Addison's first birthday

So, I was feeling like a bad mom getting Addison's birthday together, when I compared what I did for the other two girls! I just don't have the time or energy to go all out as I have in the past, but I still wanted to make her birthday special. Due to our living arrangements, we couldn't really have her party at home, so Uncle Kurt and Aunt Stephanie were kind enough to loan us their house for the party. We invited mostly just family (the exception being a couple girls who are practically family to me:)), which still worked out to be twenty-some people. It was a great little celebration, and I felt good about a couple of things that made her party unique for her! Here they are:

I found a cute new outfit at Pumpkin Patch, which is NOT a hand-me-down. Darn those two older sisters that had such cute clothes that Addison gets mostly their clothes to wear. This outfit will help me know which girl she is when I look back at the pictures in the future! Plus the pink blanky is unique to Addison.

I loved how this banner turned out. Thanks to Ms. Nancy, our children's pastor, who did the writing and Amy Jo who helped me attach flowers in different spots. It was such a cute decoration.

I was going to make my own cake for her.... but I am not such a great baker and then there's the time issue again. So I found some cute plates at Target, took one to a bakery and had them make the cake, along with a mini cake for Addison to have by herself. Addison wanted NOTHING to do with her birthday cake, which is another thing that makes her a unique girl! She would not even touch it after I put some frosting in her mouth. This picture below kind of looks like she is eating it, but that is only due to me trying to force her! I gave up and we gave her some cheese, which made her happy.

She did love the part where we all sang to her and gave her undivided attention, however!



Then there was this little book I made. She had gotten this at her baby shower, and I made it into a little showcase of her year, with pages for each month of the first year. I did a similar thing for the other girls and I love that it is done so quickly, compared to the real scrapbooks I am trying to keep up with!

I used all coordinating paper and embellishments to keep it pretty uniform and easy this time. I love how it turned out. Then I had family write little messages that I am adding to the end of the album, along with a few pictures of her birthday party.

So, my baby is officially one now and I'm doing better with it. I think now that the big day is past, I can look to the future and remember all the fun things that come along with leaving the baby stage. And I felt like she won't look at her pictures and think she was COMPLETELY neglected, as the third child!