The Day of Firsts!!

Monday, my daughter turned 1!  I know, right...how can the year go by that fast?!  She's practicing walking on her own, but so far can only do it holding onto something.  It's really cool watching her challenge herself though and she develops the balance to stand unassisted.

There she is, pushing herself - and dressed as a lion for Halloween!  Soooo cute!

So, we had a party for her birthday on Sunday, and I have been inspired by other bloggers and my tweeps to do a more interesting set up.  Our theme was pink...suggested by my new friend Cineca of Dreamin' N Details Design, we used all different shades of pink.  Oh...and EVERYTHING was pink!  She wore a pink outfit, complete with tutu! 


Look at that grin! Adorable!!!

The food was pink...though I didn't think to take pictures of the food.  We had PINK lemonade with frozen strawberries floating in it, served in a punch bowl for extra pizzaz! PINK watermelon, PINK cranberry sauce (homemade from my grandma's AMAZING recipe!!  I'll share that too), roasted RED skin potatoes (not pink, but darn close!) and chicken empanadas.  You're right, empanadas are not pink, but the dip that I made to serve along side them was!  Amazing dip by the way!  We love it at my house.  Oh...and I almost forgot.  My kids both LOVE yogurt and strawberries, so I layered them in a trifle bowl...looked like dessert, but healthy!  And...for the Pièce de résistance...the dessert table!!! 

Ok, so I didn't know that a "sweet table" was a thing until recently!  Having seen postings from other blogs and following party planners and other crafty people on twitter such as The Party Muse, Crafty Workin Mommy, Kara's Party Ideas, and lots of others!  I know my set up does not come anywhere near comparing to these fine ladies' work, but I was pretty tickled with myself!  Especially since I put it together using mostly found objects from around my house (an my mom's!), I thought it was a pretty great first attempt.

Another first for me was the cake.  I always make my kids' birthday cakes myself, and I think I do a decent job.  While I'm no "Ace of Cakes" I can do a decent job creating what I am going for.  Check out my son's volcano cake for his 5th birthday this summer!

Technically flawless??  NOT HARDLY!  But my 5 year old was pretty thrilled with it and so was I.  :)  But, after seeing tweets from @THEToughCookie about her cake that was to be featured on Martha, I had to check it out.  She decorates her cakes with cookies!!!  How cool is that?!?!?  So, I had to try it... again, hers are way better (check them out at One Tough Cookie's website) but I was pretty excited about this!

This is her little smash cake...

And this is the cake that was served to the guests!

And of course, we had PINK ice cream to serve with it! Peppermint and Cherry Chocolate Chip!  I know, at this point I think everyone thought I was crazy with the pink!

Tha party was a hit, and Emily LOVED her cake, well, at least the pink frosting on it! :)