We celebrated Parker's birthday this weekend with a big party! It was a construction theme and I have a tendency to go all out for things like this... We had over 20 family members make it out, which was such a blessing. It also made for tight quarters since we don't have a huge house. We were very thankful we had a finished space in the basement for guests too! This post is a bit of photo and video overload so I hope you are prepared!
We created a slideshow of some of our favorite photos of Parker over the last year and played it at the beginning of the part. It is almost 4 minutes so it will take a bit, but enjoy!
A lot of prep went into his party (maybe too much!) But, I had lots of help from Jimmy and my mom also helped by cooking some of the food.
I made all the cakes for the party. Parker's smash cake was supposed to be a cone, but it looks more like a volcano. I still think it's cute!
We started with lunch. The menu was sloppy joes, ham and cheese, chips, coleslaw, marshmallow fruit salad and a super cute Spongebob edible arrangement that Jimmy's parents got for Parker.
I made a couple of shirts for the party because I was having trouble finding one in a store.
Then we did the cake smash! The video is below. It is kinda long again (4 1/2 minutes edited down from 10) but it is pretty cute! It took him a while to really get into it. he spent several minutes stashing it on his highchair seat...Eventually he actually got some in his mouth! I have added pictures as well if you don't want to sit through the whole video.
What a mess!
MMM...this is good!
A mess like that requires a bath!
He didn't have much interest in opening his presents and the ripping paper scared him a little so he just played with what we opened.
Here is the whole group of guests! Thank you so much to all of our awesome family that took the time to celebrate. Parker won't remember this, but he will love to see a picture of all the people who love him!
I just watched your video compilation of Parker's first year... what kind of camera do you have? They are fantastic pictures! We're looking at getting a new one since ours is almost shot!
We have a Nikon D3000. It is a DSLR and they are more expensive than your standard point and shoot, but WELL worth the investment. All of those pictures were taken with that or our iPhones with the exception of his newborn photos. The shutter speed is key to getting crisp pictures, especially once the kiddo really starts moving! I believe Nikon's starter camera now is the D3100, which has even better specs than ours, plus it can shoot HD video. I am a novice photographer, but having the right equipment is half the battle!
I just watched your video compilation of Parker's first year... what kind of camera do you have? They are fantastic pictures! We're looking at getting a new one since ours is almost shot!
ReplyDeleteWe have a Nikon D3000. It is a DSLR and they are more expensive than your standard point and shoot, but WELL worth the investment. All of those pictures were taken with that or our iPhones with the exception of his newborn photos. The shutter speed is key to getting crisp pictures, especially once the kiddo really starts moving! I believe Nikon's starter camera now is the D3100, which has even better specs than ours, plus it can shoot HD video. I am a novice photographer, but having the right equipment is half the battle!
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