Knox's First Birthday!

Yesterday was the best day, our baby boy turned one! I can not think of a better way to spend the weekend then celebrating the birth of our son, Knox. Aaron and I woke up Sunday reminiscing and going through videos and pictures of the baby's birth. As emotional as it is to watch your children grow up its also the most rewarding thing I have ever experienced. This past year has by far been the best year of our lives. Knox has taught Aaron and I so many lessons, how to be patient, mature, selfless and love unconditionally. The joy of having Knox has strengthened our marriage as well. I thought I couldn't love Aaron more and then he became the father of my child, and there is no greater love than that. I love the woman Knox has transformed me into. I have never felt more confident or comfortable in my own skin in my entire life. I truly feel like I am right where God wants me to be. William Knox you are the most beautiful, sweet, hilarious, precious baby boy and I hope you had the best birthday!

Knox's birthday party turned out so cute and even though he didn't feel the best, he was such a trooper and we had a great day! In my opinion there is 5 key factors to throwing a great party of any kind! The perfect party consist of; a theme, a focal point, good food, roomy venue, and great company!

Theme

From the day Knox was born I knew I wanted the theme of " Welcome to Fort Knox," for his first birthday. I love a good play on words, and the army theme was perfect because Aaron served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army. 

The army theme was really easy to pull off too! I found a lot of my decorations on amazon and etsy, and even found the little toy soldiers at the Dollar Tree. We used those as little accent decorations all around the food and tables! The balloons, happy birthday banner and table cloths were all from amazon and were available for prime, double win! The "Knox" banner that hung above the food was from an Etsy shop called SwankyBurlap, and was really nice quality! My favorite decoration was the "Welcome to Fort Knox" banner that my sister Amanda made. I asked her to make me a chalkboard sign and she created that instead, she is so talented and thoughtful and I am really glad I went with her sign and not mine ha ha!

Focal Point

I like to use cakes as the focal points of my parties. They are the perfect center piece to tie the whole party and theme together. These days cakes can be as beautiful as a piece of art, and even better they are edible art! I used my favorite cake baker, Jennifer Edelen Custom Cakes to create both the smash cake and larger cake! She did an awesome job with the camo theme, especially since it was buttercream frosting and not fondant! I had showed her a picture from Pinterest of a cake I liked and she did a great job creating these cakes! I think they were the perfect focal point of the party, and they were funfetti deliciousness!

Food

We had Knox's party at 3:00 in the afternoon so we decided on finger foods! I think having a mixture of sweet and savory, healthy and hearty make for a perfect menu of finger foods! We had a fruit and vegetable tray, buffalo chicken dip, sausage wontons ( a recipe from my coworker Martha!), cowboy caviar,chips and dip and pigs in a blanket! The food was all amazing and was the perfect set of appetizers before everyone's dinner! Huge thank you to my mom, Amanda and mother in law who helped with all the food!

Venue

We had Knox's party at my in-law's house because it was a perfect middle point for all of our guest. One day I hope to have an open concept home with a beautiful,inviting kitchen to host these type of events at, but for now our space would have been too cramped. My in-laws were very sweet to open up their home and allow us to throw his party there! My father in-law just recently remodeled their kitchen and it is so beautiful and open and was just begging to host a party he he! They have a snack bar and Island that were perfect to place all the food and cake on, and still leave enough room for everyone to walk around! Thank you so much to Karen and Les for hosting, it was perfect!

Company

Finally, my favorite part of any party, is the people you get to enjoy it with. Obviously my favorite little guest was the birthday boy, but I couldn't imagine celebrating Knox's birthday without our friends and family. It was such a blessing to have all the people who love Knox most in the world in one place, minus the few who couldn't be there! Thank you everyone who came out to celebrate our baby boy with us, he is a lucky boy and we love you all!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy, your father and I love you so!

Be Well,
Katelyn 

Hold him a little longer, rock him a little more. Read him another story, you've only read him four. Let him sleep on your shoulder, rejoice in his happy smile. He is only a little boy for such a little while!- Pinterest quote