With tons of sprinkles and confetti we celebrated our sweet girl's 1st birthday!
Lilly Belle was one happy little girl being surrounded by so many people who love her. Her cheeks had to hurt by the end of the night because I swear she never stopped smiling...or waving at everyone.
We got some incredible pictures thanks to my sister in law, Megan, and our family friend, John, got the perfect video footage while we sang to her and she ate her cake. (So thankful we have all that!)
I so wish I could share the video we have that we took as we went into her room that morning singing to her. She was bouncing (as she can't quite jump yet) up and down in her crib, clapping & smiling from ear to ear and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. It is probably one of my favorite memories of all time and definitely going to be something we do with her and our future child/ren every year until they move out (ah...don't want to think about that yet).
I started planning her birthday party when she was probably about 3 months old...or maybe when I was 3 months pregnant? One of the two ;)
We ended up going with a sprinkles and confetti theme using fun and bright colors. I figured that suited her well and she has been such a joy to be around for all and is always smiling and just so much fun! So, it was bright and cheery fun for the win!
I drove myself to exhaustion the week of her party as I planned, crafted and also hosted a Frozen dance camp for 70 children ages 2-8...yikes! (Remind me to never do that again by the way...I mean, in the same week)...knowing myself, I'll end up making the same mistake next year and kicking myself for it.
Ok..so onto her party...which could not have been any better :) I loved every second of it. Just watching her so happy was one of the highlights of my life. Could not have asked for a more special day for our little family.
This is going to take 3 or 4 posts because I want all the pictures on the blog for when I print it out for LB.
"Mom, I thought I already had my birthday 5 days ago?"
Nana came early to help me with decorations, food & Lilly Belle as Matt had his final exam that morning. Thank goodness!! :)
Fun Fact: I went into labor at 8pm on August 3, 2013. On that date, Matt has his final exam for a class and ended up being beyond exhausted due to staying up the night before studying and then LB being born. The night before her party (week really) he also had to study late every night as he had his final exam on the morning of her 1st birthday party. Such fun timing ;)
So, thank goodness for Nana!
We are lucky to have a wonderful pool and pool area at our apartment that we were able to use for Lilly Belle's party.
Miss Grace being adorable as always :) She is one of Lilly Belle's best buddies!
Our food included lots of Lilly Belle's favorites and "kid food":
*Veggie Tray & Fruit Salad
*String Cheese
*Yogurt Bar - fruit, honey, granola & vanilla yogurt
*PB&J in fun shapes
*Bananas
*Cake
*Pub Mix (for the adults who are obsessed)
*2 punches - pink lemonade punch and luau punch
*lemon brownies
This was LB's reaction as her guests began to arrive. Clapping and waving! It was adorable watching her recognize everyone :)
My sweet dance kids. Maddie & Samantha were both on my team when we had our studio and still remain close to our family. Lilly loves them so much and the feeling is so mutual :) They also came over and helped me with decorations the day before! It was great to get to spend time with my girls!!
We know Logan, Claire & Sadie through dance as well. I taught all 3 of them in my classes for a long time! And now Lilly Belle loves having play dates with them and I have become good friends with their mom, Casie :)
Sweet kisses from her Papa
Birthday Princess! (her face is a sneak peak of when she is 13)
The Cake! And a mini for Lilly Belle :) I couldn't believe I pulled it off. I've been pinning these cakes for months and was so nervous about messing it up. I think it is the perfect sprinkle mess of a cake. I loved it so much :) And Cogsy enjoyed the baking process licking up sprinkles off the floor ;)
The kids had a blast swimming!
Lilly Belle on the other hand...not so much. Matt told me her foot got caught in her tube which stressed her out and the water was F-reezing! So...the only way she would go in was if I held her. Which I ended up doing of course :)
Fingers in the mouth as everyone started singing "Happy Birthday" and staring at her. Not quite sure what was going on...until she had the cake in front of her. Due to our photo shoot last weekend, she knew exactly what to do and didn't hesitate for a second!
In the beginning, she was very serious about her cake eating. She was super focused and rarely even looked up. She was just soaking it all in ;)
Girlfriend loves her Daddy!
Tradition that was started with my parents and me and my 4 siblings, now continues with our children. I like this tradition. I didn't so much the last time my parents did it on my 18th birthday with my hs boyfriend there lol, but...now looking back, it's pretty cute :) And, hilarious that my 24 year old brother actually requests his photo to this day - weirdo, lol.
Nana helped us a ton for her party! Again, thank goodness! :)
...to be continued.
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