Stratton's First Birthday Party!

Oh my! 3 months of planning and preparation and it was all over in just a couple of hours!! We had an awesome turnout (I counted 55 ppl, including the babies) and I think everyone had a good time. It was so nice to know that so many people care about Stratton and us and made it a priority to be at his party! We just have the best family and friends ever!  We had the party in the conference room at my office. It worked out well, better than it would have at our house that's for sure! It was still a little tight, but we managed!  For the food, we ended up just having hot dogs and lots of toppings and my aunt Judy made her delicious potato salad and we had chips. We wanted to keep it simple since there were several kiddos there. Stratton had a hot dog and potato salad for supper along with the rest of us. I didn't think he would like the potato salad but he ate it all! That's my boy!! We all sang "Happy Birthday", led by my uncle Doug, to him and let him have his cake. My mom made him another small "smash" cake, which he didn't demolish like I thought he might since he had some practice earlier in the week. He did pat it a few times, but mainly he ate the icing off. We tried to dig his hands in it to show him what to do, but he wasn't really into making a big mess. Ha-ha, the one time I actually wouldn't care that he made a huge mess and he doesn't want to!?  He got lots of neat gifts. We should have brought a U-haul to get them all home! The desserts were phenomenal! My mom made yummy cupcakes, my aunt Christina made amazing sugar cookies and Margie made brownie bites, mud cookies and rice krispy treats, and I also made oreo bonbons. Way too much sweet stuff! I will post pictures of the dessert table and all the decorations in a separate post. There are just too many pictures to put them in one!!

[family picture before the party]

[cake time!]

[Present time!]

[Random Party Pics]

{Cooper and Stratton on the fire truck}

{Mom, Stratton and cousin Wilson}

{Jarrod holding Archer, Jen holding Stratton}

{Everybody having a good time}

{Stratton in his birthday t-shirt}

A big THANKS to all our family and friends that made the day so special! I know Stratton won't remember it, but we sure will and it really meant a lot for you to be there with us to celebrate! We love you!!