1st Birthday Sucess!

I can't believe she is one already! Her first birthday was a HIT! the whole week we had fun plans and activities and hung out with some awesome friends. I am pretty proud of all my mini projects for the week.

First we had out first trip EVER to the Children's Discovery Museum. I am so glad her cousins could come because she was a little bit young but had fun chasing and playing with them. Then we had a picnic in uptown with her cousins and did some shopping until we melted down and went home for nap time!

 they are BEST BUDS! she kisses him and hugs him all the time!

 apparently Cecelia was meant to be on stage! Such a DIVA!

"but Daddy, Anna is in the water, i can just dive on in"

 Then Tuesday we had her one year photos done! those will be a separate blog post soon but i a am SUPER SUPER excited about them. I have empty frames hanging on my walls waiting for these photos! She did get to play at a playground while waiting for her photos: swinging = PURE JOY!

Then Wednesday i stayed home and did crafts with my friend! They turned out so well!

Thursday we went to mass, then got her first ever starbucks, napped, played and picnicked at the park and played, napped then it was PARTY TIME.

 The theme was "Very Hungry Caterpillar" There were so many little details and i had SO much fun planning them all. The party was outside at a pavilion at a private park (for the company my Bro-In_law works at, so he reserved the pavilion for us- for free- and we got to have the party there. no cleaning before or after people and lots of space for kiddos to run and play). For dinner i made walking tacos, taco meat, lettuce, cheese and salsa all put in a mini bag of fritos or doritos shaken up and served! it's the perfect summer night meal, no clean up and was def a crown pleasure. I also had a grape, apple slices and strawberries (cecelia's favorites).Of course all the food was soy and allergen free, for the first time in a year Cecelia got the eat anything she wanted without having to check and double check everything. It was SUCH a nice switch from my usual neurotic state when she is around food.


I had my friend Melli make a poster for Cecelia with a whole bunch of cool things about Cecelia! It turned out SO cute and we have it hanging in our hallway to bookmark our awesome little toddler.

Then i made a few small crafts, including: 

• a ball of "Dum Dum" suckers! It was a cheap and cute way to decorate while entertaining the kiddos! 

• i just took a $3 Styrofoam ball and bought a XL bag of dum dums then stuck the dum dums in it until it was filled. i left a small circle open at the bottom of the ball and set it on the vase. i them put extra dum dums in the vase to refill holes when people took one! 

• Next there was a caterpillar or Cecelia's pictures from each month for the past year. It's so cute and super awesome to see how much she has grown. It was my idea, but i have to admit my friend Trisha put it all together and executed it for me! 
• i used my scrapbook tools to cut circles out of different color green paper and then cut smaller circles out of her pictures. Trisha taped the circles together and put the pi
 

• Then i made a sheet for everyone to fill out so Cecelia can read them alter and see what everyone hopes and prayed for her! I put it in a little booklet and added her first birthday cards to it. It's super cute and i read it daily. It will be fun to add to next year and then to read later when she is graduating high school and see how hopes and dreams have changed as she changes.  
  
  
  
  

• i also made some coloring sheets and printed a few out. i made the ones that AREN'T caterpillar. I just used stamps i had and black ink. this was the entertainment in case any of the kids wanted to color a picture. it was a hit!  

•  So i brought her scrapbook for everyone to check and, i am VERY VERY proud of that thing. It also added some decor.
  
• The goodie bags for all the kids  were balloons that i filled with a necklace, smarties and dum dums and baggies of bubbles and candies and bracelet. They were fashioned to look like a caterpillar and then kids and life and wind happened, but the idea was there!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Finally my mom made the "cake" and it was SUPER SUPER CUTE!The head of the caterpillar is the smash cake (aka Kel's personal cake because Cecelia REFUSED to touch it or eat it or look at it) and the cupcakes were the body. My mom made them all soy and allergy free carrot cake and it was SO yummy!

"you want me to do WHAT?"

this is kel... eating Cecelia's smash cake!

Overall it was a GREAT birth week for Cecelia. We are feeling it this week already, she is a bit cranky and acting entitiled, but she will get back to herself in no time.

I did not realize how emotional having my baby become a one year old would be. I knew this birthday was more for me (and kel) than for Cecelia to celebrate us making it as parents for the first time, but i really underestimated how emotional it was. it might have been all my post-partem hormones or the grief from the previous week. I looked at Cecelia RUNNING (she doesn't walk she runs) around the house  and realize i have a toddler and not a little baby anymore. She is the most amazing kid in the world. She is such a blessing and a miracle. One year ago seems like a lifetime already, she has grown and changed SO MUCH in the past year i can't comprehend it all.

i think we are the perfect little family!

on teh way home from her awesome bday party... with her new minnie