lena had her 1st birthday (& 1st birthday party) this weekend! it was the best weekend & it's still not over..... there are plans to open some more presents later today & enjoy some more cake (& of course she's wearing her butterfly romper).... anyways.... friday was her birthday & we kept it low key with dinner & opening family presents. & then saturday was her party!! it was butterfly themed but we didn't get all crazy. no bouncy castles, pony rides, helicopter tours.... we have a few years for that right? hahaha.... but i think it was an awesome party, the kids had fun, the grown-ups had fun & we all celebrated little lena!! (still can't believe she's ONE!)
so we decorated with butterflies, we had a butterfly coloring station, bubbles & bubble machine, pizza, pasta salad, chips salsa & 2 kinds of guac (lena's favorite food is avocado, so ya know), gummy worms, teddy grahams, cheese & crackers, veggie tray, pink lemonade, juice boxes & beer & wine for the big kids. & the cake! my friend maryann makes AMAZING cakes & she made cupcakes & a smash cake for lena! it was beautiful!
lots of our friends came out.... lots of lena's friends came & the only people missing were family back in the states.... BUT they were there in spirit & on the slideshow we made that ran on our computer the whole party. it was full of photos from lena's 1st year. we had pics of lena with grammy, grandma & grandpa, grandpa & granny ann, aunt ash & cousins, great aunts, great cousins, friends from the states & pics of her aunt jenn & cousins mayer & grayson (who sadly have never met each other due to germany & guam being so not close to each other, but will someday soon!)
my favorite part of the party (one of several, but this has such sentimental meaning) was the time capsule.... we had a space where guests could write a little note to lena to open on her 18th birthday. we have some notes coming in via email & snail mail too from those not in attendance. but i think it'll be such a neat thing for her to see & open & have a look back in time. i peeked & read some & couldn't help by get teary. i can only imagine what an amazing young woman lena will grow into. so much love!
and the cake! well, it didn't go as smoothly as it probably will after we have a few more of these under our belts (we'll be pros by the time she's 8).... but really... maryann had her smash cake on a nice plate that A. i didn't want her to knock off & break on the floor & B. just wouldn't even fit on her high chair tray. so jeff & i decided to grab spatulas & carefully move it to her tray. well, as we were doing this i realized we hadn't sung to her & there was no lit candle, so i quickly started us all in singing of "happy birthday" & then prayed that my little one didn't reach for the lit candle that i then put on the cake on her tray well within her reach (good mom i know). needless to say i said "make a wish" very quickly & jeff & i blew out the candle. whew. rough start (but no fires or broken dishes). so then the girl had cake. she didn't get all crazy with it, but she had some bites & then just wanted down. i think it was a lot for her, everyone staring at her, the other kids surrounding her cake like starving little vultures (it was cute, but yeah you'd think these kids were cake addicts needing their fix). so we'll try round 2 later tonight & see if she makes the mess we're all craving to see!
so that's about that. we are tired today, happy it was a great party, but feeling bittersweet..... love seeing our little girl grow, but sad to see our baby fade away..... but we always have the memories (& the pictures!)
the dinning room
outside butterfly color station & bubble place
the spread & max under the table
color station
bubbles & my baby
yay!!
lena's face says it all....
"the candle!!! & everybody sing!!!"
the vultures circling the cake (notice the cute headband antennas i made for the kids?)
the fam
part of the table scape.... i used flower pots to hold the silverware
the beautiful cupcakes
her time capsule (with a fluffy butterfly pen of course) & the notecards are made from card stock from our wedding (that i also used to make her mobile - click here to see it)
some of the beautiful butterfly artwork (i used teeny terra cotta pots to hold the crayons & markers too)
