Addie Turns 1

Saturday, March 3rd we celebrated Addie's first birthday.  Even as I am writing this I cannot believe a whole year has already passed!  While our first year with her went by fast it was filled with many wonderful memories...first smiles, first words, learning to crawl, learning to walk (which happened 1 week before her birthday), learning to give love to Mommy and Daddy and the list goes on.

It is always amazing to me that when children are born they come into this world with their own individual personality and that as parents we get to witness those personalities grow and develop.  In no time at all you figure out what gets them excited, what frightens them, what foods they like and which ones they want nothing to do with.  It was around Christmas when I discovered Addie's love for balloons.  "Uncle" Matt and Abbie gave Lexie and Trey this shark, which with a controller you can "swim" through the house.  In addition to the shark they provided us with one of those helium tanks you can buy to blow up balloons yourself at home.  The tank came with a package of balloons, so once the shark was inflated we blew up some balloons for the girls to play with.  The look on Addie's face the next morning, when the balloons had floated back down, was of pure delight!  Then, on Valentine's Day, Mimi and Papaw, gave each of the girls a mylar balloon attached to a weight.  Addie crawled around with hers for days and days.

When it came time to pick a theme and plan her party I wanted to do something that she would truly love and have fun being at.  Let's be honest a first birthday party is as much about celebrating the child's birth as it is about celebrating the fact that as parents you survived the first year.  Another very important thing I wanted to take into consideration is that Addie doesn't love being the center of attention (this is the polar opposite of Lexie).  Therefore, I wanted something that when Addie woke up from her afternoon nap she would get really excited to see.  The answer was easy, it simply had to be all about balloons.

The morning of the party Trey and I blew up balloons, sewed them together in groups of four with dental floss (his idea, but to my surprise worked really well) then strung the groupings together to create a balloon banner.  Next we hung the banner so that it would stretch above our fireplace and we sat out pictures of Addie from her first year along the mantel.

Continuing with the theme we proceeded to decorate the rest of the living room and breakfast area with even more balloons!

 

Our goal was accomplished because Addie absolutely loved having so many balloons to look at and even though she was not feeling 100% (yes the week before her birthday she had an ear infection and both she and Lexie had tested positive for RSV...not a fun week) she seemed to cheer up for the party.  No tears were shed, even with a house full of people, which could have been overwhelming for such a little person!

 

Her birthday menu consisted of Caesar Salad, Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs, Stuffed Shells, Garlic Bread, Birthday Cake, Rice Krispies Treats and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Her favorite part of the meal...the cake!

 

 

Addie also enjoyed getting to open presents, although I think Lexie had more fun being the big sister who got to "help."

 

It was a fun party and a great way to celebrate the first year of her life with us.  As she gets older she won't remember how we celebrated her first birthday but she will have this picture frame with the signatures of everyone who attended as well as a quilt made from the fabric we used to decorate with and we can tell her all about it!

We are so excited to see what the next year of her life bring us!

Having a pre-party snack with Aunt Allison



First taste of sweet tea