Cowboy Up

This year we celebrated K's 5th birthday cowboy style.  Before we ride our trusty steeds into the party, can I just say what a stinkin' cute cowboy I have?!?  K is really growing up and he never looks cuter than when he dons his finest cowboy gear.

 

So, this is as close to a Pinterest party as I'm ever going to get.  We had a great time and did some really fun, cowboy themed games!  I got a lot of ideas off of some pins, but put the "Ashley family circus" spin on them.

 Each of our guests took a photo in the "wanted" frame. 

Some of our guests made really good bad guys.  Just look at the two below!  Priceless!

 

 Of course, everyone needed to do a little target practice!  We took our Nerf guns and dipped the suction end in paint*, then shot at a big cardboard target.  Can you see the bullet right above the little girl's head below?  (Nice picture dad!)

*Just a note...use washable paint.  We did, thankfully, because some cowboys have horrible aim!!

We spent some time decorating cowboy hat cookies.  When I thought about doing this I was super nervous about icing and sprinkles coating my whole house, but it actually worked really well.  I went to a bridal shower a few days before and they decorated cupcakes and let me bring home all the leftover icing!  That greatly reduced the workload.  I should also say here, that if you plan on doing cookie decorating, it should be done with all the kiddos' parental involvement!  It would have been a disaster otherwise!

Every good cowboy/girl knows how to barrel race!  Stick horses in the garage on a rainy day...what could be more fun?

We also had a little dance off.  We played our favourite country tunes and yelled "YEEHAW!" as loudly as we could.  

 

After we had cake...

...it was time to collect the loot!

The goody bags included a bandana, a small water pistol, and some chocolate stars!

We had a great time at our cowboy party!!  Did I mention that we had 15 adults, 17 kids, and 3 dogs at our party!  The watering whole was pretty packed!  It sure would be nice to have an outside summer party!

I can hardly believe that my little guy is 5.  Just a few short months from now he'll be out of the house and into Kindergarten!  (a bit of a dramatic overstatement, but hey, I'm the momma!)  5 years goes by so quickly.  The cowboy party was a great reminder of who my little guy is, and that I should soak up every minute.