60th Birthday Party for Two

For the past month and a half, I have been working on putting together a birthday party for my parents--both of them are having their 60th birthday this year, within two weeks of each other!  Dad turned 60 on the 14th, and my mom will on November 1, so I decided to throw this party inbetween them.  I was limited on the choice of the date, however, as hubby, Dad, and I have a mud run on the 28th (which I can't run in anymore since it is still in my six week recovery time...boo).

It started with sending out about 70 invitations to friends and family.  I was thinking about creating the invitation, but it got to be a big complication.  Instead I created the response card, prestamped them all and addressed them back to me so all they would have to do is fill it out and pop it back into the mailbox.  I think it turned out cute, and I had a few funny ones come back. :)

 

 

Next week, these and the photos that we took will be put into an album that I am going to make for them.

 

Since I ended up having surgery in the middle of the planning, I enlisted the help of my mom (plus, I knew that she would want to see what was going on!).  She wanted to make favors of chocolate lollipops, whereas I wanted to have little favors of paper plantable seeds to hand out.  So we did both--I made the favors of seeds, she made the lollipops.  They both turned out cute!!

 

 

 

I also wanted to do something special for taking pictures of the guests.  After seeing some cute ideas on Pinterest, I recruited my dad and hubby to build me a super big picture frame with stand out of the scrap wood and old parts of the fence we had by the shed.  I was THRILLED with how it turned out! Then I bought some garland with fall leaves (the theme), detached the leaves from the garlands, and glued the leaves to the wooden frame.  It was so big we couldn't put it together until we got it to the party, and even then we had to use a trailer to get it there! :)

 

 

And finally, after much planning and organizing, the day arrived.  Right on time, too--I was getting tired from losing sleep over all the things I needed to get done!! I even did most of the food for the 50 people we were expecting, not because I am totally nuts, but because I didn't trust catering to not cross-contaminate the food with gluten (and I really didn't want to spend the party time sick after all of this!).  I did have the cake made by someone else, but I made my own GF cupcakes.  There was brisket, green beans, Tahiti salad, pinto beans, pickles and onions, and loaves of bread (kept away from the other food).  All super yummy!!

 

The cake table

The cake! (inspired by Cake Wrecks)

Gluten free cupcakes--yum!

The dinner buffet being set up

The favors table

The table where guests were to sign a photo mat for my parents, and place birthday cards

The photo mat guestbook and basket for cards

The assembled frame where guests had their pictures taken

One of the tables

Another table setting

 

 

The party went wonderfully.  :)  Everyone had a great time, got to mingle and catch up, and my parents were very happy.  Every last bit of effort and planning was totally worth it--I would do it all over again!! 

 

 

 

Happy birthday to the most amazing parents!!  I love you!!!









Fall has Arrived!

This summer was surprisingly mild, with only a handful of days over 100 degrees and several major rainstorms to keep the drought that we had last year at bay.  And with the beginning of fall comes one of my favorite things...pumpkins.  :)

There happens to be a pumpkin patch that they set up at a church here in town at the beginning of October.  Yesterday it opened, and with it a wonderful photographic opportunity for munchkin!  This year I am so excited that he is going to be able to enjoy it more than he did last year (he was busy learning to walk last year at this time--both a happy and sad time for me!!).  He already picked out a costume (well, pointed and kept saying "rooster" as we walked by the costumes in the store), and tho we won't be going trick-or-treating, he'll get to dress up and be his silly self.  :)  Needless to say, I can't wait to see him!!

After finding out that the pumpkin patch was set up and open, I decided to take Z out there after his nap while everyone was at work or school.  Clothes that I was sure were too big for him suddenly fit, and I found a pair of overalls that I have adored since he was tiny that was perfect for the pictures I wanted to take.  All dressed and ready to go, I packed up little man and off we went to the land o' pumpkins!

As my little guy has gotten older, he has realized what a camera is.  He also knows that I want him to look at it...and has lately decided to look every where EXCEPT the camera!  So I spend a lot of time snapping pictures of him looking off to the left or right, up or down, and sometimes I will be lucky to catch a smile at me. :)  I am hoping that he outgrows this unfortunate habit, but--in my opinion--he's adorable no matter what angle I get of his super cute face!

We had a lot of cars driving by, and so he felt compelled to wave at a lot of them.  :)  My super friendly baby!

Now...I can't wait for him and his Halloween costume!