the joys of raising jack, jovie & judah: Jack's 2nd Birthday Party

last night was Jack's 2nd birthday party. he won't officially be 2 until Monday, but we decided to go ahead & celebrate b/c it was basically the only day we could have the party with everyone's crazy schedules.

we had such a fun time together & the best part is that Jack really had fun too. he wasn't too sure about all the attention he was getting but he loved opening presents, eating & playing with friends. we had a great turnout of guests for his party. my parents and all my siblings plus spouses, ben's parents & sister, the Dalombas, Lyles, Walkers & Aunt Olivia were all there too. we really appreciated everyone coming out to love on our sweet boy. he was definitely spoiled with all his presents!

we decided to have the party at the clubhouse of our apartment complex. it was just so much easier for us since it was so close to home. we would have loved to have it at our apartment but there just wasn't enough room for everyone! ha! maybe next year, we'll be in a house & we can have everyone over.

we had hot dogs, chili, chips & drinks for supper. and of course we had cake, cupcakes & ice cream! this year i really had a fun time making most of the stuff for the party. it was A LOT of work & very time consuming but it was fun to be able to do that for Jack, even though he probably won't remember everything. i'm sure i could have done a better job on most of the stuff, but it was my first time to really do it & i was pleased with the result.

i made Jack a birthday hat, banner, cake, shirt & cupcakes. i also made the chili & Ben grilled the hot dogs. Lindsay made the cupcake toppers & Katie made the invites. all i bought from the store was plates, cups, napkins & table cloths.

here are some pictures from Jack's fun little party:

the invites made by Aunt Katie. i LOVED them. i described a couple things to her & she came up with this on her own & it was exactly what i was looking for, i love having a creative sister! ha!

the fire truck cake i made. i know it looks a little sad. but i tried so hard. ha! oh well, Jack loved it. and that was all i cared about.

i loved the way the banner turned out. so thankful for 2 sisters who helped me get it done.

Jack's little cake corner

he kept walking over to the cake & saying "friar tuck" then he would stick his little fingers in it & lick the icing off. thank goodness that cake was just for him & no one else had to eat from it! ha!

the cupcake stand. it was so easy & fun to make. i just grabbed a couple boxes from around the house (shirt box, vanilla wafer box & tampon box!) and wrapped them. then i found some cute ribbon to glue around each box. i think this project cost me $3. yay!

all the cupcakes. i definitely made way too many. we had cupcakes for days.

one of my cupcakes with Lindsay's cupcake toppers. she did a great job on them! so cute.

the fire truck shirt i made for Jack. i drew the fire truck then traced it onto fabric & then put the fabric on some iron-on paper. then i just ironed it on & outlined it with fabric paint! it was so fun & i loved the way it turned out. plus, Jack loved having a friar tuck on his shirt!

the birthday hat. Katie was a big help with this. i bought some flimsy party hats from Target for $1. then i covered it in fabric & glued on the poms. then we took jewels & formed them into the "2" and then hot glued them on. it was a lot of work b/c we kept having to add more hats so it could hold the weight! but i think it turned out really cute!