Tales of Two Southern Kids Raised by Damn Yankees: Our little lady's first birthday bash

I know we're pretty behind on blogging about Alli Ru's first birthday party, but, to say we've been busy would be an understatement. Anyway, no excuses... here we go!

Both Dad-E's parents and my mom and grandma all came into town on Thursday the 27th, Alli's actual 1st birthday. They all got to see her sporting her new moves of walking all over the place, which none of them had seen yet, and we all just got to visit and catch up. The following day, mom, grandma and I went out to get some last minute things for the party, came back home, and put my grandma to work cutting up cheese, pepperoni and olives to make these cute ladybug snacks! My mom and Eric were also busy cutting up the strawberries, which Aunt Gena ended up helping a LOT with later when she got into town too, and both snacks turned out wonderfully! Thanks for every one's help and support!

So as I mentioned, Aunt G, Uncle Rob, best buddy Anneliese and their faithful dog W came down from Charlotte on Friday to spend the weekend with us. It was great to see them, and Dad-E enjoyed some male bonding time while Gena and I tried to catch up on the sleep we'll never actually catch up on ever again, but, both of us sure like to try.

Saturday, party day!, rolled around, and Alli slept for almost 3 hours before the party. I guess she knew she'd need to build up her energy... but she was quite groggy and in a daze when she woke up about 15 minutes before her guests were set to start arriving. Oh, and did I forget to mention the fact that when we took her to her one year check up on Friday, they told us she had a double ear infection? So, needless to say, even though she really didn't have any symptoms, she probably wasn't feeling 100%. Right around 3pm, Alli's party guests started arriving. We had Dawn and Dave and their kids Austyn and Zane, Alice and her son Simon, Rob, Gena & Fi, Pops & Tatsy, Grandma C & grandma great, Aunt Katie & Zack, and our great neighbors Mike, Brittany, Lily & Porter. Our first order of business was giving Alli her present from us... the shirt announcing to our friends and family that she was going to be a big sister. After the congratulations were done, we opened some presents... good lord, the girl got a lot of stuff. We're very grateful and thankful for all our friends and family being so generous. Then, it was cake time! Alli wasn't sure what to think of it all... and I brought the smash cake out with a candle, which she tried to grab. Mike, our great neighbor, jumped in and grabbed her hand away... which she was totally startled by and wasn't sure what to do. We then had to coax her into putting her hand in... but after that, she was shoveling it in. Grandma C had to take it away from her after a little while... we didn't want her to have a stomach ache on top of ear infections! We also had the older kids set up to paint pumpkins with finger paint... I think they had fun with that. All in all, it was a great time! We're glad we got to celebrate with so many close friends and family, even though we aren't "home" in Ohio where a lot of other family could have come as well.

Happy 1st Birthday to our lil lady bug... we love you!