Wow! Well, I wanted a party. And boy, oh boy, did we had a party! Jude and I are recuperating today at home, and cleaning up the mess (well, I’m cleaning; Jude is subversively trying to negate these efforts).  Warning: this may be the longest post ever!

It was just so much fun. We had the party here at our house yesterday after church, from 2 to 4 pm. It was just family (ha – this makes it sound like a small party. This, in fact, is so not true. There are 15 family members on my side only) and of these, there were 11 children, including Jude, ranging in age from 11 to 2 months. No small feat!

Party hats met the circus-goers at the door.

Our Big Top, made of streamers. Remember those flower lanterns? They have now seen 4 different parties, starting with Earl’s Fortieth Fiesta! Hooray! On the table is Rody, our gift to Jude. He’s an inflatable horse/llama/unidentifiable equine. Jude looooves him. So did Jude’s cousin Amelia. Oh, and I also made the Happy Birthday pennant banner up on the mantle too. Super easy project, and so cute. 

What circus is complete without popcorn and peanuts?

Crepe paper streamer centerpiece with flags and circus tickets.

Ohhh, yeah. The food! We had a giant cupcake for Jude, and a bunch of other cupcakes (yellow butter and chocolate butter cakes). Also on the menu: shortbread animal cookies, Grandmother Blanche’s popcorn balls, corn dogs, iced tea, and punch. 

I gave Jude the entire top of the cupcake. There was some distress at this, on his part. He did not know what to think of his orange-topped cake. He gingerly nibbled on it, and then he wanted his bib and his sippy cup to wash down the sugar. He finally dug in a little bit, but there was no smooshing it in his hair, etc.

Afterwards, he and Simon sat to open his presents, and they were so cute together.  Finally, the natives were getting restless, so I whisked all the kids outdoors in the front yard to take their picture under the tree with their party hats on. 

Here’s me and Simon, making a Jude sandwich. 🙂

Some of the male revelers.

Jude with one of his favorite gifts. This was from my birth mom, Kim, and her husband Mike. They gave it to Jude on Saturday, and he went absolutely nuts. He adores it. We were so thrilled to have them come to Jude’s party and get to meet the rest of my family.

Finally, I entitled this photo The Center of the Universe. There he is, on his Kawasaki 4-wheeler from his Oma Linda and Papa Keith (another huge hit!), and he is ruling the world. 🙂

Love you, baby Jude. You’ll always be my baby.