Holden's Second First Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Holden's second First Birthday Party at our house. It was a train theme, extending beyond what took place last weekend with our small family gathering. Holden wore his birthday boy shirt, I wore my train necklace, the house had railroad crossing signs and electrical tape tracks on the floor. I made train shaped rice krispie treats for party favors. The sign says, "Thank you for celebrating with us!!! Let your children choo-choo-choose...an engine or a caboose!" I used one train toy that Fletcher got as a decoration. I used the train that Holden got last week to serve Cheerios, pretzels, and animal crackers in. I used the bubble train that he got last week as decoration until the children wanted to play with it.

All aboard! The train this week was more than just the engine. I made a train track with black licorice and Kit Kats. Then I used a Kraft recipe as a guide to make the train. I didn't bake anything. The train cars are Sara Lee Pound Cakes and most of my time on the cake was spent decorating it and putting it together. The backdrop of course was the countertop with his framed pictures.

We had a good turn out for his party. Here are the guests.

Cindy, Sebastian, Ruby, and Poppy Cerra.

Doni Crowell, Lauren Thomassen, and Angel and Austin Oliver.

Paula and Todd Burns, Dorothy, Adelyn, and August Armstrong, Katie, Jackson, and Tristan Bell, Todd, Leslie, Addison, and Alexis Kluttz.

Heather, Dave, and Meghan Conkle, Jen, Clay, Joe, Hank, and Josh Daniels.

Holden enjoyed some of his birthday pizza and he really liked hearing everyone sing Happy Birthday to him before he got to eat some of his cake!

This is one of my favorite pictures from Holden's birthday party!

Our backyard was a very busy place that day!

Here were two attempts to get a group shot by the playground.

These three had fun stomping their feet up on top.

After awhile, I notice that everyone was playing...by themselves. Hahaha!

Here are some shots from the day.

After awhile, we went inside and had Holden open some gifts. The older boys were very interested in what he was doing.

Here's a picture of the presents Holden got that day.

In our invitations, we asked that people not buy Holden anything and instead bring donations for the Department of Social Services Foster Care and Adoption of Hoke County. These were the items that we donated to DSS of Hoke. (There were about 25 books in that pile of toys.)

Overall, Holden had 14 kids and 14 adults at his birthday party this week, not including himself, his brother and us. More importantly, he made it through his first year of life with great success! We are so happy that he is part of our lives and we look forward to watching him grow and change in the years to come! We love you Holden Malloy! You are truly a gift from God to us and we hope to make Him proud of how we cherish you!