Birthday Bash! (and SMASH)

As said before, Grace's Birthday party was great!! The weather was just perfect, about 70, and the sun was out. We had her party at a park in Columbia and the kids all had a wonderful time playing!  We had some drama getting the pavilion that we had reserved, because neither Stephen nor I remembered to pick up the key earlier in the week, and it turned out Friday (veteran's day) was a holiday for the government building. Ugh.  But, with some blessings and answers to prayers, I was prompted to go to a nearby building to ask for help. Turns out they were closed too, but happened to be cleaning the museum that day. So after about 5 phone calls, someone was found who happened to be in the government building who was able to meet me at the back door with the key. 

What a relief!

So, we got to the pavilion early so we could clean up and set up....and Grace watched us while eating her healthy lunch of Chicken nuggets.

The party was pretty simple. My sister, Mary, and I made some tissue paper poofs for decorations...and we had chex-mix and pretzels for snacks.

We learned very quickly that even when you attempt to do a very simple party for just family...it turns out to be a lot of work and money when your family is huge!

Bubbles as favors and Grace's photo book of pictures from her 1st year with us!

Cara and I made the cakes. Grace has been called a little 'owl baby' on several occasions due to her big eyes and her non-blinking stares. So, when I saw a owl cake made out of cupcakes, I decided that it was perfect!

Luckily for me, my sister is awesome at making cakes and she was willing to help me!

(L) Additional owl cupcakes...or 'Angry birds' as my nephew pointed out. (R) Owl cake.

Almost all of the family on both sides were there! Unfortunately, GiGi was not feeling well, and the Chorey's had tickets to the Carolina game! (jealous!)

Benjamin (can you tell he's Grace's cousin? haha)

After everyone played and just visited, we decided to open presents. Which, of course, turned into Mom opening Grace's presents. But, despite who opened them, she enjoyed playing with them!

Blowing out the candle as everyone sang Happy Birthday.  She was pretty excited, and those little pointy fingers wanted to get at that cake!

I learned something at the party.  Going through pictures, I noticed these gems.  Not that I didn't know this before, but I've realized that this is my 'go-to' face for the camera. haha

the bottom picture is a present for ME...a temporal thermometer! I LOVE it!

Since Grace and her Uncle Ryan were born on the same day, we wanted to do something special for him too for sharing his birthday. So, we made him his own 'smash' cake. Ryan loves rubber duckies so we made this cute little duck!

Saying the Grace loves TiCara  and Nomi is an understatement. She ADORES them. Every time Cara and Nomi leave my house, she will throw a fit trying to claw her way out of my arms to Cara. She has even thrown a tantrum in the middle of sacrament at church one day when Cara passed her back two rows to me, her MOTHER! haha Embarrassing, to say the least. But, I'm glad she has such a wonderful '2-mama' as we call it.

of course, she made her way to Cara or Nomi at any chance during the party

Grace showing off her skills at walking with Grandmother (yes, and her diaper is bulging in those Jeggings...haha)

Lots of playing in the park...even Grandaddy got in on the action!

And then for the main event!!!  The cake smash.   And so, with that...let the pictures roll.....

Can you tell Grace was excited??

Grace quickly discovered that the icing was too good to let go waste.

Is this really ok?? Ok, then i'll double fist it!

absolute joy

My BIL, Matt got this picture of  Grace and I. I'm thankful for it! I never get pictures with my sweet girl!

I love these faces! She's nothing short of expressive!

And then, After we cleaned her up....she signs more and points at the cake again! haha