Along the Way...: He'll take ya for a ride...

...on his Big Green Tractor!!

My little guy's first birthday has come and gone. It's bittersweet. I'm sad that he's already a year old and no longer a baby, but I'm so relieved that the party is over! haha. I had no idea that planning a first birthday party would be such a chore. I thought about, obsessed over, stressed and worried and worried some more about this party. And yes, I know he'll never remember it. :) Good thing I got some good pictures!

We went with a tractor theme for his party because he absolutely loves them!

I spent Friday night baking tons of cupcakes and Ruston's tractor smash cake. I waited until Saturday afternoon to ice them. The cupcakes were funfetti, chocolate and classic white with yellow, brown and green icing. I ordered the little cupcake toppers from Etsy. Seriously love that site. They have such cute ideas. I know I could have made the toppers myself, but I would never have had the time.

Ruston's tractor cake was a chore, but I'm so glad I was able to make it for him. The pan is from Hobby Lobby and I just used food coloring to dye some white icing green, yellow and blue. I bought the tubes of black and yellow icing for the tires and the yellow stripes.

We brought tables and chairs over from the Rockdale store and got the table cloths from Party City. We put little frames with his tractor pictures and some of his toy tractors on the tables. The wind didn't agree with my plans though, and the pics and tractors didn't stay on the tables long.

My friend Melanie made a John Deere banner to hang pictures on. It turned out perfect - exactly what I wanted. There was room to leave the two ends blank, then put a birth picture and 1 of each month on the rest.

The party started out with a hay ride pulled by a big John Deere tractor. I can not believe I didn't get a picture of the actual tractor. But we got some on the hay ride.

Ruston's onesie is also from Etsy. It says his name and then has a green tractor pulling the words "1st birthday." There is another little tractor on the back.

After the hayride, it was time for some grub! We had hamburgers, hotdogs, baked beans, and chips and dip. I tore some pieces of a cheeseburger up for Ruston, but he ended up taking mine. Guess the birthday boy gets whatever he wants. :) He was full of funny faces for the camera. I don't think he had any idea why all these people were at his house!

Next was present opening time! This child is definitely spoiled. Will you look at that load of gifts?!?

I tried to rush through the presents. There were so many I just knew he wouldn't last long.

He was pretty fond of Eeyore.

He finally got into the whole present opening thing about half way through. He'd get really excited about the gift and then I would scoot it away and start the next one. Poor baby was getting teased! :)

Ruston is such a lucky baby to have so many people that love and care for him. There were so many people there that wanted to celebrate his birthday with him.