Dylan's Up All Night Birthday

I knew all along that Dylan's first birthday would be his first and last one he would have on his own. 

 From now on Dylan and Ty will share a birthday party. 

 Ty's is scheduled for next month with Ryland and I wanted Dylan to have one party just for him. I knew pretty early on that I wanted it to be themed around his lack of sleep. It is by far his most notable characteristic. The problem was, I just could not get inspired. 

 I was tired. 

 I didn't really want a big party. 

 I didn't really want a camping, or owl theme, or woodland animals but there was really nothing out there for an Up All Night theme. 

 It seemed like a big task to create a totally new idea and host a bunch of people. 

 Ben and I toyed with the idea of not even having a party at all. But, in the end, we decided that it just wasn't fair to Dylan when we did it for Kinley and Ty (like he would even know!) 

 Ben laughed at me and said "What do you mean you aren't really wanting a party!? You have a whole pinterest board dedicated to it!" 

It was definitely out of character for me. After finally biting the bullet, we decided on a very small Friday evening party for Dylan. 

 I ended up loving this coyote howling at the moon silhouette and used it.... a lot...the front door, over the fire place, on the chalkboard and even on the cake! 

 I ended up cutting it out on a sugar sheet on my silhouette and putting it on the cake Mendy made. 

 We also topped the big cake and smash cake with moon and stars and a 1 in glitter paper.
 

The chalkboard made for a cute family pic. I know, it's hard to believe that I did my own chalkboard and didn't force Mendy into it, but, I swear I did.

Birthday Boy!

A few more decorations....


My absolute favorite decoration for a one year old party is the month by month growth comparison.
 I love looking back on how they change over the year.
 Since this is, most likely, my last one year old party, I busted out Kinley and Ty's banners too so we could reminisce and compare who Dylan looked most like over his first year. 
Answer: Kinley...hands down.

 I also loved all these up all night quotes.
I could totally relate to many of these over Dylan's first year.


For food, we had midnight snacks and I had each person in our family's favorite snack out.  We are so healthy...

The Whataburger taquitos bring back many a college memory.

At least one of us is healthy.

I've never actually had a Moon Pie, but they went with the theme so we had them.  

And this quote SO speaks to me too.

Ty and McKenna are destined for true love so we try to get as many pictures of them together as possible.

The oldest and youngest, Avery & Dylan, of the 9 kids between Kris, Al and I.

 

Boys..

Kinley was very nervous again when we sang happy birthday but we did it anyway.

 Once it was dark outside, we enjoyed some time on the back deck under the lights. We had some glowsticks, flashlights, binoculars and a star-gazing constellation map for the kids to use at the party or for whenever they are up all night at home.
 I love a party-goer who just embraces the theme and activities in full force.
 Thanks Mav.
 
There were lots of pjs and late night milk and cookies too.

My kids have the best aunts and uncles.

That's a french fry in Dylan's mouth, his favorite food.

Grandparents and cousins, too.

We couldn't let the night end without a dance party.
We did bust out some watch me whip. I mean, they teach this in PE these days.

And just like that, this kid is ONE.
 I can't believe it.