AveryAnn's Garden Party

I'm not sure how many is "too many" pictures for one post, but I'm pretty sure this post exceeds it.

For a long time I wasn't sure what theme I wanted to do for AveryAnn's first birthday.  Barrett's was pretty easy because of the time of year but hers was another story.  I was pretty sure I wanted to have it at our house and I wanted it to be super girly.  I started looking on pinterest and settled on the "Garden Party" theme. 

The first order of business was the invitation.  I usually buy a design off etsy but this year I've started designing my own.  I loved how pretty and girly this one turned out.  It's a fun little outlet. 

As I was browsing pinterest I found lots of pictures of topiaries that I loved.  I showed some pictures to my mom and she brought them to life.  Fun fact she made all the wreaths for the church doors for my wedding and she still had them so she used the flowers for the topiaries. So the wreath on the front door was from our wedding too.  I'm a sucker for anything sentimental.

Another thing I knew I wanted was a big "stats" board.  I made one for Barrett's party and it is still hanging in our playroom so I wanted her to have one to match.  I made his out of vinyl but I really wanted to use the graphics from her invitation so I made this one and had it printed at our local UPS store.  It's big, like 24"x36" and I love it.

I just did finger foods since the party was in the middle on the afternoon.  We had fruit salad, dip, pasta salad, pimento cheese, chicken salad, chips, dip and sausage balls.  I also had goldfish and cheese curls for the kids.  My original plan was to set up a little table outside by the swingset for the kids food but it drizzled rain on and off all morning so I didn't know how much time we'd really get to be outside.

I had sweet tea, lemonade punch and water to drink. (Side note I am over our red kitchen.  I loved it when we moved in 9 years ago but I'm ready for a change.  We're trying to hold off and do a whole kitchen remodel and paint at the same time, but I don't know how much longer I can wait.)

I made a banner with her monthly pictures.  The banner is the same shape as Barrett's monthly banner (which I still have too) but I added some flowers and it turned out so cute.

I bought some fresh flowers from Publix to make a few centerpieces.  They turned out so cute.  I love having fresh flowers around the house.

We moved our deck furniture out into the yard for seating close to where the kids were playing. We also borrowed a few tables for extra seating outside. Those two topiaries were borrowed from my parents (along with a bunch of other stuff).

The rain finally cleared up and we were able to be outside.  I was so excited because this was the only set up I could imagine for her to have her cake.  My mom made that topiary too and my dad got the paper flower banner to hang in the bush.  It was perfect.

OK.  These cupcakes were a total labor of love by my mom and sister in law.  I'd shown my mom a picture of some cupcakes I loved from a bakery but I'm cheap and I couldn't pull the trigger on ordering them.  My mom looked at them and she thought she could make them.  My sister in law is super crafty so she agreed to help.  My mom ordered some special tips and they didn't arrive until Friday, the day before the party. Talk about pressure.  I ordered the cupcakes from Publix and dropped them off to be decorated.  At that point I didn't even care what they looked like.

I was blown away!!!  I think they even impressed themselves!  They were beautiful and they made the party.

I should have let them decorate the smash cake too because it was not what I ordered.  I didn't complain but I probably should have.  I wanted a white cake with dark pink and light pink roses.

She didn't go crazy like I thought she would.

She was too busy watching all the other kids playing!

Love this one of her smiling.

"Are you not going to take this away from me?"

Barrett had the best day.  He woke up Saturday morning ready to party.  He was so excited when his friends got there.  He played and played and played all day and was sad when everyone left. 

"Here Madelyn, you want a bite?"

After cake, before bath.

I think Barrett ate the icing off of about 6 cupcakes.  He took this one to his little bar on the playhouse part of his swing set.

I love this picture of Hudson.  They all had the best time!

AveryAnn got a swing for her birthday and she loves it.  (It doesn't really look like it in this picture but I promise she does)

My sister took this playing with my camera while we were cleaning up.

I never could have pulled off this party without everyone's help.  It was perfect.  I loved having everyone at our house and a yard full of kids.  I wish every Saturday could be that perfect.  We were so sad because nearly all of Patrick's family was sick and couldn't make it.  We missed them so much!   I can't believe our girl is a whole year old.  This year has flown by.