Finn's Circus Party!

Considering the mayhem of our everyday life right now, I figured a Circus Party would be quite fitting for Finny's first birthday! 

So.....a Circus party it was!

I made the "ringmaster" invitations with Picnik.....and then sent them to my local photo print shop. I trimmed the corners and glued them to a piece of red card stock. They were sent out in Popcorn bags (for envelopes), along with "Admit One" tickets for the circus :)

I had lots of fun making the decorations. The boys have FINALLY started staying asleep in the evenings, for at least a couple of hours......and it's amazing how much you can get done!

The "Circus" banner was super easy to make.....paper plates turned backwards and stenciled with the letters (when I say stenciled, I mean coloured-in with dried up black markers that I found in Toby's craft drawer). I hot-glued (gathering/tucking as I went) some streamers (crepe paper) to the back of the plates to add a little "ruffle" effect.

The red/white/grey cushions were from Christmas last year, and I brought them up because they matched, and they sort of helped keep Finny out of the fireplace :)

I got the Popcorn containers at the dollar store and added balloons on sticks for a little fun. Those balloon stick things are great! Got them at the dollar store as well.

We strung up streamers for a sort of "big top" tent effect. Let me tell you, this job is NOT fun. Both Dustin and I had blisters on our thumbs from pushing in a million push pins. I hung some balloons in the middle to cover up the mess :)

I made the little "Finn is 1" banner with some stripy scrapbook paper and twine....and did my usual black marker stenciling.

I had a lot of fun decorating the cupcakes. I wanted them to have some variety....like a real circus! :)

The "popcorn" cupcakes  were made with mini marshmallows that I painted with watered-down yellow food colouring. (yes....I know....ME use food colouring?)

I made the little "clown" hats with scrapbook paper and a pom pom.

The little bunting was a finger-burning hot-glue mini project. I used a combination of wool felt, scrapbook paper, ribbon and kebab skewers :)

The favours were an impromptu Michael's purchase....I spotted the little "birdcages" in the dollar bin and thought they'd work for little circus animal cages :) I know.....caged animals......a bit dodgy....but that's kind of a circus thing, right? I added little elephants, tigers and treats and they were done :)

I kept the food pretty simple.....popcorn in little boxes, hot dogs in little plastic holders (dollar store), etc.

I made another paper plate banner for the Photo Booth.....and painted a canvas with a sort of "big top" backdrop. I rounded up a bunch of stick-on mustaches, clown wigs and noses, glasses, etc to dress up in...it was pretty hilarious!! Nothing funnier than babies in disguise :)

I'm not going to say it was easy to get them to keep the costumes on, though.....

Sadly, the lighting was awful, and my photos turned out really grainy.....so I decided to roll with the "old school" look and make them even grainier :)

Toby and Finn...

Fenton...

Owen..

Hannah...

 

Gavin and Cole...

Fenton and Cole...

Gary, Kalli and Christa...

Isn't there something just so funny about a baby with a mustache? :)

Finny figured out the best way to eat his cupcake was without hands!

All in all....it was a blast!

Thanks to all of our wonderful friends for celebrating our little man's first year with us!

Circus Party hub written here

A year ago today...

I looked like this...

(well, this was taken at 36 weeks, but you get the idea...)

I packed on a lot of pounds in the last month, so it's probably better we keep those pictures under wraps 

After an amazing 3 and a half hour labor (I know, right?! Thank you wonderful midwives!), our crazy-huge 10 lb 6 oz baby Finn came into the world!

All chubby and soft and gorgeous.

(note to all moms-to-be out there.....a bigger baby does NOT mean a harder labor...thank goodness for that. Our bodies are amazing!)

These are the pictures of Toby meeting Finn for the first time. 

I still get all teary-eyed when I look at them. 

He was completely in love with his little brother...you can see it in his cute little face :)

The top left picture below was the very first moment he saw him. I love it.

This one just says it all :)

And he's growing up wayyy too fast for my liking.

I'm one of those "clingy" moms...you know the type......the ones who never want to let their babies grow up. I'm not going to deal well when they go off to school.....or leave home.....oh my....I can see myself already. 

Our little Finny is such a bundle of joy. He's a giggly, smiley, easygoing little man.

I mean, c'mon....just look at that little face :)

I really can't believe a year has gone by this quickly.  It's hard to imagine what life was like before our little Finny! 

"He's our little guy. And we love 'im" (Toby said today)

Happy Birthday, little man!

(We had a super fun party on Saturday.....more details soon)

Fall Mantel and a Pumpkin Patch

Our fall mantel...

My husband calls it "Halloween Eclectic"...

I'm pretty sure he was saying that in a "trying to be nice" sort of way.

Whatever. I don't expect him to understand me ;)

But I kinda like it :)

Just a little bit spooky...

I got some branches off a tree outside and then added some tissue paper flowers to jazz them up a bit :) I threw in a few orange "faux berries" to add a little colour. The little frames were a thrift shop purchase that I painted black and stenciled the numbers onto white cardstock. The little ghostie faces were just free hand cutouts that I glued to some grey damask paper. 

There's just something a little creepy about crows, right?

Although my little Finn loves them and thinks they're hilarious.

He was completely delighted to find a little posse of them inside our living room!

The crows were from Michaels (on sale...yay!) and so were the little birdcages ($1.50 each)

The "BOO" was just cut out freehand from black card stock and then taped to the mirror, along with the little black crow that appears to be sitting on top of the "31" frame.

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. 

Always one of my favourite outings!

LOVE the grey and white pumpkins!

Then we lit the candles and turned down the lights.....so cozy and spooky at the same time :)

Our little Westham Island Herb Farm Pumpking Patch...

Dustin and I have a dream of owning a place like this one day :)

All organic veggies and herbs, pumpkin patch, hay rides....can't beat it!

My littlest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch...

The "big boys" doing the grunt work.

Don't you just love fall? :)

Linking up to Cottage and Vine , Stories of A 2 Z and The Nester's fall parties.