Happy 1st Birthday Part 2!

I know people say that first birthday parties are more for the parents than for the child...and in some ways that's correct - but we tried to make Ella's very 'kid friendly'! I think though, it is for the parents - a celebration that the ENTIRE family made it through the first year!
And a celebration it was! There were a total of 10 kids including Ella, and they all had a blast!

We made our yard into a playground - complete with a sand/water table, tunnels to crawl through, a ball pool, and even sprinkler so everyone could get nice and wet!! We were SOOO blessed with a beautiful day and are extremely thankful for that!

One of the things I was very excited about was making the cake for her Baby Einstein theme. It turned out GREAT, and here is Ella blowing out the candle - with a little help of course! The cake you see on her high chair is her own personal cake so she could get as messy as she wanted!

And, as with every party, there is 'THE gift' and for Ella it was this little push car that her grandparents got her. She LOVED being pushed around, and the look on her face was like she was a QUEEN!

So...I think we finally got our house back to looking normal this afternoon! I wouldn't do anything differently and I think Ella will enjoy looking at all of our pictures when she is old enough to appreciate them! I put up as her 'Photo of the week' a picture of her a year ago - can't believe it - it is just so bitter sweet. But, as I told Adam today, I would not change where we are now with where we were last year for ANYTHING! I love our life and can't wait for everything (the good, the bad and the ugly) that this next year has in store!!