I’m thankful to Robyn and Chrissy (my sister-in-law) for taking pictures during Kye’s party. I was SO swamped and only was able to snap a couple! Thanks guys!!!
I planned Kye’s party from 4-6 because I wanted him to be able to sleep for his full nap and wake up in a good mood. AND I wanted time for family pictures before the party. We did it last year and it was quite a success and luckily this years mini-photo session turned out just as great! I LOVE having a fireplace to take family photos in front of 🙂
the birthday boy and Gramma
Big Papa and G-Mama
He was kinda getting over the picture takin 😉
Uncle Brandon and Auntie Chrissy!
It was AWESOME having my whole family there (minus Dad) for the party
Once the party got started, it got STARTED! It was pretty hectic, exciting, and FUN! Here’s about a million pictures of the event, if you want to see all the party decorations you can go here. Enjoy!
didn’t he look handsome?
As the guests arrived we had them go ahead and make their caps. Kye was SUCH a great host. Jude was the first friend to come and Kye went right up to him and said “hot dog?” and handed him a little smokie! It was so cute to see him make sure all of his friends had a fun time. He did great being a social butterfly and going from friend to friend throughout the party.
Kye’s cap!
He only wore it for like 2 seconds
Jude was a little ham, he’s too fun
I told you the donut holes were a hit 🙂
we need to come up with a new word to get him to smile b/c this is his “cheese” face
the Starr’s came to golf it up
ready for the putting range
Jude was even dressed the part 😉
Scotty kept his little cap on the WHOLE party, it was precious
Lorelai enjoyed her donut hole as you can tell be the leftovers all over her face!
learning from a set of pros
Kye kept his donut hole in one hand and a hot dog in the other the entire party
constant snacking
I’m SO glad we pulled out all of the backyard type toys to keep the kids entertained
driving under the influence of LOTS of chocolate…
I love this picture
Uncle Brandon helping him out
two good buds taking a break from the fun
twin smiles!!!
at least he knows where the ball is supposed to go…
Can you tell it was a little crazy? We had TWELVE kids there around the age of TWO! “They” say you should only invite the number of children to a party that your child is old. So Kye should have only had two friends for his party…yeah right! Since last year’s party was mostly OUR friends, I wanted this years party to be about Kye and his friends. I thought it was important to invite all the kids in his Sunday school and bible study class as I want those friendships to extend beyond church. Growing up with Christian friends is SO important and the younger he starts making them, the better 🙂
golf cart ride time!
Lorelai wasn’t feeling it
the party may have been ALL about Kye but I wanted some pics with my friends too 🙂
Baby Preston will be here SOON!
Chrissy was SUCH a huge help and I loved spending time together
While we invited a TON of kids and loved that they all came for the big event, really there could have just been one party guest and Kye would have been thrilled. When Courtney and Brad walked in Kye immediately shouted “COLT!!!!!” and raced over to his cousin. It was precious!!! This is one of the pictures I snapped from the day and it’s def one of my favs. He loves his cousin for sure 🙂
Most of the party was outside! The parents did enjoy a tour of our house, well a self-guided tour anyway. I just told everyone they could peak around if they wanted 🙂 We totally plan to have a house warming type party once we get everything completely done…hopefully sometime in May or June so let me know if you’d like to be invited to that and come see the finished product of all our hard work!
We decided to sing Happy Birthday inside and then let everyone take the cupcakes back outside to eat. The donut holes had caused enough mess already all over the house and we didn’t need cupcakes adding to it 😉 Kye was SO excited for everyone to sing to him and he kept saying “sing! sing!”
He LOVED the attention!
I love Little Mama peeking in the window 🙂
I was so proud he blew the candle out on the first try, such a big boy
It was all SO cute and by far my favorite part of the party. You could tell Kye was SO happy and loved everyone singing to him for his birthday. He cheered and said yay and blew out his candle like a champ! Zach video taped the whole thing and the next morning we were pumped to watch it. Guess what? Video camera didn’t work 🙁 We were very upset and disappointed so we put Kye back in his shirt and sang to him ourselves so we could at least get that on video. Are we lame for trying to recreate it? We even got the table cloth out of the trash for it haha it’s not half as cute as the original (and Zach’s sleepy voice ain’t too sexy either…) but at least we get to have the memory, you can watch the video here!
after the singing he did try to eat the candle
time to dig in!
YUM
Before going down for his nap Kye opened the blocks we got him from his real birthday and played with them with Daddy. So of course right when he got up from his nap that’s ALL he would talk about. Throughout the party he’d ask to play with the blocks. While everyone was outside enjoying their cupcakes we let him go into the nursery and play with them. I figured it’d be a good little break from all the craziness before opening presents 🙂
present time
Opening the presents was my least favorite part of the party. Would it be rude of me if we don’t open presents during a party EVER again?!? It was just TOO crazy. SO many kids were in my face trying to tear open Kye’s gifts and he didn’t even enjoy the process. I didn’t want anything to get opened out of the packaging so I rushed him to the next present before he’d ask to take the toys out. It was stressful and not the least bit fun for anyone. I mean who even enjoys that part at a party anyway??? I’d rather spend that time playing more fun games and such than being bombarded with kids. Any thoughts?
this smile is saying “back up off me!!!!”
peeking to see what’s next!
I’ve learned there’s a BIG advantage being the first present giver…it seems like kids are drawn to the first thing they open and really love it. Brandon and Chrissy got Kye some little toy cars and he LOVES them! After the opening craziness we did open those for him and he played with them with his friends. The party ended a little early b/c after the stress of gifts I was pretty DONE. I (politely, of course) thanked everyone for coming and reminded them to take a favor on their way out.
Of course some family and friends stayed to visit and I enjoyed that time because it was more relaxed. I’m BEYOND thankful for my mom because she had everything cleaned up before the party was even officially over 🙂 Made my night so much easier, that’s for sure.
Matt and Zach
So glad Jordan was able to be in town for the big event!
Casey and me
Courtney and me
At 6:00 Kye started to beg to go night-night. He was WORN OUT. Of course we let him get into his crib and rest while we said goodbye to everyone. I was so worn out that I felt like joining him!
Brandon and Chrissy stayed the night with Mom so the three of them hung out after everyone else left and we were able to coax Kye out of the crib to spend some time with the family before bedtime. He was pretty much a donut hole filled zombie 😉
Other than the present opening, I had a GREAT time at the party and I think everyone else did too. I KNOW Kye did as it took quite awhile to get him to stop thinking that everyday was his birthday 🙂
I am glad I had so many activities, that I had so much food, and that we had some outdoor seating. Next time around I plan on (possibly?) skipping out on the present opening and I think I’ll hire a party photographer. Robyn and Chrissy did AWESOME but I do feel bad that I don’t have pictures of everyone that was there. Especially the great grandparents! I managed to play hostess and photographer last year but I don’t see that happening EVER again. It added too much extra stress on me and I like to just be able to relax and enjoy the events I plan.
Here’s everyone who came to the party so we can remember: Jude, Jesselyn, Jayson, Michael, Lorelai, Colt, Payton, Cade, Brooklyn, Bayleigh, Scotty (and all their parents, of course! at what age do drop-off parties start???), Big Daddy, Little Mama, Mema, Jolee, Trey, Ashley, Courtney, Brad, Debbie, Jake, Casey, Jordan, Brandon, Chrissy, Mom, Mrs. Charlotte, and Mr. Rusty! We had over 40 people come by to see Kye on his big day and I feel like the party was a SUCCESS. Can’t wait for next year 🙂
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Hi I'm Heather! Please email me when you get a chance, I have a question about your blog! LifesABanquet1(at)gmail.com
Hi I'm Heather! Please email me when you get a chance, I have a question about your blog! LifesABanquet1(at)gmail.com