Joan

Last weekend, we celebrated a special lady's birthday.  It was a big birthday for Joan and my cousin Trevor had the idea of getting everyone together to celebrate Joan's 60th birthday.

If you know Joan, you know she is a pretty wonderful lady.  She has always been a constant in my life.  Through each and every stage, she has been there cheering me on.  I don't know how she does it, but Joan is close to everyone in the family and makes everyone feel special and celebrated.  She reminds me so much of my Grandma Rose in this way.  I feel so fortunate that my own kids now get to experience Aunt Joan.  They are lucky little kids. 

On Sunday, we celebrated 60 years of Joan.  It was such a nice day. 

 

The kids had a blast all day!  Thank you Trevor for being such a good sport with the kids!!  You are a natural with them!

 Happy birthday, Joan!!  Thanks for all you do.

1 Last Birthday Post

I promise I will stop with the Grady birthday posts...after this last one.  Grady is officially one and after the big bash on Saturday his actual birthday was pretty calm.  My parents were up for the day and Ryan was home for the night.   And don't forget, it is birthday season around here.  Layla's birthday is just 12 days away.  I am trying to gear up for another party.  It will be a princess party with all of Layla's little buddies.  

Now one last birthday dose of Grady!

Officially one!!  Here is the shot of Grady at 12:26 p.m. (birth time) on May 23.  He was just wiped down after lunch.

Somebody loves his new toys!

Loving the new sand and water table from Cassie, Jamie, Shea & Liam

The First "Last Day of School"

Layla was very excited to bring her teachers the flowers she picked out.  She had a main teacher, teacher assistant and music teacher this year.  We really loved them all. 

One last day of table work!

The parents were invited in for an ice cream treat for the last day.  I thought it was fun that the kids made the ice cream.  Layla told us she got to add a little milk as her ingredient.

Ryan even was able to come by!  One of Layla's classmates cracks me up.  Any time Ryan is at the preschool during the day she says, "Aren't you supposed to be with my sister at her school right now?"  She is always calling Ryan out :)  For the record, Ryan took his lunch time to come see Layla for her last day.

Layla and me- We are so proud of Layla.  She has grown so much this year.  Layla was feeling sad on the way home and is ready to "bump up" to her next preschool class.  I was feeling a bit sad too.  I always have a hard time stopping something that Layla really enjoys.  It might take us a couple days, but soon we will be all adjusted to summer break!

The Big Baseball Bash

Saturday was Grady's first birthday party.  We had a big crowd coming so we were very thankful that the weather was beautiful.  I become very tight with weather.com during party weeks.  Grady actually did really well at the party.  There were lots of people but he was passed around a pretty good amount and I think everyone got to see a little bit of the birthday boy.

I love making all of the projects for birthday parties.  It is a nice and necessary creative outlet for me since I am not currently teaching.  I added tips for the crafts in this post because I love seeing those in blogs I read.  Enjoy the party...get ready for A LOT of pictures!

  

 

Baseball wreath, inspired from Pinterest.  The soft baseballs for the wreath came in packs from the Dollar Tree.  The wreath form is also from the Dollar Tree.  I wrapped the wreath foam in fabric and hot glued on a lot of baseballs.

Layla helped me grow all of the grass in the pots.  She moved them constantly in the sun for me so that they would grow quickly.  I would recommend starting grass projects at least three weeks in advance.  I made the flags, pinwheels and pennants out of fabric.

Signature bat for a memory for Grady.  I think by the end of the night, it actually got signed by most people!

Scoreboard decoration for the food table.  For the home and away scores, I used Grady's birth date, time of birth and weight and height.   This was my first attempt at homemade chalkboard paint.  It actually works!

Lemon shake-ups, as seen on Pinterest

Grady's monthly photos were all strung on our big tree in the backyard.  I, of course, saw this idea on Pinterest!

Craft table

Games!  Ryan planned the games and the kids seemed to enjoy them.  The kids played "Strike 'Em Out" (throw a ball in a bucket), "Home Run Derby" (the kids hit balls off a tee over a tiny landscaping fence) and the kids ran bases.

No helium required!  Just blow up the balloon and string them upside down with a needle and baker's twine.  (Pinterest!)
They sell the polka dot balloons at Party City.

My amazing friend (and Grady's Godmother) Stephanie made these cake pops.  Aren't they wonderful?  They were the hit of the party.  Stephanie, thank you so so much for making these!  I wouldn't recommend putting cake pops in real grass and dirt.  Actually dry dirt would probably be fine.  These pots were freshly watered and the water made the sticks floppy.  They were still delicious!

The green indoor/outdoor carpet for the food and dessert table came from Menards.  It was very inexpensive.  They were so nice at Menards and didn't even mind cutting only a small piece for us.  I price matched and Menards had the best deal.  I have a feeling the carpet will get lots of use.  You may see it at future football, golf and garden parties :)

Here is Grady's smash cake on Ryan's family highchair.  Ryan and his siblings ate in this chair growing up.  Thanks to Ryan's parents for letting me borrow it for the party!

Uncle Frank and Grady

Layla.  She was so excited.  She directed people to the craft table, to sign the bat and even was getting juice pouches for the kids.  She was actually a pretty crazy little girl for the day and did a lot of fast talking and running!

My friend Jessie made Grady this banner while I was pregnant.  I love it and it typically hangs in his nursery.

Cake time!  Several months ago I decided I wanted to serve ice cream out of mini baseball helmets.  I remembered having them at Baskin Robbins when I was little kid.  Do you remember them?  I found the very best deal on eBay.  They were brand new and food safe!

Grady enjoyed the cake!  I was shocked to see chocolate cake (it was supposed to be white because he has never had chocolate before) but we just went with it.

Layla loves fondant!

Present time!  I wasn't even going to do a present opening at the party but Grady started climbing on the presents....so we went for it!  Everyone was so generous and Layla and Grady have been having a blast with all of the new toys.

Grady finally got his hands on the truck that he had his eye on in the present pile :)

Layla was a huge help during the opening!

Ann and Joan with the birthday boy!

Little kid favors- The bats and balls are also from the Dollar Tree.  Did you know I love that place?

For the adults!  I opted to do treat bags instead of a sweet table.  I haven't had good luck with people actually eating food off the sweet table.  I included chocolate baseballs, gummy hot dogs and Baby Ruths.  Layla actually stuffed all of the bags for me!  She really is becoming a good party helper.

Happy 1st birthday, Grady!!