Birthday Party Recap

Ok, as promised, here are some of the details from Elliott's party.

You know those little details that I spent forever working on?! The ones that I posted multiple DIY Wednesday posts about?! Yeah, most of those did not get caught on film :( I handed my camera over to my dad, who so kindly took pictures of the party for me so that I could entertain and make sure everyone's bellies were full. Well, he took a lot of great pictures, just none of the decorations and little details that I spent so much time on! I don't regret it, because the party turned out great and it's those little details that really gave it a special touch.....I only wish we had gotten pictures of them! Oh well :)

The party started at 2:00, just after Ellie had woken up from a nap, which was a good thing because the poor girl was sick with a cold! We had a spread of Mexican food, cheesecake bites, and cake (of course!) all displayed atop yellow and black tablecloths with little wooden bumblebees dancing around the tables. Imagine those tissue paper poms floating in the corners of the room, with streamers and balloons and a handmade banner strung above everyone's heads. We have a tiny house and it was crammed full of friends and family.....all people who love Elliott and who were there to celebrate her first year!

Ellie made out like a bandit. She now has a new collection of 12-18 month clothes, and enough toys to stock our living room, as well as the babysitter's! She did pretty good with opening all the presents, considering how many there were and all the kids who hovered around trying to help. I love all of the creative, special, and bumble bee gifts she was given!

We had cake to top off a perfect day. Elliott's babysitter is also an amazing baker, so she made Ellie's birthday cake and a smash cake for us. I couldn't have been more happy with how they turned out!! I didn't get a good picture of the smash cake, but it was the size of a Costco cupcake, topped with one large bumble bee, complete with gumpaste wings! It was perfect! For the last month or so, I was anticipating Elliott's first bite of cake. I imagined how excited she would be, and I had hoped that she would have a blast mashing the cake with her hands and shoving fists full of cake into her mouth. Yeah, of course that's not how it happened! My daughter is soooo laid back, it's not even funny! She had quite the crowd singing "Happy Birthday" to her, and she just sat there and stared at all of us. Then when I placed the cake in front of her, she kind of looked from the cake, to me, and back again like "what is this and what am I supposed to do with it?" She finally figured it out, and as people took their attention off of her and went back to mingling, then she really went to town!

Everything about her day was perfect! Not because we spent a ton of money or because I didn't forget anything (because I did.....who forgets to buy napkins, anyways?!), but because we were surrounded by people who love Ellie (and us) and who wanted to celebrate with us. We celebrated Elliott's first year, and us as a family! So thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate, and to everyone who has given us support, love, and encouragement this past year.

I love our little family of three, and I can't wait to celebrate many, many more birthdays!

~Amanda