lovey dovey

I love my family!

I am a wife, mother of three beautiful boys, and a middle school administrator. At times, I have mistakenly tried to achieve perfection in each role. These attempts always fail miserably because there is no such thing as a perfect wife, a perfect mom or a perfect worker! I decided to relinquished my pursuit of perfection…I can say without guilt that my shortcomings are vast and my mistakes many. Embracing my imperfections and turning my life over to God has been freeing and led to a sweeter life. I found that when I quit trying so hard, that SOMETIMES things magically fall into place and for brief moments I am “Supermom.”







Tuesday, November 16, 2010

E-I-E-I-O Birthday Party



For our little guy's first birthday, we had an E-I-E-I-O Birthday Party.  Uncle Jason, Timothy, Jimmy and Johnny attended, as well as Poppy, Jackson, Gage, Lillian, Lacey, Ryan, Cannon, Mommy and Daddy.  What a special treat that Parker's uncle Jimmy and Johnny came from 2 hours away to celebrate his first birthday!  Manna and Paul-Paul were sad to have missed the event, but sent a special farm set for Parker to enjoy. 

Party guests: Uncle Johnny, Karla & Uncle Jimmy.  So glad they were able to come celebrate with Parker!

Party guests:  Lacey, Timothy, and Poppy.  Where's Jason?  I think he must be eating cake pops...

My boss had her husband Ed bring a few farm animals to join in the celebration as well.  The animals were such a fun addition to the party!  I think the adults enjoyed them more than the kids!  Baby chicks, big chickens, and bunnies rounded out the special day. 

Cannon loved the animals!  He is holding a Lionshead rabbit here. 

 Parker was really scared of the chickens at first because they were really loud!  Who else would put chickens, rabbits and chicks in the dining room?  Crazy, I know!

The pig and baby chick cake pops were a big hit as well.  Check out my last post her to learn how to make these yummy treats.  Parker had his very own smash cake with a cow print design.  He enjoyed taking bites of it and getting it all over his face. 





Parker enjoyed the icing.  Little Piggy!


I saw a cute farm themed birthday hat on Etsy and had to make one for Parker.  It was really easy to make, I will post a tutorial later. 

Felt, interfacing, rickrack, gingham ties, and embroidery thread were used to make this personalized birthday hat.
Parker getting his birthday hat on. 

If you are looking for cool birthday hats and don't want spend the time making one, check out Cosa Bello on Etsy.com.  Way cute!


Ryan stayed up late w/me the night before the party to help with the cake pops and decorations.  He helped a lot with the "Parker" banner made from coffee filters, jute twine, crepe paper, gingham fabric scraps, painted clothespins and scrapbook paper. 

Pretty terrible picture of the banner (picture by Karla, not Lillian), but it was cute.

Maybe this gives a better idea of what it looked like. 

This Old MacDonald book was a vintage find at a thrift store for fifty cents.  We had it clipped back w/some Ryan's red painted clothespins. 



The mini haybale made a great centerpiece and base for the cakepops.  I tied some cute farm animal ribbon around it from Michael's. 




My great boss also let me borrow the Boyd's Bears farm animals.  They looked so sweet propped against the old soda crate. 



I found some sheets of cardboard cardstock that I used to run through the letter cutting machine at my school to make letters for the banner and the E-I-E-I-O.  I used the small e-i-e-i-o letters to make a small banner to hang from the chandelier above the cake and table decorations.


This vintage farm animal linen is from my good friend Staci's grandmother.  Staci moved into her grandmother's house and had tons and tons of old linens.  She let me dig through them and I got sooo many neat ones.  I love them and use them so often.  Thanks, Staci!


The balloon farm animals were a Martha Stewart kit I found for $2 at Big Lots.  I also bought a farm scene kit to make with pipe cleaners that was a Martha Stewart kit...it was terrible and the directions were impossible!  We threw it away.  Boo.

Thanks for Timothy and Lillian for making the balloons.  I ran out of time because I over planned things to do/make with not enough time budgeted...my life story!

We had farm fixins with baked beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, veggies, pigs and blankets, and homemade chicken nuggets (thanks to dad). 


Of course, we had to dress the part for the party.  Well, the boys and I did at least.  I couldn't get anybody else to wear overalls.  Counselor Katie at my school let me borrow the overalls, western shirt and boots for my outfit.  I got the boys overalls at a thrift store for about $2 a pair.
Parker was decked out in his overalls, boots and bottle.

Cannon put on a shark's tooth necklace because he said it went with his overalls.  So something Cannon would say...

Ryan was a good sport humoring me by wearing overalls.

Parker enjoyed present time.  He got some blocks, a farm set, some stuffed animals, a train, and some money. 
A farm set from Manna for Farmer Parker!

Opening presents with Daddy.

One of Parker's favorite presents was a box! 

The E-I-E-I-O party was a success.  Thanks to Lillian for taking such great pictures!





10 comments:

  1. Sounds like so much fun!! The decorations and everything are just precious!!

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  2. Very interesting theme for the birthday party. I really liked the cake a lot, it looks yum! Thanks a lot for sharing such a good idea for a birthday celebration. I would also love to book an event space just like this for my son’s 5th birthday next month.

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