Jude's Party: The Set-Up

We celebrated Jude's birthday on February 4th, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. It was one of those days that remind you that sometimes, living in California ain't so bad. As I have mentioned before, the theme for Jude's party was a Western Round-up Cowboy theme, and golly did I have fun with it. Well, truthfully, party planning started out as a lot of fun, got really stressful somewhere in the middle, and then ended on a positive note when I saw it all come together. We really did go all out for this party, and to quote my husband, "We can't have any more kids because we can't have any more first birthday parties." So, prepare yourself for an obnoxious amount of pictures of just the party set-up. Please stop rolling your eyes and remember that this blog is really my family's digital scrapbook. Jude, are you reading this? This was all for you, baby.

This served as a fun photo-op for the kiddos, and they had fun putting one another in jail. We owe Uncle Monkey a great deal for all of his artistic handiwork, and this was one of the many things that I commissioned Mike to create.

The entrance to the backyard of Nana and Papa's homestead.

Remember all of Jude's wagon pictures? Yes, this makes me cry.

Pin the Tail on the Horse, another one of Uncle Monkey's creations.

This was the favors table. The loot bags are filled with "Golden Nugget" caramel corn, and the mason jars are filled with "Happy Trails" mix. Yes, I'm a dork. I also had out Jude's baby book for people to sign...I guess I should start filling that thing out now, right?

Remember all of those loot bags filled with caramel corn? You can thank this lady right here for that. I love you, Mom. You put up with my crazy ideas so well.

Bean bag "shoot out." All of Uncle Monkey's hard work almost makes up for the fact that he bought Delaney a Whoopie Cushion for Christmas. Sheesh!

We had a lot of little games around the lawn, but I liked the look of this one the best.

You can't see the sign, but this was the "Lil' Buckaroos" craft area. Grandpa, Jude, and Delaney make for pretty good-looking cowpokes, don't you think?

The food layout. We served up cowboy food, meaning hot dogs, baked beans, peanuts, root beer, real beer, and lemonade.

We had a few tables in the backyard for seating, and I wish I had a better picture of the runners and flowers. It was pretty cowboyish, trust me.

This isn't the greatest view, but we had picnic seating out front with tablecloths and hay bales.

Steve and his dad made these amazing saw horse ponies. My original idea was that the kiddos would take turns roping the horses, but really everyone had a great time climbing all over them. One of my former students let us borrow her saddle, which everyone loved.

And I just had to add this picture, because it's too good not to show it off. I love this cowboy.

So stay tuned for like, actual pictures of the party!