first birthday party, animal style

jakey really dug in to his cupcake. he inhaled that thing in nothing flat and politely asked for more. crazy kid! good thing i made them small (and organic with no sugar) so he could have as many as he wanted!

 i had tons of fun letting my crafty side out getting ready for this party. i found tons of pins on pinterest that gave me great ideas for the decorations and food. i set up an area inside the front door with a tree limb that was spraypainted orange and some little note cards. this was jakey's wishing tree - everyone wrote him little notes and wishes for his future. the drink station had mason jars that i painted with chalkboard paint for people to write their names on. the ice was water balloons that i put in the freezer - no wet mess when it melted! brilliant!

i tried to make the cupcakes look like mushrooms but im not sure i 100% succeeded. oh well. they tasted good anyways. the silverware was made to look like carrots and i made little owls out of toilet paper rolls that i put everywhere. i wish i could take credit for dreaming all this up but it was all inspired by things i found online. i do take full credit for execution though! the 40 or so people (inluding 14 kids 3 and under!!!!) had a great time. it was so wonderful to be around so many friends and family for such a great reason - celebrating the life of one of the cutest kids around.

the final craft project was these animal masks. i made a bunch in kid and adult sizes for people to use as photo props. not as many people took pictures as i was hoping, but there were a couple winners:

this grandpa raccoon and grandma cat are my favorites!

my big ole one year old!

jacob turned one a couple of weeks ago. he is growing SO quickly! he now has five teeth, crawls and climbs constantly (including straight up the stairs if i so much as blink my eyes) and still loves to eat. he is getting a little pickier but loves weird things like raw spinach and hummus so i'm not too worried about the kid.

 he thinks people wearing sunglasses or hats are exceptionally funny. when he woke up on his birthday morning, jeremy and i went into his room with birthday party hats and noisemakers. he thought it was so funny! (side note: these are the same jammies cousin caden woke up in on his first birthday! love it!)

he loves being outside and going running with me. he loves his own bed and whenever we are gone overnight and come back he is actually giddy when he sees his crib.

he is developing quite the little personality, too. i can tell we are going to have our hands full with this one as he gets older. strong willed much?

the only time he really cries is when he first wakes up (takes him a couple minutes to adjust to being awake... sounds like someone i know - ME!) or when he hears loud startling noises. let's ust say that he loves playing in my parents yard while we work in the garden, but the start that chainsaw up and the kid freaks out! we have a really good natured baby overall.  he loves snuggling cricket, us and the fringe pillow and giving mommy kisses. the big wet open mouth lots of tongue kind. he is quite the lover! :D

i can't wait for many more years watching my most precious baby grow up!