Izzie B's Owl Themed 1st Birthday Party!

Yesterday, we had Izzie's 1st birthday party here at our house.  I had fallen in love with owls while pregnant with Izzie (as you already all know) and decided before she was born to do her first birthday in an owl theme.  I have been pinning ideas on Pinterest since then and had amassed quite a lot.  I had to pick and choose my favorites.  Above you can see the cake (again another cupcake creation).  We invited all of our friends and family and almost everyone invited near and far was able to make it and create an amazing memory for all of us.

These were the individual cupcakes to go with the main cake.  Lauren, Alex's girlfriend, gets major credit for helping me put them together.

Izzie's godmother, Jenn (aka Dunny), came up from Pittsburgh to be with us and she did a ton of the prep work with me the night before and morning of the party.  She and Lauren, put together these owl s'mores.

It was all hands on deck that morning.  My brother, Alex, even got to work and made the veggie pizza.

Party guest starting to arrive and play.

The happy birthday girl.

I put Chaleece (Andy's brother, Patrick's, girlfriend, and Izzie's godmother), in charge of the craft.  I had put together the owls the night before with lots of help from Dunny, and then the kids put their handprints on them to make the wings.

Nana with the birthday girl.

Andy's brothers Chris and Patrick, with Chaleece looking at Izzie's 1st year scrapbooks.

Andy's dad, Joe (aka Pap), and step-mom, Lori (aka LaLa).

Dunny and Andy's step-sister, Kathryn.

Brady, in addition to some of the kids and even an adult or two, really got into the owl theme and sported owls on their clothing.

Time for presents!

Books and a My Little Pony from Sam and Ainsley.  We asked friends and family who didn't have any gift ideas already for summer pajamas and books as we are overflowing with toys and having Christmas so close to both kids' birthdays.

Summer jammies from Izzie's baby friend, Leila.

I know my eyes are closed in this one, but the Minnie clothes were too cute not to share.  They were from Izzie's Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Kat.  They know how excited we are about our upcoming Disney trip.

Getting ready to open Brady's present to Izzie.

She loves all of the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn toys Brady had as a baby and she got a bunch of the more girly ones for Christmas.  They came out with a few new ones after Christmas and I was dying to get her that lamp.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get Brady to pick it at the toy store.

Brady also got her a talking Izzy (not spelled the same, but she doesn't know that) from Jake & the Neverland Pirates on Disney Junior and we got her a hooded owl beach towel.

The big present from us.

We had decided to get her a Cozy Coupe because Brady got his Power Wheels last year and they would each have a car their own speed this summer.

Time for cake!

She was so happy when we started singing to her.

I helped her blow out her candle.

It took no convincing to get her to eat her cupcake.

Her 1st birthday balloon.

Andy bought Izzie flowers for her birthday while he was out getting the cake that morning.  I love the colors and thought it was so sweet that he got his little girl flowers.  He's certainly setting the bar high for any boyfriends down the road.

These were some of the favors that we handed out to the kids at the party.  I got them handmade from a seller on Etsy and am in love with them!

The aftermath after everyone went home.  In addition to the presents show, Izzie got lots more books, some beautiful summer clothes, an Ariel castle, a potty, more pajamas, and a play picnic basket.

Chillin' out after the guests had gone home.  My mom, Dunny, Alex, and Lauren were staying at our house, so we just vegged out, watching TV and snacking.  Alex and Lauren took Brady to the fish store where they had ordered a new fish to take home with them.

Owl bum bum pants! 

Brady's Madagascar 4th Birthday Party at Jungle Java

Because the kids have their birthdays only 11 days apart, I decided last year that they would still have separate birthday parties, but Brady would do his a week early and Izzie would do hers a week late.  This makes it a bit easier on us doing two parties and is also nice to space it out a bit for those who attend both parties (especially those driving long distance from out of state).  Another plus to doing Brady's early is that his birthday falls during the week-long mid-winter break the area schools take and many people go out of town, thus being unable to attend a birthday closer to his real birthday.

We had Brady's party at the house last year, but the thought of having two parties at my house, four weeks apart was a bit daunting and overwhelming for me, so now that Brady has more friends, I decided we'd do it at another venue.  He has had a number shirt every year since his first birthday and I buy ahead, so I've had this lion fourth birthday shirt for a year.  I had done some research at that time and thought that Jungle Java would be a cool place to have it, although we'd never been there.  Since then, we've been there a few times and Brady loves it!  It was perfect for his party and fit in with the theme of his shirt.  I asked if he wanted it to be The Lion King or Madagascar and he chose Madagascar, so his shirt is Alex the Lion to him ;)

Luckily, since I don't tend to buy too much animal print, Izzie got a leopard shirt from Andy's parents for Christmas and it was perfect for her to wear to a jungle party!  I love when my kids have matching or themed clothing! 

The gang at the table.  The kids were so busy playing most of the time that it was just the parents.  That was fine by us since the kids were entertaining themselves and having fun.  For those from Pittsburgh, it's like the old Safari Sam's we had back in the day, with a giant, four-level climbing structure, including rope ladders, slides, punching bags, etc.

Brady sandwiched between his two best guy friends.  Xander from school on the left of him and Sam Reese that he's known since before Sam was born on the right.

 Across from Brady are Francesco and Robert who are new neighbors who moved in about five houses down this summer.

 Look how happy he is!  He was talking about his party for weeks since I booked it right after New Years.  He would talk about who was coming and speculate about what kind of gifts he would receive.

The cake, which is one of my favorite parts.  Not because it's good to eat, but because I'm in love with creating cupcake cakes.  Last year, Brady had the Up party where the cupcakes made the balloons and this year.  I won't force people to suffer through my baking or decorating attempts, so I had the pieces made, then put them together and did the face myself.  I was very pleased with how it turned out!

Time for presents!  I love Sam's body language in this one.  He's so excited to see what it is!

A Jake and the Neverland Pirates game for the LeapPad from Sophia, Emma, and Ella.

A monster truck from Sam!

It's not hard to see how pleased Brady is with this gift.  He went to Monster Jam only a few weeks ago and is still talking about it.

A sidewalk airbrush from Ainsley.  Now we need the snow to melt so we can use it!

A super cool Transformers firetruck from Xander!  Brady had this on his Wish List and was so excited to get it!

A fun collage that Xander's mom put together.

The plan was for my parents to come out for Izzie's party since it will be at the house.  Brady was Skyping with my mom a week or two ago and when she asked about his party, he told her that he didn't want to talk about it because she wasn't coming.  Weather permitting, they were going to try and make it, but we didn't tell Brady in case it fell through.  They walked in the door about an hour before the party and Brady was so excited!  He had a fun weekend with them!  He cried when it was time for them to go and begged to go back to Pittsburgh with them.

It's been tradition since we moved back to Michigan, that anytime my parents visit, the boys go to lunch at White Castle before they leave.  There aren't any White Castles anywhere near Pittsburgh, so my dad needs his fix when he comes and I dislike it so much that I won't even allow it in my house.  They love going and Brady always talks about "boys lunch" whenever we drive by it.  Brady loves the chicken rings.

My mom and I used to go grab something when the boys were at White Castle and now we have Izzie, so it's "girls lunch."  We went to Mongolian Grill.  Yum!

Even though Brady's party is over, his birthday is still next week and we have something super secret planned for him, in addition to his presents from us.  Also, I am prepping for their birthday portraits early next week and am in full party planning mode for Izzie's first birthday party.  Her birthday come first, so we'll be going full steam for the next three weeks.  I am so glad Easter is late this year because I'm going to need a break!