Carver's First Birthday Party

July 6th:  I LOVE first birthday parties... There is something so especially sweet about watching a 1-year old tear into their smash cake (or just look at it like "What am I supposed to do with this?").  I love that you only get to celebrate one first birthday--I know that probably sounds ridiculously obvious but it just makes it so much more precious.  I am a hostess at heart so party planning is fun... I love the details, the food, the prep, I love making something special for my babies.  We had a Hawkeye birthday party for Carver (same as we did for Kinnick!)  One thing that I was beyond excited for was being able to host an outside birthday party--Carver is my first summer baby and I loved celebrating in the summer.  We had his first birthday at a 4 Seasons Park.  I really did my best to accept help and to keep it simple...  We had sub sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, and watermelon--all purchased.  I made cupcakes (chocolate & vanilla) and decorated Hawkeye cookies for favors (my mom helped me decorate them all the day before the party.  I made a fun banner with his month-to-month pictures and lots of cute black & gold paper.  After the party, I turned it into a cute keepsake book.  We had water balloons (thanks to my brother Jason for filling them ALL!) and bubbles for the kids.  We ate, laughed, played, and watched Carver destroy his smash cake. 

For each of our kids, we have had a big first birthday bash, inviting all our close friends and family.  After birthday #1, we keep it simple with just whatever family can make it.  I was very excited to have a big birthday bash with all of our new friends but I was NOT excited to bring a lot of new toys into our house... I was actually mildly stressed about this.  I know that asking people not to bring a gift is a bit fruitless, so we came up with an alternative.  I asked people instead of gifts for Carver to bring art supplies for Ms. Pearl's new daycare.  It was so fun to bless her with bags and bags of goodies!  We went back to our house after the party and let Carver open a few gifts from our family.  It was a perfect day... my heart was happy.     

My friend Michelle made this super-cute quilt as a baby gift for Carver.

This kid at almost ALL of his cake!

All the art supplies we collected for Ms. Pearl!

Carv's new water table--this was a HUGE hit all summer!