A party fit for a bean

It’s her day!  (Or, at least it was her day on April 30th, when we threw her a backyard cookout with our closest friends.) 

We couldn’t have asked for a better day in a string of horrible days (weather-wise).  And thanks to Gramp-e’s generosity and some quick thinking on the part of a friend, we arranged to have a huge princess castle bounce house to keep the kids occupied and out of both my house, and the rain-swollen creek!A pre-party cheeseburger.  Because I figured once the bounce house went up, it’d be the last we would see of him all day.  And I was right.  Bounce house went up at 3, and I he didn’t make an appearance again until it went down at 8:30, and even then, it was only to swipe a frosted sugar cookie, and then crash on the couch with Gramp-e.

60 cheap WalMart balloons.  Gotta love it!
       

Her place of honor for the day:

Taking it all in with Aunt Mer-mer before the festivities began.

 

Seth getting some tips from (or maybe doling them out to?) Uncle Tommy.

 
Going exploring before all the bigger kiddos arrived and she was forced to retreat to her high chair.

My sweet birthday girl.

And her boyfriend…..love the Xander-man.

Sneaking a kiss from my girl.

Maddie-girl enjoying the first berries of the season.  (This seems to be her pose of choice lately.  I can’t tell you how many pics I have of this girl’s tonsils!)

I opted to forego a birthday cake for the party, and made a spread of homemade shortcakes with strawberries and cream; an almond pound cake with strawberry rhubarb and pineapple preserves; chocolate truffle brownies; and frosted sugar cookies.  Surprisingly enough, the solo berries were the hit of the night with the kiddos.

I was having a great hair day…..and then the thermometer crept upwards of 80 and I started running around like a man woman doing finishing touches, and well….this is as good as it got!

 
So many friends gathered to make our girl’s day so special.  We feel so blessed that she has such amazing people in her life who love her, and work to be good role models for her.  It makes it a little easier to be so far away from our families.

   

hah!  This was right after catching him placing the ice cubes, one by one, from the ice bucket into the ice water pitcher.  Sneaky little guy!

 
So bittersweet, placing a ONE on her cupcake.  Where has the year gone?

She loved being sung to….

Convincing her it was okay to dive in….

 
A little coaxing….

There we go!

 

These were the party favors I made….M&M jars with “thank you” tags with Erin’s one-year picture attached.  I was really happy with how they turned out:

And that’s all folks!  I’ve been blessed with a beautiful daughter, and a whole slew of beautiful friends and family who gathered to celebrate her with us!