Smashing of the Cake

1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Manning's first year of life real low key style on Saturday. I didn't even send out invitations for this shindig! Poor second child:(

Nevertheless, the day was perfect. And my little one year old was PERFECT. He loved having all his friends and fam around and in a way I think he knew this day was all about him.

We had bbq and all the fixins and I ventured out of my comfort zone and made the smash cake and all of the cupcakes. I was nervous that they wouldn't turn out, but they really looked cute and tasted great.

Man Man on the other hand didn't think so. He dug right in, but quickly began slinging his hands to get the "mess" off. It was hilarious!!!

A rare good shot of our family of four.

The big kids had a BALL in the back yard and even got to eat their lunch out there.

And the babies stayed inside to eat their lunch.

We loved having Jean and her sweet boys for the day.

Aunt Hanna and Papa stayed the night and we had so much fun together:)

I can't believe I have a one year old!

Smash Cake

Yummy cupcakes

SUPRISE!!!!

So, we pulled of the biggest surprise of the century! Brad is very hard to "pull one over on", but he was TOTALLY and COMPLETELY surprised last night. See, his big Dirty 30 is next Sunday so his parents, Daniel, and I thought last night would be perfect! I had been prepping him for weeks that I was taking him out to a special birthday dinner and Mimi and Pops were keeping Henry. And I would never tell him where we were going and he was so excited about it!

We sent out invitations 2 weeks ago and asked all of our closest friends to arrive at 6:30 sharp. We had about 25 people there and everyone was waiting in the yard when we walked out on the porch. The lights flipped on and everyone yelled SURPRISE!!! And let me tell you, he was floored and for a second a little mad. He looked at me and under his breath goes: "I told you not to do this." He HATES to be the center of attention, but quickly put a smile on his face as all of his buds came up to greet him!

We had all of his favs! Home Team BBQ, collard greens, cucumber and tomato salad, Rotel, Raspberry Salsa Dip, ribs, and Daniel's Banana Puddin'! It was absolutely the most fun party and he can't stop talking about how good we got him!

One of the couples that came have 2 children so that gave Henry plenty of entertainment. He was a little shocked too at all of the people who jumped out as he just thought Mommy and Daddy were going on a date and he was spending the night with Mimi and Pops!

Everyone needs a surprise party once in their life and I'm so glad that everything turned out so perfect!

I love you Brad and am glad you had such a great night!

Happy Birthday POPS!

Happy Happy Birthday POPS!

We love you tons!

Brad, Shelby, Henry, and Chicken Nugget

One Fabulous Night

Turning 30 ain't so bad when you're surrounded by people who love you enough to go to THIS much trouble just to make you happy!
Brad, Daniel, Frankie and Douger SLAVED for days in preparation of my perfect birthday dinner. I've put some pics of the menu and a few selections of the meal, but it just won't do it justice. It was in one word:
SPLENDID!!!

The Menu

The Caesar Salad Prep Table

The Chefs in table side Caesar Salad action

The Birthday Girl and her man

The Chef and his first mate

The Lovely Host and Hostess

The Chef and his gal

The 30 year old and her 30 year old BF

The FINALE
(unbelievable...truly!)

Thank you to my incredible family and friends for such an awesome evening! I love you all more than you know!

30

CHEERS!