Sunday, November 3, 2013

Happy Bee-Day Little Bug!

Well, it’s happened.  As much as I tried to will the time to slow down, our little Bug has gone and turned one.  I almost cannot believe it.  Gone are the days of buying new clothes every three months.  Gone are the days of going to the Infant Room at daycare to pick her up.  Our little lady is now rocking her 12 month clothes in the Pre-Toddler room.  I knew it was bound to happen, but I’m still a little sad.

We were lucky enough to celebrate Kate’s day with many of our family and friends.  Even though I started the party-planning process  by swearing that I would never be one of  “those” parents—you know, the over-the-top/invite-50-people/fully-catered/bounce-house-rented/blue-angel-fly-over type of party planning parent—and I think I managed to keep it somewhat in check.  We decided on a bumble bee theme for the party (since Kate is the Little Bug) and I found some cute items on Etsy and Pinterest that I bought/made.  One was a little banner that we used to display each of her monthly photos.  It was really fun to be able to see, side by side, how she’s grown and changed each month.  I also put together a little chalk board of first year milestones and we displayed that with her cake.   For food we had a build-your-own taco bar and some fruit and veggies.  We put all of the family to work the day before the party and they helped with chopping and organizing, and everything ran really smoothly.  The weather was a little chilly but the sun was shining brightly, so the kids split their time between ball pit and (newly acquired) slide in the basement, and swinging outside on the playset.   Everyone seemed to have a nice time and we enjoyed visiting with some folks we don’t have the chance to see very often. 


-- Mommy made this "Happy 1st Bee-Day" banner for me. --


-- We had bees and pink all over! --


-- Mommy and Daddy hung this banner with all of my birthday pictures so everyone could see how I've grown. --


-- Buzzzz. --


-- My cake! --


-- Everything you could ever want to know about Kate! --


Among our guests for Kate’s birthday weekend were Joma and Grandma Petey, Auntie Boo and her boyfriend Jesse, Grandma Brenda and Papa John, and Aunt Tara, Uncle Erik and Max and Kye.  We also had a quick visit from Aunt Debbie and Aunt Vivian.


-- I'm the queen today. --


-- All the dads. --


-- Everyone into the ball pit! --


-- We even hired a photographer.  He works for cupcakes. --

Kate made out like a bandit with all of her birthday gifts.  She got lots of books, which made us all very happy, a talking tea set, a pint-sized hutch for her play kitchen, two beautiful bracelets from her Joma (one of them Joma wore when she was a baby!), the slide for the ball pit, a bee costume for Halloween, and LOTS of other goodies.


-- Opening presents. --


-- Can you find Kate amongst all the loot? --

After gifts, we dove into the cake.  I decided, after much research and blog-reading (by the way, I would advise any new mom to skip reading the blogs about first birthday cakes, unless you want to feel like the worse mom ever for not providing your child with a gluten-free, dairy free, naturally sweetened birthday cake...sounds delicious, right?) I decided to make the cake, rather than buy one from one of our local bakeries.  I ended up making Martha Stewart's Versatile Vanilla Cake, and it was pretty good, even though it ended up a little dense.  I decided on a whipped cream cheese frosting (take THAT all you dairy-free mommy bloggers) and reduced the sugar by half, and it was delicious!  Kate's experiences feeding herself (there's a little plug for baby led weaning) made it so that she didn't waste much.  She had quite a bit of cake and frosting on her face, but there was virtually nothing on the floor or in her seat--it all went in her belly!!






Here are a few more shots from the day...


-- Aunt Tara and Uncle Erik take a break for cake. --


-- Auntie Boo styles me up while Jesse looks on. --


And finally, a little step back in time to compare to a picture from the weekend....
Four generations...

November 2012                             October 2013

It means so much to us to know how loved Kate is.  She is so lucky to have family and friends who love her.  Thank you to everyone who made the trip, and to those of you who were here in spirit!

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