M’s 1st Birthday Party (x2)

With my family living 2 hours north of Lancaster, it’s often easier to have double the parties, double the fun. It’s just too hard to get grandparents to travel that far & it’s nice to include family from both my husband’s side & mine. I chose to theme Mikayla’s party “Little Red Riding Hood” style, for no other reason, other than I had stumbled upon this adorable photo of a dog & a baby on Pinterest, & instantly knew that I too had to capture our duo dressed as this for Halloween. To get more usage out of her outfits, it also was decided upon to be her birthday party theme.

We were so thankful to have finished our basement just in time for the party. About 30ish adults + 8 kids or so, and it got hot & crazy in this house in no time. Her birthday party unfortunately was surrounded by hurricane weather and with that came lots of rain. The backyard was a swampy, soaked mess & the temperature was rather brisk, so we kept the party indoors. Again, I cannot thank Rob’s sister’s wonderful husband, Matt, for all of his amazing help in getting our basement finished. He’s seriously amazing & we are so grateful for his skills & humor, because let’s face it… when you’re in the middle of renovation chaos & things aren’t going as smoothly as you’d like at times… it’s nice to have “Handy Matty” around for more than one reason. I’d also like to give a shoutout to Rob’s younger sister’s husband, Colton, as he came over a few times to also help get things moving along. So a big thank you to you as well sir. And lastly, a thank you to Rob’s dad for handling the installation of all the electrical work & lighting. We now can relax in our beautiful, cozy, finished basement all thanks to you guys!

M was very overwhelmed at both parties with all of the new adults in her home, especially upon awakening from her nap. So I apologize for any dirty looks or stare-downs or unenthusiastic moments the attendees may have witnessed. She’s usually very chipper & happy at home, when she’s not overwhelmed & not sick that is. We cannot thank you attendees enough for taking the time out of your busy lives to travel to & celebrate with us. We appreciated your company & M thanks you for her wonderful presents. She’s slowly getting around to playing with them all. Thank you cards are in the works 🙂 I had so much fun designing her invitation & her fact board, & shopping for the tiny woodland theme details. I got lucky and found many of the items at The Dollar Tree!

And now… I’ll let the photos summarize her parties. A big thank you to her “Aunt L’s” (Lindsey & Laurie) for both taking photos for me while the parties went on. It’s simply too much going on for me to handle it all. So I really appreciate your help in capturing the details for me! I also want to say a big thank you to both sets of M’s grandparents. Nonna & PopPop were so very helpful in renting tables & chairs to help with our seating issue for everyone. Mimi & Pappy helped by hosting a party up at their home for all of my family to celebrate with Mikayla. Both of the cakes were designed so perfectly for our little one’s themed birthday & so very delicious, so a big thank you to both Nonna & Mimi for handling the cakes 🙂 xoxo