Happy 1st Birthday Ellison!

Sweet Ellison -

Happy 1st Birthday, love.  You are such a blessing and the most amazing gift we've ever been given.  You have brought joy and love and smiles into every single day of the last year.  It has been truly unbelievable to watch you grow and learn.  You are turning into such a smart, sweet, and spunky little girl.  We just can't believe how lucky we are to get to be your parents.  Thank you for making this journey into parenthood so smooth.  You are perfect and beautiful and gentle and we are so excited to see what the world has in store for you.

You are the light of our lives.  We love you to the moon and stars and back again.

All our love, forever and always,

Mama and Dada




Ellie Belle -

Happy Birthday!  You are such a wonderful sister!  Thank you for playing with me and not pulling my tail.  I don't mind you playing with my toys, even though I'm not allowed to play with yours, and I also don't mind sharing my sunshine spot with you every now and then.  I love you and will always take care of you.

Snuggles and Sloppy Kisses -

Buddy

"Ellison in Onederland" - Smash Cake & Gifts

I knew that the smash cake was either going to be a huge hit or a huge fail with Ellison!  The few bites of sweets we've let her taste she's loved so much, but she's not a huge fan of having dirty hands!  She was a bit timid at first, but once she got past the icing and into the cake, she was more interested!

 

Happy Birthday to You!

 

 Interesting...

 

 Open wide!

 

Yum!

 

Figuring things out. 

 

Oh, cake!

 

Yep, now she's got it.

 

You want some cake?

 

 

Now, mix it all up!

 

 

Ellison was too spoiled at her party and got so many sweet, wonderful gifts!  She was more interested in the envelopes from the cards than actually opening presents, but she was very thankful nonetheless!  She got a monogrammed Anywhere Chair, a wagon, cute clothes, a pretty engraved snowglobe, lots of books, and so many other thoughtful gifts and toys!  We'll be taking one toy at a time out of the closet for months!

 

 

 

 

 She was loving this xylophone!

 

Admiring her new silver engraved bangle.

 

 

 

 

This girl loves some shoes.  Can you tell?

 

The party continued at home!

 

 

We had such a fun time.  I plan for future parties to be a little less Pinterest inspired.  This was a big one though!  We made it!  One whole year and Ellison is happy, healthy, and thriving.  We were celebrating Ellison's big day, but we were also celebrating making it through our first year of parenthood!  I must say, I think we're doing just fine.

 

"Ellison in Onederland" - Food, Guests, and Fun!

We made all of the food for Ellison's party ourselves except for the cupcakes and smash cake.  Since it was a tea party lunch, we decided to go with light foods which made it easy to prepare at home.  The internet is a wonderful thing and really got my creative juices flowing! 

We had...

Bread and {Peanut} Butterflies - PB & J sandwiches cut out with a butterfly shaped sandwich cutter.

A Sandwich Garden - Chicken Salad, Turkey and Cheese, and Pimiento Cheese Sandwiches.  A few of each of the types of sandwiches were cut out with flower shaped cookie cutters and sprinkled throughout the pile.

Off With Their Heads Fruit Skewers - Watermelon, Strawberries, Grapes, and Cantaloupe on wooden skewers.

Blue Caterpillar Pasta Salad - Rotini pasta dyed blue with a little food coloring, mixed with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, black olives, parmesan cheese, and olive oil.

March Hare Fare - Veggies with Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip and Hummus

Unsweet Tea, Pink {Flamingo} Lemonade, and Water

Golden Afternoon Bunny Grahams - Annie's Organic Bunny Shaped Cookies

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Dums

Royal Guardsmen Rice Krispy Treats

Cupcakes:  Paint the Roses Red Velvet, Cheshire Cat Chocolate, and White Rabbit Vanilla

I bought a plain white Patty Cake from Harris Teeter.  It cost my $6 and I made the topper.  Hard to beat that I think!

Sweet Ellie Belle is in a stage where she points at everything!  She had so many things to point at and question!  She especially loved pointing at the tissue puff balls and the balloons!

 

We had so much fun with all of our family and friends.  We had about 30 of our nearest and dearest there to celebrate sweet Ellison. 

 

 

She has also turned into a huge lover of bubbles!  They make her so happy!!  Good thing we had lots of willing participants to stand around and blow them for a solid 20 minutes!

 

 

We had a big metal tub full of ice and water bottles.  At the end of the party when the ice had melted, Ellison and her little friend Trinity discovered the tub and proceeded to dip in mini tea cups and have themselves a drink!  Ellison also decided to lose the skirt at the end of the party and run around like a wild woman.  Must have been the sugar!