and then she was one

Wow, it has already been a year and then some since JD and I first welcomed our little daughter into the world.  (Cora's birth story)

Early December of last year…wait, that would be early December a year ago, I was looking like this:

I may have had one to many pieces of pie....

and feeling like this:

Thankfully CJ would soon be here.

And that was a year ago.

CJ officially turned the 1 on December 18th (Wednesday), but we decided to have her birthday party on the following Saturday.  Surprisingly enough, we actually had a lot of people come by.  I was worried that most would already have Christmas plans since it was a mere 4 days before Christmas.

We were completely unprepared for the party.  And that is probably and understatement.  I began Pinterest planning her birthday months in advance.  I began physically planning it about 1 week out.   2 weeks before her party, I decided I wanted us to finish our library.  That involved a lot of painting and wood working (another post on that project later).  Then CJ got bronchilitis and we didn't get a lot accomplished with a sick baby on our hands.  And to top it all off, I was sent to Vancouver for 3 days the week of her party.  That means the day before her party, we were about a week behind on getting everything ready.

Day of THE PARTY

Everything was going great.  We were doing a lot of cleaning and last minute touch ups on the library.  I was feeling pretty confident that everything would be done by the 3 pm start time.  I ran to the grocery store to get a few last minute items when JD calls me wondering when I am going to be back.  I asked what the rush was (it was after all 1:30 pm - 1 1/2 whole hour before the party), he sounded a bit frantic when he said "People will be here in 30 min!", Um, what?? Party starts at 3, right?  That would be a big fat no.  Invite was for 2 pm.  WHAT???!!!!  Ok, I was in full panic mode now.  Needless to say, most of the guests arrived before I returned from the grocery store.   I am very thankful for a few friends (Amy and Allan!) for helping out in a huge way.  Amy made the yummy cupcakes!  And Allan bought the eggs that made the cupcakes possible, since apparently I was out of those….

CJ was blissfully asleep for the first hour of the party.  So I'm guessing she was on the same schedule as me.

Once she woke up, I proceeded to to parade her around in her birthday suit, no, not that birthday suit.  The night before they party, I stayed up to midnight getting things ready.  I had planned on doing a wintery themed birthday with snowflakes and a hot chocolate bar.  Well, since we live in GA, or winter weather consisted of 70 degrees.  Not exactly hot chocolate making weather, so I left that off of the menu.

I wanted CJ to wear a shirt with a snowflake on it with a birthday tutu to match.  I couldn't seem to find one so I decided to make one…..midnight…before her party.  I bought a long sleeved white onesie and some sparkly iron on transfer paper.  I printed a snowflake pattern from the internet and traced it on to the transfer paper.  Once it was cut out, I ironed it onto the onesie.  I have to say, I thought it look pretty good.  I also made a shirt and tutu for Sofie to match.

the headband didn't last long

THE CAKE

I have seen so many smash cake photos, and I absolutely wanted CJ to have one.  I looked and looked for a nice cake stand at a few stores, but they were all cheap and plasticy or just way too much.  So, I looked on pinterest and found a few ideas.  I made a trip to the local thrift store and bough a candle holder base and a plate, spray painted them both pink and then glued them together with some glass glue.  Once that was done, I coated everything with some clear enamel spray paint.  I made my own photo backdrop and put a white a tablecloth under her to help keep things from getting way too messy. I sat her down, she stuck her finger in the icing, and then she screamed.  She hated the cake.

this looks interesting

and then the yelling started

maybe it's not so bad after all...

Yep, still horrible!

All in all, I think it went pretty good.  Maybe once it actually gets cold here, we will have a real hot chocolate bar party.

I also took a few shots of her with the monkey (aka Big Foot as JD calls it)

she is one wiggly little girl

reading by the window

this is my serious face

We hope everyone had Blessed and Merry Christmas!