Kendall's 1st Birthday Bash!

Kendall's 1st Birthday Bash was a Splash ... well, at least we think it was!

We'd had a small family party on her actual birthday, May 1st, in Abilene, but wanted to have a big party at our house with our family & friends ... so when we found out that my sister, Estee was planning on coming to visit from Florida at the end of May, we decided May 22 would be the date ... hoping the weather would be nice to be in our backyard & the pool water would not be too cold for swimming.

We had family, neighbors, former-work friends, church & care group friends and long-time friends all come over on Saturday ... a total of 58 people in all (32 adults and 26 kids ages 8 months - 14 years old)! We've had so many friends & family that have kept up with Kendall & her progress, in praying for her & us over this past year and we just wanted to celebrate this special time with as many people as possible! We had a great time, but wished we could have talked with everyone more than we did ... the 2 hours flew by fast! We really appreciated everyone coming over and hope they all had fun too! In true 1st birthday fashion, Kendall decided to take an extra long nap that afternoon so she came out 1 hour late to her own party ... but she looked awfully cute when she joined us outside, in her birthday girl shirt and tutu! (She didn't even have time to swim at her own party!) Everyone swam or hung out in our backyard while Ashley grilled up the hamburgers & hotdogs ... we ate dinner, swam some more, sang happy birthday to Kendall, and ate cupcakes (and took a few pictures of our time together)!

(Picture Alert ... this could be the longest picture posting of all time ... just wanted to prepare you for all you are about to see! Since our blog is our scrapbook right now, I just wanted to document as much of the party as possible! We tried to get a picture of everyone ... but I know we were not successful, as I didn't get one of my parents, or even us & Kendall in her tutu, and a few others, I'm sure.)

our front door for the party

the front entryway table ... with some fun outdoor decorations and the thank you favors in a wheelbarrow

We had 2 double card tables set up for the party favors, gift card wheelbarrow and all the food ... Ash grilled up hamburgers & hotdogs and we had all the fixin's ... we used beach sand pails as serving bowls for all the fruit, dip and chips ... and the cupcakes for dessert! We had a 3rd table set up for the drinks (which I apparently didn't get a picture of) ... we used a small blow-up baby pool to cool all of the drinks.

our beach/swimming inspired cupcakes

Pops taping down the table cloths

one of the 5 tables we had set up & decorated

Jamie Ridgell, Jayci Alverson (holding Emerson Walton) and Chesley Walton ... sweet friends from our care group

my favorite little 2 1/2 year old friend Ansley Walton ... hello, Little Miss Cutie-Patootie! (in the background, you can see part of the drink table holding the little pool of drinks.)

Emma Russell

Andrew (2 1/2) jumping off the diving board to his dad, Joe Don Ridgell ... Ash can't wait for Kendall to be jumping as well!

Dylan Hurt ... cannon ball!

Addie & Lila Russell ... I LOVE all of Addie's gear in this pool ... too cute!

Best Friends ... Jillian Alverson & Anna Ridgell

Joe Don & Andrew Ridgell

Erin, Leesa & Luke Rocha (Luke's been on our Upwards sports teams for the past 4 years)

Nathan & Miles Wills (Nathan's been on several of our Upwards sports teams and Miles has been Ashley's assistant coach for the past 2 soccer seasons)

Garrett Walton

Emerson Walton

Tyler Odom

Jillian & Jayci Alverson ... they were so sweet to come, as they had Jillian's birthday party earlier that day (that we didn't make it to) and still had family at their house!

Jillian & Jayci Alverson, Chesley Walton, Joe Don Ridgell and Cody Walton

Zachary & Brooke Paschall, Kristen & Terrie McMahon (neighbors & the 2 families' who's sons I keep after school)

Heidi & Tracy ... new neighbors

happy birthday, sweet Kendall! (In the rush of getting her ready to be sung to, I forgot to add the #1 candle to her cupcake so she could blow it out ... sad! Not sure if anyone else noticed that it was missing, but I did, finally, as we were cleaning up and I found her #1 candle behind the cupcake stand! I guess it's a good thing she at least got to do that at her 1st party earlier. Sorry, Kendall! And, this is the only picture we got of the 3 of us together ... and it's not even that great!)

Brad & Jenny and Landon Massey ... friends from church

Jolana & Don, Dylan & Haley Hurt ... old friends from teaching at Rainbow School with Jolana (and I taught Dylan in one of my 4's classes)

Barbara & Lane and Tyler Odom ... cousins

Corey & Julia, Addie, Lila & Emma Russell ... old ACU friends and church & care group

Terrie, Christopher & Kristen McMahon ... neighbors (Christopher is one of the 1st graders I keep after school.)

Zachary, Brooke & Jason, and Eli Paschall ... neighbors. (Eli is the other 1st grader that I keep after school.)

Jamie, Anna, Andrew & Joe Don (and baby boy coming in August) Ridgell ... friends from church & our care group

Fritzie, Ashleigh, Kaelynn, Rylie & Aron Odom ... cousins

my long-time friend, Christi Norris who came to help out at the party (this was after the party was over ... lookin' a bit tired here and our hair is up!)

my former (and favorite) boss at FedEx, Leslie and her daughter Lexi ... so, Lexi & I share the same name and I desperately hope that she will continue to remember me when she's famous (a future "So You Think You Can Dance" star, right here folks!) ... at least I have several pictures with her (and now Kendall is in one with her, too)! They stayed after the party, so we got to talk with them & catch up ... they live in Plano and it was so great to see them!

my sister, Estee and her in-laws (who came over to visit her during the party)

After the party was over, Kendall got a bath & opened a couple of presents. We had sent a note in the party invitations that asked everyone, in lieu of birthday gifts for Kendall, to instead bring a gift card that we would donate to the NICU for families that are going through a similar expereince as we did last year, with having a baby critically ill in the NICU. Our friends and family were extremely generous and we received $330 in gift cards that will bless other families ... we are sooo excited about delivering these gift cards & reaching out to these families!

Some friends brought Kendall a present too ... which was way too much, but she enjoyed opening them & playing!

happy 1st birthday, sweet Kendall Grace!