Brayden's First Birthday Parties

We celebrated Brayden's First birthday a few days before his actual birthday. We were so excited to have so many family and friends come and celebrate with us!  I didn't really have a huge theme with his, but we went with the colors that were on his super cute invitation that I got from etsy, of course:)

Brayden was so great and so happy to have everyone around:) He hated his cupcake-still hasn't had any cake-I should have just gone with ice-cream or a cookie-he devours those!  Tucker had a lot of fun playing with all of the friends who came to play also.  It is always so fun for me to look around and see all of the people from so many different areas of our life, interacting with each other, but mostly just seeing how blessed we are by the people in our life. And then to see how much everyone's lives have expanded: wives, husbands, babies, preschoolers, elementary schoolers, pets, etc.- it's just so cool for me to see! One of my favorite things of every party for sure!

My photo wall-one from birth-11 months...I hadn't taken the 12 month one yet...and yes the "y" is backwards...thanks to NONE of my teacher friends for noticing:) Max noticed in between parties!

 Grandma/Nama came over to help us get ready while Max went to get the pizza. Brayden loves his Nama cuddles:)

 Pre-gaming:)

Many of our baby friends who are Brayden's age. I didn't realize there were really so many his age until I saw everyone together! So fun:)

 The bigger kids had fun outside:)

Some cousin time for Tucker!

This kid LOVES to eat! He'll pretty much keep eating until you stop giving him food-especially pizza!!

My attempt at an activity for the older guy actually kinda worked! Foam pumpkins and leaves with fall themed foam stickers to decorate:) I was so thankful it wasn't freezing and we could go outside!

As usual we had WAY too much food-including the colored cupcakes (didn't make them), colored rice krispy treats (made those), tons of m&m's (which tucker will be reaping the benefits of as we begin potty training tomorrow!), and a tie-dye cake with sprinkles (made that one too!)

The cake!!

He liked when everyone sung to him...he had practice listening to it because Tucker was singing it for awhile before the party!

And then he hated the cupcake...never seen a kid react like this to a cupcake before! Very funny though.

 We love this little red meatball so much!!!

And there is such love growing between these two:)

A rare family picture!!

We even had a party appearance by Ron Burgandy! B wasn't interested but Tucker was a little confused I think...

Our buddy William with his mom, Sarah, checking out his goody bag full of colorful items:)

After a quick clean up and some short naps, we had our family over to celebrate. The boys were just so pumped to have so many people to play with all day, and night!

Tucker and his second-cousin Robbie. They are a year apart.

It was a little tighter at the family party because everyone was inside since it got dark and was a little chilly.  Kids had fun playing with the balloons though:)

These two...so cute:)

 This guy was SO excited to have everyone sign Happy Birthday to him-he clapped along the whole time and totally squealed with joy.  So glad I caught this picture, and the whole event on video. It was classic for me.

Towards the end of the video you start to hear 4-5 different family members start to yell at Tucker...he had walked behind where everyone was (and opposite of where everyone was facing) and starting putting his fingers in the cake and licking the chocolate frosting off of them.  It was hysterical, but gross at the same time.  This is him caught in the act:)  Just a classic picture of who he is!

Grandma and Papa with the birthday boy (one of the few good ones since the ADULTS were having trouble looking at the camera...dad!)

 Tucker and GG too!

The boys always have the most fun with these guys:) I am still in shock that we got these 5 all looking at the same time! Ashley, Lauren and Alex are all my first cousins but they are closer in age to my kids. Ashley was born the day after we got married. They are so sweet to love on the boys and play with them. T is a big fan and Brayden loves to cuddle with Alex..check out the next pic.

I guess he was wiped from the party.  Max and I were cleaning up and we came out from the kitchen to see B & Alex cuddling...then Ashley wanted in too:) So cute!

Happy Birthday little meatball! That was a fast year and you've grown and changed so much. You are the most cuddly little boy and we love everything about your feisty self!  We love you lots!!!