Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. The Macy's Day Parade, the turkey, the fall weather, the family, the pies, the hashbrown casserole, remembering that we are more blessed than we know, the mashed potatoes and hot rolls. I love it all. And really I just love the spirit on thankfulness. I think we as a society are way to quick to want and too slow to say thank you and count our blessings. 

Anyway, enough of my preaching here are a few pictures from our day.

These two are so silly.  

I love the turkey shirt that my mom made Hayden! And doesn't he look so handsome in that blazer?

It's not very often that ALL of the grandkids on Ryan's side are together. So here they are! All 9 of them together! 

And with that many toddler you never know what you're going to get! 

They love to run the backyard together!

We loved spending time with my family too! The boys love their aunts and uncles and one cousin ;) It is obviously just different having seven cousins to play with at the other house. But they are both equally special in so many ways. We really do have SO much to be thankful for.

Hayden's Party {Fun}

Okay my last post was about a party on a budget. One more tip: buy the birthday shirts when they are on sale! This cost me about $10 to have made from my favorite Etsy shop! 

Hayden loves his cousin! She's just small enough for him to pick on {for now} 

He thinks those bows on her head are a bit ridiculous. The mommies disagree!

The birthday boy and I. I love my little chunk SO much. And check out the look on his face. just. plain.ornery.

               Hudson loved having his cousin/friends there! They sat around and chatted like old men.

Hayden was blessed with some fun gifts! He really didn't know what to think of the unwrapping madness. 

This is the card Hudson made this brother ;) 

The only thing Hayden really wanted to do was snuggle his new jammies. He's such a funny boy.

                           

Gigi & Pops got Hayden a Radio Flyer bike. He mostly pushes it around the house, but he still loves it. This is our attempt at a family party pic, Hilarious.  

The picture on the left shows his confusion because everyone was singing. The picture on the right shows his digust that we expected him to eat cake. He wouldn't touch it. We attempted at the cake smash and at the party and he DID NOT LIKE IT! Sorry, I'm just still shocked my chunky one year old doesn't like cake. 

He settled for a sugar cookie instead. 

The twins and one of their long time friends. 

Mommy, daddy and the birthday boy. Everyone else decided to help him eat his cake since he wouldn't.

I love my smiling one year old. We had so much fun partying with our friends and family. 

And after the party he got his big one year old chair! {Hud got the same present for his first birthday}He loves to sit in it. Getting out is another story. It's titled face plant.

Anyway, we had a blast-one year old style!

Hayden's Party {Decor on a Budget}

I LOVE to throw parties! I especially like to make a big deal of my boys's birthday parties! However I work really hard to make it cute, but not costly! So I thought I'd show you Hay's party and tell you about the details!

Let's start with my splurge! I HAD to splurge on these cookies from a friend in OKC. Everytime I see her work I'm amazed at the perfect of her design. SO this is the one item I though deserved the $$. 

These chalkboard signs are SO incredibly expensive right now. Upwards of $25+. I made mine for a total of $2.50. My sister made the page for me and I took it to Office Depot. They charged me $1.50 to print it as a 16x20. I went next door to the Dollar Tree and bought a foam board for a $1 of course. It was bigger than I needed so I just cut it down to size. I usually have a bottle of Mod Podge around and a sponge brush. I use that to adhere it to the board and DONE! $2.50 for a cute sign! 

I wanted to use the colors and prints from his room. So I just added the thank you and some cardstock behind it. I bought these bags at Hobby Lobby and put animal crackers in them that I already had. I think I spent $2 for the bags and $1 on the paper. 

My mom bought me this number 1 and a piece of scrapbook paper after we had the conversation about making one. But I would say this project cost about $3. 

The food table. I try to stick with snacks and use foods we will eat the leftovers. We had cheese & crackers, fruit & dip, and chex mix. I bought the crackers and Chex Mix at SAM's. Our SAM's just opened so I found them both on sale. And we have plenty left for lunches and snacks! 

I bough the plates and napkins on clearance at Target and for 20 plates, 20 small plates, and napkins I spent around $8. 

SAM's also has the best deal on cakes and cupcakes! This set of cupcakes and a smash cake cost me $11! And it always taste great too! I got another set too and used it for his cake smash/1st birthday session that I photographed.

You might notice the chicken nuggets at the back of the table. Long story short-I had a bad experience and got a free nugget tray. I saved it for Hay's party. I don't suggest you have a bad experience or complain just for the freebies, but I saved it and used it to feed a lot of people! 

I decorated the window and the front of the table with Hay's monthly pictures. I spent $4.50 on the ribbon, $6 on paper, and $4 for the pictures!

I always keep things for sweet tea at my house because I'm addicted. I also try to keep lemonade around for LifeGroup or a treat for Hud. I did buy more lemonade for the party but already had the tea!

I made this banner on the computer with FREE scrapbook pages from Pinterest. And ribbon from the picture project! And a teacher always has cardstock, right?!

I also bought two balloons at the Dollar Tree for a whole $2.

That comes to about $30 on decor and paper goods.

I spent $22 on 2 cakes and 20 cupcakes.

And probably another $25 on the other party food.

That's about $75 for a party! You can't rent somewhere for less than $150 these days and you have to bring your own cake!