The Dotsons: August 2010

Monday, August 30, 2010

Caleb's 1st Birthday Party

We had a blast celebrating Caleb's 1st birthday! We were blessed to have 30+ family and friends over to help us celebrate Caleb's first year of life (and us making it through our first year of parenthood)! I must admit that I was a little nervous about squeezing 30+ people in our tiny house, but we made it work and I think Caleb really enjoyed himself with all of his guests. At first, he seemed a little overwhelmed by all the people but he eventually he came around and relaxed. He really had fun playing with his friends and cousins, and of course, checking out all of his new toys. He had so much fun that he didn't want to go to sleep and stayed awake until 10:30pm that night! I don't know if it was just from being overstimulated or if it was from all the sugar he consumed while eating his birthday cupcake! :)

The day started early for us as we got the house ready for all of our guests. Rhett was in charge of most of the food for dinner (BBQ), and in addition to working on that he also cut the grass and set everything up in the backyard (tables, chairs, shade canopy, etc). Our friend, Jennifer, came over at 10am to help me with the appetizers, desserts, and decorations. I owe her bigtime! Had she not come over to help, I would have never gotten everything done! My parents also came several hours early and ended up entertaining Caleb for us, so that was a huge help. My sisters helped get the appetizer table set up right before the party so I could make myself presentable....SO, I had lots of help that I was very thankful for! Oh, and my friend Erin took pictures during the party for us...can't forget about that!

Months ago, I started searching online for birthday party ideas and came across some really cute construction-themed parties. Pretty much everything I did was inspired by something I found online - I just tweaked it to match the colors I wanted and went from there. I have seriously never used my Cricut die-cutting machine so much, but I really got my money's worth out of it this time around. Not to mention, I found out that you can purchase a computer program that allows you to cut any shape or font you want, so that made things a lot easier. I did not have to buy any special Cricut cartridges for this project (nor will I ever have to buy any other cartridges! The program is called "Make the Cut" - check it out if you own a Cricut!) Anyway, here are some pictures of the decorations....

"front-end loader fruit"

"cheese bricks"

"dump truck dip & chips"

appetizer table (the banner is each of Caleb's 12 monthly pictures with his bear)

and now for some party pictures!

my pharmacy school friend, Jennifer, and her two boys (Ethan-3 and Joshua-9mos)

Jennifer (w/Camille-4mos) and Rachael

(this is the Jennifer who saved my butt by helping me set everything up!)

Jaime (former co-worker at BCP) and sweet Haven, who's 15mos

friends from church & our small group

Lane, Rach, and me

pic with Aunt Stephanie, Aunt Courtney, and cousin Jake

Camille partied too hard and just couldn't stay awake for another second!

Kyle, Steph, and Luke

Allie (2), Ethan (3), and David (4)

Caleb is a lucky little boy - he got so many fun, new toys!

We had lots of little helpers to make sure all the toys worked, haha!

Caleb's cousins, Jake and Luke, gave him his 1st "build-a-bear" - a soft puppy dog named "Ranger" in honor of Uncle Josh, who we all miss so much! We all had a wonderful time, but a very special part of our family was missing that day (and every day). I really wish Josh could be here to see Caleb grow up.