A Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

Get ready for photo overload!

Abby celebrated her very first birthday this weekend! It was crazy, overwhelming, and full of memories. I cannot believe my daughter is a toddler now! A non-toddling-toddler. Its very, very bittersweet. Sad that she's no longer a baby; who sleeps on your chest and giggles in her sleep. Happy that she's growing up; learning new things (like how to walk and talk) and experiencing life.

My two sisters, mom, and niece all arrived Thursday night to help with the long weekend, and also to celebrate with Abby. We opened presents on Friday (her actual birth DAY) and then spent the afternoon shopping and playing with all the new toys. Poor Abby was overwhelmed and tired, but she was a trooper!

On Saturday we spent all morning preparing for a two hour party. We had a little bit of a mix-up when I left all of the party supplies (including the things needed to make cupcakes) in my car, which my husband took to work that morning. But disaster was avoided, although it took us longer to get there than we thought... I'm so thankful I had my family, and my amazing friend Mandy, to help!

I used fun-fetti cake mixes for the cupcakes, and matching frosting. If you've never read the Very Hungry Caterpillar, there are lots of circles and polka-dots so we kept that theme as much as we could. Our plates and napkins all had colored dots (that matched the colors in the Eric Carle book) and said "Happy Birthday". I made the cupcake toppers by printing out the pictures from the book (the fruits that he eats and the caterpillar himself) and cutting them into circles. Then we taped them to sucker sticks and put them in the cupcakes. They were adorable! I wish I had backed them on colored cardstock, but I ran out of time. Oh well...

It took me two weeks to sew Abby's birthday dress, but I'm so glad I put the effort in! It was adorable! I even made all the snack bags (that we put the party bag/gifts in). I made 15 of those bags, can you believe it? I was proud of myself...

My mom and I went to walmart and bought packs of baby sunglasses, bouncy balls, bubbles, and suckers to put in the gift bags. And she bought 15 balloons, one for each child to take home. I'm pretty sure that was their favorite part!

We decorated, got the cupcakes and food in order, and then we played with all the toys and ate cake and opened presents. It was very laid back, and I was glad Abby was just able to enjoy the afternoon. She was tired, but she still played with her cousin Bella, her friends (mostly Layla) and all the adults that doted on her!

I was just so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate with us, give Abby her gifts (which was mostly clothes and books) and eat all our food! Seriously, we are so blessed to have such a great group of friends who love and support us. And Mandy even stayed late to help us pack everything up, sweep the gross floor, and organize all those toys!

Over all, I would say it was a success. I know Abigail won't remember any of it, but it was important to me that we throw her a party. Now she can look back at all these great pictures (thanks to my sister, Bethany, who followed everyone around snapping their photo!) and know that we spoiled her rotten!

And just in case you wanted to see some more photos of her... Well, heck, she's so gosh darn cute, how can you not want to see her?!