Whew. Rory's birthday is OVER! Now it's time to recover from all the celebrating. I can't believe what a big deal this day turned out to be- I always said I didn't want to do anything ridiculous for a first birthday, but the whole thing kind of escalated beyond my control. We had a lot of fun though! I'm putting up quite a few pictures since I've gotten off facebook, so humor me, please.
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| Aurora had a virus the week before her birthday :( |
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| But she still loved her new dolly and matching dress from my mom! |
My mom got in a week ago Tuesday and was sooo helpful in getting ready for Rory's Saturday party. It was perfect: my mother in law did the decorating and my mom did most of the food prep.
On Saturday, we had somewhere between 45-50 people come come over in the afternoon for a big barbecue. We called the event "The Celebration of the Anniversary of our First Year of Parenthood" since Rory didn't particularly recognize the significance of the day. Along with that, we geared the festivities towards adults (except for some hula hoops, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk). The menu? BBQ chicken with homemade sauce, potato salad, baked beans, vegetables, chips, sparkling ginger lemonade, and mango-berry iced tea. Oh yeah- we served four kinds of cupcakes: cookies and cream (Blake's request), lemon curd, pineapple upside-down, and rocky road. They were all delicious! Rory ate two of them: one half way through (complete with candle and song), and another one at the end for the enjoyment of the second wave of guests. I think the whole party was a great success!
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| The Cupcakes! |
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| We ended up with a cute blue and green color scheme. |
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| Photo display |
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| I've wanted to turn this old smoker into a planter for a while :) |
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| We roped off our poor little garden so it wouldn't be trampled. |
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| We bought her dress in Puerto Rico when I was 7 months pregnant specifically for her birthday. Blake chose the flower. |
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| She looked so beautiful! |
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| Pretty clapping baby |
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| The food! |
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| My awesome grill master husband |
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| The Bowen men |
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| A few of our younger guests |
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| Rory just loves this family- especially the young gentleman! |
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| "Why is everyone singing at me?" |
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| Assuring her that it will be okay |
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| She took to cupcakes right away... |
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| Enjoying herself |
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| Some friends and their little ones |
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| "If you think I'm going to wear those sunglasses, you're crazy, Mama." |
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| Hanging out after the party- Rory's begun using a spoon! |
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| With Papa and Grandpa in her new bug-wing outfit! |
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| Tired after a long day of partying |
Sunday evening we went to Charly's for dinner and the waitress let Rory (well, me) choose from the dessert tray. We went with carrot cake. She was definitely a fan.
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| Being entertained by Great Grandpa at church |
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| Playing with some buddies |
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| Rory and her Gramma- I just love her little green dress! |
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| Being a goof with Great Grandma |
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| I promise she did not eat that whole plate of carrot cake. |
Monday morning included a last breakfast with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, who came up from Coolidge just for her birthday.
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| She makes the funniest faces after she takes a drink. |
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| Saying good bye to her adored Great Grandparents |
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| Playing with her new singing bunny |
Tuesday was the actual big day!! We commemorated it in a fairly modest fashion: visiting both Nana and Grandpa at work, walking up and down the lights aisle at Home Depot a couple times, watching "Five Little Monkeys" and some of her other favorite songs on Youtube, wearing her pink tutu, and eating her favorite baked french toast for dinner. We opted out of a cake due to all the sweets already consumed during the last few days and had some low-cal strawberry ice cream instead. And a tiny bit of the doughnut Nana brought too!
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| Funny faces with Nana |
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| Enthralled by the pretty lights (why go to Peter Piper Pizza when Home Depot's free?) |
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| Helping Grandpa at work |
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| Wearing: pink tutu, stripey leggings, hairbow, french toast, whipped cream, and now: doughnut |
Rory was such a trooper the whole week! We're so proud of our big one year old!
You better hide this post when your other children are old enough to read and see that you made such a fuss over Rory's first birthday and with them, you barely remembered to make a cake from a mix you had your husband or mother run out to the store at the last minute to get...I'm just sayin', you think that's never going to happen and that you will make such a fuss and take as many pictures of the next kids, but it's impossible! Rory is too adorable not to make a fuss over and it sure is fun having that first baby/grandbaby! You did great! (Oh, and by the way, when I read about her eating 2 cupcakes, I kept trying to figure out how she ate a candle (gross, but definitely possible and likely with a one-year-old) and a song (not so sure how she ate a song...I really had to think about that one until I figured out I had misread the sentence). Adorably dresses! I'm a little jealous and wishing that Annie could be 1 again for a day :)
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