belk bowl

Thursday, December 27 we went and cheered on the DUKE Blue Devils at the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, NC.  This was their first Bowl Game since 1994.  Pretty big deal.  

We stayed with all of our family at the Westin Downtown.  It was the official DUKE hotel for the week and was decked out in blue and white.  Very cool.

{Trav didn't get to make the trip.  SFD has kept him very busy lately.}

Before the game, we walked down the street to sing along with Lady A.  They had a pre-game concert in the middle of the street.

I had never seen them before live and they were awesome.

It was pretty crowded and I'm short so I couldn't see Lady A very well.  I had to watch the jumbotron mostly.  During the concert, they kept showing fans on the screen.  I told Sum, Mike and Mary that I just added "getting on a jumbotron" to my Bucket List.  They were like, ok.  Keep reading to hear the rest of the story...  =)

We got to our seats a few minutes early and snapped a few pictures.  Somehow I only managed to get a picture of the Pruitts.  The entire Oran clan was there minus Mamaw but I obviously did a terrible job at taking pictures of everyone.

LET'S GO DUKE!!!

It was freezing but we stayed outside the entire game.  We only went inside during half-time to steal some heat.

The Hatfield 4.

So, back to my jumbotron Bucket List.  Within the first five minutes of the game DUKE scored a TD.  Guess who was shown celebrating on the jumbotron??  Yep, ME!!  Well and my sister, too.  Then a quarter or so later guess who it showed again??  Yep, ME, Sum and Mary!!  No lie.  I got on it twice.  Twice!!

DUKE didn't take home the W but they went down fighting.  It was an amazing game that broke our hearts in the end.  With a minute to go, we thought there would be an Overtime.  Cincinnati ended up breaking away and got the win.  A loss is never fun but DUKE was there and that was a huge accomplishment, something they should definitely be very proud of.

GO DUKE!!

my birthday

Can this really be my last year in my 20s??  Seriously?  Not so sure what I think about tuning the big 3-0 next year.  Anyways, my parents came over the night before and brought us dinner.  They sang and we enjoyed a yummy cookie cake {my Mom always gets me one!}  On my actual birthday, December 23, we celebrated my birthday just the three of us!  We played played all day long.  Asher and I were both under the weather.  He's been battling RSV and me a nasty cold {more on that later...}.  Growing up my family used to always go to Gatlinburg/Sevierville to look at all of the Christmas lights.  A few years ago, our wonderful Memphis Family of Friends surprised me and took me to a light show.  Read about that great night here.  They knew how much I loved it!!  Now that we are living in East Tennessee and have our own little family we decided to make it one of our traditions, too.  So that night we went to Sevierville to the light show.  We followed the Mattmann crew but didn't get to see them much because it was cold and raining.  It's a drive through light show in a huge lot and it's set to music.  You never have to get out of your car.  Perfect for a cold rainy night.

It was probably one of the best birthdays.  Very low-key and with my two favorite people.  Doesn't get much better than that.

asher's first fiesta, family and friends edition

Asher's first fiesta was this past Saturday.  I cannot believe it's already come and gone.  I'm a little sad that it's over.  We had almost 50 of our closest friends and family in our house to help us celebrate.  This boy of ours sure is loved!!

We weren't sure what Asher would think when everyone started singing Happy Birthday.  Sometimes loud noises freak him out.  But then again he is a total ham and loves attention.  We knew it could go either way.  Verdict?  Total ham!  

Happy Birthday wild Man!!

Saying "cheese" for all of cameras.

Enjoying his huge "Smash Cake".  

YUM

After shoveling lots of cake down his throat, we tossed him in the bath for a quick clean up.  Once he was fresh and clean, we opened up his presents.

We had lots of little hands wanting to help.

I wanted him to have a new special outfit for his birthday.  I found a solid navy shirt at Carter's.  I hated the huge tag in the corner but it was the only solid shirt I could find that wasn't a onesie and it was like $5.  Cannot beat that.  I then found some cute fabric at Hobby Lobby.  It was a sample size for about $1.00.  I found a number 1 template online and printed it off on computer paper. My friend Hayley let me borrow some of her Steam and Seam stuff to iron the fabric onto the shirt.  Done!  New cute birthday shirt for less than $8.

My handsome little man.

We had lots of little friends in our house sharing giggles and running feet. 

Smiling with one of my oldest friends!  She is having a little baby love this June.  I cannot wait to find out what she's having next month.

My cousin Katie and her boyfriend, Chris, playing with the mustaches.  I cannot believe I forgot to snap a picture with a stache!

Being crazy with the Casteels.

This kid loves  his Papaw.  He always reaches for him.  Dad thinks I poke him in the side to make him lean forward, ha!

Hayley and sweet little Trentyn.

So glad the McShan family all started feeling better and were able to come party with us.

Travis' cousin and his wife, Erica, playing with Asher.  They got him some very manly new toys!  

Silly girls eating cupcakes.

Asher showing his eight teeth with his Nana and Poppy.

McShan boys and McShan girls.

Asher Riley with the Hatfield girls.

Wild and crazy Mattmann crew.  These cousins are going to be too crazy together.  We are going to make some awesome memories.

My cousin, Chris and his wife, Molly and their little guy, Shivers, came from Mississippi to celebrate with us.  We took the top picture of the three boys the last time we were all together on Easter.  Now almost nine months later we took another one..

Look at how much these two boys have changed.

Asher loves his cousin Katie.

Siscos and Cutcliffes.  So glad they were able to celebrate with us.

Asher was obviously a little tired from all the partying..

I'm thankful that it wasn't too cold outside and the kiddos got to play outside for a while.

Boys and their toys.

Tree climbing anyone?

Looks like these two are playing football..

This little guy makes me smile a hundred times a day.

My family.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our little man's first birthday.  We've had a wonderful crazy year.  We are so thankful for this healthy happy boy.  We have the best friends and family and it makes our hearts happy to know that he is loved by so many.

The day after the party, I let Asher wear his special birthday shirt again and play with the balloons.

I think I can speak for Asher when I say that he had a great weekend!  

asher's first fiesta, decoration edition

Asher's First Fiesta was this weekend!  We had so much fun!!  I took a ton of pictures so I'm going to make two different post. One just about the decorations and one about the actual fiesta.

It's no secret that I've been planning this party for several months now.  I just couldn't help myself.  I couldn't wait to celebrate my little man's first birthday.  I thought about going with the "Little Guy in A Tie" theme but that didn't seem to fit my wild man.  And everyone's doing that theme.  I wanted to be different.  So I chose the fiesta theme because it's a little wild, crazy and colorful.  A lot like my Asher.  I wanted to do it right and make a big deal of it.  Why?  Because I'm his Mommy and I can.  Ha, no honestly I always want to make a big deal out of his birthday.  I'm a December baby too and know how it feels to share this month with the most important man in the universe.  My parents did a great job always giving me a party and never combining it with Christmas, so I always want to do the same with Asher.

My friend, Julia, made his invitations for me.  How cute are they??

Now here are some of the party decor pictures...

Travis gave me a budget and I'm very proud to say that I stayed below it!  Yep, below.  I made almost everything for his party.

Asher's First Fiesta Banner and UNO high chair banner:  I made it all out of construction paper.  Thanks to my friend, Julia, for helping me out with the letters.

I did all of the baking, except for his "Smash Cake".  I didn't want to attempt it and totally fail so I ordered one from the wonderful Carly Harrison.

The pretzel rods were very easy and so delicious! I was inspired by this pinterest recipe.  I made them the day of the party so they would be nice and fresh.

My sister and I made 7-layer dip right before the party started.  I wanted to do individual cups so I could guarantee no double-dipping.  Hey, when you've invited 1,000 kiddos double dipping is a guarantee!

I got the idea from this pinterest recipe.    We changed the layers up just a little though. They were very very easy and super cute!  

{Don't worry, we had more than just 8, the rest were in the fridge staying cold}

The night before, my Mom and I made a bundt cake and 36 cupcakes, big and small.  I waited until the morning to ice everything.

I followed this bundt cake recipe.  I followed the instructions on the box for the cupcakes, ha!

I must admit, these are the best cupcakes I've ever made.  No lie.

We had chips and salsa and also individual cups of broccoli salad.  My mother-in-law made the broccoli salad and I somehow didn't get a picture of it.  I'll post her recipe later.

And of course, his "Smash Cake!"  It's it crazy big?!  Thank you Carly for creating the perfect cake.  I sent her his invitations and some pictures of the decorations and she did the rest...

Another food shot.

We had M&Ms and Goldfish for the kiddos to munch on, too.

I've seen on blogs and pinterest where some Mom's get old antique high chairs for their little ones to use on their special day.  I honestly thought about looking for one but figured it wouldn't go well with my budget and I could use that money elsewhere... So we used his everyday chair.  But I did spruce it up a bit with a little "UNO" banner and some balloons.

Some of his first pictures taken as a baby were around the room..

Over on the stove, we had my Mom's 3-in-1 crock pots set up.  We had her delicious shredded Mexican chicken in the two outside pots and rotel with sausage dip in the middle.

Click here for my Mom's chicken recipe.

This little card table was set up in the kitchen.  It held most of our utensils and some cute pictures of Asher.

We had drinks set up on the bar, of course.  Colas and tea for the adults.  Capri suns for the kids.  

A quick glance at some of the gifts..

This boy is so loved.  He was showered with great gifts!

Beside the gift table, I had all of Asher's monthly pictures hanging on the wall.  I loved looking at all of his pictures.  It's amazing how much he's changed.  I made these with scrap booking card stock paper.  

The labels were in Spanish.. "uno, dos, tres..."

I made favors for all of the families who celebrated with us.  I wanted something different and unique so I made the favors myself.  Each family went home with an ornament.  

I bought clear glass ornaments from Hobby Lobby.  Filled them with crinkly paper and put a mustache sticker on the front.

Thank you tags on the ornaments..  I made the labels using Avery Labels.

Just in case anyone forgot how old our wild man was turning, I painted huge letters that spelled "UNO".  

We have a huge bonus room in the back of the house.  We call it the blue room, hence the color of the wall.  It is in dyer need a of make-over but we just haven't had the time or the money to do much with it.  It is next on my To Do List though.  Since it's empty we decided to fill it with tables.  It ended up being a perfect place for people to sit, eat and chit chat.

Each table had an Asher Face centerpiece.  These were my favorite decorations.  They were so fun to make and super cute.  These were perfect since my man is always smiling and making silly faces.  I got the idea from pinterest.  On there the faces were displayed as a banner.  I wanted to change it up a bit and make it my own..

Each vase was completely different.  I think there were about 12 different vases throughout the house! ha

The mailbox was decorated with balloons {which I forgot to take a picture of} and the front door had his "A" balloon wreath.  This wreath was given to us by our sweet friend, Lauren.  She made it for us when she hosted his baby shower.  It normally hangs on his bedroom door..

So, think I'm totally crazy?  My family thought I was nuts with all of my decorations.  My response, "I'm a teacher, what do you expect?"  I haven't taught in over a year and I was itching to cut, glue and paste and make fun things!!

Happy First Fiesta Asher Man!!!