Three weeks after the fact....I am posting Henry's First Birthday Celebration pictures! I must admit that it turned out better than I could have hoped! I think I picked up the first circus themed item for Henry's party when I was pregnant with him...the cutest little clown cupcake toppers! I loved the idea of such a classic theme for a birthday celebration, plus I guess my way of coping with my baby turning one was to throw all of my focus into having a fun circus-themed party to celebrate! We had a great time, and I loved commemorating his first birthday. It will be a celebration we will always remember.
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| So, it's not every grand kid who has a clown for a grandma! Steven's mom did a clown ministry when he was just a baby, and she has kept the stuff for all these years...so, of course I wanted to solicit her "hidden talents" for Henry's shin-dig. She made Steven this clown outfit 30 years ago, and so we HAD to put Henry in it on the day of his party! I am not sure the pictures translate (he was ready for nap time), but he looked absolutely adorable in it!! |
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| Aunt Heather (kid bday party planner extraordinaire) and Layna came a day early to help set up the party and to help Henry play hookie from school on Friday! You can't see it here, but it actually SNOWED the whole day of the party. It was kinda cool to look outside and see it coming down. It was a good excuse to all be inside celebrating. The party crowd was welcomed by a "Happy Birthday" banner... |
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| A "Come one come all, It's Henry's first birthday!" sign... |
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| And a "Step right up" wreath! |
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| The mantle inside had a banner of Henry's monthly picture (including Bunky) and his "favorite things" were on display. |
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| While I found this idea on pinterest and started it with great gusto, I lost steam and Aunt Heather and Steven had to pick up the slack. I'm so glad they did, because it was my favorite detail of the party! |
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| These are the little details that will help me remember my little man at this age. |
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| The party started at 11:00, so we had lunch for everyone. I tried to go circus themed with this, too, and it turned out great! |
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| We had a dessert table complete with cake pops, cupcakes (with those clown toppers that started it all!), circus peanuts (yuck!), turquoise blue M&Ms, and swirled "lollipop" sugar cookies (another pinterst idea). There was plenty of sugar to go around! |
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| We had hotdogs, popcorn, peanuts, nachos, and funfetti dip with animal crackers, too! |
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| Before the crowd arrived, we had Henry meet his grandma all dressed up like a clown! He was a little unsure, but I think it was mostly because he was ready for his nap. |
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| Here he is checking her out! :) |
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| Grandma's talents continue to amaze us...she can make awesome animal balloons AND paint faces! The kids loved it! |
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| My mom and sis-in-law and Henry's three cousins came from TN for the party. Here is Mary Ellen with grandma! |
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| Here are the four grand kids with the clown! |
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| Henry's best school bud Braeden came to his party! His mom Alicia and I teach together, and it is so much fun to watch these 2 boys grow up together. It was really sweet of them to come to Henry's party. |
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| This is how I walk in on them every day at school nursery...two partners in crime! It is no different outside of school I guess! |
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| I set up a "photo booth" to get a picture of everyone at the party. Here is my mom, Marie, Emma, and Mary Ellen. George was at the party, but he is too cool for stuff like this:) Oh, tweenagers! I am SO mad that I did not put Henry in a picture with them, but he was busy playing I think! |
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| Our wonderful church small group friends Jeremy and Sarah (you know they are true friends when the choose to come to a one year old's bday party on their Saturday!). It's neat that they visited us in the hospital when Henry was born, have seen him weekly for his first year of life when we meet for small group, and are now at his first birthday party! |
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| Here's our wonderful Kentucky family who drove all the way down just to help us celebrate. I know they wouldn't miss it. Henry is a BIG deal at their house.:) So sweet! |
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| Cousin Camden with little cuz Henry...this is probably the best pic of Henry's shirt (and it's pretty cute of the boys, too)! I'm not exactly sure where his pants are (!), but grandma is a jack of many trades and whipped this up the night before the party for him. I was going to get one made for him, but the lady had to back out at the last minute, so grandma really came through, and I honestly think I love it more than anything else that could have been made! Simplicity is super in my book! |
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| My amazing, super, wonderful neighbor Robin (who does me too many favors to name) and her 20 month old Bennett who is also one of Henry's best buds! I love watching them interact-so cute! |
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| Our other wonderful small group friends Karen with kiddos Connor and Chloe. |
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| David and Blair are friends of ours through Steven's company. We have hung out with them on and off for the last 5 (has it really been that long!!) years, and they had their little boy Clark just a few months after Henry was born. It will be neat to watch them grow together! |
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| Elizabeth and Lyle are our friends from across the street! |
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| Our church friends the Andrews. I love the faces in this picture! |
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| Henry's friend Juliet (just a week younger than Henry!) with my church friend Ashley and big sister Bella! |
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| Our neighbors the Chris and Jenn with their son Ethan who is 3 weeks older than Henry! We are looking forward to some summer play dates with these guys! |
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Grandpa and Peggy came from TN to celebrate, too.  | | | | |
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| Don't be fooled. This is just him eating a Cheerio. No cake for him! The cute smash cake that Aunt Heather made for Henry remained un-smashed. We even put his finger in the frosting and put it in his mouth, and he just fussed. I think he wanted out of his highchair! I wish I had gotten a picture of the crowd from where we stood. Everyone gathered around to sing to Henry, and it was so sweet to see all the family and friends who came to help us celebrate our little guy. |
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| I probably took 20 pictures of Juliet and Henry playing, but they were too busy to BOTH look at the camera at the same time! This is the best I could do...pretty cute of them looking at each other, though!:)I wonder what they are saying to each other in baby language? |
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| When I realized how large our crowd was going to be and that we could not go outside, I decided it would be smart to use the garage for extra space. We set up some space heaters, chairs, and games in there. Here is Aunt Heather, Layna, Grandpa, and Peggy in the garage. |
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| In the garage we had ring toss (seen here), a duck pond, one corn hole board, pin drop, and another bag toss game. Plus we put the riding toys out there. The kids seemed to have a fun time! |
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| Also in the garage we had a cotton candy maker! Uncle Jimmy is the owner and sole operator of the machine. Thanks, Uncle Jimmy! |
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| Cousin Kaia took care of the duck pond for us! We put all the cousins to work out there I think! |
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| We asked for no gifts from friends, so once they all left we opened some family presents. Here Henry is with both of his grandmas. |
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| Grandpa gave Henry this awesome John Deere gator which he loves (if you can't tell by the look on his face!). |
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| One more picture of our cute little one year old clown. |
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| And one more of our little family. Happy first birthday, Henry. We love you so much! |
