Today was PARTY DAY! Gryffyn turned one on Thursday, but we decided to throw her a birthday party today so our friends could join in the celebration.

Here are a few pictures of the decorations.

The table with ladybug placemats

"Happy 1st Birthday Gryffyn" banner hung in the kitchen

"Year in Review" banner

I love that her birthday is close to Easter...makes it easy to find pink and green candy!

"Berry Berry Good Lemonade" with ladybugs attached

gotta deck out the highchair in pink and green

These next pictures are close-ups of the "Year in Review" banner. It was EXTREMELY hard to choose only one photo for each month.

Newborn--Aunt B visiting in the hospital
1st month--sleeping through the night
2nd month--baptized by Pastor Griffin

3rd month--Hannah realizing Gryffyn is a playmate
4th month--Introduction to Eeyore
5th month--jumparooing to sleep

6th month--chilling in shade with cousin Hunter
7th month--smiling during Skype video with Daddy
8th month--wearing Auburn hat after a BIG WIN!

9th month--checkup at doctor
10th month--dishwasher climber

11th month--showing off fangs
12th month--rocking the chopsticks

Ladybug cups

ladybugs leading the way to the party

gotta decorate the front door frog

Here are pictures leading up to the party. Thankfully I have an awesome family who knew I needed time to finish getting the house ready for the party. Gryffyn went down for a nap at 9am and Dan took Hannah to the park close to our house for a little over an hour. I was able to finish getting everything ready without a 2-year-old or 1-year-old being underfoot...very relaxing.

Hannah saying "woo-hoo" for a party!

While Gryffyn continued to nap, Hannah rode her bike on the driveway.

Armani arrives in a pretty pink party dress!

I think Gryffyn likes her swimsuit, but doesn't completely understand how to wear it.

standing with Armani's help before swim time

saying hi to Cheyenne, or stealing her toy

Cheyenne Meadows

"swimming is fun, but licking the gate is more fun!"

Neleze and Cheyenne Meadows

Bink "borrowed" Eeyore during his nap time. We are so happy he and his fiancee made it to the party! They had a wedding to attend last night, a triathlon to compete in this morning, and then came to the party.

The big ladybug cake: Strawberry cake (with 2 1/2 cups real strawberries) and cream cheese frosting. I made it ALL, except for the chocolate edging. It turned out pretty good for my first cake!

I also made a Gryffyn size cake.

Share and share alike...

Kristin and Bink

Shannon and Cheyenne

We played pass the baby a few times, but everybody knows that I am Cheyenne's FAVORITE (outside of family) because we are BIRTHDAY BUDDIES. We share the COOLEST birth date ever...August 27th!

It was a GREAT day, but I am EXHAUSTED! So goodnight to all!