Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Lou's 1st Birthday Party!!! (3 months late!)


Every girl needs her name in 40" balloon's for her first birthday! 
 Side walk art (don't mind the dead plants, it was still cold.) 


 You have no idea how much glue and glitter it took to do this. 
 You can't really tell in this picture but in the middle are gold pipe cleaner crowns I made for the kids.
The wands have Fimo stars tied to them that I stamped all of the kids names in. 
 Hand painted gold-dotted goody bags. 
 These gummy bags were mostly stuffed by my Dad (THANKS DAD!) and they have a little sticker on them that says "Thanks for helping me celebrate! Love, Lou" 

Oh yes, I did decorate that cake!



We did have more for brunch than just sweets, it just looked best before the rest of the food was on the table.



Loudoo-Donuts (Voodoo donuts)  
 I wish I had gotten a close up of the sprinkles. They were the tiniest gold stars you have ever seen. 


 Again...that glitter at the bottom of the jars and the utensils...soooo much glitter and about a year of my life (not really).

Strawberry milk. 
 Lou's crown is lace that I painted with fabric stiffener, shaped, and then painted gold and attached a elastic band. 
That tassel garland...I slowly worked on it for 4 (yes, 4) months.
The gold letters "LOU" were painted gold (by my Dad) and then I pinned each disc into the letters. It was surprisingly quick and easy.
My mom cut all of these letters out. She deserves a gold medal. 
A year of Lou. 
 It was hard to get a good picture of this, but I printed a TON of photos of Lou's first year and we used them to spell her name. 
FAMILY

 Get it, Lou. 
 Ha. 
 Ha. 
Ha. 
Frosting thief. 
 Lou's favorite cousin, Nelson came out to celebrate!
 We tried so hard to get a picture of all of the kids and this was the best we got. 
Lou and her beautiful Aunt Kristen. (Brian, Kristen and Nelson gave Lou this car and it is her favorite possession.) 
"See ya!"
THE BEST. 
 My little love. 
Lou's smile!!!!
Happy Grandpa.
Nanny's "Little Sweetie"


 "Oh, wow! I love my dress! Thank you Grandpa Mike and Nanny Toni!" 
 Miss America with Nanny Toni and Grandpa Mike.
Great picture! 
A brief moment of cousin love...they mostly made each other cry. 
Nanny Toni and little Lou. 
Tabitha and Zoey 
Sweet Willa sharing birthday cake with Lou. 
T-R-O-U-B-L-E!
Zoey giving Emerson a push. 
Brooke , me and Toniann. 
Brooke, me, Sarah, Sara, Toniann
Jon and Emerson
Charley is rocking that crown.  
Tabitha. 
King Hudson. 
Brian, Kristen and Nelson
Birthday love for Lou. 

Probably my favorite picture from the party. The look on Lou's face is priceless. 
 


Well, I am a little late in posting these pictures from Lou's first birthday party. I kept thinking that I was going to edit all of the pictures and I finally just let it go and posted mostly unedited photos. 

Lou's party was perfect. It was a perfect day to celebrate Lou's first year of life. 

I decided for Lou's party that I wanted the theme to be "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," because before Lou was born, I sang that song to Gray almost every night for over a year (he would ask for it). Then when Lou was born, Gray would sing it to her when we would put her in her crib at night. It is one of the sweetest memories I have of the two of them when Lou was itty bitty. 

I knew that with 2 kids now, I was going to have to start working on the decorations much earlier than when I just had Gray. So, in January, I started making the garland and I would say 4-5 nights/week I was working on decorations. My parents helped a lot. When they were over "babysitting" they would work on projects as the kids napped. It was incredibly helpful! 

I LOVE to plan/craft/decorate our kids parties. I know you all probably think I am crazy for spending 4 months preparing for a first birthday. Truth is,  I would spend a year working on decorations if I had a place to store it all! I know Gray and Lou won't remember these parties or the decorations or care about how long it took me to paint wooden utensils, but I will remember every second...and when I'm old and gray, I will look back at these pictures and smile and I hope they do the same. 

It was a perfect day. All of our best friends celebrating one super special little girl. 

We love you Louise!