Part 2: First Birthday Bash

We had a fun little BBQ with hot dogs, homemade chili(with most things out of Papa's garden), and yummy salad.

Love this picture of Liam and Izzy. They had so, so, so much fun together.



Then it was present time. The kids love that Addy's not old enough to care if they 'help' her open her gifts. Next year she may object a bit, but they had a lot of fun. :)


She got her own swing for the swingset from Mommy, Daddy and Liam.

After that was the big cake smash! Addy was very neat initially, then she discovered the real frosting and she loved it. She took her time and really enjoyed herself. Toward the end, she started clapping and laughing and showing us that she is "ONE!" What a sweetheart



I love this sneezy picture. :D



It's amazing how fun it is to watch a one-year-old destroy her birthday cake. Everyone enjoys that.

I decided not to do cake for dessert and instead do caramel apples. This was a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed dipping their apples and adding their own topppings. It was definitely a hit.




The kids had so much fun. Little Scott chased them around and they laughed and laughed. Addy LOVED her swing and was all smiles just swinging the evening away. It was a perfect evening and we're so thankful for all the wonderful people we have in our life to celebrate with us.


After all the fun, we threw all the kiddos in the bath and let Addy try out her adorable new towel from Titi and Uncle Shaawn:


Happy birthday, sweet angel. We love you!

Look Whoooo's One!

I wanted to have a nice little party for Addy; Casual and fun surrounded by good family and friends and not pressured. That's exactly what we had. It was a lovely afternoon and Addy seemed to enjoy herself, even though she was just recovering from a yucky bout of croup.

I'd been planning her party for quite a while, simply because I have so much fun planning parties for my children. I knew I wanted to continue the owl theme to her party, just because they are soo cute and I love them. :D Her grandma made her this adorable owl skirt for her to wear to her party. I loved her cute little party outfit. What a beautiful one year old!








I made little owls similar to Liam's monsters. They were so cute and look great in her room now.




Wes and I teamed up to make Addy's owl smash cake. I'm so pleased how it turned out and was shocked to learn that the photo I patterned it after was exactly similar to her party plates, balloons and napkins. So fun!






Party Time!





And here are just some of our lovely guests.
















I'll be back with more pictures of dinner, cake and presents!

Harvest Carnival

Liam's school puts on a harvest carnival every year as a fundraiser. Because the kids can't wear their costumes to school, this also gives them an opportunity to wear their costumes at the event.  This year, the carnival landed on Addy's birthday.  Grandpa Stephenson and Uncle Beannie had just come in to celebrate Addy's birthday, so they joined us for the fun.

First, the costumes. Wes's mom did an amazing job, as always, with the costumes. One day Liam was watching "The Santa Claus 3" and decided he wanted to be Jack Frost. He called up Grandma to tell her and she made him the perfect three-piece suit for the costume. She also made Addy's owl jacket with was soo adorable.


Ms. Owl, taking flight:

Jack, trying to freeze me:

Daddy giving him frosted hair:


I was pretty shocked but about 90% of the people knew immediately who Liam was. He was a pretty darn good Jack Frost!

At the carnival they have games set up in all of the classrooms and you win little prizes. Here are a few photos of the event.






It was a very fun fall evening and the perfect end to Addy's first birthday.

First Taste of Germany

I just found these photos and wanted to post them. Wes made a delicious sauerbraten and Addy had her first taste. She *loved* it.  She's a German at heart.






Here are a couple of others I just found as well. Addy *loves* to bang on the screen door and yell for people. She thinks she's just hilarious.