Kallen's Birthday Party

We had Kallen's 1st Birthday party this weekend. It was great!!! Initially we were suppose to have it in my Mom's backyard and then Wednesday they predicted rain for the whole day Saturday. Awesome. So I  racked my brain for 3 hours trying to figure out where we could move it to and if I needed to cancel it because I didn't know where to have it. After those long 3 hours Gentry goes "Why don't you have it in the clubhouse?" DUH!!! And Ps- How long were you thinking of that idea?! If you would've said that 3 hours ago I could've missed out on all that stress! We live in a community that has a clubhouse we can rent for like $20 and it ended up being PERFECT. It was a big open room with doors I could shut so no kids could get out! And the decorations could all be displayed together. AND, most importantly, everyone could be in the same room :) It was such a great afternoon. My brother and his girlfriend help with party preparations, which was so helpful. We had a taco bar, margaritas and cake! When the party was over I couldn't help but be so thankful and so happy about the group of friends we have. Seriously. It was such a great group of people helping us celebrate! I had the best afternoon. Kallen slept through most of his party, lol, but the time he was awake he was having fun! Thank you so much to everyone that came out. You guys made it a perfect day!

Tara took great pictures, as usual. She got this perfect one!

The rest are ones my friends took. Gah, I love iPhones and the pictures they take/create.  I'll post the rest of the ones Tara took later :)

Ps- I LOVE decorating for parties. Not so much that I'd want to do it for a living. Haha. Its kinda stressful, BUT I love it enough to do it for special occasions like a 1st Birthday. And a BIG shout out to Pinterest. LOL. Seriously though, I always decorate the best parties in my head, so thanks to pinterest I was able to save all the things I've loved over the last few months and use them as inspiration for Kallen's party. I didn't have a theme, just colors I wanted: Lime green, Blue, Grey and then a black and white pattern. As I started getting fabric and supplies I decided to add different patterns too. It came together really well! I took pictures of most of the individual decorations. They were all really pretty simple to put together, so here's some ideas if you need them! 

The "Preview" picture :) 

I made the Happy Birthday Kallen banners out of scrapbook paper strung on rope. Super easy. And I found a "Make A Wish" birthday frame that was the exact colors of the party! (Sorry this picture is so bright)

This was the cake. Its a lemon bunt cake from our favorite place in Long Beach: Creative Cakery. You can get a topper for another $10, but I decided to make one so I could have the right colors. This was super easy! Just bought a big green bow and glued 4 ribbon bows under it and then glues the 1 on top! And made the little name banner with paper cutouts glued to a wire. 

I got a bunch of balloons. I LOVE balloons and think you can never have too many. Plus, they really add to everything. They're so easy to get and add a lot to the decor. I also made some rope-tie banners. Just tie scraps of fabric to a rope! You can make so many things with the rope-tie. I saw one girl make a wreath out of it. So cute.

Initially I bought this table cloth to make runners out of. I was going to do silver table clothes with the plaid blue fabric over it, but with the new tables I was given when we switched to the clubhouse I just laid the fabric down and it fit perfectly. I loved this as the table cloth!

I had a bunch of vases from my Mom that I filled with "fluff" and topped some with Birthday hats and some with balloons.

I covered lollipops with wrapping paper and glued black and white pictures of the birthday boy at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 months old. The lollipops were favors for the kids to take home with them.

These were the favors for the adults. Same wrapping paper I used for the lollipops. I bought a bunch of leftover fabric to make these rope-tie banner things so I used the extra fabric from those to tie the paper down. I printed the labels and glued them to paper I used to make the Birthday banners with.

Brown Bite Toppers. Printed the labels off in corresponding colors and glued them to the birthday banner paper and glued a toothpick in between 2 pieces of paper.

The Diaper Cake! From my dear friend Megan. She made the one for my baby shower too. She's so good! Doesn't it match perfectly?! "Like" her Facebook page: Cake of the Dipes and you can also order diaper cakes there! Or towel cakes. She makes them for baby showers, birthdays, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, anything! They're a great center piece and she makes them custom to match your party.

Of course Raya's outfit matched the party :)

The Birthday Boy!!! I made a highchair banner too.

After the party he was EXHAUSTED. Neither of my kids had naps before the party. Lord. But amazingly they did great! Well Kallen took a solid hour in a half nap at the party, but it was great because I could visit while he was sleeping in my arms. 

He got a bunch of BOY toys. Haha. I didn't realize he really didn't have his "own" toys. A majority of the baby toys we have are gender neutral so they were all passed down to him, but at his party he got trucks and dinosaurs and some SUPER CUTE clothes! I think that's one of my favorite things about parties. I love seeing what my friends get him. And they did GOOD.

Helping me clean up after the party. He loves to sit on this stool and eat gold fish. He looks like such a toddler in this picture!

Pss- Kallen's 1 year pictures were yesterday. They are SO CUTE!!! Here's a few sneak peeks :)

I already sent this to Toms :) During his 1yr pics we did a mini Valentines Day shoot too. Can't wait to see those!!

Yes, I'm dying over this :) He's SOOOO CUTE!!!

Kallen is ONE!!!

The Birthday Boy!!! January 3rd, 2012

Mr. Kallen Gentry, You're ONE! Omg. Un-freaken-belivable. I can't believe a year ago I was in the hospital with you (and so very thankful to have your big 'ol baby body on the outside of mine :) Well, actually, a year ago today was my due date: 1/11/11 and I was praying you'd come tha7t day cause I thought that was the coolest birthday. BUT you came January 3rd- which was totally fine because had you cooked for another week you would've easily been a 10lb baby.

Janurary 3rd, 2011

Kallen Gentry 

9lbs 2oz

19.5inches

Born at 5:57am

I could have never imagined just how much I would LOVE having a little boy. You are absolutely the sweetest thing. You're my little love bug, my little cuddler. You BLEW my expectations of life with a son out of the water.

Currently your favorite things to do are explore (aka get into EVERYTHING) Pretty sure you love to sneak into the kitchen and pull the trash out of the trashcan. Sick. That must be a boy thing. I don't remember Raya doing that. Lol.

You love to eat. You were super feisty the last few days and I just realized it was because you were hungry! After you ate a huge lunch you were totally happy. My bad! You eat 3 solid meals a day and then snack in between. And you're still drinking at least 4 bottles in between all that. We started you on milk before we left for Texas and you've done pretty good with that transition. You're totally off formula now.

You love to cuddle :) And have since the second I had you. You love to give hugs. You'll walk up to just about anyone and hold your arms up for them to pick you up and then give them the sweetest hug when they do. A glimpse, I'm sure, of how you'll charm the world with your sweetness.

I don't know if you love to sleep or not, but you still sleep long stretches and take 3 naps a day. You usually don't fight going to sleep. The only time you do is because the atmosphere isn't to your liking. Haha. You love the quiet and darkness. You can usually sleep anywhere, but at night you want it quiet and dark!

You love your big sis. You follow her around a lot, especially when you guys are playing in her room. Where ever she goes, you go. Just please don't climb up everything she climbs, thanks! You let her hug on you and rough you up a little. You're a good sport!

I'm not sure your weight or height. We go for your 1 year check up next week. I'm gonna guess you weight 25lbs. You wear a size 6 shoe- and I've actually found shoes you can wear! Still rockin a size 4 diaper. You're in 18month and 24month clothes. You're not ginormous, but you're a solid kid for sure. We've called you Tank since you were born and thats the perfect way to describe you. You're definitely heavy to carry. You kill me after about 5 minutes of holding you. Lol.

You don't really have any toys or blankets you're super attached to. You are equally a Mama's Boy and Daddy's Boy. It just depends on the day. But when your Dad gets home from work you run to him! And don't want him to put you down. Its sweet. Some days you'll be a total Mama's Boy and I'm totally cool with that. You were napping yesterday and only wanted to nap in my arms and I was slightly annoyed because I wanted to pick up the house...but then I'm like, "Holy mother, this kid is only going to fit in my arms and want me to hold him while he's napping for another 12 months- IF I'm lucky." I know by the time Raya was 2 there's no way she would nap comfortably in my arms, so I probably don't even have 12 months left of you being small enough! OHHHHH, that kills me. And reminds me that this house can stay as messy as it wants cause I'm gonna hold you until I can't! (Which is advice I was given at my baby shower with Raya and I've followed it pretty religiously. So, all my readers with new babies or about to have a baby, trust me, HOLD THAT BABY! :)

We had a birthday party for you in Texarkana on your actual birthday, January 3rd. We had a little pizza party for you at Pizza Inn with some of our friends there and your Grandma and PawPaw. It was sweet. The funniest part was you with your smash cake. No joke, you gagged just looking at it! HAHAHA. Seriously. I kept wondering if there was something in your mouth you were gagging on, but when I watched the video back there was nothing. It was simply enough just looking at the cake. LOL! And I even wiped a little bit of frosting on your lips to see if you would eat any and that made you gag big time! Omg. Sorry buddy.

This was his birthday breakfast: Cheese puffs with Raya in her princess house

Your friends :)

 One good looking Birthday Boy!!

Raya and Jordon- they're too cute.

Wiped out! We hadn't even finished buckling Raya in her seat before you were passed out. 

I've said it time after time in my posts to you, but I'm so madly in love with you. You are pure sweetness. You've shown me a whole different kind of love, maybe its the love only a mother could have for her son? I was afraid I wouldn't be able to love you like I love Raya, and I don't. Its a different kind of love. Its just as strong :) don't worry! But its a very special kind of love reserved for you. Thank you for being the best little boy I could've asked for. I know I'm one of the luckiest moms in the world and am so for thankful that I get to be your Mom.
I love you!!!
Xoxo,
Mom