ONE Boy, ONE Year, TWO Days of Celebration

Drayze's birthday came and went, making him officially ONE! It was a big hit to say the least. June 5th landed on a Thursday this year. Therefor we had two wonderful days of celebration ahead; one on his actual birthday, and his birthday party the following day. Spending {way too much} extra time on Pinterst, I had put a lot of thought in to how I was going to make him feel extra special on his big day. He is only one so he doesn't yet understand it is HIS day. I didn't want the two days to feel like our ordinary day of going through the motions of our daily routines. I wanted his birthday to be one for the books as he only gets one first birthday! All of the hard work and planning paid off. Here is a recap.

We woke up bright and early June 5th so daddy could see his little boy on his birthday before heading to work. Zac's work schedule has really REALLY sucked lately. He heads to work about 6 A.M. and arrives home around 9:30 P.M. We knew {sadly} the only time he was going to see Drayze was in the morning before work and right before bed. This being known, we decided to wake Drayze up extra early to give him his birthday present and drive Zac to work so we could spend {very} little time together that day. When Drayze and I were back home, he was one tired little dude so he went back to sleep. I brewed one large pot of coffee and began preparing for the day I had planned. I blew up 20 colorful balloons, hung a banner on his crib {because he can read and all} made him breakfast and patiently waited for him to wake up. When he finally woke I filled his crib with the balloons and watched his face light up with excitement!

cutest birthday tank from Ashlee

Drayze had a bath {with extra bubbles} then watched a birthday edition of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I packed a bag for the POOL! Grandma Michelle gifted Drayze the cutest swimsuit so we decided what better way to spend a summer birthday than at the splash pad. We invited aunt Deveny to come along too. Drayze wasn't a big fan of the water at first, but once we showed him how fun it really is he had a good time. He mostly enjoyed being able to crawl where ever he wanted and watching all of the kids. The boy absolutely loves being outside!

I even wore a swim suit, something I said I'd NEVER do again.

I love this even though his eyes are closed

I put him on the floor in my mom's room to nap...

then found him in the hallway when I went to check on him.

 After a good birthday power nap, baby boy was ready to go again. Grandma picked us up to go for an ice cream with a couple of cousins and visit great grandma and grandpa Warner. When we were finished there, the night day was coming to an end. We headed back home to wait for daddy to {finally} get home! Both Zac and Drayze were exhausted at this point, but that didn't stop them from playing and getting a few good laughs in together. We ate a light birthday dinner together, then called it a day.

Nice photo bomb grandpa!

The next day, the day of his party, was quite a bit more hectic. My mom and I had been working so hard for a couple months or so planning for his party to be absolutely perfect. That day trying to get every little detail prepared and together we realized we may have went a little bit overboard.{Damn Pinterest} We were running from town to town, from store to store, picking up the odds and ends we still needed. We may have procrastinated a bit. We baked, frosted, and detailed 48 cupcakes and one small smash cake. We put together several decorations adding small details to each. Zac grilled 50 hot dogs in 99 degree weather, and we all helped transport everything to the park and set it all up just in the nick-of-time. It turned out absolutely DARLING, and I couldn't have done it without the help from my mom.

The best picture we have of the set-up

 

great turnout!

 

Zac and Atlee

 

Grandma Karen

 

LOVES his 4-wheeler from Mom and Dad

 

Grandma Karen and Cousin Kallen

 

Drayze and Cousin Myles

 

Kallen loved the 4-wheeler too!

 

Cousin Kyran

Cousin Emma AKA Bucky





I literally had to hose him down after the cake!





[SOOO tired by the end of his party! Thank god for Aunt Jenilee. She took care of him for us while we cleaned the party up. He was getting so cranky and she was so patient with him!]

We had such a good turn out. Drayze had so much fun and received so many fun presents. I wish I could have gotten a picture with everyone there, and I wish I would have had the time to take a picture of all the details we put in to his party. If only there was enough time in the day. 

His birthday was absolutely perfect. It was better than I ever thought it could be. It is a day we will remember and cherish forever. However, I do think next year {and years to come} we will stick to simple cake and ice cream in the back yard. ;)