Sawyer's 1st Birthday

I am beyond thrilled to announce that our little valentine's first birthday went perfectly!  I really don't know of any other way to describe the day, but I couldn't have asked for a better celebration for my baby boy.  Maybe the benefits of being a second child is that your parents work out the kinks with the first child (sorry Audrey), but Sawyer's life is a reflection of what a wonderful and happy baby he truly is.  I hope and pray that his life stays that way through many more birthdays.
I need to mention that I had a lot of help in every aspect of this party.  My in-laws, husband, and dear friend Carol helped tremendously, and I could not have had such a beautiful party without their help.   In addition, I am so thankful for the friends that helped clean up afterwards.  The only slight hitch was the weather.  It was dreary and cold when the party first started, but about 45 minutes into the party the skys opened up and it became a crisp clear day.
Thank you Lord for that because I was banking on a few wagon rides during the event.  Here is the run-down on the party details and then I will show you the pictures! (many, many pictures)
We had the birthday bash at the historic Old Bradfordville School House on Bannerman Road.   I would highly recommend this site for any medium to small-sized event as it's capacity is maxed at 40 people.  But for only $35.00 you get this adorable facility for four hours.
I ordered all of my printable materials from dimpleprints.com.  I found this website through a simple search and via another blog Growing Up Gardner.  Her little boy is one year older but shares the same birth date!  I found a few ideas off of Pinterest but I really didn't use this site as a resource.  I knew I wanted to do personalized cookies and our dear friend Mary Alice Mills hit the nail on the head with Sawyer's red wagon ones.  On our treat table we had rock candy, M&Ms, pretzel Rolo pecan bites, Red Vines, heart gum drops, the personalized cookies, and of course the cupcakes and smash cake(made by yours truly at a very early hour on Friday morning). 
The food menu consisted of: Turkey Swiss Wraps from Costco, Chicken Nuggets from Chick-fil-a, Veggie Straws, peanut butter filled pretzels, antipasto skewers and grapes.  Drinks provided were original Coca-Cola in the glass bottle(a birthday favorite of ours), Diet Coke, Tea, boxed juices and fruit flavored water.  The party favors were a beach ball (we had several out for the kids to play with during the party) and a few Red Vines inside a brown paper bag that I decorated with chalk labels and a little round embellishment. 
And, of course there were the red wagons.  Daddy did a great job of getting them together from our friends and we thank everyone that let us borrow!  There was one in particular that I think was the favorite.  Have you ever heard of an All Terrain Wagon?
I'll let the pictures complete the story of Sawyer's 1st birthday party...

Sawyer with his great grandmother at 93 years old.

tired baby, always loving sister

It was a magical day.  I could include another twenty or so pictures of the present opening at home, but I think you get the idea of how blessed we are to have had such an amazing opportunity to cherish our boy.  We thank everyone who celebrated with us in person or from far away.  We appreciate each gift and are enjoying watching Sawyer light up excitedly with every new toy.   While we unwrapped all of them Saturday evening, I am only opening a few each day so that he'll learn to love them individually without being overwhelmed all at once.
I think it's working as our home is essentially just one big playroom.

Hey, maybe that's how life should be.

feeling so blessed and thankful. 
TR