SAIL-ebrating Clayre turning 1!

I know A LOT of moms would agree with me when I say, "Party planning is so much FUN!" I absolutely love it. Some moms love to bake, read, shop, work out...Nothing excites me more than to plan parties, especially for my children.  I love thinking of all the fun details and creating decorations.  Maybe it lets my mind escape all the million things on my "to do list?" I think it is also because I love seeing it all come together... I love having our friends and family together to celebrate... I love to see all the kids having a good time. Any way you look at it, it's a win-win situation  :) 

When I was pregnant I saw this little row boat at Hobby Lobby (I have a small addiction to Hobby Lobby, especially now that I have a 40% off coupon ap on my iphone at any given moment).  I decided to buy it as a picture prop to use once the baby was born.  I didn't even know what I was having at this point, just thought it would be cute. 

Once I took the picture, I thought it would be fun to take pictures with her in it throughout her 1st year...

And before we knew it, an entire year had gone by...literally felt like it SAILED right by...so that became the theme...

Clayre's 1st year sailed by! It's time to SAIL-ebrate!

To no surprise, my family was GREAT help. We came up with all kinds of clever food and sweets to match the theme and my mom offered her backyard for the party, which was also PERFECT since my parents live on water.  I was a little worried about the weather, but it ended up being a BEAUTIFUL day.  I was thrilled. Here are a few pictures of the SAIL-ebration. We had a blast sail-ebrating Clayre turning ONE. We are a little sad this is our last "baby," but we are looking forward to her becoming older so we can do more as a family and watch her grow into the child and woman God has planned her to be. 

The invite...I had so many pics I "had" to include. I simply could not choose just one :)

Food table

I was running out of time so my sister made the cute puff balls for the light and centerpiece.

 Chicken "crab" sandwiches with olive eyes made by my mom and sister...they turned out so cute!

 Walk the chicken plank

 Fruit of the sea

JJ made homemade Shells and cheese! Delicious!

Fish -n- Chips

All of Clayre's favorite foods...chicken, mac -n-cheese, fruit and gold fish :)

The SWEETS table

Grandma Ann's cake...awesome like always!

Pop Pop made his AMAZING "Chips Ahoy!" chocolate chip cookies. These were a HUGE hit :)

 Air for your sails 

 Beach balls

Life savers from J's donuts

 Fish of the sea

 Ocean mist twist suckers

 Peanut butter & jelly fish sandwiches

 The sand between your toes

Blue ocean jello

Drinks...

The ocean water was sprite dyed blue :)

Gifts

The banner included one picture from each month throughout the year

Clayre's favorite part of unwrapping gits was the tissue paper. She was attempting to make a quick escape down the hall before I snatched it from her. She loves nothing more than to eat paper :)

 

One of Clayre's FAVORITE things...ice cream! But who doesn't love ice cream?! Cherry Berry came with their catering cart. It was awesome!

Photo booth fun!

Aunt Tay Tay's matching nautical jewelry :)

Swimming!

 One of many of Emmy's belly flops :) 

 The birthday girl and her big sister in their matching anchor swimsuits!

Happy birthday to you...

I guess that's one way to eat cake...

While Clayre was eating her cake, a group of geese swam up.  I'm sure they were looking for food but Clayre thought they came to wish her a Happy Birthday! She ran to them and said "duck duck!" with a huge smile! A perfect end to her afternoon!

I think Allie Kate said it best, "Clayre's party was AWESOME!"

Happy 1st birthday Clayre!

Thank you to everyone for SAIL-ing by!

****more pics to come!