It's official - our Princess is ONE! O-N-E!
It was just a year ago today that God gave us this tiny, sweet blessing. Four pounds, 16 inches, six weeks early gift that brought us such joy just when we needed it the most. And JOY is still what she gives us each and every day!
Here is our birthday girl - as you can see, JOY radiates out of that precious smile of hers. She was pretty excited about being ONE (well if she understood that). She did like balloons and Mommy and Daddy acting silly while we took some pictures.
And she may be little, but she is MIGHTY! Showing us how she can stand. She was pointing to her ONE balloon.
Our neighbors had to come over to be the first to wish the birthday girl a happy birthday! I think these two girls will be having tea parties together very soon.
Baby K was quite in love with this tiny baby that she was given... she kept wanting to hold her hand and give her kisses. Kind of like the way she loves giving kisses to that sweet baby we see in the mirror every day. We love laughing and kissing that baby too.
So every 1st birthday deserves a PARTY! So we decided since baby K is a July baby, she should have a POOL PARTY. It helps that baby K (who will get a new blog name soon I promise) loves playing at the pool. As long as it isn't too sunny. Or too cold. Or too hot. Perfect right?
Here our the cupcakes I made for the party. Don't get too excited - this is a total Pinterest idea that I borrowed. But they are SO CUTE.
The swimming bear cupcakes, ready for our friends! It was time to go to the pool!
Well, just like Baby K's arrival into this world... nothing went as planned. In the middle of July... in Texas where we never get rain... thunderstorms were popping up everywhere. So the pools were closed. After standing in the parking lot of our pool with our awesome friends, waiting to see if the storms were coming or going away, we made a new plan. We decided to move the party to the SPRAY PARK nearby.
You would think that would frazzle a momma who just planned this party for 27 kids a little... And I would have thought so too. I like my order, my plans, my ducks-in-a-row. But as we saw the storms to one side of us, there were rainbows in the middle of it all. And friends who were already laughing and chatting, kids playing in the grass by the parking lot chasing each other. The whole point of the party was to CELEBRATE our baby girl. To LAUGH, and to PLAY. If we can do that in a parking lot... surely a spray park would be just as okay.
And what other ONE year old can say that she had a PARADE of cars following her around the neighborhood, ready to celebrate her big day no matter where she went? Is it silly to think that God provided that for us? I don't think so - He has blessed us with some amazing friends and family that have carried us through some of the darkest hours of our life. Why not give us a few rainbows and a peace about our mobile birthday party :)
Baby K, Me and Oma
Here are pictures of our friends, the spray park was a hit:
This picture above - I don't think you can see it. But in the middle of the party, we looked up and yet ANOTHER rainbow appeared. Baby K you sure got some beautiful backdrops for our big party.
So Momma definitely had some fun planning the party. As you can see, we kept the "pool" theme going strong, from our plates and napkins to the food. We have "Swim Like a Fish" goldfish, Surf's Up Ranch Dip to go with our Boogie Board carrots, and of course Beach Ball grapes. And yes, I used our shovels as the spoons. (and some of those sweet little party goers stole those shovels to play in the spray park, but that's kind of funny I think).
Here are the group shots of our Birthday Princess and all her friends who came to celebrate with us. Blessed doesn't seem like enough of a word here. We love each of these families, and the ones who couldn't attend but sent their love. Baby K, you will never lack for friends. That is one of the greatest gifts in life!
After the group shot, it was time to DIG IN. My favorite part I couldn't capture on camera. As our Daddy walked in with a lot of pizza's, our best bud Baby C started screaming in excitement as he saw the pizza boxes. I mean, screaming in Joy and maybe a little frantic to get that pizza into his tummy right.at.that.very.moment. It made me laugh to hear that coming from a 15 month old :-)
Ahhhh, another princess friend for baby K. When I requested a girl pose, she promptly dropped her pizza and stood up to assume this position. I expected nothing less from a real princess :-)
Well all the fun wore the birthday girl out.... she demanded a BA BA (bottle) and enjoyed herself a little milk on her Oma before promptly deciding she was done with the party for a few minutes and started to NAP. Yup... it's her party, she can sleep if she wants to:
So as any Mama of a 3rd baby, I decided to take some more pictures and chat it up until the Birthday Girl decided to join the party for cake.
Our best friends - such a perfect picture!
Beach blankets and a picnic dinner - how does it get any better?
Silly friends :-) Oh yeah I did put this up here girl!
Love this one
Finally the princess decided that she would wake up and join her party again. We got the cupcakes ready for the big SONG.
What you woke me up for what?
A family shot... without AJ who could not be bothered to stop playing
Mommy, Daddy and Baby K
Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday to our sweet sweet girl!
She wasn't so sure about this candle thing, and since the wind wasn't playing nice, we decided to forgo the candle and just sing with our beary fun cupcake.
She sure loved hearing everyone sing to her
Okay here was the big moment - Eating our FIRST cupcake! Daddy had to get it up there but after that first lick, she was sold!
YUMMY! Happy birthday sweet pea!
So after cake, all that was left were presents. Now usually I let the birthday kid sit with their friends to open the gift and get a picture of them. Having never tried this with a one year old, I knew it would be tricky. But I wanted to make sure she got to see each person who came and let us tell them thank you (well I said thank you, she just waved or stared, but that's the same thing in baby talk):
This is the line - at some point the kids decided it was like visiting Santa Clause... there was a line to see Baby K.
Ahhh young love between best friends... he steals our shovel at the party, we wait until he comes to give us a gift and instead of looking at the gift we steal the shovel back. The 50 cent shovel! CLASSIC! Its not a party unless you make your best friend cry?
Baby K and her big sis KK waving THANK YOU to all our friends! We were blown away, not just by the thoughtful gifts, but by all the love and hugs that everyone wanted to give baby K. Thank you didn't seem like enough... so we hugged everyone as we sent them on their way home. We love you all so much!
Just because the sun was setting didn't mean baby K was ready to stop the party! Apparently that nap gave her the push to party all night long! She did wave "bye bye" to all her friends as they left.
Happy Birthday sweet baby girl. You have brought smiles, love and pure JOY to our lives and we cannot imagine our family without you. Watching you grow and learn every day, the love that radiates from your when you see your bubba, sissy, dada or even mama... it warms my heart and I constantly find myself thanking God for you. And thanking Him for making me your mama, so I can watch you continue to grow and love. Sweet dreams my little one year old! I can't wait to hear your cooing and talking to wake us up to yet another day that we get to share with you!
