Ellie's Birthday Party

The day after Ellie's Birthday we had her party. I feel like a one year birthday is a pretty big celebration. I wanted it to be a big celebration and wanted a lot of our friends to join us since none of our family lives here. I was ecstatic that Emily, my friend from college, was able to make it though. I consider her family! Also, she took the majority of the party pictures allowing me to enjoy being a mom. 

It snowed the night before her party and I was pretty worried people would cancel because the streets were pretty bad. However, everyone was able to make it and I was grateful!

Like I had mentioned in the previous blog post, James and I spent a few nights tracing, cutting, sewing and hanging the decorations. That sounds like a lot. But it really was only 2 nights. I don't remember why I decided on Pink and Gold as her theme, but there were a lot of pinterest ideas to borrow. The cut out "Happy Birthday" is a big one I see circulating on pinterest a lot. I think James did pretty good at cutting the cursive letters out. I did the block letters. Hehe.

I wanted to do a luncheon for her party and on the menu was Curry Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Croissants, Fruit Kabobs, Veggie Cups, Pink Lemonade and Cake. 

My plan was to pick 12 pictures to hang up (one for each month of life) but that was impossible. So I printed many pictures and hung them up. I still can't believe how much she's grown. 

Emily and I stayed up very late prepping the food and making the cake. I think the cakes took around 7 hours. Lots of layers. 2 cakes. And lots and lots and lots of butter. Emily really over saw most of the baking, I was the taste tester and vegetable cutter.

Ellie was in heaven having so many kids/friends around. She really is a social butterfly. The older girls really love playing with Ellie too. 

After we ate and socialized, Ellie opened her gifts. 

(Thank you everyone!)

Saving the best for last. We had the cake smash.

Here are more cake pictures-appreciate them. Those cakes were hard work. 

Singing Happy Birthday

*It look me like 5 tries to blow out that candle.*

Since the frosting had a lot of butter we thought we should keep the cakes cool so we stuck them in the garage (in a clean location). However, we didn't bring them inside soon enough so the frosting wasn't that soft. I still kind of regret that. But shoulda' coulda' woulda', right?

Ellie loves sharing her food. It's a stage. But oh so cute.

I am very happy with how her party turned out and grateful for our friends who took time out of their Saturday to hang out with us. And I'm very happy I had Emily to help and I'm sure James is too. Ha.

(Ellie is obsessed with that Elf on the Shelf. It was a gift from her Great Aunt and Cousin and ever since she opened it she's been attached to it. We don't let her play with him but when she sees him she gets SO excited. We used him to get her to smile).