the party

  

To say I love party planning is a huge understatement. I love any reason to decorate or come up with a theme, get all the details just perfect and watch it come together.

This year I decided instead of doing two small birthday parties for the kids, to just do one big one. I went back and forth because this being Ruthie’s first birthday and I wasn’t sure if I wanted a combined party for her first one. Then I decided that if I was ever going to do it, that now would probably be the time before she and Harris really cared about what their parties were like. To go with a not so girly, not so boyish theme I decided to do the Woodland Party theme.

I ALWAYS throw parties at my (entirely too small) house and it ends up being kinda smushed, with people running into each other. So this year, I decided to do their party in the woods/park to go with the theme.

I usually assume the worse as in a party outside equals disaster if it rains

So when people started asking about what I was going to do if it rained, I really didn’t even entertain the idea. I was very optimistic about it not raining and everything was going to be perfect. Which is really strange behavior on my part.

Well the week of I checked the radar several times not really obsessing over it but more just entertaining other people when they would ask me over and over what I was going to do if it rained. I have no idea why my mind wouldn’t go there. Maybe all of my praying about looking at the brighter side of life and seeing the glass half full was actually working and the Lord was helping me in this area.  The radar said 20% every time and to me it might as well said 0%.

My dad mentioned bringing a tent and I said sure, we would just have it just in case but did not think we would use it at all. Little did I know that it would be our saving grace in the moment of a torrential downpour :). I loved having all of our party guests under a tiny, tiny tent, with children I might add, clinched to their parents for dear life while it rained harder than it had rained in a while.

We all got soaked. Some more than others and I am still sorry to those dear souls. I kept questioning myself on why I decided to be a optimist and think, no it won’t rain, at this exact time. Literally, the party was from 5-7pm. It was a gorgeous day and rain came out of nowhere at exactly 5:20 and lasted for a good 20 minutes then sprinkled off and on for a good hour. 

To make it better, I believe that at the park where we had the party was the only place it rained in Birmingham that day. Awesome.

So, I just want to thank our sweet friends for holding out and literally weathering the storm with us. We all made a memory and in the end it really is just a birthday party. Not a big deal at all. We had fun. Maybe not how I planned (for months and months) but we still got to celebrate my babies birthdays and that is what it was all about anyways.

So without further adieu, here are some quick pictures from the party. I really didn’t have time to get everything really settled and fixed up for actual party pictures but you will get an idea.

 

 

I love any kind of bar, like candy bar, taco bar and cute stuff like that. So to go with the Woodland theme I decided to do a Trail Mix Bar. I googled ideas for Trail Mix bars and found a cute one so I followed the idea of it.

 

 

For the food, I wanted to go really easy. So I decided to do little berry baskets with chips and turkey wraps. Thanks to my sweet sister that helped me make all of the wraps and to Sandahlyn who made the cute labels for me.

 

The baskets came from Garnish Inc.

 

Here is a picture of the food table. I didn’t have time to get the foil and plastic off of the berries and pasta salad :(. I made the cupcake stand with a can covered with sheet moss and slices of wood from Hobby Lobby. I had no idea Hobby Lobby had these. Apparently they have everything. The owl vase came from the $1 section at Target. We made the banner with polka dot fabric (obviously) and red burlap. You can’t see but I used wooden forks from Garnish and the green stripe straws are from here.

Just some simple twigs that I use on my mantel and the boxwood letters are from Hobby Lobby on clearance.

I was going to have the kids paint or color a birdhouse for one of their party favors, but it poured down rain on all of the birdhouses.

 

  True story: We lost 2 sets of balloons!!! Yep. Lost one set to the sky and then went and bought another set and lost that one too. I just had to laugh. It wasn’t our day. Or should I say it wasn’t my day because the kids could not care less. Oh well. Life goes on, just $12 down the drain. At least I got one picture. See, I am looking at the bright side.

I had so much bug spray and was prepared for everyone to be well protected from West Nile. Nope, we did not need any of this, so that was a plus.

Party favors.  I found the little peat pots in the dollar section of Target also.

Best buds

Ruthie was worried about the dark clouds rolling in :)

Harris holding on to Gigi while we were all under the tent :(

Opening presents. They got some really sweet gifts!

Hello humidity. Please just disregard the rest of the pictures of my out of control hair :/.

    

 

Time for cake!

He just licks the icing off of the top, then asks for another one. Gross.

Ruthie decided just to rub the cake on her face instead of eating it.

   

Growing up, we always had piñatas at our parties. So I wanted to get them one this year. Well it rained on it so much that it pretty much busted itself. I guess that is a win. 

 

It was a hit with Anna Scott. 

Fulton had fun with the piñata.

Ruthie is thinking, you have got to be kidding putting me down in this wet grass.

 

Sweet friends. My poor hair.

 

Love all of these ladies and babies :). Thank you so much for coming and getting all wet for us.

Sweet Caleb.

Before the rain started, we got only a couple of pictures in the photo booth :(

 

Thank you again to everyone that helped me with this party and for everyone that came. It really means so much to our family.

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gosh, I love them

 

I want to remember this forever :)

 

They both woke up from their naps a little late and we were rushing to get them ready for Harris’ soccer game. Neither one of them wanted to do anything but have me hold them. They were both lifting their arms up at me wanting to just sit with me for a minute. When I would pick up Harris and love on him, Ruthie would cry and lift her arms until I held her and then vice versa. Normally this would be a little aggravating but for some reason at this moment, I LOVED it. :) I love that they still need me and want to be held. I know that one day they won’t need me to hold them, but I pray that they always know I am here and will love them and “hold” them whenever they need it.

 

 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:3-5

 

Pumpkin patch

 

 

Here is a sweet memory I wanted to get on the blog.

We had so much fun at the pumpkin patch, and I love any chance we get to make a family memory. We are going to try to make this an annual tradition, just like going to the Christmas tree farm.

All of these were taken with my iphone so the quality is poor, but at least I have them.

Riding the hay ride to the pumpkin patch

Scouting out his pumpkin.

 

Ruthie picked out one her perfect size (that mommy and daddy put back because you pay $7 a pumpkin and we thought that price tag was a tad much for this little guy). But it made a cute picture.

Riding back with our pumpkins

Wish I was in this picture.

Harris loved his pumpkin.

 

  

This was his reaction after sliding down the massive slide.

My little daredevil.

 

Carving our pumpkins.