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Friday, June 8, 2012

Pierce's 1st Birthday Party

Pierce's First Birthday Party
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Golf Themed Pool Party


I made golf cookies...lots and lots of them.
They match the stickers on his party bags.
Rolled, cut, baked, iced, decorated, and finally bagged
Whew, ready to go!
My friend, Nekeya, helped me make my first fondant cake.
It is much harder than it looks.
I covered the bottom layer.
Whah-la
I covered the top layer.
I had a blast and learned a ton.
I added the final touches.
Cake and Cupcake table
Golf Cupcakes
I made the flags in excel, we used a grass tip for the icing, and the golf ball is a white sixlet.
The large cupcake was Pierce's "smash cake". 
Pierce's golf themed cake
Pinterest gave me the idea to decorate containers for the forks.
Favor Table / Time Capsule
Timeline - Pictures from each month
Continued...
Continued...
Time Capsule
Pierce will open the box on his 18th birthday.
Party Favors
The golf theme was a blast!
Welcome to Pierce's PAR-TEE!
Gift Table

More decorations...
Outside too...
Another timeline with pictures from each month
It was so fun to look back at his pictures. 
Our big boy is ONE.  I still can't believe it.
Drinks...
Arnold Palmers (with and without alcohol)
Food...
"Club" sandwiches
They were fun to make!
Peanut "pudder" sandwiches
Rice krispy "sand traps"
Potato "chip shots"
Doughnut "hole in ones"
Melon"balls"
The Applewhite side of the family
Sarah, Mom, and me
Pierce was overwhelmed when he first got to my parents.  He was excited about the balloons and kept saying, "oish" and "ooooh". 
We loaded him up with sunscreen.
Pierce couldn't wait to get into the pool.
He loves his rings.
Mary and Vincent
Eliska and Marco
Pierce was checking out all of his new pool toys.
Rings and bubbles...Yahoo!
Jacqueline, a friend from BBB/play group
Daddy and Pierce
Matt and Ava
Kami and Pierce
Erin and Kathy played ball.
Eliska loved Pierce's pool chair.
Pierce said hi to his cousin Vincent.
Oops, Pierce almost lost his swimsuit while in the air. 
Pierce likes to play a game called "Let's drop toys into the hot tub".
There it goes.
Gone...
We enjoyed squirting the water guns.
Javier, a friend from BBB
Haven, a friend from BBB/play group
Everyone was having a great time.
Josie, a friend from BBB
Dave, Sarah, and Jerita
Brad and Ron
Pierce had a blast in the water.
Mommy did too.
Max and Misha
Naomi, a friend from BBB/play group
Lisa and Paula
Sonia, a friend from BBB/play group

Mimi and Grandpa
Aunt Chris
Pat, Ron, and Scott
We took Pierce out of the pool to sing "Happy Birthday".  He did NOT want to get out of the pool.
Everyone was crowded around, and he enjoyed being the center of attention.
Well, hello everyone!!!
I think that it's safe to say that he really enjoyed his birthday party.
We had a little bit of trouble getting his candle lit.  Finally, we got it.

Pierce watched everyone sing to him.
He wasn't quite sure what was happening.
Pierce and Daddy
"Happy Birthday to you....."
It's hard to believe that the moment has come and gone already. 
"Yay"
I was shocked that Pierce didn't start clapping along with everyone else.
Mommy and Daddy are going to blow out my candle. 
He lost interest. Ha!
My son was actually shy...it's hard to believe.
 He was very timid with the cupcake.  We thought that he would dive in, but he didn't.
 It took some encouragement to get him going.
Hmmm, I'm thinking and soaking it all in.
Daddy unwrapped the wrapper.
 and...
 Still nothing....
 Everyone waited patiently.
I took his hand and put it in the icing.
I held it up to give him a bite.
I broke off a piece for him.
 At last...
 He ate a tiny bite.
 He LOVED it.
 He went in for some more.
 "Oooh, this is good."
 I think that I want more of this.
 With a little help...
He got some. 
 Finally, he dug in.
 Oh yea
 Now, this is what I call a good time!
 Everyone else helped themselves to cake and cupcakes.
Yum, yum. 
Pat and Scott
 Pierce also got a piece of cake.
 He enjoyed squeezing the icing between his fingers.
 Eliska had fun watching Pierce.
 Yes, I was having a great time!
 One messy boy
 Look at me.
 Squish, squish
 Double fisting it
 Would you like a bite?
 This is one of my favorite pics.
 Another favorite
 Yay for eating lots and lots of sugar!
 That is one messy big boy.
Yikes
 It was time to get back into the pool.
 Thank goodness it was a beautiful day!
 Pierce played with his pals, Santiago and Alex.
Giuliana, a friend from BBB/play group 
I rinsed Pierce off in the pool.  He had cake in his nose, in his ears, everywhere! 
 Alex and Santiago
 Adam, Alice, and Alicia
 Journey, a friend from BBB/play group
Ellie/Peter and Mary/Vincent 
 Lisa and Max
 Misha and Max
Rob, Robbie and Paula
 We had a hard time getting a family photo because Pierce wanted to get back into the pool.
 Ryan and Alicia
 Adam and Alice
 Daddy and Pierce
 Ah ha, he got Daddy's glasses.
 Car and the boys ( I love this pic!)
 Jenah and Journey
 Hanging out
Carolyn was having a good time. 
 Pat and Kami
 Ron and Vincent
Pat and Pierce
 Adam, Ellie, and Alice (Someone didn't want to stop swimming.)
 Eliska is a fish.
 Dad and the dogs.
Pierce opened his presents. 
 He likes playing with the bows and paper.
 What a difficult job!
 Wow, his first train
 "I have a train and my tongue."
 "I love it!"
 It became harder and harder to take pictures.  He was excited about all of his new gifts.
 First, take off the bow.
Second, get a good grip.
 Third, climb on top.
Finally, sit on top of the present.  The funniest part is that his gift was a sit and spin. 


I had a blast planning Pierce's first birthday party.  I knew that he was going to have a golf themed party early on because we received his precious golf outfit at one of my showers.  Pinterest was my best friend during the planning process.  I made everything for the party myself.  Next year, ETSY may be my best friend, and I may pay someone to do all of the work!

Thank you Brad for letting me enjoy planning Pierce's party and for basically letting me do it exactly the way that I wanted! I love you! xo

Thank you Mom and Dad for allowing us to hold Pierce's party at your house.  Thank you for all of your help with the party too.  I see many more pool parties in the future since Pierce's birthday is in June. Y'all are the best!!!

Thank you Ron and Carolyn for babysitting Pierce while I shopped, baked, and got ready for the party.  I couldn't have done everything without your help!

Thank you Kami and Sarah for helping me with all of the food, drinks, and last minute touches.  Will you ever ice grass again?  I appreciate all of your help, and I enjoyed our girl time too.

Thanks to all of our friends and family who celebrated a very special event with us.  We were happy to share it with each of you.  Next year, I am ordering pizza.  (just kidding)

Thank you Lisa McLemore, Kami, Pat and Mom for snapping photos on my camera.  Thank you Carlos and Jerita for taking pictures too.  Thank you Dad for taking pics.  I was truly able to enjoy the party knowing that I had your help with photos.  Everyone who knows me knows that I have to have lots and lots of pictures!!! 

Our sweet little boy is one year now!  He looks more like a toddler than a baby.  It's hard to believe how fast this past year has flown by.  I can honestly say that it has been the best year of my life.  I knew that parenting would be an amazing experience.  Motherhood has exceeded my expectations.  I am so grateful that I have a TON of pictures and videos to look back on. Each phase of Pierce's life gets better and better, and I can't wait to enjoy the ride! 

*We haven't sealed Pierce's time capsule yet.  If you have a contribution, please get it to us as soon as you can.  :)












































Saturday, May 26, 2012

One Year Portraits

ONE YEAR PORTRAITS

We received this cute little Mudpie outfit at my girls' shower (Thanks Cathey).  It came with the shoes, a hat, a bib, and a burp rag.  I have waited all year for Pierce to wear it.  It finally fits.  Well, it is still a little big, but we are making it work.  Pierce is having a golf themed party for his first birthday so it made sense to take his pictures at a golf course.  Our photographer, Jeni Hendricks, had to work hard to snap pictures.  Pierce was so excited about everything...the grass, the flags, the water, the people, etc.  He wanted to crawl in every direction.  It was all we could do to get him to look in the general direction of the camera.  Here are some of the photos:











On our drive to take the pictures, Brad and I talked about his newborn pictures.  It literally seems like yesterday that we took him to Jeni's house for his newborn pictures.  He was six days old.  It was on a Thursday, and our pictures were at 9:00 a.m.  I remember every little detail.  It was our first time taking him out.  He drank two bottles before we were able to take any pictures.  He slept the entire ride home.  We decided to stop for lunch.  Yes, we took our little baby to a restaurant when he was six days old.  This sounds like the kind of thing you do with your third child.  We enjoyed our lunch, and he was fine.  Here are a few of those newborn pics:








Jeni also took Pierce's three month pictures.  It is a difficult age because he wasn't sleeping, and he wasn't sitting up yet.  I tried to prop him up in different poses, but it didn't work out well.  All in all, I think that she was able to get a few really cute pictures. 





Jeni took his six month pictures too.  It was a fun age because he was sitting up, and he smiled for the camera.  We used these pictures on our Christmas cards.





Natalie Wagenspack took his 9 month pictures.  She did a great job.  He was crawling around all over so she had to work fast to get a still shot. 




We decided that we will take pictures as a family at Christmas time and again around his birthday in June.  It makes me sad to think that he won't have portraits again until November/December.  I can't even begin to imagine how much he will grow between now and then.  It will be fun to look back at his one year pictures and remember how little he was at this time.  He weighs 18.4 ounces.  Before we know it, he will be moving into his big boy carseat, and he will be walking.