So Much To Celebrate

With my recent financial troubles I thought long and hard about other ways I could bring money in. As I started making things for Jayden's birthday party, I decided to start an Etsy shop and list the things I made. I figured there isn't much risk in that. Either they sell and I make more for Jayden's party or they don't sell and at least I tried and I still have them to use for Jayden. 

I decided to call my shop So Much To Celebrate because I thought back to the teasing I got about how much time I put into Jayden's first birthday. We were not only celebrating his first birthday but also his adoption finalization and I kept saying "We have so much to celebrate!" every time someone commented about how much work I was putting into the party. To me it wasn't just a first birthday party. Even now as I prepare for Jayden's second birthday, it feels like so much more to me.

As I got going with setting up the shop, I thought of other ideas and spent a lot of time making things and putting up new listings. The work paid off and things have been going pretty well. I wanted to share with you some of the things I have made.

 

If you are interested, here is the link to my shop: www.etsy.com/shop/SoMuchToCelebrate

And if you wouldn't mind giving me some support and liking my Facebook page, the link is: http://www.facebook.com/SoMuchToCelebrate

Thank You :)

In The Box

I almost forgot!

In case you were still wondering what was in that box...

It was.....

A 5 foot tall giraffe!!!

Jayden loved him.

I got him all animal themed things for his birthday this year. A kick ball with animals on it, animal pajamas, an elephant book, and a big stuffed giraffe.

I think Grandma loved the giraffe as much as Jayden.

The giraffe on party day.

Jayden's First Birthday Party

Monthly pictures.

The glass container on the left is Jayden's time capsule that people added things to. They could bring anything- lists, newspaper clippings, letters, music, pictures, videos etc. Some people got really creative and I enjoyed seeing them. Others put theirs in closed envelopes so I have no idea what's in them!

It seems we didn't get any pictures of the kids doing the dig for animals.

Toy animals were hidden in a bin of sand.

Even Jayden did it :)

Craft Table

I love that my cousin did one of the crafts so he could put it in his new baby's nursery. 

                                            So tiny!

Dinner

My mom hard at work cooking! Thank you, Mom!!!

    "Watering Hole"                            Lemon-aid Stand

I don't know why we didn't get any close ups, but there is one of the water bottles with Jayden's birthday label on it.

I didn't realize until after the party how many things we missed getting pictures of. Like my centerpieces! As well as the cricut animals from my previous post, the centerpieces were animal print tins with crayons in them. We bought rolls of paper to use as table cloths so people could color on the tables. I also put animal print bandanas on the tables and "Happy Birthday Jayden" confetti, which were circles my mom and I printed and cut out using punches.

Jayden loved his dinner! He had tomatoes, eggplant, cheese ravioli, and fruit.

 My sister and brother in law were there via skype because my sister's doctor said she was too pregnant to travel. They saw a surprising amount of the party!

Cake

Presents

Look at the tail!!

It was a long day, but he just kept going strong.

Dancing, laughing, and even spinning around in circles!

 

We are so thankful for all our friends & family who came to celebrate with us!

 The next morning we went back over to my parents' house and Jayden loved going through his presents all over again.

 He looked at all his cards again. I think this will be the only birthday where the cards mean as much to him as the toys!

For those of you that missed the pictures of Jayden having cake, you can click here to see them.