Last week our little Luke turned one. I swear, it was the fastest year in the history of earth. To think that a short 365 days ago a tiny (but noisy!) baby entered the world and  now a short year later, he is standing on his own and walking around furniture, eating falafel and avocado and singing "Let It Go" with his two year old sister. Everyone says it - and it's entirely true - they grow up SO fast!

We threw a Western themed party to celebrate his birthday and his sister's birthday (she will be three later this summer). I intended to take more photos more but I ran out of time.  When you have a crawler and a toddler, you don't set too much up in advance. Everything you do will be undone. And possibly destroyed. And so, I grabbed what I could and we'll call it good 🙂 Here are some photos that I was able to get...

Matt and Elizabeth from Nielsen Belgians brought their draft horses (named Bob and Ted) to our farm to give horse drawn wagon rides to our guests. Let me tell you, those horses were magnificent! I drive past these horses daily but to see them up close and in person is such a different experience. I have a newfound admiration for horses. We all hopped on to take a ride...

Dinner was served in the evening. A fun meal wouldn't be complete without some cute signage so I printed off some Western themed food labels from Apples to Appliqué and used clothes pins to clip them to all the serving dishes.

I had so much fun on the horse ride that I forgot to take a picture once the food was set out on the table. (Raising palm to forehead.) Hey, our cowboys and cowgirls had been on the trail and they were hungry!  So instead, I'm going to tell you what we ate.

Birthday Menu

Saddle Up Sloppy Joes
Git Along Lil Doggies (Hot Dogs)
Cowboy Caviar - black beans, avocado, lime juice, red onion and some seasonings
Blazin' Baked Beans
Calico Coleslaw
Cowchips (Tortilla Chips and Potato Chips)
Melon Patch Watermelon Sticks
and a Watering Hole with drinks

Why do I love this birthday menu so much? I love that it was all be made in advance! I made the sloppy joes and baked beans the night before and reheated them and assembled to coleslaw ahead of time too. I combined the ingredients for the cowboy caviar and watermelon slices the morning of the party. For the hot dogs, I simply put them into a crockpot to heat. Easy peasy!

Later on there was lots of present opening, cupcakes and ice cream and water fights amongst the cousins. Here are the birthday cuties loving their sweets.

We ended up with some really happy but tired kiddos (and parents). While I realize they won't likely remember the party, I sure will! It's not every day you get to convert your farm to a dude ranch. Now I need to figure out how to out-do myself for next year's party. Any ideas?

Yee haw!