{Rilynn's Winter ONEderland}
1st Birthday Party
12 months...12 months since Rilynn was born. I can't even put into words how quickly this year went! We had so many ups & downs, but all came together to celebrate the life of this sweet little girl. She has brought SO much joy to this family...she will never know how much.
Her actual birthday was spent at church, December 10th & she got to wear a little birthday shirt but we had her party closer to Christmas so that more family & friends could be included. Nana & Papa got to come down from PA to be with us for Christmas so we had the party on the 22nd.
Before Rilynn was even born, I was in Hobby Lobby looking at all the Christmas decorations. I saw lots of neat snowflakes, trees & fun winter looking decorations. I decided that if Rilynn came in December I wanted to have a Winter Onederland birthday party!
It was so fun putting it together...I wanted something pretty, sweet & pink! All things that represented the little princess we have on our hands. I used the colors of her room as my pallet; neutrals, light gray & light pink. Snowflakes, trees & snow along with some of my Christmas decor made up the decorations & the party food completed the rest of my vision.
Our menu included two different kinds of soup, bread/cornbread, a big green salad with lots of toppings, seasoned oyster crackers & two kinds of cheese ball's with crackers. It was pretty simple but comforting for a winter party.
The sweets made up the rest of the food on the dessert table.
Rilynn's little cake was light pink with a snowflake on it! Once again the cake was made by my talented friend Courtney--she always does such a great job with our cake visions not to mention they taste SO GOOD! Rilynn got to eat that one herself & the rest of us had white & chocolate cupcakes along with "frosted" rice krispy treats, chocolate covered oreos & oreo truffles (which were called oreo iceburgs), assorted donuts (snowballs), & chocolate dipped pretzel sticks (icicles).
In the south, we also LOVE drinking out of mason jars so I tied little snowflakes to them & added paper straws that I got from a sweet lady on Esty! She customized my colors just for the occasion & it was super cheap!! There was bottled water (melted snowflakes) & pink lemonade punch with raspberry sherbet to drink & hot chocolate with pink peppermint marshmallows to sip while watching the festivities.
Throughout the year, I had fun taking Rilynn's "Watch me grow" photos each month.
From newborn to a year, I strung her pictures up so everyone could see just how much she had changed in such a short time. The mantel was decorated with all kinds of trees..some were sparkly, white, silver, short & tall. I loved it!
Here's the Birthday girl in her adorable outfit once again made by my talented & amazing friend, Emily! We went over ideas for the shirt, but it was still a complete surprise & I absolutely LOVED it! I couldn't be happier with the end result...exactly what I was hoping for! Emily even made her another little shirt with her colors in pink & gray that has an "r" on it. She will get lots of wear out of these for sure.
Our sweet little girl had so much fun seeing everyone! I failed to get pictures of everyone who attended...we had about 23 people come over & were still missing special people that were in our hearts as we celebrated! She did have a few little friends come & they all played & played.
When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Rilynn clapped for herself, then dug right into her cake. She didn't get that messy but sure loved the icing! She is definitely a sweets girl & loves her chocolate & anything with sugar =)
After cake it was time for presents. She did very well checking out each item & loved all over her gifts. She was so blessed with so many nice things & each item has brought hours of entertainment already. She takes everything pretty serious...as you can see =)
Special birthday kisses from daddy...she has him wrapped around her little finger! They definitely have a special bond...just something about daddy's & their little girls...
It was such a fun party & Rilynn made sure to tell everyone bye-bye as they were leaving!
Of course I had lots of help from friends & family who did everything from letting me borrow decorations, helped with the preparations for the party, made food, cooked & cleaned up & just took care of so many details for me. We are blessed with great friends here!
Of course the day didn't go by without a little sadness. These special moments & milestones are always the hardest when we are missing loved ones. I know Mimi would have loved this party & would have noticed every detail.
She would have showered the birthday girl with kisses, love & presents! It is amazing to me how much Mimi is still "giving" in her absence. She had so many cute outfits for Rilynn for her birthday & Christmas. I was able to feel like she still got something from Mimi for her birthday & it is very special knowing that she had a part in it.
Rilynn, keep shining & giving us these special moments! We are soooo happy to have you in our family & in our lives. We hope you will do great things & most importantly live for Jesus!
We love you!!! Happy 1st Birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment