Sawyer's Barnyard Bash!

The Birthday Boy!

Can you believe in just one short week sweet little Sawyer will be 1 year old?!? It simply does not seem possible that a whole year has gone by. But, as impossible as it may seem, it has most certainly happened and we couldn't let it pass without throwing him his very first birthday party! We decided on a barnyard bash to celebrate his big day and what a celebration it turned out to be! A local farm, "The Art Barn" was the location for his big day and it could not have been better suited for him. It is a small little quaint farm in Canton that is absolutely perfect for a birthday party. There was something for all ages to have fun doing, but most importantly it was fun for the birthday boy. It is generally kind of hard to plan something fun for a 1 year old, but Sawyer absolutely loves animals... especially petting them, so this theme was a no brainer for us. We just had to find the perfect location and perfect set of animals... along came The Art Barn. So fun! Oh, and let me just note here, I had SO much fun with the theme. Everything from the kids farmer hats to the farm animal shaped rice krispy treats, as well as everything in between... an absolute blast! I am hoping Hayden may want to do it for a party one year so I have an excuse to plan another barnyard bash! Oh, and it all started with the fun invites...

Are these not the cutest things ever?!?

I only took a few pics to make it!:)

Then came the idea for these adorable cake pops and barn smash cake...

OMG... cutest animals EVER!

Close ups...

Note above that I said "idea" for the cake pops and smash cake. It was just an idea... I don't get credit for making these guys! One of my neighbors Kate brought my idea to life for me. She has always been a big help in creating my cake ideas for me over the past couple of years and once again her ability to create exactly what I had in my head didn't disappoint me. If I were a cake pop I would want to be one of these little guys for sure. Although cake pops have a pretty short life span, these cake pops lived up every.single.minute. They were loved from the very first second they were created. They were so lucky they even got a name! How cute is that?!? Asscot, Bacon, Mary, Chick, Foghorn and Elsie thank you so much for being a part of Sawyer's big day... you brought lots of edible fun to the party! Oh, and how could I forget the barn?!? Perfect barnyard bash smash cake! Sawyer loved it...

Especially the making a mess part!!!

I also got a little crazy and decided to let the boys have one of the left over cake pops one night after bath. The crazy part here was not letting them have a cake pop, it was letting them have it after bath. Crazy huh?!? Who does that? I was just thinking about having a little late night dessert before bed, and obviously not thinking about the mess. Oh well, it was a little change in routine and it was fun!

Look how excited Sawyer was!

Crazy Hayden barely even licked the thing...

So I gave it to Sawyer who thoroughly enjoyed shaking it!

I guess he was hoping the shaking it would get it off the stick,
because after he stopped the shaking he started doing this!

After about 5 seconds this happened...

And boy was he proud when he started squeezing his cake pop!

Apparently it is a lot of fun to squeeze your
dessert through your fingertips!:)

Admiring his mess!!!

He did finally decide to try a bite!

Now that the cake pop is officially destroyed and a bite has
been tried I guess our cake pop fun is over!:)
Time for bath #2!!!!

A few other party details...

Sawyer's Barnyard Bash water bottles!

These came in very handy seeing as it was a hot August day! Oh, and much more fun than your traditional bottle labels!:) I should also add here that the farm had lots of good shade which helped a ton with the August heat. Yet one more reason The Art Barn was the place for the party! I was also super excited to give each of the kids a farmer hat to wear while they were on the farm. I even painted their names on them so Farmer Debbie would know who was who while we were out exploring. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to get not even one single picture of them finished. Silly me. Oh well, here is a picture of Sawyer's and Hayden's...

Gotta love 'em!

Auntie May got this pic of Hayden when
Farmer Debbie was passing out
the hats. Love it!

And seeing as Sawyer was not excited about wearing his hat,
we had to let him eat a stick to get a picture of him
with it actually on his head! Yep, all boy!

Hayden on the other hand loves wearing his farmer hat.
He's still wearing it around the house every
time he gets the chance. So cute!

Perhaps I should have made the birthday boy his hat a little
earlier in the year so he could have practiced wearing it!
He mastered the art of taking it off in no time!

Farmer Hayden!

At least you can get the idea... the girls were pink of course!:) You'll just have to envision how cute that was since I have no picture.:( The kids sure were cute walking around the farm with their little hats on!!!

Mini planters for the kiddos to take home with them...

How fun is it to get to take a little of the farm home with you and plant it?!? I can't wait to see if they actually grow!:)

Who could forget the rice krispies?!?

I know you can't tell it here, but we had barns, horses, roosters, and even pigs disguised as chocolate covered rice krispy treats! Yummy! Now on to my very favorite barnyard detail... Sawyer's handmade smash cake outfit and banner. Yes, his Gigi outdid herself once more. Amazing I tell you... amazing!:) If this is not the cutest barnyard smash cake outfit you have ever seen I don't know what is...

And even cuter when Sawyer is the one wearing it!

The matching banner!

Thank you Gigi... We love it! Definitely worth all of your hard work!

Gigi has made one of these high chair banners for each of Hayden's birthdays, so you know I just had to have one for Sawyer as well. Well, apparently this one didn't think it should be on the high chair. It refused to stick so we went with plan B! Super cute either way. I am so glad to have the best high chair banner maker around to be part of my family!!! I am one lucky Momma! I think I am going to enjoy having these little keepsakes long after the partying is over! Speaking of enjoying something long after the party... balloons!!! We love us some balloons around here. When I say we can't just throw our party balloons away, I mean it. We have had multiple balloon launches the past couple of years, and this time we kept the balloons so long the helium was gone! It was hard for me to get rid of them when I did... they boys just had so much fun with them. One morning after breakfast(and before clothes!) when they were playing I snapped a couple of pics...

They had so much fun together! Especially
trying to share one balloon! Yes,we did
have a few balloon casualties!

Sawyer had so much fun throwing his balloons up in the air!

And Hayden just had fun playing with Sawyer!

They loved chasing after the same balloon...

And even playing tug of war with them!

But this was by far my favorite part to watch. A balloon would
get thrown up in the air and both of them would have a blast
waiting on it to come down! It was even fun for Mommy!

So, just in case you are wondering what you should do with balloons after your party is over... KEEP them! Duh!!! They are fun for weeks to come!:)

OK, enough with the details already, where are the pictures from the party?!? Well... we started out the party petting all the animals...

How cute is this? Probably one of my favorites from the day.
Sawyer and Hayden loving on the sheep with Uncle Danny!

It was actually kind of hard to get Hayden to venture
away from petting the sheep. He loved him!

He even got G-Pa(formerly Grandpa, but shortened during this trip)
to join in on his fun with the sheep!

I can hear Sawyer saying "Ooooooo" right now! It was so cute watching
all the kids petting the animals and having fun together! As you
can see, Hayden even thought it was fun to feed hay to the
animals!:) Well, I don't know about all of the animals,
but most definitely this sheep!!!

Sawyer somehow managed to get Gigi to break
the no sitting on the animals rule for him...

I mean when a face like this wants to break a
rule how do you possibly say no?!?

And look how much fun they had breaking those rules!!!

Oh, and Grandaddy couldn't let Gigi be the only rule breaker!:)
Sawyer loved it!!! Don't worry Farmer's Sue and Debbie
there will be no rule breaking next time... I promise!

Holding and petting this chicken was fun without breaking any rules!
Farmer Debbie helped the kids to hold and pet this little chicken
during the party and they loved it. I'm pretty sure it was
one of the favorites! Can you tell Hayden was
a little apprehensive at first?!?

Well... So was Sawyer!

Hayden quickly started to warm up to the idea...

And eventually loved his chicken time!

He even helped Sawyer pet the chicken! How cute is that?!?

I guess petting the chicken made him want to chase this rooster
because he did that for about the next 15 minutes!:)

Chicken petting time!

I guess chasing the rooster wore him out a little because
this is where we found him taking a little break!:)

Sawyer thoroughly enjoyed being pulled around the farm in his wagon...

Oooooooooo!!!

He really loved when Ellie joined him for the ride! I guess
everything is more fun with a partner in crime!:)

Barnyard fun with friends!

And barnyard fun with Mommy! Love this boy!

After all the petting and washing of hands we took a little hayride(without actual hay!) around the farm. The kids loved it!

How cute is this hayride banner?!?

Mommy and Sawyer having fun on the ride!

Thanks to Sawyer, Hayden got a chance to take us for a little spin
around the farm! Sawyer wasn't really up for driving without
Mommy, but Hayden thought he had hit the jackpot!:)

After the hayride it was time for our art project...

Barnyard fun with markers!

Hayden wanted a little help from Grandaddy with his project...

And couldn't wait to show off his work to G-Ma!

Masterpieces!

All of the kids got to make their own little drawing which was super fun for them. It's the little things I tell you! Farmer Debbie and Mommy even helped Sawyer make an art project of his own. Turned out so cute I think I'll frame it!:)

We started with painting his hand...

Sawyer did such a good job!

Look at that concentration on his face... he was
making sure to make a good chicken!:)

Face of the day!

Farmer Debbie helping Hayden to make his fingerprint barnyard friend!

Good job Hayden!

Doesn't get much cuter than a hand print chicken surrounded with his fingerprint barnyard friends now does it?!? I love that all of Sawyer's birthday guests got to be represented by a fingerprint on his artwork! Great keepsake!

Love it!

Finally... time for applesauce, pizza, cake and icecream!!! I guess everyone was starved because you could have heard a pin drop in a barn slap full of people(including kids I might add) when we first started eating. It was amazing! Cake time was so much fun...

Look how excited he is!

Can you believe I get to blow that out Momma?!?

Oops Sawyer... don't blow it out with your hand silly boy!

Yep, that's right. Our crazy little boy who was enjoying everyone singing him happy birthday, and thrilled with the thought of blowing out his very first candle, decided it would be more fun to try to extinguish the flame with his hand. Yikes! So scary. At least he wasn't hurt. Let's just say the happy birthday song ended a little abruptly!

Ouch, or should I say scared?!?

By the looks of this picture you would think his hand was most definitely burned, but luckily it wasn't. I think the motion of his hand going towards the candle must have blown it out because there was absolutely no sign of his hand being burned whatsoever. Thank goodness. It was very scary and I am pretty sure that is why he was crying so bad... he was just super spooked. How was he supposed to know that was dangerous?!?

Both Gigi and Mommy checked him out to make sure he was going to be okay...

And after he checked out good he started in on his cake!
We'll give that candle thing another
shot in a year or so!!!

Must look tasty... check out his tongue!

Sharing with Mommy!

And even using his spoon to toss some around the barn!:)

Can you tell he enjoyed cake time?!?

To the very fullest extent!! Yum!

After the cake we had to sneak in a little time for a quick family pic...

Although we aren't all looking, at least we're all in the pic!

Farm family of four!

Love it!

And guess what happened after all that was over?!? NAPS!!! Yay! Perfect timing! So perfect we had two fully rested children when it was all said and done. We even found time to open his gifts that afternoon. I know... crazy right?!? Crazy or not, it was PRESENT time!!!

Lucky little Sawyer!

I hated that there wasn't any time to open up the gifts at the party, but there simply was not. Truthfully, it probably would have been a little hot for that anyways! Oh well, maybe next year! It proved to be tons of fun for Sawyer once we got settled down at home!:)

He got to open bags...

Unwrap gifts...

And even dig in wheelbarrows!:) Let me just note
here that he loved this creative gift wrapping
idea Ms. Katie... so much fun! Thanks!

Apparently this CAT rumbler is pretty cool...

Even to Hayden!

Sawyer checking out how his new toy worked!

And getting really mad at his big brother when
he didn't give it back immediately!

Don't worry, we made Hayden give Sawyer back his
new toy... and they made up in no time!

Sawyer got this excited about opening each and every gift...

It was like he already knew exactly what they were going to do...

Even if they were still in the box and all he could see was a picture!:)

Of course G-Ma got him something that he could play
with right away, which thrilled him to death!

Hey Momma!

Don't you just love his face?!?

So happy!

Believe it or not, even Hayden got a few
gifts to open! Is he lucky or what?!?

Checking out his new book...

Read, Hayden, Read! The absolute perfect gift! I love it!
Now if only it will help him potty!:)

Sawyer even had fun teething on his new gifts!!! Go figure!

Reminding us how old he is!

One more time!

Present opening fun!!!

Can you tell he liked everything?!? Thanks everyone!

Our Happy Birthday Boy!

Who likes sitting in his new wagon and dancing for us!

It is so funny to me that he would actually cooperate and do this...

With a smile on his face to top it all off!

We love you baby(I mean 'Big Boy') Sawyer!
Happy Birthday Party!

Thank you to everyone who was able to come and help us celebrate Sawyer turning ONE! We had so much fun and are so thankful to have such great friends and family. Y'all are the best!

Oh, and one last thing.... a little sneak peak at Sawyer's 1 year old pics!!!

Love this face!