Amelia's 1st Birthday!

I'm finally posting pics from Amelia's party. I had over 200 pictures to go through, so it took a while to choose. All pictures were taken by Karin Fulgham. Thank you, Karin for all of the beautiful photos!

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

I found this Happy Birthday sign a long time ago...before I even knew what the color scheme for Amelia's party would be. I pulled it out of the closet a week before and was excited to see that it matched! My S-I-L, Jen made the sign for the front door. She started painting not too long ago and has stayed busy with orders ever since...she's so talented!



My S-I-L, Elaina made the birthday pennant! I loved it. She also made the ribbon "skirt" that we put around Amelia's highchair, which was darling. I was so grateful for her help! She made Amelia the most special birthday gift. It was a book filled with letters to Amelia from family. Something Amelia will treasure for years to come. I tried reading some of the letters at the party, but I started crying, so I waited until afterwards. Such a thoughtful gift.



The table decor was really simple. I used a variety of glass candy dishes, jars, and cloches in the center of each table. I filled them with yellow, white, and hot pink gumballs and then tied balloons to float above each table. One of the candy dishes that I used was Amelia's Great-Great Grandmother's. I prayed over it before I put it on the table...that it wouldn't get broken! (LOL)



I painted 12 frames for Amelia's monthly pictures and hung them with ribbon on the fence.




I wanted the food to be simple. We had regular chili and chicken chili to make frito chili pies. We made them like we used to do at our fall carnival - opened the bag of fritos, poured the chili right inside the bag and topped with cheese & sour cream. It was easy and we didn't need bowls! :) We also had mini pulled pork sandwiches.



We did veggie sticks served with ranch & Joy made pecan pie bars and homemade caramel corn. The caramel corn was SO GOOD!!



I wanted a pink and yellow drink to serve. I chose pink lemonade & apple cider punch. The apple cider punch was my favorite. I found the recipe HERE. I'm going to make some at Thanksgiving & Christmas...it's so yummy! I found these drink dispensers at Walmart. I just switched it around and used the bottoms of the dispensers as ice containers on top...it worked perfectly! I found the water bottle labels on etsy. She changed up the colors to match the party and added Amelia's name. She also made the round labels for the cotton candy favors!



I really loved these hot pink & white striped paper straws! You can find them in just about any color combo.



And then there was cake! This was Amelia's "smash cake."



She was a fan! You'll see in that last picture, she's raising her hands in praise over her cake. That's my girl.



I bought her a little dress from Carter's that had a birthday cupcake w/candle embroidered on it. It had a cute, tulle skirt. I didn't want her to get her party dress messy and didn't want her to wear a bib in the pictures, so it made perfect sense to have an outfit change for the birthday cake!



I loved the larger birthday cake that we served to guests. I wanted it to look homemade and to be very simple. Mickey's did a fabulous job and it tasted SO GOOD. They're my favorite bakery to use for special occasions. I found some glittered letters to spell ONE and I thought that was all it needed. We used the cake server set that was given to Amelia from Dr. Lew & Sue before she was even born. It has her initials engraved on it with a sweet message from them. We will use it at every birthday party & then she will use it on her wedding day...MANY, MANY, MANY years down the road! (LOL)



Here are the party favors. I love cotton candy. It's so light and fluffy, I don't know how it could be bad for you.



We had a bounce castle, face painting, balloon animals, and the large frame for pictures. My brother, Andrew made the frame for me. He called and asked what color to paint it and I told him the colors of the party. He just happened to have some bright yellow paint in his garage, which worked out perfectly! I found the frame at Hobby Lobby. I got it 60% off, since their was a chip on it!



Our family & friends had fun with it. :)



We had over 60 family & friends come to celebrate with us. We are so blessed!



The birthday girl with her Granny & Papa (my parents) and her Nana & Daddygrand (Alex's parents).



Amelia had her picture taken with just about everyone at the party. She was such a good sport. I just stuck a balloon animal in her face and she would perk right up! (LOL)



She had a little dance with her Daddy. They do this a lot in the kitchen. :)



She had lots of cousins to help open her gifts - she didn't really know what to do. She was more interested in the tissue paper. She received some fun toys and cute clothes! She thanked everyone by blowing kisses. :)



She had to get some pictures with her BFC (best-friend-cousin), Millie Beth!



I love this quilt she's sitting on. Alex's Grandmother gave it to her. It's very old, so I put another quilt under it, so not to mess it up. Mimi wasn't able to be there, so I wanted something out to remind us of her.



I think this is my favorite picture of her. I'm just curious what's going through that sweet head of hers. :)



1 year old. How can it be?

Love to all,

Our weekend...

We've had a fun, busy weekend. When Alex got off work on Friday, we headed to Blytheville to spend the night. Amelia slept the entire way. It took her a little while to fall asleep at the hotel, but once she did - she was out. She slept until 9am on Saturday! We all needed the sleep. And yes, that's my husband behind that scruffy beard. He kept telling me that he was participating in no-shave November, but Amelia and I told him that we were going on a kissing-strike if he didn't shave! (LOL) Needless to say, he shaved this morning! ;)



We woke up on Saturday and headed to New Madrid, MO to celebrate this sweet girl's first birthday! Seriously, look at that face. I wanted to bring her home with me, but her Mama said no. Sara threw the cutest party. We had chinese food and ate out of colorful chinese take-out containers. She made homemade fortune cookies. She even made Millie's cake...it was so cute and yummy! My heart hurt when we had to say goodbye. I miss them so much. I just keep reminding myself that Thanksgiving isn't very far away!



We stopped in Osceola on the way home. We took my parents to dinner and then hit the road again. We stopped a couple of times - Amelia was a fan of getting out of her seat, even if it was just for a few minutes. I can't say that I blame her...she had to spend a lot of time in that seat this weekend! Speaking of car seats. We have to decide on one soon...she is too big for her current seat. Makes me a little sad to switch her over to a bigger seat, but it's time.



We went to church this morning and then had lunch with some church fam at Five Guys. Their burgers are so good! We came home and took a nice nap. This evening we headed out to our nephew, Jack's football game. His team made the super bowl! :) We had fun watching these little guys run the ball down for a TD and tackling each other...they were so cute!



We stopped at Mimi's for dinner and then came home. This poor baby girl was worn out. Her Daddy gave her a bath & bottle and she was out within a few minutes.



I received Amelia's birthday photos and will be posting them soon. They just make me smile every time I look at them! Such a fun day.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Love to all,

Tea Party...

Amelia and I stayed home today. If I schedule a lunch date or run errands one day, we stay home the next. So today we played, napped, and played some more. We had a fun day!

Amelia received so many toys for her birthday. Seriously. I have told family not to buy her any toys for Christmas. She had very few toys before her birthday, but that is not the case now. Our friends, Vickie & Chris bought her this little tea set. We've had tea parties all afternoon!



She would just watch me "pour" the tea into our cups and then pretend to drink it. She would hold her cup in all different ways at first. :)



But the longer she watched me - she got the hang of it. Now I just have to teach her to hold her pinky finger out while sipping her tea! ;)



Alex has been gone for a week on business. 8 days/7 nights to be exact. We have missed him SO MUCH!!



He arrived home this evening and you should have seen the look on Amelia's face when he walked through the door. I started crying! It was the biggest smile I've ever seen and she crawled at warp speed to get to him.



It made my heart so happy to see her so excited to see her Daddy. We get by when he's not here, but life isn't near as sweet when he's away. He makes us feel so special and takes care of us like no one else.



I hope you had a wonderful Wednesday. We sure did!

Love to all,

Terrible 1's?

Amelia and I met Hillary for lunch today! She is pregnant with her first baby and I'm so hoping it's a girl!! She finds out on Thursday. :) We met at Panera Bread. I seriously love their mac-n-cheese. Delicious. Towards the end of the meal, Amelia decided she was over it. She didn't want her yogurt on a spoon, she wanted to suck it out of the yogurt tube. She didn't want to sit in her highchair. She didn't want to sit in my lap. She did the whole arching of the back thing and started crying. I was mortified. She has never acted like that in a restaurant. I'm praying that it was due to the fact that we skipped our morning nap...but either way, it was embarrassing! Hillary assured me that she had seen worse fits in her life, but I still don't want to be THAT Mom with THAT child. The one that ruins every one's meal around them. The one that lets their child run around the restaurant because they won't sit in a highchair. I'll honestly leave the restaurant before that happens.

After lunch, we headed to the Toggery to try on some shoes. I had to unstrap her from her stroller, so she could stand up to be fitted for the shoes. Before I could even get her out of the stroller, she started arching her back, crying, and sliding herself out of the stroller! At this point, I'm whispering "Jesus take the wheel...Jesus take the wheel." I feel like she's too young to take to the bathroom and spank. She would forget what she had done before we even got to the bathroom. I did swat her diaper and say "NO" very firmly. She started crying and the elderly lady near us began to say, "oh, poor baby girl." Poor baby girl nothin'. Poor Mommy! We finished trying on shoes, left the store, and I promptly called her Daddy to tell him what HIS daughter was doing in public. I just can't believe it starts at one year old. At home I have no problem disciplining her, but in public - I panicked! I just don't want an adorable, misbehaved child. Misbehaved is not cute.

Heaven help.

We took these pictures today.



Don't let that cute face fool ya.



Amelia, I love you with all my heart. Which is why Proverbs 13:24 will now become our life verse. (LOL!)



Parenting is hard.

Love to all,