Pink Puppy Party

Baby's first birthday. We have gone from midnight feedings and swaddling, to playing peek-a-boo and chasing the dog in what seems like the blink of an eye.

I remember giving away baby clothes and toys just a few short months ago. More than giving away things, I had given up hope for this little one. I truly came to the point of realizing that our family was probably not going to be any bigger than just the 4 of us. As soon I chose to be okay with the situation, guess what? Baby. God loves to keep me on my toes. :o)

The big kids decided on a pink puppy theme for their little sister's party because of baby's favorite toy rattle, generally referred to as "Pink Puppy." It seems to go everywhere with her. It has been doused with milk, dug through sand, and is completely and thoroughly well-loved. Conveniently, Pink Puppy is shaped like the letter O, making it perfect for spelling "one." Awwww ...

Thanks to this promotion from CVS and a little work in photoshop, I was able to print invitations, party decorations, pics to give the grandma's (which I forgot to hand out at the party), and more, all for free! I'm a HUGE fan of free.

I love planning parties, which will explain the obsessive use of pink in all of the pictures in this post. I'm the kind of person who looks forward to picking up a bag of valentines day m&ms 2 months early and feeding my family the red and purple ones so that only the right colors are in the bowl on party day. Yeah, it's a bit crazy, but I love the feeling of having everything coordinate - it makes the day special.

The party was scheduled for 4:00 which is right after nap time. Unfortunately, with all of the excitement, my little one didn't want to take her full nap, so I was playing with borrowed time. Expecting baby to loose it before the end of the party, I decided to start with letting her unwrap her gifts. Okay, let me rephrase that - we let everyone under the age of 9 unwrap her gifts while she sat nearby looking on and giving me sideways glances that seemed to say, "Woah!"

After everyone else moved on to other things, baby finally got her hands on her gifts. This grocery cart has been lots of fun. She pushes it at top speed across the room until she bangs in to a wall or piece of furniture. She will then stand there squeaking "Aah, aah" until someone notices, turns her cart around, and off she zooms to the other end of the room.

While the dads grilled hotdogs and hamburgers (Is it wrong to serve HotDOGS at a Puppy Party?). I pulled out the crafts for the kids: Finger puppets and puppy notepads. Too fun.

Baby's first birthday cake was the funniest thing ever. She took forever with it, slowing down with each bite. Remember that missed nap - well it caught up with her. Thanks to my helpful brother in law, I have tons of pics - literally almost 100 of just the cake. I weeded it down to the best 20 for you. Don't miss the last one, it is priceless.

Phew! That is the last birthday for us until next year. Having 5 people with birthdays all crammed into 9 weeks is a bit frantic. Looking forward to watching these little ones grow up for another year.