Love Bug Party: Caroline Edition!

 

How cute my little one year old!? Oh my, I could just eat her up. 

 Caroline really had fun at her party, and we enjoyed seeing her take it all in.

 Lunch with cousin Katie. So blessed to have sweet family come up to help us celebrate our girl. 

Love our Mrs. Joyce!

 Girlfriend was so sweet opening her gifts. She stood for several minutes just taking everything in, and then spent time looking at each one after we opened. It was precious. 

A little smash cake with lady-bug strawberries... hoping to entice Caroline with the berries {she LOVES strawberries!} to dig right in. It worked, but she definitely took her time figuring it all out!

Bella was ready to help :)

Starting to get curious...

And then there was no turning back! Lots of surgery goodness, and no mommy attempting to wipe her mouth or wipe up crumbs.

Sharing cake with friends... and Bella 

So much fun to watch the joy!

Caroline - We had an absolute blast celebrating you and your first year! We love you little lady!

Love Bug Party: Party Details Edition

Two Saturday's ago we had Caroline's first birthday party. I kept repeating all day, "How has it been a year" and "Oh my goodness, Caroline is really ONE, we're having a party to prove it!" It was kinda silly since I had been planning for weeks and obviously knew it was coming. I just don't know where the last year has gone?

Anyway, I LOVE a good theme, and I knew that a Ladybug theme was perfect for our little Love Bug who has a spring birthday! Everything was ladybug and polka dot, and red, black, with some bright spring green. It was fun, and fairly easy to find cheap ways to stick with my theme using stuff I already owned.

First off, the invites:

I love invitations. If I could make a living just designing invitations for parties, I totally would. I just have a thing for fun fonts and mixing colors and patterns. Anyway, I am really happy with the way these turned out!

I framed an invite at the entry way for the party.

I found the cute wooden lady bugs at Micheals for .49 cents each and hot glued one to the big wooden"C", and tied it up to a hook with polka-dot ribbon. I loved how simple and subtle it was. I already had the red and white flowers from ikea and they worked perfect in a plain white pitcher. 

I LOVE how my party wreath turned out so much it is staying up as a spring wreath. Ladybugs are spring right??? Anyway, I just covered a wreath form with burlap strips {that I already had!} using hot glue. I really like how the texture of the imperfect burlap looks!

Then I just made several flowers out of polka dot ribbon and scrap white and black fabric that was left over from curtains in a guest bedroom and random buttons. They are really simple... I made these flowers using scissors and a hot glue gun. I also made an extra red polka-dot flower that was easy to attach to elastic for a headband for the Birthday Girl!

I found the ladybug circle printable from this website here. I made additional circles that just said "Happy 1st Birthday Caroline" in the same font from her invites to alternate with the lady bugs.

I printed and cut out the different circles, and hot glued them to abstract "flowers" that I free hand cut out of polka-dot paper. I then hot glued the whole "flower" to a clothes pin to hang up Caroline's Monthly Bib Pictures Pictures {from my sweet friends at this shower} across the mantle and our ledge shelves. It was simple and fun to look back through at how much she has changed from a baby to a little girl in the last year!

My Mom found this cute lady bug frame at Hobby Lobby. It was perfect. We took Caroline's picture in her 1st Birthday shirt and red homemade tulle tutu the day before the party so I had some pictures already printed out for the party. I found her lady bug shirt from this Etsy Shop. 

I made these simple water bottle lady bug wraps that said "happy 1st birthday caroline" and printed them on sheets of 8x11 label paper. I then cut apart the strips and had 6 water bottle wraps per sheet. I love details and these were a favorite detail for sure! 

I painted a few different flower pots in bright green and red to hold straws and others for the utensils. I already had these chalk board labels that I tied on with bakers twine. Easy! 

In sticking with our red and black theme, we had bottled cokes! Such fun and a big hit. We also {of course} had Chick-fil-A tea and lemonade too. 

We were lucky to have a beautiful spring day. I was praying hard for this because we had been itching to grill out hamburgers after a very long and very cold winter. It was the perfect day for an early spring cook-out. We kept it pretty simple with burgers, chips, fruit, guacamole, and then cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels and Lady Bug Oreos. 

The cupcakes were vanilla cake with cream cheese icing, and I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. Once again, easy! 

The lady bug oreos were a big hit too and very simple. I used red melts from Micheal's to dip oreos. I then just used a black M&M and more mini chips and black icing for make the lady bug on top. I left them in the fridge to get hard overnight. They were super sweet, but very yummy! 

It was such a fun afternoon celebrating our girl. I am big on the party details because thats fun in a weird way to me, but Caroline actually really seemed to enjoy having so many people over to "party" with her, and that was the best part! 

Pictures of the birthday girl coming next!

12 Months... OH MY, we have a 1 year old!

 FASTEST EVER YEAR OF MY LIFE. I can't believe this time last year I was holding a tiny little baby and stressing about making enough milk. Now I am corralling a toddler and stressed about ear infections and keeping her from emptying every cabinet in the house. So many fun changes, and ways in which we are seeing a little personality develop. 

With your serious, inquisitive mode...

 and your silly, playful mode.

 Either way Miss Caroline Bennett, this past year with you has been a dream come true for your Momma. I love you beyond description, and I am already proud of the little person you are becoming. You are sensitive and joyful at the same time. You love to learn, and love to hug on and love others. God is going to use you in big ways, dear girl. 

 We had your 1 year check up this morning and you weighed in at 20 lbs, 4 oz in the 50th %, and 29 1/2 inches long also in the 50th % for length. Perfect, Perfect!

 You aren't quite walking yet, but it is coming. You will walk holding onto anything and everything around you, and love your push cars and motorcycle. One day soon you are just going to take off, and there will be no stopping you.

 Being outside is your favorite, and I can't blame you now that Spring has finally decided to come to stay. Caroline, you love to watch the birds and listen to them sing. You have already tried eating dirt and sticks, played with worms with Daddy, and ripped one of Mommy's tulips out of the ground. You aren't such a fan of the grass on your hands though and won't crawl around in the yard just yet. 

 Walking Bella is the best, and you have figured out that you are a big girl if you help mom hold the leash. Little miss independent. Bella is your best friend. You adore her and "Ba Ba" are the first words out of your mouth every morning. You share all your food with Bella, and would love to crawl right onto her back for a ride if she would let you. Miss Caroline, Bella is the best and most gentle dog with you. We are blessed, dear girl, with our sweet pup. 

Caroline, you LOVE to eat. You are serious about your food, and get so excited when you see yogurt or peas or strawberries (they are your new favorite!) You also love squash and blueberries and bananas. I really haven't found much you don't like. Daddy and I joke that you would eat non-stop all day if we would let you. You are just perfectly healthy. We gave you a small cake at your party {Pictures to Come!} and then a cupcake on your real birthday. You loved it!

Caroline you are talking really well too. You say MaMa and DaDa and BaBa for Bella appropriately and often! You wave and say Bye-Bye and Nigh-Nigh (night-night) and of course no-no. 

You are a Button girl and love to push any and all buttons on the microwave or dishwasher, dryer, ect. You still adore books and flipping through the pages. Books with musical buttons or touch-n-feel places are the greatest. Sometimes we read the same book 10 times a day. You smart girl. I hope you always love to read. Daddy and I are already praying you have a desire for growth throughout your life, and a pursuit of wisdom. Look to God's Word, and you will find it, my sweet girl. 

You love your Gram! We all love our Gram. She is so patient with you! Caroline, you are blessed beyond comparison with amazing family and friends who love you well and who desire to guide you as you grow. Your Gammy and Papa and Gram are the greatest. We are thankful for the influence that have been in your first year of life, and how much they have loved on you!

Caroline, you love your Bath and all things water. Even just getting your hands washed at the sink. We are so excited to play in the pool with you this summer and to take you to the beach. You are our water bug. 

And apparently our sweet tooth girl too! :)

You didn't leave a single crumb... only the ones you fed to Bella. My little details girl!

Music is your thing. And you have some rhythm too. We play kids radio on pandora all the time, and we have a spot for the phone in your car as a "radio". It is so fun to see what your interests are and how they will change as you grow. Daddy and I are thrilled to be a part of your journey Caroline!

Thanks for a year full of laughter and silliness. Full of snuggles and diapers. Thank you for a year that has stretched and grown your Mom as a woman, as a wife, and as child of God. You have helped me to trust God more, love God more, and seek His wisdom more. You, my dear girl, made me a Mama, and I love everything about that job. I love everything about you.

Happy 1st Year of Life my Blessing!