Skylar's 1st Birthday Party

After months of planning the big day had finally arrived, it was Skylar's 1st Birthday Party and Jake and I were really excited to celebrate with all of our friends and family.  Since Skylar's nickname to most is Bugs, we decided on a lady bug theme party.  My mom and I had been putting together little items for the party here and there for months now and were really eager to see it all come together.

We definitely had a handful of things to do before the party but luckily we had a ton of help from Paul and Suzie who came into town earlier in the week and my parents who arrived early that morning.  Paul took the lead in cleaning up the backyard, Suzie and my Mom worked on all the craft projects and decorating we needed that day, my Dad made all the last few trips to the store for anything we may have forgot, Jake was in charge of putting together most of the food, I decided to take on the challenge of baking some of the desserts, and the Birthday Girl just played until it was her nap time before the party started.  With everyones help we got the house put together, the food dished, and the desserts set up.

 

Well rested Skylar was ready for her party to begin.  She wore her little lady bug dress that I found and was greeted by so many people at once that I think she was pretty overwhelmed the first hour or so because she only wanted to be with mom or dad.  Once she warmed up, she was mingling all over the place making it known she was the birthday girl.  

After everyone enjoyed their pull porked sandwiches and yummy side dishes, it was cake time and I was hoping we wouldn't have a repeat of what happened with Skylar's cake on her actual birthday.  The cake was such a highlight of the party.  It was so cute and I really wanted Skylar to enjoy it.  We had everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to her and once again, Skylar didn't want her cake and refused to even take a bite.  Jake said we should of made the cake out of Ritz crackers and she would of been in heaven.  The cake wasn't a hit for Skylar but the rest of the desserts everyone seemed to enjoy, which was a big relief for me because I didn't want to be left with 40 cupcakes, 20 cake pops, and 30 lady bug cookies.

After pressure from everyone at the at party we opened up about half of Skylar's gifts.  We have some of the greatest and most generous friends and family because Skylar had a ton of presents.  Uncle Matthew and Aunt Erin ended up giving Skylar her two favorite gifts because she decided to put a show on in the backyard playing with her new wagon and push car.  She even started crying when I took her out of her push car because she was having so much fun. 

After 5 hours of straight partying the Birthday Girl went down for a nap and we were able to say our "thank you's" and "good-byes" to most of the guest, while a few friends stayed to visit longer and help knock out some cleaning.  Once Skylar woke up from her nap the grandparents, Uncle Matthew and Aunt Erin hung around to watch Skylar open up her remaining presents.  Which turned out to Mom opening Skylar's gift and Skylar playing with all the wrapping paper with Dad.

You only plan your first baby's first birthday party once and after all the hard work and stress of putting the party together Jake and I were thrilled with how it turned out.   That morning I was a pretty big stress case and said I would never do a party like that again and we would all be at Chuck E. Cheese next year but after seeing how it turned out and how much fun Skylar had I would do all the over again in a second.  I must give "Thanks" to my Mom who helped me out with everything and when I say "everything" I mean "everything", my Dad for getting all the pulled pork, Paul and Suzie for doing anything and everything we asked them to do those few days they were there, Erin for taking all the amazing photos, Jake for just putting up with me during the whole planning process, and of course my BIGGEST THANKS to my Little Bug for just turning 1!