Party Time!

K's actual birthday passed pretty uneventfully. She doesn't really need anything, and so I had only ordered her one little baby doll for her gift. Unfortunately, it is backordered until the end of the month, so we couldn't give it to her. I made a cake and we sang happy birthday to her, but she didn't get any (I was saving her first piece for her party on Sunday). We ended up having our mini-church night on Friday so everyone sang to her before she went to bed.

Then yesterday we had K's First Birthday party. We usually do a birthday brunch on Saturday mornings for the kids, but their Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob always work on Saturdays, so have been unable to attend when we do that. So we decided to keep it simple with appetizers and cake on a Sunday afternoon. I went to Costco the day before and got these dangerously delicious Spinach and Artichoke dips to go with pita chips (dangerous because I now have two half containers leftover, and I can't bear to get rid of it, so I know I will end up eating it for lunch this next week), mini eggrolls and popcorn chicken (for the kids, but I think everyone enjoyed them). My mom and Ed's mom also brought a couple of things and we had plenty of food.

I did a pink flower theme, so the napkins were wrapped in a green and pink ribbon with bits of pink silk flowers tucked inside. The tablecloth was pink, as were the paper goods. We made a flower cake by using two round pans to make a double layer cake and then 12 cupcakes around the edge for the flower petals. I made some buttercream icing and dyed it pink and yellow and then Ed iced the cake(as he always does). After everyone ate their fill we cleaned up the appetizers and got out the cake stuff. I had been practicing with K, trying to teach her how to blow out a candle, but she kept thinking I was telling her to blow her nose, so she would instead blow into a tissue and then give me a big smile. Anyway, all that is to say, that after the singing she stared at everyone staring at her, and then tried to grab the lit candle, so I ended up blowing it out. She got one of the pink frosted cupcakes and absolutely devoured it. She ate it like a pro, and then held up her plate for more when she was done. After cleaning her up and getting her changed into a fresh dress, we opened gifts. She wasn't too into that, so her siblings and cousins "helped" while she played with the ribbon and wrapping paper. Shortly after that everyone went home, and we declared the afternoon a success-- the food was almost all eaten, the kids had fun playing together, and the birthday girl didn't lose it.
This will be her last solo family birthday party. I am planning on combining all the kids' family parties into one big one each year in the summer. N and E are already looking forward to their's this June when we plan to do a Carnival theme. We'll see how that goes!