Curran's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated the big day this past Saturday! I wanted to pick a time for the party that I thought would be best for Curran, and since she is usually in the best mood after her morning nap, I decided on 11:00. And since I was having the party in the morning, I decided to have brunch. We served breakfast casserole, mini quiches, grits, fruit, asparagus, orange rolls from Urban Cookhouse that are SO yummy, and lemonade tea.

The only thing I was not looking forward to was having it in the heat of the day, and because our house is small, we basically have to utilize the outside. But luckily it ended up being overcast for some of the party, so that helped. Don't get me wrong...it was still extremely hot, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. However, inside our house felt like a sauna because it is old and poorly insulated, and with so many people inside it is nearly impossible to keep cool. Oh well. I was still pretty happy with how everything turned out.

I was worried about how C would do with so many people around, but she did great! She wasn't clingy and let a lot of people hold her. I was so glad that she was in a good mood for most of the day! Although the time of the party was great for her, I don't think it was as great for the few other babies that were there. :(

As I mentioned before, the colors I used were hot pink, light pink, and turquoise. I had planned on C wearing the dress she is wearing in the previous post {a gift from my friend Megan}, as it was the inspiration for the theme of the party, but I was at a sample sale a few months ago and saw this outfit and thought it was too perfect to pass up!

It matched the party colors perfectly! Cheesy, yes, but I went with it nonetheless. Speaking of cheesy, I wore hot pink and suggested that John wear his turquoise polo. :) Normally I would NEVER do something that gag-worthy, but I feel like if you can't be cheesy at your child's first birthday, when can ya? I fully expected people to go home and make fun of us, but most people said they didn't even notice until I pointed it out. :)

Here are some pics from the party. There are a lot, but we took well over 500, so really these are just a small sampling. :) I would have made a slide show, but I don't know how. And if you've already seen them on facebook, then you may want to skip this part because they are the same ones. 

The favors were iced sugar cookies with a 1 on them {from Icing on the Cookie}. However I forgot to tell people to take them so we had a lot leftover. Whoops.

My parents used to make all our birthday cakes when we were little, so I asked them to make C's. They haven't done one in about 20 years, so they were disappointed with how it turned out. My mom called me the morning before the party and told me I better order something from a bakery because it looked like a kindergartner did it. But I thought it turned out cute!

John wanted to get these monogrammed plastic cups to serve the Bloody Mary's out of. My friend Prim had some really cute ones at her wedding, so she graciously offered to take charge of ordering them for us.

Me and my birthday gal!

John and Katharyn Lowry with their best friends' daughter, Macey

Erin and John, Mitchell & Brooke Maedel

Curran was excited to see her neighbor and classmate Lillian!

Curran and Mitchell...I don't think there was an instant love connection.

Backyard game of bocce.

Samantha and C

It was hard to keep her attention away from the balloons. They are still entertaining her today.

First piece of cake!

A teeny taste of icing...

Back to the balloons.

She didn't get too messy...I have to say she ate it like a little lady. :)

My dad was dying to give her some ice cream. She has had a few tastes before, but of course he was excited to give it to her again!

We had a quick wardrobe change after cake.

Morgan and C

You got something on your lip there Sister.

Getting some more cake from Marc

Prim and Marc 

After a nap, we opened presents. She got so many great things and loves them all! One of her favorite gifts was a new baby doll from my parents. When we unwrapped it, she started freaking out because I couldn't get the baby out of the packaging fast enough! It came with a bottle and she quickly learned how to give her baby the bottle. So cute!

But sadly Old Baby was forgotten. C literally threw her out of the stroller and put her new doll in. :) {That stroller was mine when I was little and my parents just brought it in town for C.}

Wearing her new tutu from her Great Aunt Susie for a ride in her new wagon from Mama and Daddy.

Uncle Charlie and Camille took C on her first ride

Hanging on to her new Mickey from Uncle Robert. Don't let the serious face fool you...she loves the wagon! She FREAKS OUT when I take her out of it!

Chewing on a new bath toy from cousins Keith & Abby

Birthdays are so fun!

Thanks so much to Craig, Christopher, and Aunt Mary for taking such wonderful pictures!

They say it takes a village to raise a child, well it also takes a village to throw said child's first birthday party! We absolutely could not have done it with out so many people who graciously helped us out! {This is starting to sound like an Academy Award acceptance speech.} From borrowing serving pieces from my sister and Katharyn, to Megan ordering and picking up the table cloths, to Prim taking care of the cups and giving us wine to use, to Katharyn going to get plants the night before the party and babysitting so I could run errands, to my sister's MIL for putting together the favors, cleaning, and cooking, to borrowing chairs from Samantha, to my MIL and Camille who helped clean up afterwards, to my sister and parents who did a million and one other things to get us ready, and to all the people who made an effort to come to the party. I am seriously indebted to so many people!

I have been thinking about C's birthday for so long, and for all my friends to come celebrate and help make the day so special meant so much to me! I know I have said it before, but I am SO blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life!