Sunday, March 2, 2008

P-A-R-T-Y

Jaxson's FIRST Birthday was a Hit! We had so much fun and were grateful to have so many friends come help us celebrate our little stud! I took over 300 pictures...so believe it or not I DID downsize....Enjoy:)
The Set-Up!
Look closely and you'll see Wonderful baseball cupcakes decorated by Jarom:) I also branched out and tried something new....CAKE DECORATING! It was challenging but a ton of fun...I'm still deciding if it was worth it...., no just kidding...but it DID take hours upon hours!!! I attempted making homemade fondant...and yes, the baseball hat is All cake too. SO hard.
I loved it though....what a special memory!
Jaxson loved the balloons and the bright Chicage Cubs Colors! All the boys thought it was pretty awesome as well. Most of Jarom's friends and the grown men were in heaven...sports themes still excite them I guess!
This was a fun idea. I had everyone who attended "autograph" a baseball for a keepsake. It turned out darling...and I LOVE IT. I am excited for him to display it on a special stand in his bedroom.
THE PARTY FAVORS! They turned out so cute. I did Cotton Candy, Cracker Jacks and Babe Ruth candy bars....complete with Chicago Cubs Logo Tag! (All baseball game favorite snacks:)
The favors Read, "Thanks for Coming...We had a BALL".

Bubba...our Build-A-Bear. Jarom's getting quite handy with our new camera.
He outshines my skills any day.
AT LAST.....THE BIRTHDAY BOY! He was pretty excited and so cute the entire evening. I lucked out and he took a 4 hour nap...enjoyed a bubble bath and was in the perfect mood to be showered with love and attention from almost 40 friends!
Tah Dah! I was pretty proud for a first attempt at Cake making. I wanted to combine several Baseball themes...and somehow tie in Jarom's favorite team...THE CHICAGO CUBS! I decided to go with an infield...Chicago Cubs hat (the hardest thing on earth to make...it's ALL cake remember...even the brim) a baseball....and the Wrigley Field Sign! Complete with grass and a #1 candle and I was so happy with it! Thanks to Jarom for designing the bases and a little help with brim shaping (in his words...."My brim was HIDEOUS") it turned out Great!

THE FOOD.
We of course had all the ball game favorites. Ball Park Hot Dogs, Nachos with Cheese, Big Soft Pretzels with Cinnamon and sugar, Popcorn, Veggies and Dip....and treats.

Here's the All Star sporting his little Baseball Jersey, complimets of Gymboree...my weakness:)
Jaxson is doing great with Walking! He is all over the place this morning...and thanks to my Cute Student Suzanne for the walking toy....he is going crazy! HE"S EVERYWHERE!
***
He has actually skipped walking and went straight to RUNNING we think!

Enjoying the party......

Checking out his gifts from Mom and Dad...
Mom and Jax....
Dad and Jax.....
Cake Time!
Everyone sang and I'm pretty sure Jaxson liked the attention.
He's not very shy!

Trying to be a good host and dish ice-cream and cake! Jarom was the camera man....which explains random pictures of me at every angle.
About to eat my Cupcake!
He didn't even pause. I sat it down in front of him...he picked it up whole....squished it together like a sandwhich wiht both hands....and took a big bite. He didn't stop til it was gone! SO cute:)
He tried to be a good sport about the crown!

Some of Jaxson's friends. They seemed to have a lot of fun....and we were so glad they came!
Such a darling group of kids. I didn't get pictures of all of them...but here are a few of the little ones enjoying the celebration! We had from ages 2 months-5 years!
OPENING GIFTS!
He had LOTS of willing helpers. I think Avery and Eternity had more fun opening things than he did. They would open it and exclaim, 'OH CUTE...it's clothes".....while jaxson played with/ate the paper!
Avery and Asher gave Jaxson the cutest bath set with a boat and fishes!
HE LOVES THE BATH...so it was perfect!
Of course....Aunt Brittany spoiled him again! She gave him the cutest outfit from Gap...complete with a little baseball hat because HE LOVES HATS. If Jarom has one on....Jaxson will go and find his (or now still the one off of his build-a-bear) and place it on top of his head! She gave him sippy cups galore...(mom's request) and treats...we just love her:)
There he goes....A Baseball hat in one hand...and a ball in the other. A usual occurrence at our house. He's all boy!
Cute little sweater vest for church!

Part of the Pile! Toys Toys and MORE Toys.
Some of our guests....my little apartment was PACKED for a while. Thanks to all those who came and "Endured" the first hour. You could barely walk...but we loved it and were so appreciative!
This is actually a group of Third Year Law Students. We all graduate in 60 days...WAHOO!
Thanks for coming! It turned out better than I imagined and we had so much fun! Once again THANKS to everyone for coming...and we missed you Maranda and Joel and all those that left early to Utah for Spring Break!
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Jaxson was SO exhausted afterward....he crashed and didn't wake up until 10:30 this morning. Then took another 3 hour nap! All that fun would wear anyone out I guess! HE got totally spoiled and loves all of his fun gifts and toys. Thanks everyone! I'm sure this won't be the LAST baseball party I'll throw in my lifetime:)

28 comments:

The McClellan Family said...

Kristin, we had so much fun at the party. You did a great job! I would hire you to put on a party.

Maranda said...

What a fantastic looking cake! So many hidden talents are coming out. Everything looked perfect. What a great memory for Jaxson. The food looked amazing so I hope you saved some food for us when we get back. I am so sad I missed the celebration of the year!

Chelsea said...

i love you...and you are NUTS! good luck topping parties year after year:) looks like it was a success and lots of fun! Happy B-day Jaxon:)

Brittany said...

Bryce and I had tons of fun!! You throw a great party! Can you believe I took like 60 pictures last night?!! Since I don't have a kid I live vicariously through you!:) Again- good job on the party! I should have stayed to help you clean up. Sorry!:(

nicci said...

looks like it was a success, amazing cake!! how fun

Tatiana said...

Kristin,
Way to go on the cake! It looks amazing! How fun to have a baseball party! Looks like you guys had fun!

Tara and Andrew said...

I only have three words for you "Oh My gosh":) Can I hire you to do my first baby party? I will pay you really good. You are so creative. You must really love that baby to do that all for him. Amazing! AND...are you growing your hair out? It looks soooo good. I love it. Can't wait until you move out to Utah! Hurray!

Tegan said...

Kristin
You can throw a party. I bet Jaxson had a ton of fun. I bet you had more just planning the whole thing. Everything looks amazing what you did. I can't believe he is 1. Time goes by WAY too fast. It makes me sad to think Peyton is already 2 and as sassy as ever!

Erin said...

Hey you did an awesome job on Jaxson's cake. Really, I love the hat. And I can totally relate to how hard it is to work with fondant on weird shapes like the hat. You did AWESOME. I haven't even tried something weird shaped like that yet. I love the party theme. You are so creative and I love that you go above and beyond a simple birthday party that Jaxson probably won't even remember. You are such a cute and fun mom.

Marshall and Dana said...

WOW, wish we could have been there. Marshall said the invites were great! Now I can see why. Looks like you had a great time. You will have to teach me how to do a cake like that. We are down in AZ signing on a house! Scary! 2 more months YAY! Talk to you later.

Carin said...

Everything looks so cute and fun! You need to become a party planner. We love anything to do with baseball at our house too. Everytime we see anything baseball; clothes, toys, etc. for Zenock, we have to buy it. I just might have to steal some baseball ideas for Zenock's party. :) If you have any leftover ideas.. pass them on!

Jamie said...

Oh WOW! You are quite the party planner! I can't believe the cake! And the party favors, and food! HONESTLY, if you are here in June, and looking for work, you are hired!!! Happy bday to Jaxson!

The Sumkos said...

Kristin, this is Aubrie Sumko (Hawker). First of all, Nate wanted to know if there was anyway to get a hold of Jarom. My email address is aubstacle@hotmail.com if you want to email the number. Second of all, you are the cutest mom ever! I can't believe how much you did for his birthday. I might have to get some pointers from you for Daxtons (our little guy) bday. He will be three in June and I want to make it special for him because it's right before the new baby will be coming. Anyway, super cute and I will talk to you later.

Jessica Kettle said...

holy crap that is one serious party! It turned out amazing! You outdid yourself. You do know of course, that now you are going to have to do this EVERY YEAR- RIGHT?! haha! Your pics and editing look great.

I started giving Max milk slowly around his first birthday- he had never had juice or anything other that breast milk and little sips of our water out of a straw at dinner. He seemed to have skin reactions at first to the milk- so we did soy for a while. It doesn't have as much fat and protein though, so we slowly worked on incorporating more dairy. Now he does organic whole milk and is doing great with his sippy. I think nursing is purely emotional for him. Totally a comfort thing! We are down to two or three times a day- early morning (convenient for me) and once after his second nap or before we put him down at night. he just gets fussy and won't take anything else! Thankfully he doesn't have to have it right before bed or to get to sleep. It seems like he just can't make it without nursing once in the evening! I really ready to be done though. I love it, but I am ready to lose my boobs and maybe a little weight too. I will probably be sad when I am really done though! Let me know how it goes for you!

Allyson said...

Okay...
You absolutely kill me. You've gotten me over my fear of having a boy first because you have created a whole new realm for me to delve into.:) What an awesome mom you are. I loved the ideas and the work...but mostly your enjoyment in it all. Jaxson is a lucky little guy.

Elyse said...

Holy Freakin Cow! What a party! It looks like your cake turned out awesome! Aren't they so fun to make? I love your attention to all the details! Your baseball theme was so fun-I loved seeing all the things you thought of to add to it. Good job! I'm totally impressed. Stacy said it was a big hit.
Actually I was going to apologize for tomorrow too. I keep asking Kaden if he's going to be good on the airplane and he keeps saying "NO!!" Oh great. Last time he screamed for about 25 minutes of the flight. And lately he's been doing what sounds like a scary dinosaur scream/growl. Can't wait for that to come out. I'm going to try and bribe him with Skittles, M&M's and a movie. We'll see what happens. We're at the back of the plane-not that it makes a big difference cause the plane is so small anyway. See you bright and early:) Maybe our kids can scream together.

Suzanne said...

we had so much fun at jaxson's party. you did such a great job with eveything. i know jonathan loved it, cuz he didn't want to leave! the food was great too, i was only able to eat a pretzel and some popcorn cuz the whole diet thing, but girl if i wasn't on a diet i would've ate all that dang food! LOL! im glad jaxson's 1st birthday party was a hit!

Angie said...

Kristin, even though I haven't met you and our husbands are friends I have to say you are quite the mom. Your son is so lucky because when he looks back and see's how much you did for him he is going to appreciate you twice as much. When I need pointers on a good party idea, I know who I can coming to for advise. That is amazing and so adorable. Angie

Brandon & Meghan said...

You are too cute!! I was so excited to hear from you)

Dan & Keri said...

I am sooo sad that we missed this party. Kristin I am way impressed, everything looks adorable. See you guys soon.

Ellie said...

My goodness child, I hope you are able to top that every year from now on! WOW! I am so impressed!

just andrea said...

hey I came across your blog through Kayla's! I Love reading it! Your party looked like a blast, nice work on the cake!! Your family is adorable!

BRITT said...

Holy Moly! What a good mom! I love all the pictures.
Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Brittany said...

Hey!! When are you coming back?? I miss you!!!! I don't know if I've told you already but the date for the graduation party is April 5! It should be fun! Can't wait till you get back!:)

The Wells Family said...

Happy (Late) Birthday Jaxon! I was totally enthralled with all the pictures and detail that went into the party! Way to go! Everything looked so perfect and great! I can't wait to see what you come up with next year. :) I think next year I might get more creative for Bobby's birthday...

Taylor and Emily said...

Two things for Jarom and Jaxson...one, they should come down to AZ for Cubs Spring Training...and two, they should become Mariners fans.

Po

Andra said...

Jaxson is so adorable. You are an amazing mother. You did such a good job with his 1st birthday!

Sarah Beth said...

Kristin, the pictures from Jaxson's party are priceless!! It was fun getting to hear you talk about cakes and decorations in class, it's so fun to see you get excited about those things!! I wish I was as creative as you are! What a lucky little boy!!

So we made the blog page, and yes, it was a little more difficult than we imagined! But I think I will keep up with it! Next you get to make a Myspace!!