Rather than breaking this up into a bunch of smaller posts I am just doing one HUGE one. With over 100 pictures…so be warned 🙂 You can look back at Kye’s parties over the years: Here is his 1st Birthday and here is his 2nd Birthday!
I enjoy having an afternoon birthday party as it give us plenty of time during the day to get everything ready. In the days leading up to Kye’s party I kept watching the weather, crossing my fingers that the 70% chance of severe thunderstorms would move to a different day. When the day actually came I was getting texts like crazy from friends who had BAD weather. Sirens were going off on Hahira where a tornado touched down. Then Matt and Robyn saw a tornado across from their house. It was BAD. Kye had gone down for his nap so so excited for his party and I was a nervous wreck that no one would show up due to all the crazy weather. Thankfully, our house was totally fine. Lots of rain but barely even a thunder burst!
When he woke up from his nap it was time to party! We got him ready and asked him if he wanted to wear his Woody hat but he didn’t want to mess up his hair. Haha. He just wanted to hold it instead 🙂
Kye and Gramma
With G-Mama
Britt went down for her nap before the party started but I wanted to get a few pictures of her in her cute cowgirl outfit! Mom had gotten her the outfit for Christmas and I was hoping she’d be big enough to wear it around the time of his party and, being the chunk she is, it fit great! I also ordered her a cute pair of cowgirl socks and matching bows from this seller on Etsy!
My kids ADORE Aunt Courtney
We totally matched and, duh, I planned it 😉
Waiting for guests to arrive
Putting the finishing touches on the decor (you can see all the party decorations here)
As the guests arrived they all got decked out in their cowboy/Woody gear!
Colt
Colt and Kye (yes, Colt is SO TALL!)
I think the adults enjoyed the hats more than the kids!
Matt
Casey
Sweet Aubrey has the best personality, she was down for anything!
Lorelai came already cowgirled up
As did the Megow clan but they still needed their sheriff badges 🙂
Stevie’s Angry Bird had to come along, of course
Neela 😉
Mary Allen was too cute already! Totally want to steal this dress for Britt!
Olive was NOT willing to wear her cowgirl boots
Ashley and Preston
Right as people walked in I made sure to tell them to go ahead and grab a plate. I’m all about eating right away! Kye had been DYING to eat his party food so he was excited to start digging in!
Titus
I really liked at Lorelai’s party how Robyn kept things going. We were busy the whole time and it made it more fun. Having too much down time makes the party seem boring, ya know? At parties in the past I’ve always been more concerned with making sure guests were happy than with actually enjoying the party myself. Usually I stick close to the food and keep checking on things and talking to people. I rarely even take any pictures and have to rely on friends and family to take them for me. This year I vowed not to do that. I wanted to be in on the action and wanted to take a TON of pictures. I ended up being in charge of the party flow. I kept things moving and people going and pretty much stuck with Kye the whole time (which is what Zach usually does) and this time Zach mingled more and kept more of an eye on the food. I’m not sure if he liked things this way or not, but I did as it allowed me to get all the pictures I wanted!
Glad we had the coloring station!
I love Serious Stevie
Kye and Kailyn
I used to teach Kailyn in Bible Study class and she is the BEST at coloring
I made sure everyone knew that there was a lot more to do in the garage and that quickly became the place to be. We had planned to open the door some to help with air flow but we had a fan going and it really never got hot. The kids had a great time playing the games, running around, and (something I had not planned or really wanted to happen…) playing with the balloons.
Tossing the snakes into the “boots”
I love Jude’s outfit!!!
Jayson was awesome at lassoing Bullseye
Taking a snack break from the fun
The kids were a little young for the pin the badge game, I still have it all if anyone is doing a Toy Story party and wants it!
Seth and Olive
There were only three negatives that happened during the party. The first one was when Kye and Payton got into it over the balloons. I was not present when the balloons became things to play with…and I didn’t really like that it happened (we ended up with three balloons at the top of our SUPER HIGH ceiling in the living room…luckily they were on the floor the next morning). But I’m not the type to stop the fun so I just let it go. They were all playing pretty well but I guess Payton wanted the cow print balloon and Kye had it and an argument happened…all I saw was Kye SLAMMING Payton in the face with it!!! I got onto him then told Zach to come out there and we traded places so he could be balloon monitor. Kye and Payton are in the same class next year at school and I’m mildly nervous about it…family treats each other differently ya know? I’m worried they may be getting into some trouble!!!
It was not even 5:00 but I figured it was good to go ahead and do the cake. I’m telling you I kept this party GOING! Brittlynn slept solid her entire nap and was due to eat at 5:00. Zach was SO on top of things, which made me proud, because he remember to heat her bottle for me 🙂 We did cake first then got her up that way everyone could be there to see Kye blow out the candle.
Carefully carrying the cake
SUCH an anti-climatic moment because Kye blew out the candle before we even finished singing, he was ready to GRUB!
Mrs. Charlotte took a video for me so you can watch it here…I highly recommend only watching the first 30 seconds.
He wanted to go back out where the fun was!
Everyone enjoyed the cake and ice cream (I deserve more “cool mom” stars for the ice cream…yes it’s CHOCOLATE. And no, my kid didn’t wear a bib!).
When doing one last party supply run at Hobby Lobby I saw a pinata. I had actually looked for some online and they are EXPENSIVE!!! I couldn’t believe how much they were going for…like $40. Um no way! At Hobby Lobby though I saw a cowboy boot one for only $12. I texted Zach a picture and said “should we?!?!?” He was all about it so I bought that junk! I’m so glad we did too as it was the perfect thing to do after cake but before presents. Each kid got a turn to hit it!
Trey controlled the rope
Stevie’s turn
Aubrey’s turn
Jesselyn’s turn
Neela was all about it
We let Kye do the final hits to bust it open
It was so cute how the kids all responded. I’m pretty sure it was all of their first pinata experiences. NO ONE ran for the goodies. They all just stood back and we had to tell them to go get them. When they took turns hitting it they all stayed in line so well and were so patient then when they went for the goodies they all only took ONE each! We had to tell them they could have more! It was really cute. I filled the boot with fruit snacks because Kye loves them and with some dum-dum suckers (which Rach brought for Kye when she came to visit…it was a good opportunity to get rid of them hahaha).
Looking through the stash
Can you tell my kid loves some suckers?!?!
Everyone enjoyed the treats!
While everyone was enjoying the goodies I took a break to visit around and check on everyone. It’s a KIDS birthday party so there wasn’t anything for the adults to do other than talk. But it seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves. When your kids have fun, you have fun too right? 🙂
Mom enjoying some Olive love
I’m glad my sister could be there! The tornado situation was scary but the Megow’s made it!
As did the Mullican’s…so thankful they were all ok!
My sweet neighbor, Kori who I hope to get together with more often!
This makes me laugh…we totally fit together like a puzzle piece
My only concerns about the party were people not coming because of the weather and who would feed Brittlynn her bottle. I specifically wanted either my mom or Zach’s mom to do it because both of them have given her a bottle before and know how hard she is to feed it. They know the tricks to get her to eat and understand that she WILL finish the bottle. Well negative thing #2 was when she got up and Mr. Rusty ran to get her first (I do love that he’s all about some grandbaby loving!). I said I didn’t want him feeding her but he did. Zach had him feed her in our room where it was quiet and I tried to be okay with it but I was worried about her actually eating it with him. Sure enough Zach went in to check on them and she was playing in his lap and had only eaten 2 oz. Mr. Rusty said “she’s done!” hahaha UM NO she’s not. It’s not that I minded him feeding her…it just took her waaaaay longer to eat (like she started eating at 5 and didn’t finish until 6:30.) so she missed the party. I was hoping someone who knew the tricks with her would feed her so she could eat faster and get to be part of things. Oh well.
Soon after the pinata I decided to keep things rolling and open gifts. It is my very least favorite part of a party. I actually debated about not having him open presents. I decided to put it out on facebook and ask if it was rude to skip this part…I told myself I’d see what people said and if ONE person said it was rude then we’d open them. The results were pretty much what I expected: Atlanta friends said it’s fine to skip it, Valdosta friends thought it’d be rude to not have it. I never want to offend anyone so we decided to do it! Last year it was SO stressful. Our living room is a decent size but it starts getting crowded when you have a billion people in there. Plus you add a ton of toddlers climbing all over you trying to get to the presents and it’s even worse. I was hoping the goodies from the pinata would keep the kids busy during the opening and I made sure to tell people they did NOT have to come watch us if they just wanted to stay playing in the garage or wherever. Last year it was so crazy that Kye didn’t even thank people…we just opened and handed him the next one to hurry things along. This year he WAS able to thank every person as he opened so that’s an improvement at least 🙂
One of my favorite pics of the day: Kye’s pumped, Zach is dreading it and I love the bat next to him…ready to beat any children who try to open Kye’s presents hahahaha
This is my let-my-kid-open-his-gifts face 😉
All kidding aside, all the kids did SO much better this year at understanding that it’s Kye’s party and his gifts. I’m down for sharing and everything but it’s important that I know who got him what for thank yous and if a ton of kids are ripping into everything it’s hard to keep track!
Thanks to Matt for the birds eye view shots!
Mrs. Charlotte ready to surprise Kye with his bike!
He was thrilled!
Poor kid wears a helmet size for a 5 year old but had to lower the seat of the bike to the lowest setting so he could touch the floor…he takes after his mama. Big head, short legs!
Britt and Olive meeting for the first time!
They WILL be bffs…they have no choice 😉
Negative thing #3 from the party. I don’t know who in the world okayed this to happen either…but I walked into the dinning room and found Kye’s basket of cars totally DUMPED all over the place right in front of the door where everyone had to leave. Ugh. I’m not trying to call out whoever did it because I honestly have no clue but I was pretty annoyed…I just left it though. I mean what other choice do you have?!?! All the kids were playing with them and I didn’t want to cause some toddler tantrum or something by making them clean up!
Everything overall went SUPER smoothly. The party was over before 6! For how terrible the weather was, I was so so impressed with the turn out! We had 13 kids there plus a ton of adults! It made my heart so happy that so many people faced the weather to be there for Kye. It meant so much to me that HE means so much to them!!! Kye was so appreciative of everyone being there and really had such a great time. Here is what our front yard looked like as people were leaving…
Our church was hosting a guys event that night at 6 and they were doing a viewing of the movie Courageous. I agreed with Zach that it was super important for him to go so he went with Mr. Rusty, Brad and Trey. They had a great time and Zach said it was a total guy cry fest. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it was one of those life changers I think for the guys. I’m proud that Zach felt so strongly about attending, but he also felt mega guilty leaving me with both kids and a disaster zone house to clean up. Especially when I was SICK. I had started feeling yucky the day before but just thought I was tired from all the party preparation. Then the day of I couldn’t eat anything and just didn’t feel like myself. It wasn’t until Sunday morning that it REALLY hit and I def. had a stomach bug 🙁 I was careful during the party not to get too close to anyone and to stay busy so I wouldn’t feel bad but by the end of it I was def beat! I’m so thankful that Courtney, Mom, and Mrs. Charlotte stayed to help with clean up. I hardly had to do a thing!!! Mom even stayed to get Kye into bed and I’m BEYOND thankful for that help!!!
Colt wanted to hold Britt!
Sweet sister celebrating her brother’s big day!
Our family
Kye couldn’t have been happier with his birthday party. Now, next to Disney, it’s the most talked about thing around here. He had SUCH a great time and I’m so very appreciative to Zach for being so creative with the planning process, willing to set up the garage, being okay with all the money we had to spend on food and stuff to make the garage work, running some party errands for me, and helping the whole thing go so smoothly. I’m thankful to our families for doing so much to make it possible – providing food, helping to visit with guests, helping with Britt, and helping with the after party stuff too. It’s SUCH a blessing to live so close to family and to be surrounded by people who love Kye (and Britt) so much. When the weather was horrible I knew, without a doubt, that the family would be there. Rain or shine, tornado or hurricane or whatever!!! I’m also thankful to all the friends who came out, who took pictures, who dressed in party theme, who brought Kye a gift, and who helped make his day so special. Thank you, thank you everyone!!!
And just so we’ll remember, here’s the run down of all who attended the party: Mom, Mrs. Charlotte, Mr. Rusty, Trey, Casey, Jordan, Jordan’s Mom, Jordan’s Dad, Courtney, Brad, Colt, Payton, Kori, Mike, Aubrey, Mary, Allen, Robyn, Matt, Lorelai, Seth, Crissy, Stevie, Neela, Titus, Olive, Jennifer, Jesselyn, Jessica, Kailyn, Kelsey May, Jude, Ashley, Jayson, Tracie, Ashley, and Preston!
I’ve already started planning some ideas for Britt’s big birthday this December…I can’t wait till we have 4 (or more?!?!) kids to plan parties for. I’ll be having a party like every other month haha
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His party really turned out awesome! And I totally think that all of the kids were REALLY well behaved! I'm most impressed with how well it turned out considering all the last minute stuff you had to do because of the rain!
Three things! I think it's hilarious you think that outfit on Britt is "cowgirl" LOL You are so funnyI got him dum dums because I swear I saw him in a lot of pictures having them when you travel? I'm glad they went to good use! And ummmm 4 or more??! What's up with that??
What a TERRIFIC day it was. So impressed with how many people came regardless of the tornadoes, torrential rain, and flooding! You are loved!!!