Henry's 8th Birthday

My little cowboy turned 8 this year! I can hardly believe it. Where has the time gone? When Henry was just little (maybe a year and a half old) I made him a cowboy costume, complete with cowhide-print chaps and vest. Way back then, we never dreamed that the cute little cowpoke would grow into a REAL Texas cowboy as the years went on.

This year (as in year's past) Henry decided he wanted a cowboy themed birthday, so we invited all of his friends to get duded up and come on out for a hoe-down.

We set up the party underneath our camper canopy. I threw hay down on the ground, put out folding tables with red-checked tablecloths, decorated with cowboy boots and black eyed-susan's found around the house, and hung 'wanted' posters around the area. Party favors included cowboy hats and bandanas. Our neighbor (who happens to be a cowboy!) brought his guitar over and played a little poem for Henry during cake time.

It was so much fun! The kids all had a blast. As Henry requested, we had a cactus cake with vanilla ice cream...

We decorated with some 'real' cactuses (cacti?) too...as you can see, Henry poked himself on one of the extra sharp needles. LOL. What a comedian.

My wonderful sister-in-law spent a day with me cutting up and painting old appliance boxes (acquired from the very helpful people at Lowe's) to make what Henry dubbed "Cowboy Town."

And of course there was a jail! I think that was the most popular area during the party. There was always some poor child being hauled off to jail. Here the boys are pretty proud to have arrested their sister for one reason or another.

The kids had a blast! We missed out on some of the cousins being able to come because grandkids camp was scheduled to start the same day as Henry's party. As you can see though, there was no shortage of fun kids at the party!

Happy Birthday Henry D! We love you so much and we're very proud of the cowboy you're growing up to be! :)