Brookelynne's Birthday Bash!

Well in honor of our baby girl's first birthday we had a bash for the ages! :) LOL. That wasn't what it was supposed to be, but we just couldn't really get it any smaller without leaving a lot of loved ones out or splitting the party, neither of which I wanted to do. So we did it all together and had a great time!

We had the party at my mom's house and everyone worked really hard to get the house clean and the yard done. Dad and Josh even pressure washed the house! I went over there on Thursday morning to get some of the last big stuff done (ie putting away Brooke's pack and play, finishing the favors, all the dusting, etc). Then after we did Brookelynne's Birthday Dinner, Brookelynne and I went over there and moved the furniture, and did as much as possible to get the house set up before I went home.

Saturday morning, Daddy stayed home with Brookelynne and made her get up a little early so that she would take an early nap (before the party) and then brought her over to Grandma's house at 10. Meanwhile, Mama went over there around 7 and started working with Grandma. Uncle Josh and Paw Paw got there an 8ish and helped too! And while we weren't as 'ready' as I usually like to be, Brookelynne's party started at 10:30 with almost 20 of her guests arriving right on time or a few minutes early! She must be very special, huh? :)

We had some fruit, veggies, mini sandwiches, and chips and dip to start everyone off with and then served hot dogs, hamburgers, green beans, baked beans, corn on the cob, and chicken and rice casserole for 'real food' around 11:15. We had everything in our 'hot' colors, (pink, blue, green and yellow) and everyone seemed to really like the food and drinks.

 This is the 'appetizer table' with the chips and dip, veggie tray, small plates/napkins, fruit tray, and mini pb&js. The back had 3 different cupcake displays to add some color! The cupcakes were an assortment of chocolate and yellow cake, with hot pink and lime green icing. I also made milk and white chocolate 'princess crown picks' that were stuck in each cupcake. I was really happy with how they turned out! (and how well they fit on the different stands!)

This is the birthday girl in her outfit! I didn't get any pics of her looking and smiling at the camera all day! She was just so distracted and busy with all of her friends to play with and all the people there to celebrate with her! Everyone said that she just seemed to know that the day was all about her and she was absolutely OK with that!

 One of the things that I wanted to do was get a 'keepsake' from her first party (especially since she won't 'remember' it and won't have another 'real' party until she's 5). So I knew I wanted to do something with her '1 year pic' but didn't just want to have people just sign something (like everyone does for many different occasions) because I wanted her friends (ya know, those babies who OBVIOUSLY couldn't sign for themselves) to be a part of it . So I thought we would have everyone do finger prints and then put their name underneath their print. Her room has several things with pink and green polka dots on them, so I figured that would be perfect! Green for boys and Pink for girls, tada! We have 'polka dot' border/keepsake to go with her picture! (this was a few minutes into her party, I'll get a picture of the final result soon!) What do you guys think? I really liked the way it turned out!

 I also did gift baskets for each of the kids that came. You can see them here on the half wall, each with it's own balloon (no need to fight over someone not getting one, right?). We used them as decoration, and I had each child's name on one with some toys that were as appropriate as possible for the different ages! I somehow managed to not get a picture of the names, but they were cute (a little more time-consuming than I had planned, but I also ended up making almost twice as many as I had thought we would need, because almost everyone who we invited RSVPed)

 We had the whole great room opened up with all the furniture against the walls, and pulled out Brooke's toys so that all the babies could play in the middle, and this is a picture of Malachi, Maxwell and Dallas playing with Brookelynne's activity table. Nay Nay brought that over from her house so that Brooke could share it with her friends!

We also left several balloons loose with long strings so that the kids could have them during the party if they wanted (and several of them 'wanted'). This was Brookelynne in the door to the dining room. She had brought her balloon all they way into the kitchen to show me, and then took it back out, pausing to show it to Aunt Betty and Grandma!

 We had a game outside for the dads to play as well as a wagon for the kids to ride in out front! This is Brookelynne and her friend Logan in the wagon! (This is the wagon that we used in Mama and Daddy's wedding for the little flower girl and ring bearer to get down the isle...now Brookelynne and Braxton get to use it!)

 This is Brookelynne's Birthday Cake!!!!

 This was Brookelynne while we sang "Happy Birthday To You" to her! She was so cute! She just kept looking around the room like "Um, what's going on?" But she didn't get upset or cry at all, so that was good! Then Mama and Daddy helped her blow out the candle!

 Then Brookelynne got to "dig in"! And by 'dig in',  I mean that she proceeded to touch the icing, put that in her mouth, touch it again and repeat! She really didn't get messy, but she was still very cute with how deliberate she was with each touch!

 This was Mama trying Brookelynne's method of cake eating! :) Aren't we cute? (I'm sure she won't think so when she gets older and sees this picture!)

 After everyone left, Brookelynne was ready for a nap! Grandma had started giving her a bottle (wrapped in one of her birthday presents) when we thought to get a picture of the three of us. As you can see, Brookelynne could NOT have cared less! :) But we did all match! hehe

 After naptime, Brookelynne stuck around with Mama as I cleaned up. We were not going to leave Grandma's house in anything less than 'like new' condition! So, of course we were still there at dinner time, so Brookelynne ate some leftovers and actually got some food in her, including chowing down on the cob! :) She's definitely a Brooks! Just like Mama and cousin Abbi, we LOVE our corn on the cob!

We really did have a great day and are so grateful for all the friends and family who came and celebrated with us. She got so many wonderful things and had such a great time with all of her friends and loved ones. So here is a big thank you to everyone who loves us and our baby girl enough to give up part of your Saturday to celebrate with us! We love you all!