Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Birthday Week - Party Pics

The entire day was absolutely PERFECT!  I could not have asked or wished for the party to have gone any better!  Thank you to all our family and friends that helped us celebrate our little man's first birthday!  You truly made our day so special and memorable.

(I have to admit, these are only a FEW of the pictures I have received so far, but at least you can get a glimpse of the birthday extravaganza!)

Grandma and Grandpa Pictures




Me, J and Mal

Lee, Laura and J
BFF's!



Mommy and Daddy Pictures



Party Time!







Birthday Cakes

Jameson's "smash" cake

Let the mess begin!




Look at that full belly!

 Brenda, Mal and J

Birthday Week - Decorations

So as I mentioned before, I decided it would be a great idea to MAKE the decorations for the party...  Honestly, it was a lot of fun, but a little more stressful then I had imagined since the party was not here in Sioux Falls, rather it was in Onalaska at my parent's house.

I've had a lot of people ask to see pictures of the party, so here are the party decoration pictures!
(Again, thank you to everyone that helped put this amazing party together!)  

Upstairs Decorations

(Thank you Jana for the website on how to make these)


You can't see them all that well,
but all the food had Sesame Street table tent labels
ie: Counts Corn Salsa
Big Bird Mac n' Cheese
(THANK YOU to Mal for providing all the primary color + Green and Orange serving dishes)

Oscar the Grouch "Trash Mix"
and
Elmo Punch

 I took this picture Friday night, so it is missing the pictures,
but you can get an idea of what the mantel looked like

Entryway Table

Months 1-11 photos of Jameson

Kitchen Table center piece

Basement

Overall picture of the tables in basement

I know, call my crazy, but yes I did buy a REAL fish
One of the centerpieces was "Dorothy" 
(Elmo's pet fish)



This was actually my favorite...
Cookie Monster jar filled with Oreos

Birthday Week Part 1

I've said it once and I will say it a million times more, I have been STRUGGLING with the fact that my little baby is ONE!!  I think the majority of the struggle has been that the year truly went by so fast and the fact that SO much in our life has changed in such a short period of time!

But, like anyone else, I do not have the power to stop the clock, so bring on birthday week!  A few weeks prior to Jameson's party, I was in a panic due to the fact that Luke had to work the entire week leading up to the party and I could not figure out how I was going to get everything ready for Saturday's birthday extravaganza (starting at noon) if we would not arrive in Onalaska until late Friday night.  Well, enter into the picture the BEST dad in the world and my stress was washed away!  My dad drove out to Sioux Falls Tuesday afternoon and spent the night with J and I (Luke had to work).  Wednesday morning the three of us got up and headed back to Wisconsin.

The remainder of the week consisted of a little play and A LOT of party prep!  

Wednesday night was "craft night" at the Marson household!  I had the wild idea to make pretty much all of the party decorations (great idea, but not when you live 5 hours away from the party location).  So I made all of the decorations here in Sioux Falls, but still had to assemble all of them once I was in Onalaska.  I have to send a HUGE shout out to my mom and Kaylin Holthaus for helping me assemble everything!  You guys helped me so much!!  Not to mention is was such a fun night together :-)

My favorite craft of the evening!
(Welcome sign)


Thursday Jameson and I took a short break from party planning and headed up to Winona to have lunch with Luke's dad and step-mom.  It was so great to see them and get a little extra time together before the craziness of party day.  Thank you Mike and Carol for the delicious lunch!!

Outside of Signatures (Winona)

 
Friday was a day of "last minute" errands.  We had all the crafts done but needed to run around Onalaska/La Crosse picking up all the remanding food, decorations, and party supplies before Luke, Mal and Brenda arrived Friday evening.

Grandpa Jeff and Jameson


Nana Marson took Jameson on a 
Dumbo ride while I did some last minute grocery shopping

Honestly, I have to say, going into Friday evening I thought we had just a few "last minute" things to accomplish and then we could all get a good nights rest... Boy, I was way off!  Thank goodness I had my mom, Mal and Brenda on hand to help me!  Although the amount of work was kind of a lot, we sure had a great time putting the remaining touches on the party!

I am going to follow this blog with party pictures and decoration pictures, but I wanted to end this one by saying the ENTIRE week/weekend was perfect!  I truly could not have pulled this party off without the help of my wonderful parents, Kaylin, Mal, Brenda, and my amazing husband!  Also a shout out to Jean and Carol for providing the delicious fruit and veggie trays!

A Year in Pictures

Well, it's official
WE HAVE A 1 YEAR OLD!
We love you Jameson!













Birthday Boy!  
This was the smile he gave me right away this morning

(the sticker pictures will be taken later today)