The Family on the girls' first birthday (with lots of icing!!)
Well, we finally made it! The girls are now one-year old. Now we can officially give them whatever we want to eat (minus honey and peanut butter), including real cows milk. Gone are the days of buying formula at Costco(at least for now) and really short are they days their carseats face backwards (Ava still has another pound to gain).
The party was lots of fun with 24 little kidlets (only 4 of them over the age of 4). We had a jump house in the front of the house and a kiddie corral in the back where parents could watch them well. We also had the water table, a present from their Aunt Ainsley and Uncle Patrick, out and the girls with their cousin Antonio just couldn't leave it alone.
Everyone's favorite part of watching the girls' first taste of real sugar and icing proved hard to forget. Here's a video clip post birthday-song and deep into the icing enjoyment:
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There are also lots of pictures of the fun. You can find them here.
I had to start my day at 6am and just barely made it ready by 11:30 am after going to Costco and Walgreens and handing off the Safeway trip to my brother-in-law. But, after 18 balloons, 3 cakes (Safeway gives one free round cake to each kid celebrating their first birthday), tons of drinks, sandwich setups and 2 different salads, I felt ready enough to greet the first guests. I couldn't believe that it took as long as it did. I never would have been able to be ready if it weren't for the help from my mother, sister and her husband (a million thanks, guys!).
I'm really glad that I made in advance a couple of mementos: little hand-painted ceramic plates for each of them to use every year on their birthday as well as a framed "official" birthday photo where each of the guests had an opportunity to sign their name and a short greeting onto the matte. We had also stamped their feet with water-based ink on the matte before people signed to make it that much more memorable. I actually forgot to lay the matte out until near the end, so I'm going to try to chase everyone down so that it is complete. I would recommend these little touches; I think we will really appreciate them later down the line.
