Brett's Mustache Bash

Hold on tight, this post is a long one.  

We had a great birthday party for Brett last weekend.  He turns one this Friday.  I found this great invitation on Etsy from LemonadeMoments.  I also purchased the banner and water bottle wrapper PDF from this Etsy site.  Stacey did a great job designing these and was speedy in getting me my digital copies.

Here's the spread: Ham sandwiches (roll with ham, swiss cheese, and a brown sugar & butter mixture.  Baked for 5 minutes. YUM!), sun chips, root beer & orange soda, fruit salad, veggies, cotton candy, bear cake, and lemon filled cupcakes.

I got this bear cake mold from Williams Sonoma a few Christmases ago.  It's so fun to make.  I made Grant a bear for his 1st birthday too.  I should have looked at the pictures of Grant's cake (below) before I painted the face on Brett's cake because I got a little carried away with the mouth.

As you can see from Brett's cake (below) I should have held off on the mouth.  Oh well, it's still pretty cute.  The mustache is a little crazy too, but this bear HAD to have a mustache at this bash.

Brett wore the same shirt that Grant wore for his 1st Birthday:

Keith got Brett up from a great nap just before his party  :  Brett kept making this "ooooooh" face.  It think he was in awe.  :)

Keith's dad shared his super magic tricks with us.  It was great!  Everyone was amazed!

Pin the mustache on Brett:

Oh the mustaches!  This was the funniest part of the party.  We were all laughing so hard.  Especially by adorable nephew with the great bald head and bold eyebrows and mustache!

Brett getting ready to stare at his cake.  In true one year old form, he just stared at the candle.  And then the candle magically blew out when an older cousin snuck up behind me.  :)

Yum yum yum!

Opening fun presents:

Brett playing with the trucks  :  Grandma with cousin Brody  :  Cousin Stewart sipping his soda

Bashing at the pinata:

Most of us at the party:

It was so much fun.  Thanks to everyone who came and also to those that I know wanted to be there.

First Day of Fall Dinner 2012

I'm not sure if this is the 4th or 5th year for our Annual First Day of Fall Dinner, but we have been doing this for several years with my family and I love it!  I thought I had more pictures, but I guess I was busy having fun and didn't take as many as I thought.  :)

Here's the pretty fall table before dinner.  On the menu this year was Chili Rellano Casserole, Cowboy Caviar, Chips, Fruit Salad, Green Chili & Cheese Corn Bread, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, and Vanilla Ice Cream.  On each mini pumpkin was written each persons name with gold glitter glue and then used as place markers.

We lined the walkway up to our front door with luminarias.

Everyone came wearing a "fabulous fall hat."  I wish I'd taken pictures of them all, but here are the three I got.  My mom, me, and my cute niece.  All of the other hats were quite cute too.

Oh Autumn

The first day of Fall is tomorrow.  Around these parts that really doesn't mean much.  It's still going to be over 100 degrees tomorrow, and we're still going to be wearing shorts.  The leaves won't change color, but that doesn't mean my front door and my house can't have fun changing color.  I put up our fall wreaths this afternoon.  I have two of them and I really wanted to try hanging both of them this year.  I got some good stuff (burlap ribbon stuff) at Hobby Lobby to attach them together with.  I think it turned out nice.  I'm going to pass on the garland I usually put around the door.  I'm trying to go with a more simple theme this year.  A little less glitter and stuff.  

Of course with pulling out the fall decor comes pulling out last year's Halloween costumes.  Grant ran around our house today wearing his monkey costume from last year.  Brett loved it!  And Grant loved it too.  I think his Super Why costume for this year might have some competition.  We'll see.  There's still a month to go.

Tomorrow is our annual First Day of Fall dinner.  I'm so excited!  It's like a holiday in our house....well, at least for me.  Because even though it won't feel like fall tomorrow, cooler temperatures are not that far away.  And that is something worth celebrating!

  

Happy Fall and have a great weekend!

New picture line up

Last year I put up this curtain wire from Ikea in Grant's room.  Then I had a bunch of pictures of him from throughout the past year printed and I glued them to paper and hung them up on the wire.

It was time for updated pictures.  So last night I glued the new pictures on the other side of the papers that I already had hanging and ta-da, it's done!  It was amazing to see how much he's grown in the last year.  Grant really loves to see these hanging in his room.  I'm sure they help him feel important.  And he is.  We sure love this boy!

Just because

Brett chomping on his corn on the cob

Spent some time organizing

Some of my kitchen cabinets have been needing a good clean out for a while.  This afternoon I spent a good hour cleaning and organizing them.  I even relined them with some sturdier shelf liner.

And my boys spent that time...

Well, now I know what I get to clean up next.
Brett and that tongue!  Whenever he's focused he has his tongue out!