kaelyn’s 1st birthday: a giraffe party!

I don’t know why I took so long to put up this post, seeing that her party was two weeks ago already. Whoops! Finally, here it is, my sweet baby’s first birthday party! It wasn’t anything fancy, but we really had the best time with family and friends. My heart is so full knowing how many people love our little princess.

We had a giraffe-themed party, since Kaelyn really seemed to get especially excited over any and all giraffe toys for a while. I made the cake, and was inspired by this to try to make it 3-dimensional. This was my first-ever attempt at something like this, and while it is far from perfect, I am definitely proud of the result! The body was cake and the rest was make of Rice Krispies Treats.

06272015collage4 This girl only wanted to pull crazy-faced smiles that day! I think her grandmas brought this on…06272015collage3 Love my girl.06272015collage2 So many presents for such a tiny baby! Don’t look too hard at the cake… his ears were already falling off at this point, and by the time we cut the cake, his whole head was crumbling. It was a hot day, his head was too heavy, and I probably should have used more marshmallows to glue his head together. Now I know for next time!_MG_8211 The decor was pretty simple. I loved having all twelve months of my princess on display!_MG_8214When we sang “Happy Birthday”, Michael and I automatically filled in “Baba Grace” instead of saying “Kaelyn”. Whoops. We might call her by her Kaya-given nickname more than her real moniker. She wasn’t sure what to think of the candle!_MG_8219 She had no idea what to do with her cake. She did get some on her finger… and when she just barely tasted it, she was disgusted. I promise the cake was good! I’m sure things will be different next year. 🙂06272015collage1 Big sister got to help open all the gifts. This was the highlight of her week after everything she endured just a few days before._MG_8237 _MG_8238I think this piano was the biggest hit. Naturally, everyone wanted to play with it at the same time.
_MG_8261 _MG_8242 Our good friend Caroline loved being in on the action! For some reason, this picture just cracks me up._MG_8258 Kaelyn’s big gift from Mommy and Daddy was a Little People farm. She loves it!_MG_8265 Daddy left this as a  surprise on my camera… It’s the only picture he’s in besides the group one (whoops), so I figured I’d throw it in. Also… #kittyphotobomb_MG_8235I’m grateful that so many people could come to the party! Bianca and her girls left before we snapped this picture._MG_8274 And then of course I had to do something crazy, like put my baby in a bucket, tie balloons to it, and take her picture._MG_8287Also, let me just mention- same bucket, same baby, one year ago. I cannot believe she was so small!_MG_3270 Back to the present…_MG_8281

Love this little scrunchy, double-toothed grin._MG_8285Happy 1st Birthday Princess! We love you more than you know!