Evie's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Evie's birthday with a very small, very fun party in our backyard.  It was a wonderful day and wonderful party.  I was tempted to make it bigger (I love a big party :), but forced myself to keep it small, and was so glad in the end.  It was such an easy, relaxing day, and that was just perfect for the Mouse.  She loved her party and ran around happily the entire time.  It was so gratifying to see her having so much fun, and we just loved celebrating our little one-year-old!

Even though the party was small, I made sure to order invitations.  I was first-trimester sick and exhausted when Charlie's first birthday rolled around and I was so mad at myself for never doing a formal invitation (the "we're having Charlie's birthday party this weekend" email to my family just doesn't look that cute in the baby book :).  So here's what Evie and I came up with:

The birthday girl looked SO cute in the adorable birthday dress she borrowed from cousins Jane Ann and Charlotte.  The dress is even more special since it came from those sweet girls!

Something so funny about seeing my dainty little girl run down the street in her sweet dress... :)

Here's the spread...

My main decoration was my 12-months-0f-Evie banner.  I loved seeing all those sweet pictures of her.  I just never cease to be amazed at how many changes take place in the first year!

The Mouse gave mouse cookies to her guests. :)

Charlie and Evie were so excited about our little jumping castle.

Evie, looking super excited.

I made a ball pit for the littles and they loved it (as much as one-year-olds love anything :).

Palmer's grand entrance to the ball pit cracked me up.  He is the cutest rough-and-tumble boy!

Since she tried (and loved) cake on her real birthday, Evie was pretty pumped when her cupcakes came out.  Not a lot of reticence with this one-year-old; she dug right in!

This picture looks just like my sister, Meg, in her first-birthday video.  I need to find a photo so we can do a comparison, but I just see little Meg here (and not just because her face is covered in cake :).

Evie's characteristic exit from her highchair: she wriggles out of her seatbelt, stands up, and waves wildly.  So scary!

These two loved the hot dogs (especially the buns).

After the party, we played with E's balloons...

...and C let a few go...he just couldn't resist. :)

We tried for one last family photo, but Evie was totally done with her party at this point. :)

Happy Birthday Miss E!  We love our little one-year-old!