One Year Old in a FLASH!

My oh my, how time does fly!  How could one year have already gone by?!

That is what Emilie's birthday invitations read for her One Year Old in a FLASH birthday party.  We themed it with pictures everywhere and places to take pictures to remember the day.  And we thanked everyone for Emilie's "picture perfect" first year.

Since we are living at my parent's house now, we hosted the party there, in my parents sunroom and backyard.  It was the perfect setting and, (thank you Lord), we had the perfect weather to accompany the occasion.  I loved decorating everything in bright fun colors of hot pink, orange, lime green, turquoise and bright purple.  Jason took the day before the party off to smoke a 15 pound pork shoulder to make the most delicious pulled pork people at the party said they had ever tasted.  He made a fancy sauce to go with it, and I have to say, it was amazing.  My mom made her famous baked beans, my grandma made her delicious "GG cookies" as Marin calls them, Jason made a gourmet pasta salad, and we cooked up a ton of peas, because up until the day before the party, they were all Emilie would eat. Of course, with the ever changing likes and need-to-have-now-in-mass-quantity characteristics of  any toddler, Emilie refused to eat a single pea at her party. 

We made a giant frame out of 2X4's and I spray painted it hot pink and bought a whole bunch of photo props for the kids and adults to dress up and have their picture taken for Emilie's scrap book.  This was a real hit for everyone from age 2 to 62.  We had old school camera printed with Emilie's picture and again thanking everyone for making her first year picture perfect.  And we dug up pictures from Jason and my first birthday parties as well, just for kicks.

I made a photo wall of her month by month pictures with her pink bear and in that same chair (except when we were on vacation at 3 months and at my parents house at 12 months).  That is really fun to look at and see how much she's changed.  It really is amazing how much they learn in the first year.

We had a great time and I think the guests did too.  Emilie loved her cake (decorated with pictures of her made entirely by hand, out of chocolate).  The inside of the cake matched the color theme of the party, and let's just say that Emilie ate her cake and ice cream better than she ate her peas. 

We found a few days later that Emilie had an ear infection, so she was a little clingy at the party, but really she had a great time, and gave a lot of great big smiles for all of her friends and family.  She even bounced in the bounce house for a little bit!

It was a great day and a great celebration of our sweet little one year old Emmie cakes.  Happy Birthday, sweetheart.  We love you so much!