Preparations and a Party

Preparation is key, I believe I've heard these words spoken before. Maybe it was practice makes perfect, similar statements, both pointing to positive end results via hard work. Such is the case (for the most part) for the weekend we just survived. The weekend our little girl celebrated her very first birthday.

3 weeks in advance I made this:



2 weeks in advance I started making this:



1 week in advance I sent these out:


1 day in advance the mama in me whipped these up like they were nothing, behold the caterpillar cake (less antennae):

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fruit-Dip-II/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dill-Dip-III/Detail.aspx

Fruit dip and dill dip for a massively beautiful fruit and vegetable platter that I did not take a single photo of, imagine that. Both recipes were excellent!! Luckily, I made enough to have leftovers, which is beside the point, please continue...


1 hour after the party started it looked like this:


2 hours after the party started I looked at the door and saw this:

Which totally and completely said to me:
Mama, I'm ready to go home now.

So we did.


1 hour after we got home, just before she really wore her birthday suit, she looked like this:

It was a long time coming, Hayden's 1st birthday, her party. On this day last year Hayden was 6 days old, a newborn. 349 days later she is a walking, mumbling, almost finished teething toddler with a mama and daddy speechless from what a little girl can accomplish in the span of a year.