Faye's First Birthday!

Hello blogger land! Today was the day to tackle Faye's birthday party post. Just six months later
—wow, can't believe she is a half year older and we are finally getting around to this! 

Her birthday was an absolute blast! It was monster-themed and though it rained, we couldn't have hoped for a better time. Faye napped right up until the start of the party and since it was located just blocks away from the house, it was not a problem for her to make a grand entrance after a nice snooze. Wayne Morse Farm was the park location. We were able to reserve the covered area as well as the fields (though the fields didn't get much action due to rain).

 The view out from under the shelter area... truly beautiful. (this was taken before it started to rain)

 

Faye and Daddy making their grand entrance. 

Now for the tour of the party...

 The eats table. 

 

Monster watermelon (thanks M-Gii for taking some close-up pics!)

 Monster cake pops and domo monster cookies

 The two monster pinatas made for the special occasion, just waiting to be destroyed. 

The larger of the two was 2.5ft wide!

The little play area that was sheltered with a pop-up tent. 

 

Smaller kiddo play area.

Chalk-writing area.

Personalize your own goodie bags with felt letters.

Now that you have a feel for the party, here were the events. 

First up was the opener with the kiddos getting their chance at the smaller pinata. 

Faye got first crack at it, then it was up to the bigger kids to get this thing open!

So after all the kiddos went it was still not cracking one bit, so Derek helped us out!

Inside were some candies and little lips whistlers.

 The happy family, stopping for a photo-moment.
(Thanks Iman for being the photographer and capturing some great shots!)

 Next event was the "drum circle". 

The paper box drums provided by UofO's Printing and Mailing Dept. Thanks!

Corey and Faye lead the drumming, with others in the circle to follow the beat.

Here is a video of the beautiful noise/drumming:

 Next was re-purposing the boxes into race cars, ready to go around an obstacle course!

 Here we are explaining the "route".

 Faye wasn't so sure about this game at the start.

And here is a video of this course/chaos!

 Next is the infamous birthday cake...she doesn't even know what is coming!

But she is excited!

 Cake entrance.

The awe and wonder of the cake (thanks for taking some great shots, Marisa)!

 We forgot a bib, so we made due with a garbage bag!

She didn't need much encouragement!

 

 Faye continues to enjoy the cake.

 

Dad tips up the plate for her to get more cake.

 

 

Now that the icing had been tested, it was time to dig deeper for the rest of the cake.

Monster family cake pose. 
(BIG thanks to Auntie Vicki for making these awesome monster hats for us!)

The last event of the party was the BIG pinata, this time the adults got to take a swing at it.

Donna took a few swings and Faye was quite scared witnessing this event so closely.

Many other attempts by the adults attending... 

but it took Joel taking some hefty swings to get this big guy cracked open!

Inside were little monster stuffed toys that Donna sewed for all the kiddos.

At the end of the party we almost forgot to have people take pictures at our photo booth area, supplied with monster faces. 

So here were a few that we caught before they left (sadly some had already left)!

Aya and Amber

 Nik and Lizzy

 "Uncle" Sean

 Nina and Wayne

 Mabel, Sarah and Will

 Carley, Tom, and Thomas

 Diane and Matus

 Sarah, Miles and Paul

 GiiGii and M-Gii

 Grampy and Grammy

 Manna and Iman

 Josh, Judah and Stacey

 Sarah, Josh and Ronan

 And, of course, the Monster family with the birthday Monster.

 

It was an amazing monster party. 

Thanks to family and friends who attended and helped out with this crazy party!

We couldn't have hoped for a better celebration for our little monster.