It's a Worm Party!!

On Friday we had a special birthday bash for our little Squirmy Worm! We wished we could have invited you all, but we had to keep it to a few special friends and family! We know it won't be quite the same as celebrating in the flesh, but we'd like to invite you to PARTY with us as we travel back through Caden's wormy first birthday! 

A few special notes: 

Aunt Cori worked very hard as the photographer for the event, taking 181 photos! You'll be glad to know that I narrowed it down to 60! Ha! I just couldn't cut it short... too many great people and fun memories to share!

The Cox Family likes to party on a budget. Without sacrificing the fun we decided to do 99% of the party homemade; everything but the cake and a few decorative items. It is truly amazing what you can do with a pack of construction paper and a glue stick! 

Okay, let's get going...

You're invited...

A Squirmy Worm party?! We toyed with SO many different ideas for Caden's party. Being a New Year's baby there are so many fun options to choose from, but when it came down to it we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to turn our little squirmy worm's first year of life into an all out wormy blast! After all, it has been the theme that has carried us from pregnancy to the present and the thing that we have "measured" Caden's growth against for the first year! So to the worm party we go...

Welcome to Caden's House!

Okay so the next two pictures are OUT OF ORDER and it is driving me nuts. And for whatever reason blogger is not letting me shuffle them around like I want to. My perfectionist side is going to have to chill out over these two pictures because I'm tired of trying to make it right... perfect isn't possible anyway, right?! So hmph...

This was the Menu for the party. All of the foods were adapted from some of Caden's very favorite foods.

And this was Caden's cute birthday hat that his KK bought for him! We found it in a little antique store in Gruene! He wasn't much into hats, which you'll see later...

Just when I think we're back on track the spacing goes wacky... alas! But regardless, we are back to the right spot... and you've arrived at the right house...for there's a birthday cake in the yard!! With a picture of the Squirmy Worm himself!

Now dust off your boots and come on inside!! Happy Birthday Caden!!

And spot the first of many worm sightings of the day...

Somebody must be turning one?!!

Don't forget to stop and feed the worms! A little party favor table for our very special birthday party guests! 
The "worm food." Each tag read, "Thanks for always remembering to stop and "feed the squirmy worm" in your life. We have so cherished your love and support this year and thank God for each of you! Hugs and kisses from The Cade-man and Company to you!"

There is your second worm sighting of the day... YUMMY!!

And third! This is the sign that hung on his hospital room door! Little Squirmy Worm...

And worm sighting number 4...

The cake table!
The cake... this is certainly not homemade and it is worth every penny of bakery goodness! See the little worms coming out of the cake? Worm sighting number 5!

Cookies... lots of cookies! I'm NOT a cookie decorator extraordinaire so thank goodness we were using lots of colored dots/circles as a compliment to all the worms! 

I was SO surprised to get to add this to my party decor! My amazingly talented cousin Shannon painted this for me for Christmas this year! I loved it so much I put it on the cake table for ALL to see! I keep telling her she should start a little business... maybe y'all can help me convince her!! What a sweet and special gift that I will treasure!! Thanks Shan!

Dirt n Worms... of course! Worm sighting number 6!

KK and Albi bought this cute little picnic table for Caden for Christmas so we decided to put it together for the kiddos! Nothing says party like a bowl full of Goldfish!!

Worm sighting number 7, 8, 9... I can't keep up! The "buffet" featured buckets filled with dirt with sweet pictures of my Caden and his worm, marking his monthly growth milestones! From 1 week to 11 months... my how they grow!

These pictures were taken before all the food was out... just the fam was hanging out getting ready for all of Caden's friends to arrive... Remember the menu was out of order... and would normally go HERE! 

A few party pics of the special people who came to celebrate...

Mommy and Daddy and the birthday boy!!

Cade-man and his uncles!

Cade-man and Uncle Josh playing peek-a-boo through the backdoor with Aunt Cori!

Great Poppa and Caden... so sweet!

There were little people there too!! Caden and Sienna are having a moment... they actually had a few moments. Caden decided that Sienna was the girl he'd pick on at his party... stealing her toys and such. She'll learn that boys only pick on the girls they like! :) Caden better be careful though because she's part of a triplet gang, the other two being brothers... I'm not sure Caden wants to mess with that!

Miss Gina!! Caden loves Miss Gina and has so missed hearing her voice on our afternoon walks!

Sweet Isabelle! Always so nice and considerate!

Suzanne, amazing triplet mommy, Sienna on the far right and Ava in the middle! Ava is Miss Gina's lil one! She is hilarious! I love watching her grow and explore... she has MUCH to teach Caden! And how cute is she in her sweater dress and boots?! Oh my!

Thanks to Ava, Greg and Gina for this fabulous idea! We saw Ava open up all her presents at her party sitting in her Bumbo. She did so well that we thought we'd try it with Caden! Perfect! He's getting ready!

Justin and I didn't want everyone to have to sit around and watch the SLOW process of opening gifts so we helped Caden and tore through everything pretty quick! We felt very spoiled to have received all of the wonderful new toys, books and clothes from our friends and families. I am a little embarrassed that I didn't specify no gifts on the invitations because our child is certainly not without and with his birthday being so close to Christmas he is certainly STOCKED up! Thank you ALL so much for everything! 

Yay!! Look at all my loot!! I am so excited to play with it all! AND let me just tell y'all... he is LOVING it all... he has been all over this house with all his new toys... it has been so fun to watch!

Next up... CAKE TIME!! Shirts off everyone!!

Okay, just Caden!

He was looking a little nervous... not that I blame him with all his girlfriends in the house!

Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you... no hat, Daddy, NO HAT!

Hmmmm... so this is cake, huh?!

I'll give it a try...

GAG ME! This stuff is GROSS!!

Y'all want some of this?? Really, take some!!

How about some water?! PLEASE!! I'm parched!!

MORE! I need it! Get this taste out of my mouth! Blah!

So the cake wasn't a big hit... he didn't like it! Ah, well... I guess I'd rather him not like cake than his green veggies which he LOVES. So funny!

We made the best of it though and got pics with all of the fam!

Aunt Cori and Uncle Tag...

Nana and Paps... 
KK and Albi...

Great Gram...

Great Poppa and Great Gran...

Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh... (Aunt Emily was being bad... trying to feed Caden champagne. Ironically enough KK had already tried that! Like mother, like daughter-in-law!!)

Caden knew he wasn't supposed to be drinking champagne and he wanted to let them KNOW!

Or maybe he was tired of the family photo shoot... :)

Time to get his shirt back on!!

There are some pics of the boys...

Caden doesn't have many boy friends... just a few... and good thing they were there! Little Luke is hanging out on the floor next to Caden.

Caden wanted to check out all his stuff again...WOW!

Let's see... what should I open first??!! Hey Albi, Paps... y'all got your knives on ya?!

Izzy and Caden playing with the ball...

They look like they are kicking it back and forth... haha! Such little tikes!!

There's Greyson... the final of the three Fell triplets! He's got the REAL soccer skills!

After a little while Caden toddled to the back door to se what the BIG boys were up to out there! His Daddy noticed he was wanting to go check it out and took him out to visit!

Caden was teaching the BIG BOYS how to wave. He's just started to do the backwards wave. It's hilarious. He went from a very limp wristed wave to that!

Before he rejoined the party Caden decided to take a little swing!

And there you have it... 60 pictures of pure, squirmy wormy FUN! I hope y'all enjoyed partying with the Cade-man and his posse!

What a HAPPY and memorable birthday it was!

We love you Squirmy Worm!!