First Birthday Party

With the perfect party house and a refreshing pool, I knew I wanted Nathan's birthday party to be at our home with a fish or water theme. Thanks to Pinterest, Photoshop and Joanne's, I started planning and formulating the perfect way to celebrate our little buddy. Ryan may have thought I went overboard at times, but I had a lot of fun and it gave me a fun project for nap times!

The details were months in the making but they all came together in the last days and hours thanks to the many hands on deck that stayed with us. The party prep began on Friday with all the baking that my amazing sister, Alex, did for the 60+ cupcakes she made. Brother in law Lincoln carved up a watermelon to be a shark head and everyone else helped get the house ready.

Saturday morning was busy putting all the final touches together. Setting up food, hanging up banners, blowing up pool toys, arranging party favors...I would never have been able to pull it all together without my family being in town!

Since the party was at lunchtime I wanted to make sure we had enough food for our guests. We served Peanut Butter and Jelly"fish" Sandwiches, Shark Bait (fruit salad), Seaweed (spinach) Dip, Hermit Dogs (pigs in a blanket), Submarine Sandwiches, and Goldfish of course!

There are many, many special people in our lives that have seen us through Nathan's first year and we were so blessed to be able to celebrate with so many of them that day! It warmed my heart to look over the backyard and see all the family members, babies and friends together.

Nathan had a blast playing in the splash fountain his Lolly bought for the party and swimming in the pool with  Ryan. His smile just lights up my life! He had his cousin and music buddies to play with and everyone seemed to enjoy the beautiful day.

Alex decorated the smash cake like a beach with a cute little crab on top. Our little eater loved gobbling up the sugar and really dug his hands into the tasty icing. He was so funny crunching his fists together and licking his fingers. Yum!

We couldn't have asked for more gorgeous weather - sunny skies and cool breezes. It was a perfect day and so special to celebrate our little monkey turning one. All that party prep was worth it and I am so thankful we had the help and the company for such a momentous occasion!