Monday, September 7, 2009

One Lump Or Two


After the last week I have come to the conclusion that planning your first born's 1st birthday party is most likely right up there with planning their wedding...at least for this proud Mama. To be honest, we have been wanting to have all of our friends over for a while now and celebrating the Little's life was the perfect opportunity. We had a lovely tea party in our garden with our family and friends. We had an English tea party to be exact, to honor the relatives, who indecently don't like tea, but say it's time for tea when it is really time for dinner. I have never understood this statement, but there you go, she will learn that in England, when it's time for tea, it is time to eat!
Right,
back to the party. It was so nice, we had finger foods, hats, Japanese lanterns, and of course tea. Hope you enjoy all these pics, but I just didn't want to leave anything out!

Here's the birthday girl
She might not remember one bit of her first birthday party, but she really did enjoy herself. She squealed with delight all day!
Mr. Jones and I. Yes, I wore a huge black hat, a fancy dress, and pearls, b/c one always dresses up for a tea party. I did try to buy Mr. Jones a plaid golf hat, but he "claimed" it would be a waste of money. Pffff, it was her first birthday and it WAS a tea party!
The details:
This is Beth, she and I were members of the abandoned wives club last week, so Tuesday night she came over and help me decorate these tea pot cookies that were our party favors!
Here are the cookies. They were so cute, the perfect favor to thank our guests for spending an afternoon with us!
The dessert
The food- if you look closely you can see the 1 million flies that showed up uninvited to dance across our food.
This is one of two banners we had hanging...sorry no pic of the other. It said Libby's Tea Party."
This one had our favorite pictures of Libby from her each month of her life!
I brought all the inside furniture out...
Here's the tea and the tea cup tower that I arranged in color coded order that my Dad knocked over right before the guest arrived...I laughed!
The Guest list:
I actually have a picture of all of our guest sitting on the swing wearing a party hat, but that would take up a lot of space, so here are a few shots of our guest having a fabulous tea party time!
Some of my favorite people, Aunt Ju-Ju, Aunt Di, Lindsey, and Jill drove all the way down from Baltimore just for the party!!!! Big, giant, heart shaped love to all of you!
Mingling

The prettiest cousins I have ever seen!


Baby Katie, the youngest member of our party, just two weeks old and looking like a little cherub.
The boys playing catch
Here's is baby Katie, and her mom, grandma, and Jessie. Speaking of Jessie, she doesn't look like she is carrying two babies in her belly, but she is. I call them Maggie and McKenzie, but she's keeping the names all to herself...Oh this is my favorite...these handsome gents are Libby's buddies Aiden, Charlie, and Bastian. I like to think they are battling for her affection, but really I think they hope she doesn't mess with their toys or steal their snacks!
The presents: All I can say is we are blessed beyond measure with wonderful friends and family



and finally....
The cake:
This beautiful little tea pot cake was made lovingly by Katie's grandma and it was a hit
She wasn't sure at first...
but soon she realized that cake was the piece of the puzzle that had been missing from her life
Look at her go!
We really weren't sure when to stop her
In the end we did, but she loved every minute of it!

Days like this are fleeting and to far between...but turning one is just too important to limit to one day so we started early and do plan to celebrate again in London on the actual day! Stay tuned for that post. I'm sure it will be filled with my blubbering and bumbling on about how my baby is all grown up...
Until then, here is our almost one year old, at the end of the her party still smiling and happy that all her friends came to tea.

15 comments:

Sandra said...

It looks as if everyone had a great time. I wish I could have been there (although I wouldn't have wanted the tea!) Libby was impressed with her lovely cake - hope she likes her English Birthday cake as much. I also hope she doesn't get as many large parcels to open - your baggage allowance wouldn't cover getting them back home!

Julie said...

Thanks for sharing all the pics!!! It was so beautiful, and we all had such a fabulous time! Happy Birthday, Libby!!!!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for the London blog. I just read this word for word, pix for pix and once again you made Aunt Ju Ju cry. I'm not sure what triggered it but here I am starting my day with a happy tear. It was a great party and defintely a fun road trip for us Baltimore gals. We love Libby and hope she has many more fun parties.

Jill said...

We had so much fun at the birthday party. Thank you for having us. And more importantly, thank you for having Libby. I love that little sooooooo much.

Laura said...

Happy Birthday, Pretty Girl!

Anonymous said...

Hip hip hooray, I love it all!!! Looks like Libby had a wonderful day. Good job mommy and daddy!

Kate said...

Carly,
This was one of the most imaginative, whimsical, fairy-talish birthday parties I have ever seen! You have such a good eye for creation. Libby is a jewel!

Erin said...

AH I am loving every single picture. What a delight!!! I wish we could have been there, but just know that we were celebrating with you guys! She looks adorable, and, as always, your pics are professional!!! Seriously. Love you guys and we'll post Hoedown pics very soon. As soon as I uncover some more goodies from the 1,00 boxes surrounding me.

Amanda said...

I don't even really know you OR Libby and I feel like I'm going to cry! How can they be old enough for all this?? She is so precious and perfect. And Baby Katie, too! What a doll!

Lisa A said...

Carly! What a gorgeous party! I love the tea party idea. I also noticed the fruit skewers, and I think it is a fabulous idea, and I might have to borrow it for Liv's first party. I truly cannot believe that last time I saw Libby she was so little, and Liv was still in my belly, and now Libby is a week away from one year!

Jessi said...

Had a great time-so glad I could be a part of it!

Melanie said...

15 more years of fantastic birthday parties and I just might see Libby on Super Sweet Sixteen one day!
wish we could have been there

Amy White said...

What great pics. Wish we could have been there for all the fun. You are such a creative and talented mommy. Loved it all!!! The girls really had a fun time seeing Libby's tea party. What a great memory and great day! Love to you all.

Anonymous said...

What a great party! I loved all the details and love that went into Libby's first birthday party. That will be a hard act to follow for the next one...
I just love Libby's lips, she makes the cutest faces.
Love, Jan Mc

Mama Burd said...

Carly- this is too cute! You look adorable (and of course, so does Libby!). Great job!