A Dog-Gone Good Birthday Party

We had Jacob's birthday party on Saturday, December 4th at 4pm. It was at our house. We had the dog theme for our party. We had a dog balloon, colored paw print balloons, and plain colored balloons. There wasn't as many as that makes it sound though. I tied some balloons to the back of Jake's chair, and the other two bunches to stuffed dogs. We put one by the food and one on the big table. We got blue and green streamers and Matt put those up around the house as well. I had meant to set out his dog pillow pet somewhere as well but I forgot.

The menu consisted of hot dogs, dog food dip, and puppy chow, which I served in {clean} dog bowls. I had really wanted to serve the dog food dip in one of the bowls but it has to be in a fondue pot so I just put the fritos in there instead. (As an added bonus to the theme, fritos smell like dog's feet) I also made warm fruit salad even though it didn't go with anything because we needed something healthy and I felt like having it. My brother also brought over bruschetta.

My parents (dad) brought over another dog balloon. It happened to be the other one from the theme that we didn't get so that worked out good. He had that attached to a can of Alpo dog food (which is what dog food dip looks like) He also brought over a small bag of dry dog food. He thought that could be a decoration. So we had that sitting up on the counter with the food.

The guests that came were Lolo, Papa, Uncle Sean (Buddy), Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Melissa (Minnie), Grandma Joan (G.G.), Kaytee, and June. When everyone arrived we had food and chatted. Jordan wanted to nurse so I took him into the bedroom for that. We were all stuffed after eating so we opened presents next. Jacob received lots of great things.

From Matt & Me:
- Workbench with tools
- Hard hat
- Dinosaurs
- Firetruck
- Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie stuffed animals that were mine when I was little

From Grandma & Grandpa V:
- Tag Junior reader
- Tag books: If I Were..., Pooh Loves To..., Curious George Color Fun, The Backyardigans Opposites, Cars Shapes
- Carrying case for Tag Books/Reader
- Tools
- Flashlight

From Lolo, Papa, and Buddy:
- $100 for college savings
- Christmas PJs
- Shapes book
- Puzzle (animals)
- Thomas the Train: Follow Me Thomas
- (Also the Big Foot robot which he got the next day)

From G.G.:
-Brainy Baby Books set

From Kaytee and June:
- art supplies: pad of paper, pad of construction paper, finger paints, markers, paint, paintbrushes

From Grandpa H:
- remote control car

From Auntie Sarah & Uncle Bill:
- $40

From Grammy:
- $25

From Grandma Lois:
- $50 savings bond

Jacob had a blast opening his presents and being the center of attention. I think his two favorite things (that night anyway!) were the firetruck and the working drill from the tool set from his grandparents. He played with both of those most of the night.

After presents we had cake. I thought it looked ridiculous but everyone said I did a good job on it. It was a dog's face. It didn't look like it was supposed to but I guess it turned out okay. It tasted really good though! Jacob blew out his own candle. It took several several attempts but he finally got it.

After we had cake we just sat around and talked and the kids played. Jacob had a really great time at his party and that is all that matters. He had ended up having diarrhea from drinking apple juice and I felt like the world's worst mother when I finally realized it -- only AFTER taking a picture of him and noticing on the screen that his pants were soaked. Poor kid!! But other than that little incident, it was a great night.