Nate's Birthday Celebration - Part 1

We kicked off Nate's birthday celebration on Saturday, July 7th.  We celebrated with family at our home.

I was very pleased with our party snacks.  My favorite was the individual seven-layer dips.  I wish I had a better picture of them.  They were super easy to make and very cute.  I was also very pleased with the cupcakes.  I decided to make them from scratch and they turned out perfect thanks to the recipes and cupcake tips from Glorious Treats.   I must admit that I bought a box mix just in case they didn't work out.  Thankfully, no box mix was needed. :) 

Nate is really into sharks right now.  I found these cute cupcake toppers and his banner on Etsy. 

The birthday boy looks so grown up with his short haircut.

We love this kid so stinkin' much.

After our snacks, Nate movie (slide show of pictures of Nate from the year), and presents; we all went outside to shoot fireworks.  Nate loves fireworks and we thought it would be fun to wait and shoot them at his party. 

This year Darren let Nate help light some of the smaller fireworks.  I am pretty sure that this was Nate's favorite part.