The Party

So, all week we've been sharing stories about Corgan turning one, how much she's grown, how amazing this year has been, etc.  But we haven't shared any pics about the party itself :)  Now it's time!!!  We had the most fabulous time.  We had a house filled with people we love, celebrating the a whole year with the newest member of the family.  Stuart's family came, my mom came (dad's in Africa), Corgan's Godmother and Godsister (and their husband and father, respectively) came, and my aunt, two cousins, and my two second cousins from Mexico were all able to come.  One of the reasons we got the house we did, was so that we could comfortably fit all of our loved ones into one space.  What a true blessing.  Now for the story....

At first I didn't know if I would be giving a 'theme' to the party.  It's the first birthday, Corgan won't even remember it, and it's only really going to be a bunch of adults hanging out.  Then I saw the most perfect cake on Pinterest.  I was in love and had to do a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme! What better theme than one of the best children's books ever?  Well, Stuart happens to work two desks down from someone who bakes for a side-job.  We asked her if she could make the cake, and she was all for it!  Here is what we got:

It was scrumdiddlyupmtios, and everyone loved it!  The cake and cupcakes were strawberry, and the frosting was colored butter cream.  Jodi (the baker extraordinaire with The Comal Cake Company) even made little fondant legs. How cute!

To carry on the theme, I also saw on Pinterest that I could hang colored balloons like the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Granted, they used helium and actually bought balloons that were big, but I think mine turned out pretty cute.  I thought it was funny that a few of our guests didn't even notice it until we ate dinner about an hour into the party.  You have to walk past it to get into the house. How do you miss a giant hanging balloon caterpillar, people?

Then came cake time... My mom has a picture of one of my brother's early birthdays, where all of the dads had set up their giant cameras on their giant tripods and were filming everything.   This is my homage to that picture.  Corgan was about to bust into the cake, and everyone whipped out their phones/cameras and watched through view finders.  Ah, modern technology.

Here is Corgan with the 'head' of her cake.  Apparently that's called the smash cake.  I never knew that.  Those two lovely ladies are my second cousins, and I think we decided that that means they are Corgan's second cousins once removed.  Is that right? Mya is on the left and Ella is on the right.  They had soooo much fun playing with Corgan! It was great to watch.

And here we have the classic frosting-all-over-the-face picture.  I did not think through the whole red frosting thing.  I spent hours with my mother-in-law finding the perfect 1st birthday party outfit, and then I give my child a red-frosted cake.  Not the smartest thing I've ever done. She was perfect though.  She daintily scraped at the frosting for a while (smearing it everywhere), then she realized there was cake underneath.  We have the whole thing on video, and as soon as I figure out how to get it off the camera, I'll post it.

The party wound down and a lot of us headed upstairs to play in the playroom/loft.  We soon found out how much Stuart's brother, Philip, looooooves kids.  He spent the better part of the next hour giving horsey rides, piggy back rides, shoulder rides, you name it.  The best part was when Ella was riding the pony and began slapping Philip's butt saying, "Giddy-up!"  Janet and I just about died laughing!

All in all, it was a perfect day.  Tons of food, tons of family, and way too much fun!  Here's to another great year with our baby girl!