Jacob's "Hootenanny"!

We celebrated Jacob's birthday today, cowboy style! I always let him pick the theme of his party, and he decided early on he wanted a cowboy party. Here is one of the invitations... Gift Table
Jacob's Cowboy Cake

I decided I would try my hand at making Jacob's cake this year since Mom has not been feeling well AND because they have been in revival. Whew, I thought I was gonna need a revival while I was trying to decorate the cake! ;0) It was very amateurish, but I thought it turned out well enough...the top layer was chocolate, the bottom was yellow cake, and the cupcakes were strawberry. Jacob loved the fact that the cowboy and horse on top can now be added to his animal collection. :) (Ha...while making the cake, I was about to have a meltdown and told Jacob I was upset that the cake wasn't doing what I wanted. He looked and said, "A pink cake is okay." Okie dokie...I thought it looked red! Then when I put the "cow" spots on the top layer he told me it kind of looked like a soccer ball! THEN...my sweet niece tells me the cupcakes look like cow patties!! Hello...I was going for ROPE, but if the boot fits...I love the idea of a candy buffet, but sticking with the cowboy theme, I made up a Trail Mix table. The kiddos all got to fill up a goodie bag with a mixture of their favorite snacks...goldfish crackers, pretzels, animal crackers, M&M's, marshmallows, raisins, Twizzler bites, and mini gummi bears. They could also choose some little toys...cowboy and horse themed Silly Bandz, sheriff badges, cowboy and horse figures, party blowers, etc. I think it was a pretty big hit.

Any party needs to include a few games of cornhole! Here's the birthday boy playing.

We told all the kiddos to wear their cowboy duds if they wanted, and I made Garrison this little onesie with a cowboy face and his name on it. I love snugglin' that sweet boy!

Here's Jacob with some of his best buds! I hope these boys are always close friends!

The birthday boy and me!

(His birthday shirt was made by them fine folks over at Creekside Creations!) ;)

Present time! Jacob got so many neat gifts...and LOVED them all! This is the horse stable that goes with his Schliech animals that he collects...he also got the jeep, horse trailer and some horses to match, two DS games, some cool Toy Story toys, transformers, Backugan figures, MONEY and gift cards, and more! We didn't even have time to open but a couple of them tonight, so I have a feeling that after school tomorrow, I will get my fill of undoing those pesky twist-ties!

This picture was too funny not to share! It looks like I'm trying to take his money and he's giving me a really mean look! In actuality, I was explaining to him who the money was from, and he was a little slow to catch on.

Jacob with his cake. He blew ALL eight of his candles out with one big breath, and I think we were all so excited for him, that it almost scared him when we all cheered! ;0)

Matthew likes for Jacob's birthday to roll around too. Jacob and Matthew's birthdays only like two days being exactly six months apart, and since Matthew usually gets a few gifts from some pretty special people, gets to eat yummy party food, and gets to eat out at Cracker Barrel, it's almost like a 1/2 birthday celebration for him! :) Here he is looking at his new wrestling magazine all while watching Gaither Gospel singing...what a combination!
Jacob making his trail mix.
Yes, I think the kids LOVED it!

Most of all, I loved seeing Jacob have such a great time with all his little buddies! I think he had one terrific party! But...I still can hardly believe that my "baby" is EIGHT!!