John Deere Party!

Carson's 1st birthday was my first ever full party planned by me! So many handmade decorations, so many hours and fun crafts to prepare for his first big day!! I still look back on this party and smile:) It is where I began in my party planning obsession. I am completely addicted, and always wonder how many more years I get to be this crafty for his parties! I dread the day when he asks for a Chucky Cheese birthday or something of that sort. We have began the tradition of taking him somewhere special ON his big day, and then have the party for friends and family to celebrate with us...so maybe that will allow me to keep planning these parties for years to come;)

I didnt really know where to start party planning, so I glued my eyes to the computer searching Pinterest! I got so many inspirations that I modified to our own! And others I just had fun with!

We do live pretty far in the country, meaning we needed quite a few sign to help guests find us that hadnt been to our home in a while! These were dollar tree poster board and construction paper, with the letters free hand cut out and pasted on. I know what your thinking, "Wow! that sounds like it took forever!" Well, yes...it DID!! Parties after this have all consisted of MUCH simpler signs. I SO wish I would have just kept these to use for his 2nd and this years party! Live and learn! Still cute!

Signs

Next is the entire party area! We were very unlucky with our yard, or lack of, to have a party. BUT we did have a big giant beautiful "bowl" we called it, below our house next to the creek that I decided would be a perfect setting! That it was! Although setting up everything took WAY longer than expected as dragging and carrying everything down a pretty steep hill was much harder than planned for HAHA. All well, it was worth it to have a nice big area to party!

We utilized Caution tape to enclose the safe areas to walk and hang out for all the kids. We had limited chairs, SO i loved the idea of using straw bails for extra seating, which worked AMAZING and matched the country theme perfect!!

Overview of party area from our driveway

All the decor for the party; signs, banners, posters...All homemade by me! The posters are poster board purchased at the Dollar Tree and construction paper, just like the street direction signs to the party. I found a cute tractor design I loved from an Etsy store (Design Here sold for $18...I probably paid a total of  $3 for my homemade one!), and free handed cutting out a large scale size! One saying "Happy Birthday" and the other "The Big 1". The banner on the highchair was made out of felt squares bought at JoAnns for .30c a piece! Then there are always coupons for better pricing! Cut out the triangles and hot glued them to some super cute thick brown yarn. I also used the same technique for the Happy Birthday Carson banner but sadly dont have a picture snapped:( (i have so far made one for both his birthdays and plan to do another this year!) I did save it though!! And if anyone really wants to see its cuteness, please let me know and I will dig it out for a picture!!!

Of course had to borrow Grandpa's tractor to bring down for pictures!! 

Grandparents have tons of antique farm pieces like that seat leaning against the tree...I loved being able to borrow a few to add to the decor of the party!

Ladder I literally found in a burn pile and saved it! So cute for added decor! The signs are pieces of pallet I painted with chalkboard paint! 

Scrapbook paper and mason jars make adorable centerpieces for the food table!!

Carson and I worked hard on making this adorable canvas of tractors with his feet!! And of course another sign made from pallet and chalkboard paint!

I decided to have a "Memory Table" to add a fun trip down memory lane! The poster leaning against the umbrella is a picture of Carson each month! Below is a shadow box I made of his first outfit, hospital bracelet, and birth info! I wish i had a little bit of a closer picture, but the jars on either side are baby food jars filled with homemade yellow and green play-doh for party favors!! They turned out AMAZING! Used Jello for color and an added bonus they smelled delicious! 

Recipe For Jello PlayDoh

Love my old window made into a chalkboard!!

"Thank You For Rollin' By Carson's Party!"

Drinks! 

((you can even see the very corner of the felt banner i made!! bummer there arent any actual pictures!!!))

Food Table is a must of course! Loved an idea I found of using handkerchiefs as an accent so went with it to add some flair:) 

John Deere "country" themed food of course! Pallet was an idea I loved right when I saw it laying outside my boyfriends work! And the little baskets were perfect for $1 a piece at the Dollar Tree!

Yumm!

The Cardboard is NOT pretty lookin I know haha BUT i really wanted to try this bunched cupcake idea. It was much harder than i though it would be! I spent all night putting this together!!! Still, at least it did turn out looking like a tractor!

My neighbor made this amazing little smash cake for Carson! We all loved it....

....especially him!

I actually impressed myself with coming up with the idea of green and yellow rice!! Ive seen tons of sensory bin ideas before, and decided that would be so much fun to include in his party! The kids LOVED it, even the older ones! I hid bugs and little tractors in there too:) Be sure to dye the rice outside as that vinegar smell is stroooong!!

We put out all sorts of Dump trucks and tractors to play with:)

Bummed we didnt get the picture I wanted of all the kids that came in the bucket! But still cute!

The tractor was awesome for pictures!

And my final picture I must share is my yearly photoshoot favorite of Mr Carson!! We used this shot for his invites, and it still is one of my all time favorite pictures!! 

Happy 1st Birthday Love!!

Im Back!!!

Ive taken a two year break from blogging and lately have really been thinking Id like to start up again, so here I am!!! Being a mommy to a TODDLER instead of a baby, has changed my life an insane amount! Every activity or daily schedule has to involve something new at all times! He bores easily, meaning this mommy has had to step it up in certain areas:) This even includes chores! He is at the age where he NEEDS them to first, feel useful, and second, to keep the respect of all his things and ours...to be a part of this family not just a little mess maker! We are no where close to perfect, but he is my big helper most of the time! Carson is so smart, and surprises us everyday with things he says or does. He cracks jokes, plays tricks, and makes us laugh. What a fun, adorable crazy, troublemaker boy we have!! And on an exciting note, get ready to see lots of awesome lego party things in a short while, as our little Carson is turning THREE!!! Where has the time gone!!??!

Here are just a few highlights of whats gone on this year!:)

Mommies main man!!

Big Helper

Loves sports!

Scooter rider!

first fishing trip!

Best Friends

Learned to swim with floaties!!

loves bored games

new big boy bed!

first horse ride!

Daddys main man!

Baby Shower Gift!

I have been terrible at posting my projects unfortunatly, mostly because I lost all the pictures I had from Christmas and all the hard work I put into them:( Im very frustrated at that but I do need to keep this updated better!! Maybe I can even ask the people I gave the gifts to for xmas if I could have pictures of what I made them! Who knows! lol

I did already post this on another entry, but I wanted to keep a separate spot for all that I put work into! And actually, this one Will helped me with!!;)

My friend Nikole loves Dutch Bros so I found an idea and customized it to make it my own! I drove up and started telling one of the "baristas" my idea for the gift. And even though they arent supposed to, she and all the girls liked my idea so much she gave me what I asked for (plus i bought a coffee and tipped her hehe im so nice!) She handed me a drink carrier of 4 clear bubble topped plastic drink cups. I went to the store right after and found a few "stuffers", then later that night got to work! Will and I created the cutest display of coffee "drinks" ever filled with all sorts of gooddies like receiving blankets, bibs, baby powder, toys, a onesie I had made that says LIAM on it...It turned out very cute and even though she was disappointed it wasnt real coffee HAHAHA she loved it!:) Hard work paid off!

1st Chicken Casserole!!

Im am so thankful that so far Carson is not a picky eater like me! Its a curse I tell ya! I was so picky when I was a kid it was a total pain!! I hope Carson stays just the way he is! He will eat anything put in front of him! Including rocks LOL But seriously! He now has pretty much a full menu besides whole milk, honey, and a few others that have to wait until at least he turns a year. But the big one this month was meat! Once he hit his 8 month marker, I ran out and bought (yes BOUGHT) some jarred baby meat. I wasnt sure (still not 100% sure) I want to homemake all his meet purees. It just doesnt sound very good at all!! BUT i have now made his first Chicken Casserole, with ingredients I have never once cooked with. I actually had to look up want Parsnips and Lentils were! How embarassing! But at least i admit it! I bought up everything my recipe called for, fresh chicken, lentils, parsnips, potatoes, and carrots. It all actually made the house smell amazing!! I was impressed! I now have a freezer bag full of it all pureed and Carson LOVES it! :) Im glad because it was a pain in the butt to make!! lol at least tomorrow i get to make something easy, one of his favorites butternut squash! I love the pop in the oven for 45 minutes and its ready to eat kind of food;)

everything layed out ready to be peeled, chopped, sliced and cooked!

this was the part that smelled delicious!! one of my favorite smells now is parsnips frying on the skillet;)

all done and ready to puree!! (dont mind the boil over marks all around the pan hahaha i made alot!!!)

SpringTime means Bring On the Good Times!

I was looking through my pictures to see what I can update on my blog just now and realized that the month of April was just awesome! I cant believe its already May!! So instead of pinpointing certain events in separate posts, I think im going to do it all at once!:) 

I am going to start with a fun day to remember when Carson, the dogs, and I took a nice long walk down our road and really had some fun! I brought along the sidewalk chaulk (shaped like eggs of course) that the Easter Bunny brought for Carson and we played around with writing his name in the road. To bad it rained the next day but I hope people saw it:)

We continued to walk down the road onto a property we've played around a couple times. But this time we explored a little more (keeping a good distance from the house and being careful not to ruin anything as technically we are trespassers lol) and found some pretty cool stuff like an old boat halfway into the ground that I hope to be able to use for a couple photoshoots in the near future! I did capture on of my all time favorite pictures of Carson here too!:)

captures his personality perfectly :)

A few days later, a good memory for me was involving Diesel. Ever since we brought little Carson home, the pups just kind of acted like he didnt exist, not really interested in anything to do with him. Well now that hes getting older I have started to notice (Diesel especially) somewhat interact with Carson. The day it really hit me, was when Diesel got in trouble for I dont even know what lol I began to scold him and tell him NO and he immediately ran and hid behind Carson! Oh my god it was the funniest thing! I will never ever forget it! And of course I even caught it on camera;)

Through the next several days, we went on a couple more hikes, and even found some small trails we passed about 1000 times and never knew they were there! That was fun to explore! Carson sat on my shoulders and "talked" the whole time so i know he loved it! We even made our way to a close by park to hang out on the swings and play in the grass! As hes getting older, hes loving the park's playground more and more! The swings he didnt even really like a couple months ago! Now he could sit on one forever:)

ready for a hike!

his new favorite spot:)

kisses for momma!

having so much fun together!

we had a great time!

Another fun activity Carson has come to love is the most simple thing in the world...just sitting on our front porch and watching the bugs fly by, the dogs play, or the cars/trucks drive up the mountain. It actually is a blast with him and is pretty much the definition of quality time together:)

another one of my favorite pictures i have ever taken of him <3

i want to frame this one! i love my "kids"!!!

just goofin around;)

We also had an amazing baby shower we went to for our friend's Emmett, Nicole, and Joe's upcoming new baby boy Liam! Carson actually had a blast even though it was all girls besides Emmett who got some practice being a big brother lol he shared (and fed) Carson his very first goldfish! yummm! Carson even got the chewing down really quick, having no teeth and all!!! My little toothless man! haha

the gift Will and I made for the baby shower!!

me and momma to be:)

the boys were even matching! i loved it!

We went on our first quad ride ((FINALLY)) since Christmas!! I had to the front pack, which Carson is now way too big for, and modify it so it could hold him in while i drove...it worked perfect, and he LOVED it! We of course didnt go very fast, but he held on like a champ and just enjoyed the ride! Hes going to be a little motocross lover for sure! 

On one of the rainy days of the month, I had scheduled to run errands around town, and even though it was a poopy day weather wise, I decided to not let it get us down and we went to a park anyway to feed the ducks and geese. We ended up having a complete blast! Carson loved to watch all the birds only a foot or two away from him! Who says you cant have fun on a rainy day?!

To end this long post, I wanted to add that April was the month I mad the decision to start a journey ive been interested in taking for a long time now. PHOTOGRAPHY! Ive really always loved taking pictures, and although I have no where near top quality equipement, nor do I take super fantastic professional pictures, I do have a lot of fun expressing my creativity through a lense and have had many comments and encouragements that it is really something i should pursue! Well ive finally taken that big little step into that world and have two photoshoots set up this weekend! I will either make a separate "Label" for it in this blog to track my work, or I might just create a whole new Blog just for the business! 

Watch out world! 

Here comes ashLie ann Photography!!