With my sweet parents, Nana and Gramps.
We can't believe it has already been a year, and where did our baby go? You are so loved and so cherished by your family and we are so proud of you! Since you turned 6 months old those baby days have seemed to disappear fast - you dropped the pacifier, stopped letting me rock you and started becoming mobile and have not stopped since.
You are cruising faster each day and standing on your own for a few seconds. You are ready to walk, you just don't know you can do it yet! Your favorite activity lately is pushing your new shopping cart all around and you even took a few steps toward the toy with Daddy the other day. So excited to see you reach this milestone on your own time. You have 11 teeth (including 4 molars), lots of curls, big blue eyes and a smile/giggle that melts our hearts. You think it's funny to fake laugh and roll your eyes just to get a reaction out of us. You give kisses and cuddle with your blanket saying "ahh". Very, very sweet. You like to imitate using objects like talking on the phone, feeding us with a spoon, wiping up with a cloth, turning on the tv with the remove and brushing your teeth and hair. He can say "ma" (means more, give me that, I want to touch that, I want to eat that), and "ma-ma", "da-da", "dd" (dog or anything furry now). A few times we have heard "up", "nana" for banana and Nana, and Michael says he heard you say "night night". :) Off to a great start! You are defiantly a mama's boy, probably more so than your brother and sister were. You cry like the world is ending when I leave you but you are quick to recover. You are showing a lot of interest in music lately, dancing to anything that sings or makes a sound and enjoying our bedtime songs. You like books, but mostly to hold them, turn them over and open and close them...even throwing them is more fun that sitting still and listening to a story. :) So we are reading to you more during play time so you hear the words and sounds. Diaper changes and clothing changes usually result in a lot of chasing and wrangling - you give us quite a work out! There have been a few temper tantrums the last few weeks and both have been because you wanted to play on a computer. I see that strong will and a little bit of a temper developing already - but that's ok, your sister broke us in so we are ready for it! You have always been the best night sleeper and are doing well at transitioning to one nap a day. You enjoy most foods and are still nursing 4 times a day, but the weaning process will start in a few weeks. :( Hopefully by then you will be more used to the milk sippy cup. The first few days you made a face and spit it out completely!
Thank you for being such a joy and being an important part of our family. Although one year has passed there are many years ahead of memories and laughter. I can't wait to hear the funny things you say, your achievements big and small, and the thoughtful things you will do. I heard something recently that resognated - I want you to know we love you for who you are, not who you will become.
OXOX, Mommy
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