Kobe's 1st Birthday Party

It's hard to believe my lil baby is a year old already!!My first blog post was about the lil cutie.He's loved so much and is so fun right now.He's not walking yet because of some issues with his right foot,but we're getting chiropractor treatments to fix that.I love his cute curls,his 4little teeth and well,basically everything about him!!He loves dancing to music,being read to and playing with his Daddy.His favorite thing to do right now is tear everything out of the kitchen cabinets.

I decided to have an airplane party last fall already,so I could look for stuff ahead of time and make a lot of the stuff to save $$.Airplane stuff is not quite as popular as Spiderman,etc. so I'm glad I had plenty of time to shop and create things.I wanted it to be blue/gray/orange,vintage/travel-themed and fun.I think we accomplished it.I didn't have much time to take pictures of things before the party started so bear with me on these.I used Printshop to make his party invitations and printed them onto postcard paper.They were made to look like tickets.I don't have pictures of the whole tickets.My neice and nephew took the guests' ticket stubs as they came in the door.

  I printed these posters up and put them inside the door.

 This was the kid's "Baggage Claim" area.I filled mugs with coton candy and topped them with airplane cutouts with the kid's names on them.They had blue & orange M&Ms and Tootsie Rolls to snack on too.Brown paper bags held a toy airplane and airplane pictures to color.I found the little gray airplanes at Walmart in the clearance section.Scrabble tiles spelled Fly Away and Airborne.

 I drew an airplane and framed it.The food labels were made of cardstock paper and stickers.

I used twine and clothespins to hang up a pic of Kobe from each month.So hard to believe he used to be soo tiny!! 

 The food table-Guests grabbed utensils and plates off the trunk and suitcase.An old map hung behind the table.I hung clouds made from cardstock paper covered with quilt batting from the ceiling.I bought the red airplane at Hobby Lobby at 50% off.I made a paper airplane garland to hang on the front of the table.Cupckes were stacked on a d-i-y stand on top of an old ammunition box in the center of the table.Drinks(in pint-sized mason jars)were packed in an old suitcase.I used twine instead of ribbon for the balloons for a vintage feel.

Fun decorations.I found an airplane puch at Hobby Lobby on clearance and punched airplnes out of an old atlas.

 Slim's old globe piggy bank and a chalkboard sign..

I'll transalate this for you-Pilot Stuffers=Hot Ham&Cheese Sandwiches
Passenger Pleasers=Party Mix   
Blue Skies=Tapioca Dessert
CloudCakes=Cupcakes
Frozen Clouds=Icecream Cups
Insructor Buttons=M&Ms                                                             
Clouds of Cotton=Cotton Candy
Jet Fuel=Sweet Tea

A friend of mine made the cupcakes.They were delicious!!The toppers were made from cotton balls hot-glued onto toothpicks.I punched out airplanes and hot-glued those on top.

 One of the best pics I got of him all night=/.He looked handsome in his adorable aviator hat(from Ebay) and his little leather Air Force jacket.

 It was so much fun to watch him open his gifts.He sat there with sparkling eyes,literally oohing and aahing over all his presents.

This was his 2nd!! cupcake-after he was cleaned up a little from eating the first one.

I love my lil chubster soo much!!

Football,Music and Birthday Parties

As I mentioned earlier,we had a lot of fun parties and did lots of traveling this summer.I love traveling,even tho our trips are usually short.
  We went to a Kentucky football game a few months ago.Kobe was such a sport-grinning at the ladies sitting behind us.He stayed up till midnight that eve-just enjoying the sounds and sights of everything.

We had really good seats and were one of the first people there.

Praying before the game.

And...guess who won!!=)

We went to see Slim's sister and family in Kentucky.They are expecting a little one in May!Soo happy and excited for them!!She is the lovely lady who made the sunburst mirror for me.Her husband is a talented cabinet maker.They have one sweet family!!

We went to a local high school football game with them one evening.

I fixed up a table for my brother Randall's birthday at school in September.He's all into horses and John Wayne.This guy weighed 11 lbs  and 2 ozs at birth!!September is full of birthdays in our family.Randall's is the 7th, mine's on the 10th and my sister Regina's is the 15th.My neice's birthday is the 26th.Party time!!

Hubby took me out for lunch and we played mini golf.My parents babysat Kobe,so it was a fun date-all by ourselves!!

Regina's birthday-I decided to  bake the cake about an hour before supper,hence the simple cake.

The following pictures are of a surprise 50th birthday party a few friends and I set up at church for the pastor.We did it on a very small budget and a small window of time to prepare.

The turkey tails were borrowed from my brother.The other decorations were from the church or my house.

We couldn't find camoflauge tablecloths,so we used gift wrap that I had on hand as a tablerunner.

We put a thin piece of camoflauge duct tape around the cups.We put votive candles in pint jars and orange/fall leaves and shotgun shells around the jars for table decorations.We put candy corn and peanuts in wooden bowls for a snack.The onlt things we bought for this party was the napkins,candy,camoflauge tape and balloons.

We covered the bulletin board with wrapping paper and tacked  on a banner I made.

One of the girls,Lisa, is very talented at cake decorating.

The pastor's wife and girls had another surprise party for him.His family from out of state and community people were invited.They did a fantastic job of fixing it all up and surprising him!!

 The guest register table.We signed our names on a copied picture of the big buck he recently shot.

 The amazing cake table!!Do you see the cake?=)I liked all the real greenery and leaves around the table.

 Another a-maz-ing cake decorated by Lisa sitting on top of a log.It looked soo real!!The cake topper was cool too-a pic of his recent trophy in an antler frame.

A table full of old pics of him and the family.Lots of inspiration and creativity at this party!!

 I babysat this lil cutie named Brooklyn occasionally this summer.She's the sweetest lil miss.Her Daddy works for us.

We helped celebrate her first birthday in October.

Her Mama made the adorable cupcakes topped with edible bees and the bee-autiful cake.

Her nickname is Be-be so they had a bee themed party.So cute!!

My dear husband turned 27 in October too.I set up a lil party at home for just us two.I baked his favorite cake-German Chocolate.I wanted a fun,vintage vibe,but didn't want to spend any money.Oh why am I soo cheap??I think it's mostly because of the challenge-it forces me to get the creative juices flowing in my brain.But anywhoo...I didn't spend any money!!Yay!!I already had the tissue paper pom-poms.I stenciled the numbers 27 onto the balloons after they were blown up.I also learned a valuable lesson-DO NOT spray paint balloons!!They will bust and splatter instantly dried paint onto your arm.I scrubbed my arm till it was bleeding to get it off-after I had tried all kinds of soaps and cleaners.My whole day was full of bloopers-thankfully I didn't spill my drink when I took him  out to eat that eve.Read on for more goof-ups.Go ahead,laugh at my expense!!=)

The cake-literally dripping with sweetness!!Not because of great baking skills tho-actually the opposite.The frosting kept falling off the cake,so I only frosted the top part and inbetween the layers.I stuck a playing card with his first initial(His name is Ananias,but everyone calls him Slim) and two Rummikub tiles to show his age.

Some more playing cards and horseshoes for good luck.Just kidding.I don't believe in that stuff.Hubby used to shoe horses.He found these in a repo barn along with the white closet doors I used as a background.

Cows didn't neccasarily go with the theme-I just wanted some fun cups that matched the red & black stuff.The table ''runner" is two placemats turned upside down and a big tan handkercheif in the middle.

He makes me laugh and thinks I take too many pictures,so I set up the joker card beside the camera.Upside down.Oops!!

I gave him  dug out some fake old-looking money and snuck his $2 bill out to make $27.Cheapy!!

This was Kobe's gift to him.Free-I had the ink,frame and child on hand already.Note-use washable ink when doing hand/footprints.Not the Lasting Impressions brand or your child's hands will look like a mechanic's for a few days at a very young age.

My Mom got free tickets to an Aaron Tippin concert in the mail.She didn't want them,so she gave them to Slim for his birthday gift.Great show.He used to be a trucker,so he played quite a few trucking songs.Regie Hamme opened the concert.He isn't very popular as a singer yet,but writes a lot of songs.He wrote the song ''This is the Time'' that really boosted his career.He also sang some gospel.Kobe loved the singing and clapped away all night!

We went to my cousin Jared and his lovely bride Jen's wedding in Iowa the last part of October.It was great seeing family again,even tho we left right after the wedding.We tried getting pictures of all the grandbabies(my neices & nephew) who were all together for the first time.Not very succesful in getting them to look at the camera at the same time,but at least we got pics of the munchkins.Kobe wasn't too sure of being so close to girls by the looks of it. Here they are-sweet lil things!!

All in all,we had a great summer/fall.Sad to say,I forgot to take pics of my fall decorations.(I didn't have a lot up)Can you believe it??!! I already have most of my Christmas decor up,so I'm not redoing it!=)

Have a fun day!!