Carleigh's Fairy Garden Party - Part 1 - The Decorations

What an unbelievable 1st birthday party!  Our little garden fairy was such an angel the entire time.  I have so many photos that I am separating this into two parts: the party decor and the party itself.  Over 2 months of planning went into this spectacular day and lots of people helped out!  My idea stemmed from http://tomkatstudio.blogspot.com/2010/03/tomkat-studio-kates-fairy-garden.html and I think I did a pretty good job of replicating the party with my own take on things and keeping it one year old appropriate.  A big thanks to my mom, my mother-in-law, and Catherine and Isabel for your tremendous pulling everything together!  I couldn't have done it without y'all.  Dustin, my dad and my father-in-law were also huge in setting up and Brad was my photographer, so thank you endlessly!!!

 

This poster hung over the fireplace on our wrought iron decor piece which acted as a frame for it.

Pom Poms are so fun!

Pictures from birth to her 1st year made a great garland!

Dusty and I had a personalized Fairy Tale book made for Carleigh that will be a keepsake forever.

My favorite centerpiece!  So whimsical and the tutu is not only perfect for a fairy princess but hides stems well, too!  Carleigh's first year baby book was on display and was her blog printed out for the first year!!!

I cut over 350 circles and punched I don't know how many scalloped flowers.  The results were worth all the effort!

The party favors were personalized embroidered t-shirts done by my mom (Ritzy Rugrats).   For the boys:  a frog prince.  For the girls: a frog princess.  What better way to say, "thank you for coming to my fairy garden party?"

Even though the cake was to die for, Carleigh's allergies didn't allow for her to eat it.  So after 2 unsuccessful attempts at sucrose free, lactose free, and maltose free cupcakes, I finally succeeded on try number 3 the night before the party!  Thank you so much Beth for the recipe and tips!  Catherine and Isabel got a "special" cupcake, too!

Close-up of the garden fairy cake.  So beautiful!  We barely had any left!  Everyone loved it and after one piece, many people asked for a taste of the other flavor!  The first layer was triple chocolate and the second was yellow.

The plates and cups were all coordinating with the theme, a laborious task, but after seeing the finished result, totally worth it!

The food display.  On the menu was: Pixie Pink Lemonade, Edible Butterflies, Gnomes in Blankets, Sugary Fairy Wands, Woodland Water, Fairy Pizza, Frog-cut Fruit Assortment, Tasty Toadstools, First Fairy Food (baby food on a cupcake stand), and Snail Caesar Salad.

The backyard had a kids bouncehouse, two baby pools, our water table and a tot-sized slide for the kiddos to keep themselves entertained.  We had to watch the time to make sure we didn't go over, things went so well!

Tomorrow, I will upload photos from the party!!!

Special thanks to:

TomKat Studio: http://www.etsy.com/shop/tomkatstudio

Modern Bebe Designs http://www.etsy.com/shop/Kimis02

Continental Floral Greens and Best Blooms c/o Jim Everett and Juanita Figueroa

A Dash of Color: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ADashOfColor

Fairy Wonderful http://www.etsy.com/shop/FairyWonderful
Lisa Kattman Creative http://lisakattmancreative.blogspot.com/

Ritzy Rugrats (our shop!) http://www.etsy.com/shop/RitzyRugrats

Isabel and Catherine Pisano - Junior Hostesses

Victor and Beth Pisano, Merl Talley, Sharon Paxton - Servingware

Andrea and Ronnie Tondre - Menu task and outdoor setup

Anne Everett - decoration committee, seamstress and embroider

Happy Birthday!

This was your father and me one year ago today.

This was you one year ago.

This is us all today.

One year, and so many memories later ... you, my darling Carleigh have brought so much light into our lives.  I wish you more than a Happy Birthday, I wish you a Happy Lifetime.  I want you to live life to it's fullest, laugh more than you cry, smile more than you frown, give with abandon and keep your innocence as long as you can.  You are our first born, yet you are our baby, you are amazing, you are our everything.  You are our Carleigh ... your life has just begun!!!  You are ONE!

I know she doesn't mean it ...

Yesterday, Carleigh woke up in the best mood!  She was laughing and smiling and just being such a cute girl (quite a change from the molar monster she had been the day before).  So, her precocious behavior while I was clearing her breakfast didn't seem peculiar ... until I hear the sound of liquid spilling on the kitchen tile floor.  She had manged to pull the rubber spout out of her Nuk sippy cup and pour her Pedialyte all over the floor.  I stifled a curse word and tried to laugh about her "smarts" and "curiousity" as Dustin would tell me to do, and set to work cleaning up her mess.  Meanwhile,  while I am busy cleaning, Maddie takes advantage of the situation at hand ...

Not 2 minutes later, I heard a clinking noise and a splatter noise in the family room.  Something had definitely fallen and broken.  So I rushed in there, and saw Carleigh drenched in coffee (thankfully it had been sitting there over an hour and was cool), and the coffee cup was broken on the family room rug!!!  I quickly checked to see if Carleigh had any shards of glass on her, which she didn't, and then put her on the couch while I cleaned up the mess, and asked her "to stay put."  My hope was that she would sit there watching TV while I cleaned both messes (though I didn't expect her to actually do as I said).  She must have been scared because she sat there for a full 30 minutes and I got most of the messes cleaned up enough for us to go about our day.

What a morning!  I was worn out by 9!  I know she doesn't mean to do this to me. :)  She was in such a good mood, though, that I couldn't be mad at her.  Later on, my mom came over to steam clean our rug and the couches.  Papaw also stopped by to put together some of her birthday gifts so we can use them for Saturday's party.  Carleigh had a great time testing them out!

Ball Crazy

I know I posted pics a week or so ago of Carleigh with her ball, but it's one of her favorite toys these days!!!  Talk about cheap entertainment!

Busy Day

We visited Daddy at work today and had a picnic at one of the many playgrounds at USAA.  Dusty and Calriegh played together, even though he was wearing his work clothes.   It was a rare treat to see Daddy during the work day!

Later on I helped Carleigh with his sign language moves.  She loves to watch the DVD.  We'll see if any of the moves stick.  Only "all done" is mastered.  She even says "aw duh."

Carleigh couldn't join us that evening, but would've if she could've.  We went and had dinner and drinks with Shay for her 26th birthday.  Good times!

1 year letter to my baby

I saw this on my friend, Megan's blog and she does it each year for her children and I think it's a terrific way for you to go back and reflect on the year that has past and look forward to the year to come.  So, Megan, I hope you don't mind me borrowing the idea for my blog (and baby book).

To Carleigh on your 1st Birthday,

     Carleigh, one year ago, your dad and I never expected to have this much fulfillment out of our child!  We were still in awe of the change in our lives you brought!  What an awesome change you were!  At one, you have object awareness, are able to connect two words (pretty much just Hi, Dada and Hi, Mama), but still … you simply amaze me everyday!  You have been ahead of the curve this year developmentally and began walking at 9.5 months!  This has brought so much excitement into all of our lives!  You and I can now explore life together in a completely new way!  We take walks, play on playgrounds, you climb on things and have even started running!

     You truly are such a delight to be around.  Strangers (to you) sometimes still scare you, as you are still going through stranger anxiety and you have begun the stage of separation anxiety in the past month or so.  Though inconvenient, I still continue to expose you to other people so you can get past these phases.  You go to the gym with me 5 times a week and all the girls there know you by name, though you typically get a “fussy” report following my workout.  You have begun to assert your independence by running away from the people you love or trying to get out of their arms.  It’s your way of saying you can do it yourself!  And most recently, you have gotten one sign down, the sign for “all done!”

     Six months ago, the adjective “delight,” wouldn’t have been used to describe you. You were experiencing serious tummy troubles and friends of ours thought we had the exorcist as a baby.  But after an endoscopy/sigmoidoscopy and a great Gastroenterologist, you are light-years away from where you were then.  You are still on your Prevacid, but are drinking your Amino-Acid based formula pretty well and are eating solids like a champ.  Fruits, veggies and meats are your mainstays for foods.  We are pretty sure your Duodenitis is gone and when we go back for a second endoscopy in September, you’ll hopefully get a clean bill of health and perhaps your dietary deficiencies might be outgrown.

     This next year, perhaps we can spend a little more time “well.”  Your dad jokes that they know us by name at Good Night Pediatrics. But more often than not, we were right for going. You were one sick little girl between 6-9 months!

     The way you are behaving right now makes us want another child!!!  Don’t worry, baby girl, that won’t happen for a while to come, but we now see why people do have other children!  I so easily forget the hard times at the beginning because the rewards pile up tenfold shortly thereafter.

     Some of my favorite things to do with you right now are: waking up in the morning to get you! Normally you ask for “Dada,” though, but that’s okay because he loves it!  The mood you are in at the early time of 6:30 am is one of your best of the day, therefore we do not mind getting up with you at all!  I love the cuddly time we have after you awake from naps because you snuggle in my arms and I know you won’t let me hold you for much longer, so I’m treasuring these moments.  When Daddy gets home in the late afternoons from work, we love to turn on the ipod dock or put on your Laurie Berkner CD and dance with you!  You are one dancing fool already!!!

     In the next year to come, I am so enthusiastic to see what a little girl you turn into.  As your communication skills increase and your physical abilities advance, I know we will make fantastic memories trying new things and accomplishing milestones.  You will only get more beautiful, I am sure, though I don’t know how that’s possible.  Your fierce stubbornness and incredible moodiness make me smile and remind your father of me daily.  It will be interesting to see if your personality continues to mimic mine or if you will become a little more laid back.  However you develop and change, know that I love you (as does your Daddy) more than anything in the world!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Mommy