Happy First Birthday Annabelle!!

Annabelle had a great first birthday! We started it off with a few presents. She was mostly excited about the balloon and that was it. She had no idea how to open presents, so the kids helped her. She loved checking out her toys once they were open.

She got a little ball bit, a ride on toy, a Care Bear stuffed animals, and a Fisher Price carousel toy. She also got an outfit or two and a raincoat... since it has been such a rainy winter!

After presents she got to have a donut hole cake and blow out the candle!

She was a BIG fan of the donut holes!

After church we got more time to play with the ball pit and we snagged a few photos in her dress.

I made a birthday cake for the party plus a baby cake that Annabelle could eat all by herself.

After Annabelle had a nap, we waited for our cousins to come! When they arrived we got the party started and ate cake.

Annabelle tried to touch the flame... of course.

She really didn't want to wait for the candle to be blown! She dove right into the cake and made a mess!

Afterwards it was bath time and time to change into cozy pjs! Annabelle seemed to have a fabulous day and was so adorable!

Happy Birthday to our cute Annabelle!

Ryan Turns One!

Ryan turned ONE on Sunday (October 27th). He is an absolute delight and seriously the happiest little kid. We LOVE him and enjoyed celebrating his birthday as a family doing his favorite things... eating food, playing with balloons & balls, and driving toy cars around. He is really easy to please.

Ryan would've been totally fine with just a balloon as his only birthday present, so we made sure to blow several of them up for him. He also had a birthday waffle that Kevin made him that he loved.

He looked so handsome in his special birthday shirt from Grandma Shari and loved the wrapping paper that came with the puzzle she sent.

The big kids had fun opening all of his presents and helping him play with them. They were actually really good at letting him have time to play with his toys too. He loved the puzzles, cars, and clothes that he got from Grandma Shari and Grandma Julie & Grandpa Kim. He felt very spoiled!

Sunday was a busy day of baking because I helped with a church event in the evening. I made probably 4 dozen pumpkin bars and pumpkin cookies and also made some mini funfetti bundt cakes for Ryan's family birthday party.

We made sure to give him the chocolate one so that he'd be extra messy... because first birthdays are way more fun with a mess!

Sampling...

Yum! Little dude started shaking because he was so excited about his yummy birthday treat.

He was such a cute birthday boy!

Catie's Mommy and Me Birthday Luncheon

(I deleted any address info, so the invite looks a little off)

Alright... well maybe the party was more for me than her, but I think she had a pretty good time too :)

It was fun to put up a photo banner with pics from each month all year long and see how much she has changed!

Since Catie's birthday is in December, I thought it would be fun to have a little Christmas luncheon with a few of my friends who also have kids that are close in age. We sent Andrew and Kev off to a preschool event and Super Franks, and had fun spending the afternoon with friends!

The babies had some extra special things set up for them to explore and play with...

And I got to use all of my Christmas dishes! (I am still hand-washing them all... but it was worth it)

The babies played and ate and the moms chatted, ate, and kept the kids from attacking one another. It was a lot of fun.

Kaari stepped in as master bubble woman and I was so grateful. I can't blow bubbles (even easy ones) to save my life.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and had yummy ice cream cake. My goal is to make Catie like all of my favorite treats so that we can have a giant birth month from Nov 23-onward till Christmas celebrating :)

Friends came from close by and a few trekked across the bay. I managed to only snap photos of Liz and Henry though. Catie LOVES Baby Henry!

I had fun decorating for the party and think that we're going to keep the red and green polka dot garlands and birthday banner up all month long. Every time I see the birthday banner it reminds me that December is also a time to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

We did salads from CPK for the moms and the babies got to eat Catie's favorite baby snacks.

In addition to ice cream cake we also had a few other December favs- peppermint brownie bites and Mrs. Fields nibblers (which I like ALL year long).

The best part of the weekend was that Elise and Baby Olivia were able to come for the Mommy and Me fun! Catie and Olivia are going to be such adorable buddies when they are older. They already just get so excited when they see each other!

We sent guests home with our favorite bubbles and spent the afternoon after they left openings adorable gifts. Catie has so many generous friends!

It was so nice to celebrate this little one who has filled our year with joy!

Stay tuned for more birthday fun when I have time to post later today... the little cutie partied from Thursday to Sunday! I am still recovering... and so is my house. Instead of doing dishes, I am blogging. :)