Skylah's Ultimate First Birthday Celebration: March 14, 2015

It has been a long time since my last blog post. There is a reason for that. I spend my days chasing a one year old firecracker named Skylah. That's right my miracle baby turned one year old this month. To say that time has flown by would be an understatement to say the least. I feel like I blinked and my newborn became a full fledged toddler.

 I Am One Year Old!!

Update: Skylah

  

Andy made a chalkboard sign for the party

 She has 8 teeth and says three main words, Mama, Dada, and No. She is a lightning fast crawler and is very proficient at pulling herself up on the furniture and cruising around the room. She can also walk but I think she is scared to abandon other movement methods just yet. She loves Graham crackers, Banana puffs, and swinging at the park. She is a very calm and balanced child who is wary of those she does not know. She is a Mama's girl through and through.

1 year in photos

She is a naturally beautiful child who still has her striking blue eyes. Everywhere we go we get stopped and complemented on her looks. It is a bit awkward because I still don't really know what to say. Even her pediatrician told us she is one of the most naturally beautiful babies she has seen. At present her red hair is turning more into strawberry blonde and it suits her very well. I maybe a bit biased but I love everything about her even her temper which she rarely shows. It is the joy of my life watching her learn and grow. She is very observant, a trait she shares with her Father and I see his inquisitive nature shining through Skylah everyday. 

She is the best of me and the best of Andy rolled into a ball of sunshine and we could not be more proud of her. 

 Ultimate Pi Day / 1st Birthday Bash

We decided that we wanted to throw a big party to celebrate our daughter and thank our family and friends for all they had done for us over the last year. 

The party is this way!!

Birthday Outfit!

We as a family benefited greatly from all kinds of service both during pregnancy and postpartum. There were meals brought in, advice given, supportive texts and phone calls sent, rides to and from medical appointments, and child care. Not to mention the baby shower, the gifts and being included in ward member's events and lives. In a nutshell, things would have been so much harder for us without the sustaining help and care of our friends in the ward and family and we wanted to thank them in some small way.

The ladies that made the party possible.

Buffet Table

 If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you know that Pi Day (March 14) is a much celebrated and revered date here in the Spencer household and has been since before our household was established. It was even Skylah's original due date but she came on March 5 2014 a tad early to be a Pi Day baby but not too early to be a 0-5 baby (0,1,2,3,4,5) We have always observed and celebrated accordingly. 

This year was no different except we combined the celebrations and festivities into one "Ultimate" party. (This year Pi Day was known as Ultimate Pi Day because it only occurs once in a lifetime. The two events seemed to fit together perfectly.

The three of us and cake.

 

I have to say if I did not have friends with experience in these sorts of things who were willing to help me I would never have attempted to throw the kind of party we had. 

Cupcake cake

Without their advice, support, help, and resources the party would never have been the grand success that it was. (I'm calling it a success but I don't think I'm wrong.)
I have many pictures of these ladies quietly refilling the drink station and the buffet so that Andy and I could enjoy the party. I can't thank them enough for their kindness and service.


 I also need to give a big shout out to Andy, my long suffering but ever supportive husband who executes the ideas and schemes that I come up with in a way I never could on my own. 

The party's theme was pink cupcakes and polka dots. Prior to choosing a theme I assessed what I already had to work with around the house in an effort to keep cost low. Turns out I have a fair amount of stuff that works for having a party. What I didn't have Tauna and Lynn did, so it worked out really well. The cake stands were Tauna's and I just loved them. They were so cute!

Buffet overview

More cupcakes

 When it came to what to serve I considered for a few minutes making my own cake and cupcakes until Andy reminded me that baking with a toddler who refuses to be put down for any significant amount of time would be stressful and most likely result is a spectacular failure. He said he would gladly pay someone else to do the baking. 

Cupcakes, Fruit cups, and Chocolate Covered Prezels Oh My!

The #1 cupcake cake, smash cake, and additional cupcakes all came from Wal-mart. They did a great job, I could not have been more pleased with the way everything turned out. 
The #1 cupcake cake matched the invitations perfectly and the colors were exactly as I expected them to be. The cake and the cupcakes were beautiful and delicious. I was so pleased.

Guess how many Jelly Beans in this Jar.

My dear friend Tauna graciously hand dipped my pretzels for me and rolled them in the sprinkles that I purchased especially for this event since I could not find any in town that were the color I wanted  ( I bought them on Amazon through an affiliate link and when they arrived the package stated they were from Fillmore Utah, what are the chances?) 

A table dedicated to Skylah

Smash Cake

One trip to Costco and I had the fruit for the fruit cups, ice, water to drink,and a Pi Day related prize. ( a giant jar of Jelly Beans) Tauna had some Sprite in her garage left over from Christmas that she wanted used so we had a water dispenser and a Sprite dispenser. I froze some strawberries to act as ice cubes to keep the Sprite cold and look fancy  (thanks Pinterest) and we had our beverages taken care of. I added a few cups of puffs and Cheerios for the littlest guests and we had our food needs covered.

Keepsake Plate

The plates, cups and tableware were from the Dollar Store and the napkins, banners and pinata came from Party City. The flowers were from Tauna's backyard and really tied the whole thing together.

I bought Skylah's outfit on the Internet and had a keepsake bib with her name on it made for the occasion. In an effort to stay with the theme I bought my bright pink necklace and shirt on clearance at Walmart and I ordered Andy's shirt off the Internet.I came up a few craft projects in the weeks leading up to the party.  

Andy made the faux chalkboard sign on his computer and we had it printed as a poster at Walgreens along with all the other photos. I was able to use a coupon code and we got a great deal on everything. I made the photo collage and printed the various photos of Skylah we displayed through out the party

Pinata Fun

Andy made the keepsake plate, which was a huge hit with party goers. We wanted something that Skylah could treasure years to come since her memories of the actual party will be hazy at best. Her birthday is in the morning so we thought it would be fun for her to have something to eat her special birthday breakfast on (not to mention birthday cake) for years to come.

 I bought the burlap table runners at Joann's fabric on clearance. We brought Skylah's play tent from home along with the other toys. 

Blowing out her candle

In honor of Pi Day we played a game where we asked everyone to guess how many jelly beans were in a Costco sized jar. The winner took home the jar. Talk about a great prize!! We were very surprised when there was a tie for the correct guess. We offered to settle the matter the best way we knew how. Paper, Rock. Scissors, Lizard, Spock but the two winners settled things amongst themselves.

Welcome and Sign in

In an effort to keep the older kids entertained at a baby party we had a pinata in the shape of a number one. It was a pull string pinata so each child had a string to pull. It was much harder to get the candy to fall out than you would have thought it would be and when it did come down the pinata itself fell down yet it did not break so Andy and Dave Lang had to help things along.

The day of the party dawned hot, in fact that day set a record for one of the hottest days in San Diego in March since 1924 and I had been afraid that it might rain. Ha Ha


 Luckily, Tauna's backyard was shaded and cool and we made sure to have lots of drinks on hand so that the party would be enjoyable for everyone. It was at this point I was so glad that we did not have to celebrate at the park where we would have had no shade or cover at all.

What a great turn out!

Skylah wore her birthday outfit. I wore my pink and purple shirt and necklace in and effort to be festive and match the feel of the party, and Andy wore his special Pi Day shirt which was unfortunately black and so were his shorts so he was very hot. When I arrived to decorate for the party Tauna had white jeans on, Lynn had a white skirt, and I had unknowingly matched them both with my white Capri pants. (Great minds thinks alike, I guess :))

It's my party!!

We had a great turn out and everyone brought a gift for Skylah which was very nice but unexpected. She received toys, books, some keepsake items ( a wall decal with her name on it and a real tea set) and clothes so she is set for awhile. 

She was more interested in the wrapping and packages than the presents themselves so I did most of the opening which was a tad uncomfortable since everyone was watching me and I was trying to keep an eye on her at the same time.

Opening Gifts

Yup these are all for me.

After we opened gifts it was time to serve the cake and sing "Happy Birthday". Skylah had a little cake of her very own to eat and we served both the cupcake cake and the cupcakes. Skylah was so funny the way she ate her cake. She was very dainty at first, dipping her finger into the frosting and licking it off but as time passed she became more brave and eventually her whole face was covered. It was all fun until she rubbed her eyes and got frosting in her eyes and then she was done. We cleaned her up and she was fine. Later as I cleaned up the cake I found a tell tale tiny face print in what was left of her cake.

On the way home from the party she went to sleep in her car seat and she did not move for almost three hours after we took her into the house, she was that tired out. It was funny because when she woke up it was almost like she was wired and she did not go to sleep at her regular time. She was very animated and expressive as she played with her toys that evening. When she did fall asleep that night it was like she just crashed and she never moved again until almost 8:00 am the next morning. ( I think she would have kept sleeping if I had not awoken her to get ready for church.)

Thank You!!!

In the end I could not have been more pleased by how everything turned out. The decor looked as nice as I had hoped it would, we had plenty of food and drinks, and our dear friends turned out to help us celebrate this once in a lifetime event for our daughter.

I would be remiss if I failed to thank the whole Lang family for graciously allowing us to use their home and backyard both on Friday for set up and Saturday for the party itself. They really made the whole thing possible.

I like birthday cake!!

I am so grateful for the friends we have here in California. It means the world to me that so many people love and support our family and love our daughter. It means so much as we live so very far away from everyone else at this time in our lives. They have been a source of great support and comfort to us as we have navigated and survived the first year of parenthood and I am so grateful for each and everyone of them and the special place they hold in our lives. We are truly blessed to be where and with who we are. 


Andy and I agree that it will be a while before we attempt anything like this again, maybe when Skylah turns 5, or maybe 8, we will have to see...