the very hungry caterpillar party

Jake's 1-year birthday party was based off the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".  I have always loved the book and found the cutest invitations to make and knew right away that was the theme I wanted to do.  Plus I figure when he gets older he'll have opinions about what he wants the 'theme' of his party to be, so I better do the cutesy stuff now while I can!

I am so mad that I never took a picture of the birthday invitation that I made, but here is exactly what it looked like, just with our own information on it.  I kept telling myself I needed to take a picture and never did.

Anyway, I LOVED making and delivering them and seeing everyone's reaction when I gave it to them.  They were SO cute, at least I thought so.

We had Jake's party at a park near our house.  It was HOT (100+) that day and John and I were both sweatin' bullets, especially trying to set everything up.  But luckily the picnic tables are covered so we were in the shade, which helped a little.

I had a lot of fun planning this party - I didn't want it to be too big, but at the same time we made a big deal for Brooklyn's 1st birthday and it was fun to plan everything.

Our friends Ryan and Kali came over an hour and a half before the party to watch Brooklyn and Jake, which was so helpful, and then walked them over to the park when it was time for the party to start.  John and I went to the park and set everything up and then I ran and picked up the pizza's.  We were done and all ready for the party to start just in time.  My friend Kiya, who is a photographer, took pictures of the party so I didn't have to worry about it and was able to enjoy the night.

 

We had pizza and kept it pretty simple.  I tried to stay with the theme a little bit and had food from the book too - strawberries, oranges, watermelon, apples, grapes, cheese, and crackers.

1-12 month pictures of Jake that was a caterpillar

Patrick, Janet, Annabelle, Morgan, Brooklyn, and Ryan (Brooklyn's crush...she loves Ryan...hence why she is sitting by him)

Reese, Jon, Mandy, Nate, Nixon, Kayla, and Lexi

My friend Morgan made Jake's smash cake and a caterpillar made out of cupcakes.  She is amazing at what she does and they tasted even better than they look!  It was so nice not to have to stress about this part of the party.

I was very eager for Jake to eat his smash cake because I KNEW he would destroy it.  
He did NOT disappoint.  This sounds silly, but it was the proudest moment of his life, for me, so far!  He didn't hesitate one bit and dug right in.

And here he goes....double handin' it... :)

Forget the hands...face first....!

my favorite picture :)

he was in heaven

He ate at least half of it and would have kept going if I would have let him.  He didn't get sick at all from it....just had green poo for the next 2 days :)

We stripped him down when he was done and water bottled him off....this looks mean but it was so hot outside that I would have done the same thing if it were acceptable.  

Jake opened a few presents after, which he loved, and then everyone just hung out and socialized.

Jackie, Khyra, Tate, Missy, and Hallie

Jimmy, Sarah, Gracie, and Kandas

cute Parker

me (tired and sweaty) and my boy.