Today was the big day... Fulton's first birthday. I don't know where the year went. Too too fast. I was so glad his birthday landed on a Saturday so we could celebrate the first one on his actual day.
His birthday was centered around the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." I found lots of cute ideas on Pinterest and the cuteness was endless. Including this number 1 I made for the front door. Just wanted to remind people how old he was.
If you have read the book, and if you haven't you really should, it's super cute. But anyways, Fulton's babysitter cut out (with her fancy cricut) all the foods from the book and we covered the walls with them. It started making me hungry looking at all these delicious treats.
I made this handy dandy extra large caterpillar out of his monthly pictures. Oh how fun it was to look back at each month and see how much he has grown. I thought it was such a great idea that I would put it up earlier this week one night after Fulton went to bed. Not such a great idea the next day when he starting ripping them down and eating them.
Aunt Keri made the awesome cute Number 1 on the fireplace... out of cupcake wrappers. What a genius. It was too cute. And mom made some fabulous water bottle labels that said "The Very Thirsty Caterpillar."
This was the favor and book signing table. The favors were a collaborative effort between mom, sister, and myself. And all the guests were asked to sign Fulton's caterpillar book with a special birthday message. I thought it was a neat way to have a keepsake of who came and a way to look back on it.
The outside eating area. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day in the mid 80's, but the tent was nice to shade from the sun in our backyard.
Here's the food table. Aunt Keri made the lifesize caterpillar and I love it so much I might just keep it up for decoration for a while. We had some yummy foods thanks to mom and Keri, including: cocktail weenies, chocolate chip cookies, goldfish, watermelon, strawberries, sausage balls, chocolate dipped pretzels, grapes, cheese cubes, apples with dip, rotel dip, cake pops, and chocolate oatmeal cookies. I think I gained 5 pounds today from all the deliciousness.
Fulton's fabulous caterpillar cake. Mrs. Vin, his babysitter, made this precious creation. Let's just say some mommies are probably going to be scrubbing green icing out of clothes for a couple of days.
And she made his smash cake too.
We finished setting up a few minutes before the party started and took a few family photos before beginning the big shindig. Fulton was not in the smiling mood because we actually had to wake him up because he was taking such a long morning nap and people were about to arrive. I never like to be woken up from my naps either.
Random shots of the festivities. We were able to have the AU game on outside for our friends that root for the other team.
Sweet friends and family.
Lots of people that love this little man and came to help us celebrate.
Now it was time for cake, the best part. Fulton was not having any part of this hat. We should have practiced this week...maybe next year. Or I guess not since it has a 1 on it. Maybe when he is 10, I can add a zero and make him wear it.
At first this little guy just ate the fondant fruit off and just chewed it.
Then the fun began. He was loving it.
Made a huge mess, had cake in all crevices of his face and his hair. He was a hot mess.
We cleaned up and played with our friends and when everyone had gone we had a little gift time. Now, on the invitation we asked for no gifts, and if you wanted to bring something, then you were asked to bring a donation for The Foundry. We just don't want Fulton to think birthdays are about gifts, and he truly didn't need anything anyways, we would rather collect items for others. With that being said, some people didn't follow the rules, including my family. Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete got Fulton this super cute chair and he had a ball playing with it. It's just his size. Now if we can just get him to sit still, I think he will enjoy it.
KK and Pops sported Fulton with his first set of wheels in his very first Cozy Coup. He wore himself out helping Pops and Daddy put it together. Man that thing came with some parts.
He loves it already and if gas prices keep rising, he may have to share with us and I might start driving it to work.
We opened a few more things, he got some cute new clothes that I am sure mommy is more excited about than he is. Can I just say that we could not have done this without the huge help of my fam. They are awesome. My mom and sister have spent hours and hours making things and helping us prepare. And the guys have put in some sweat and muscles to help us get ready for this big day. It was a wonderful day to celebrate Fulton's 365th day!! He isn't even officially one yet, but at 8:34 we will sing a quiet Happy Birthday to him from across the house and hopefully he will be sleeping soundly. Happy Birthday to our sweet Fulton! We love him to pieces.