ONEderland

Note:

I apologize for the blurry pictures; please see disclaimer in righthand sidebar.

To see clear photos of this party, please check them out on my Shutterfly share site here.

At long last, I can start talking about Ellie's first birthday party! It already seems like it has been ages since the big day, and I was eager to tell you about it even before that but wanted to keep all the details under wraps to surprise our guests. I got a little carried away with the "Elizabeth Alice in ONEderland" theme and poured a ton of work into this party, although if you ask me, such efforts are not unjustified: our baby's first year of life alone deserves a great celebration, but on top of that, we survived our first year as parents. So let's party!

I want to tell you all about the party itself in this post, and I'll go back and fill you in on all the little details later. For now, let's just talk fun!

Party girl!

The party was held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 at a pavilion at Lake Seminole Park. Eric and I got up and went right out there that morning to begin setup, while Ellie spent some quality time with Aunties Kelley and Phyllis. Setup was brutal - it was overcast, cool, damp and ridiculously windy, which made things quite challenging and several curse words may have been uttered. Around 11:00 I left Eric in charge of finishing the setup (Husband of the Year, my friends) while I went home to relieve Kelley and Phyllis, get Ellie down for her nap and get myself ready. My Aunt Debbie, cousin Molly and her baby Santiago came by around 1:00 to pick up the food, and then I had to wake Ellie around 1:30 to get her ready and get out there on time. It was sort of a mad dash all morning, but in the end, everything got done (with the exception of a couple of forgotten details that were hardly missed) and the party went off without a hitch. The weather even warmed up, the wind died down, and the sun came out. Perfect!

When Ellie and I arrived at Lake Seminole at 2:00, many of our guests were already there milling about. We got the food all set up and then instructed everyone to dig in, as we made the rounds. I just loved having so many dear friends and family there, and tried my best to talk to everyone (but, you know how these things go - there's never quite as much time as you'd like). We also made sure everyone posed for pictures with our Alice in Wonderland photo props and signed the guestbook.

Ellie in her Alice-inspired dress, posing with my friend Cathy's daughter Claire, who was celebrating her actual first birthday on Ellie's party day!

Friends and family enjoying the food

Ellie taking a break from the action with her Papa

Our friends Ryan, Amanda and baby Ethan

Fun with Alice in Wonderland photo props!

One of my favorite moments of the whole party was when somehow, all but one of the babies in attendance ended up hanging out in the grass together (the only exception was Ellie's cousin Charlie, who was wisely napping in his stroller). The oldest baby there was my friend Fran's daughter Hailey, who is about 18 months. Next were Ellie and Claire (who, as I mentioned, turned one that day), followed by Santiago (10 months) and Ethan (8 months). Cousin Charlie was the youngest at 6 months. It was just so cute to see Ellie with all her friends, and I couldn't help but imagine future birthday parties when they'll all really be playing together.

Mamas and babies, just hanging out on the croquet ground

Hailey hamming it up! Claire and Ellie are enjoying the balls (Ellie is sharing, as usual), Santiago is trying to escape the grass, and Ethan is just making a getaway. Oh, kiddos!

Left: Bunch o' babies! Right: The adorable birthday girl (who quickly changed into more appropriate party play-wear, as you can see)

Left: Poor Santiago did not enjoy the grass. Right: Hailey was such a sweetie pie!

Happy birthday, Claire!

Here, Ethan, have this grass.

When everyone was done eating and the kiddie play session was over, it was time to open presents. Ellie got some really wonderful things! Needless to say, we're staggering our actual opening of new toys so she has some new stuff coming in over time, rather than giving them all to her at once, because she has more than enough to keep her attention for the near future. She was spoiled rotten!

Time for presents!

Ellie reading her cards

Smiling at one of her new toys

Ellie got not one, but TWO Cozy Coupes! I'm totally jealous. I always wanted one.

Left: Fran and Hailey brought Ellie a set of Alice in Wonderland dolls, and she particularly enjoyed the rabbits.

Right: Me with my baby girl!

After presents, it was cake time. There were cupcakes for the guests, and one cake reserved for the Un-Birthday Girl herself. We laid out a blanket, sang "Happy Birthday" to her (without a lit candle, unfortunately, thanks to the wind picking up again), and then invited her to go to town on the cake. And wouldn't you know, my "enthusiastic" eater, the girl who really "experiences" her food, the girl who concludes mealtimes looking like this more often than not:

Yup.

That girl? All of a sudden she's the prissiest, daintiest eater you ever saw. She dipped her little fingers into that frosting and was all, "eh, no thanks, I'm good." She entertained the idea a bit to humor us, but anyone who came looking for an Epic Cake Smash, well, sorry to disappoint you. She was just not impressed by cake. (For the record, I also sampled that cake, and it was delicious - one layer red velvet, one layer Funfetti, with strawberry frosting because my kid goes nuts for strawberries. So it wasn't a poorly made cake, it's just my weird kid.)

She was a little stunned when we all started singing to her!

Here we go!

Left: Sampling the frosting. Right: Well, that's more like it! But don't be fooled, that bite is a one-time thing.

She even tried to pawn some of her cake off on her audience.

Here, people. Have some cake.

Even her Daddy couldn't convince her that this cake stuff is supposed to be awesome.

 Not buying what you're selling, Dad.

She did, however, want to eat the candle.

Wax is obviously more her taste.

So, not quite what we expected, but hey. It's her birthday. She certainly doesn't have to eat cake if she doesn't want to! (Plus, that means Mama gets to eat it. Never a tragedy.)

After the cake, we just hung out some more. Ellie continued to work the crowd, making the rounds from group to group and mingling with everyone. She did a little walking with Auntie Kelley and Great-Gramz, and played with her new toys with Grammy, GAD and Santiago. We all chatted with friends and family, ate more food, enjoyed the park, and Gary and Eric played some croquet.

Walking with Auntie Kelley

Aunt Steph and cousin Charlie

Aunt Molly and cousin Santiago, our visitors who travelled the farthest - all the way from IL, just for the party! So glad you guys could make it!

Great Aunt Debbie, Santiago, Grammy and Ellie

Gary and Eric playing croquet

Walking with Great-Gramz

And then, things started to wind down. People said their good-byes and we started cleaning up (thanks to everyone who helped with clean-up, by the way! Much appreciated!). And just like that, the party was over.

The end of a great celebration!

It was such a wonderful afternoon, and we are so happy that all of these people who love Ellie so much could be there to celebrate her first year. She is a lucky little girl to have so many people who love her, and we're pretty lucky, too! We had a fabulous time, and a big thank you to all who came and helped make the day so special. We love you all!

Easter 2013

Did you all have a great Easter? Ours was quite nice. The only negative is that it seems the cold Ellie has been fighting off for the past week finally hit her yesterday, with a rather runny nose and a bit of a fever. She had a rough night last night and we're all pretty tired today, but the doctor thinks it is just a cold so hopefully she'll be as good as new soon. And yesterday she was a real trooper with all the Easter activities we had planned! She's such an angel.

Actually, to start at the beginning of our Easter celebration, we have to back up a couple of weeks to Ellie's First Meeting of the Easter Bunny. She did so well with Santa, we were very excited for her to meet the giant holiday rabbit so we headed out to the mall to make this introduction as soon as the Easter Bunny showed up. Not only is Ellie a pro at meeting holiday icons, but she also is quite fascinated with bunnies these days. Just prior to meeting the Bunny himself, we were walking through stores and she was excitedly pointing out every picture of a bunny we saw. So, we figured this would go well, and we were not wrong. As soon as she caught sight of the guy, she was pumped.

"Dad, are you seeing this? It's the bunny mother lode!"

Both the kids in front of and behind us in line screamed bloody murder at the sight of the guy, and one refused to even go near him. But not our brave, bunny-loving Ellie. She happily plopped right down on his lap and took the most adorable Easter Bunny picture there ever was.

She's totally relaxed. 

I'm obsessed with this picture.

That girl is seriously the coolest.

On Easter Sunday proper, our first destination was Easter church at 9:00 a.m. As she has been recently, Ellie was a church all-star. She sat quietly for the first portion of the service, then spent the rest munching on Cheerios, playing with a couple of little Easter toys we brought for her, and charming the people in the pew behind us. After church there was an Easter Egg Hunt on the lawn, and although Ellie was still a bit young to actually participate this year, we took her out to watch the big kids hunt those eggs. A fellow little one ended up with two eggs herself and kindly shared one with Ellie, who very much enjoyed putting it in and taking it out of her basket.

Easter sharing

Clutching her little egg

Egg in the basket!

After the Easter Egg Hunt

After church we came home for a few minutes and gave Ellie her Easter basket. The Easter Bunny was pretty good to her, bringing a new book ("Oh, The Places You'll Go"), a stuffed bunny, a bunny sippy cup, toys for her new sandbox (a birthday gift from Mama and Daddy), a tin of snacks and lots of plastic eggs filled with Cheerios and raisins. She was pretty pleased with the whole thing, especially the snacks.

The Easter Bunny came!

Checking out her haul

 Left: What else is in there? Right: Digging into the snacks already!

We then had to pose for our annual family Easter picture, naturally. Because it's not really Easter until the dog is humiliated in bunny ears.

W. Family Easter Photo, 2013

Ellie with her parents

With my dad

After that we tried to get poor Ellie to nap for a bit, but without success. So, it was off to our next destination: Gramz's house for Easter lasagna with Eric's family, and my dad joined us as well. We spent quite some time sitting outside in the sun, and Ellie had a great time crawling all around the carport and in the grass (read: getting dirty). She was a bit out of sorts though, so she would occasionally take a whine break until someone carried her around. Poor dear.

Checking out Gramz's lawn decor

Kelley and Toni

Ellie cuddling with her mama while her Nonnie admires her

A new Pillow Pet from Great-Gramz!

Left: Being comforted by Auntie Kelley; Right: Quiet time with Great-Gramz

Dinner itself was awesome. Kelley made the lasagna this year and did a great job. Ellie even had her first real family holiday meal and partook (read: smeared all over her tray) of some lasagna and ate quite a bit of bread. She would not, however, touch the dessert I offered her (as usual, there was far too much dessert to choose from: icebox cake, cheesecake and French silk pie. Mmmmm). As you'll see when I get around to recapping all of Ellie's birthday festivities, this kid apparently hates sweets. Birthday cakes did not go over well either. Forget cake and frosting and delicious pie, she says. Bananas and steamed carrots are apparently where it's at.

Lasagna and bread for Easter dinner

Our final destination was the hospital to visit my grandmother, who is currently there on the rehab floor after a fall a couple of weeks ago. She was very pleased to see all of us and Ellie was a hit with nurses, doctors and patients alike. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures there! But it was a nice visit.

Ellie did surprisingly well in the car on the way home, although she was starting to fall apart a bit.

Poor sweetheart.

When we got home we fed Ellie her dinner then put her right to bed, the poor thing. She definitely had a fever by that point and was just plain old worn out. What a trooper she was all day! We'll be taking this week to relax at home so she can recuperate before we set off on any more fun adventures.

As for the rest of this week, now that Ellie's party, her actual birthday and Easter are all finished, hopefully I'll have some more time to get caught up around here. I still have jury work for the next few weeks, but I'd love to carve out some time to get this blog updated a bit. I have lots of fun things to share with you, as we had a busy March and much of it has been neglected because there just hasn't been time to share it. If all goes well, hopefully this week I'll be telling you about Ellie's birthday party, which was fantastic!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and have a great week!