"Smash Cake" Photos

Summer is here and even though our children aren't school-age yet, this season always brings a nice change of pace. Summer brings lots of fun adventures (and a nice break from some of the regular school year commitments). We've still been busy (and I've been snapping pictures, of course!) just of days playing in the sprinklers and at our neighborhood pool. We've been enjoying being able to play outside after dinner and take walks around the neighborhood! This is, by far, my favorite time of year. We also had a fun Memorial Day. I took lots of pictures (but I don't think I'll ever have time to post them here). We spent part of the day at a free event at American Village (in our area). We saw replicas of the Liberty Bell, Mt. Vernon, and other historical sites. We also saw "George Washington" and learned some colonial games like trap ball. It was a lot of fun!

We've also been preparing for Jude's 1st Birthday Party that is less than a week away now. I chose the book If You Give a Dog a Donut for the theme because Jude was born on National Donut Day last year and also because he seems to really love dogs. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures (that I hope I find time to share) from his picnic brunch celebration (Just a low-key family party this year! Can't wait to have everyone here in the same city!) next weekend. But this weekend we decided to take a few "smash cake" photos in hopes we could capture something sweet...(pun intended!). I like to do things the frugal way: took my own pictures, made the ribbon banner behind him (that we'll also hang on his high chair on Saturday), put a few of the paper lanterns on the floor for some color (we will hang those for the party), and we reused the hat from James' 1st Birthday but changed out the felt dots to match the color scheme, etc. I also made a cake stand out of a candle stick and plate from the Dollar Tree! So simple!

We just bought a glazed donut to use for these picture (so, hopefully his actual cake (shaped like a donut) will still seem like a big surprise to him on Saturday!). He ate some of it, but ended up throwing most of it on the floor and opted for his yogurt and "boo-berries" for breakfast instead!

I'm so happy with how these pictures turned out. I hope you enjoy them as well. :)

He wanted to try on his old party hat too! :)