Cute as a Button!

I truly cannot believe how fast the time has flown. And it saddens me that my sweet baby girl is already a year old. I just know that the years will pass all too quickly. But I have savored every (well, most) moment of this past year. I could not have asked for a sweeter, more gentle, easy-going, content, happy, loving, baby. Her personality is absolutely joyous to me. Her smiles are sweet, her laughter is infectious, and her silliness is amusing. She brings smiles and happiness to all who are near her. She truly is a bright spot of sunshine in this world. I feel incredibly blessed that she was placed in our family and under my care. I look forward with eagerness and joy to the years ahead as I watch her learn and grow and become the beautiful, kind, and good-hearted soul she is destined to be.

While she is only one and won't remember her first birthday, I couldn't help myself and of course had to throw a big celebration. We ended up celebrating a week early so Elsie's Grandma and Grandpa Wright could attend. The them of the party was "Cute as a Button." If I had truly been on top of it, I would have sent formal invitations that said: Cute as a button and Oh, so much fun! Little Miss Elsie is turning one! But I wasn't. So no invites.

This is Elsie playing with a balloon and getting into mischief prior to the party:

Following ideas I had seen from others, I made button garlands, an "E" made out of buttons, button peanut butter cookies, and cupcakes with buttons in the frosting.

And although the frosting looks like it's melting right off the cupcakes, I promise, it was the most delicious strawberry cream cheese frosting EVER. The leftovers were exceptionally good on sugar cookies later that week. ;)

I also hung pictures of Elsie on display. There was a newborn photo and one photo for each month of her life. I'll end up making a simple scrapbook of them like I did for Owen, but I loved having them hanging in the house. I even left it up for the next week until after the actual day of her birth.

Besides Elsie's Wright grandparents, Uncle Mitchell, Uncle Matt, Aunt Kerry, and cousins Hadley and Elena all came to celebrate.

Auntie Kerry was happy to indulge in after-naptime cuddles.

We ate Chicken Lime Cilantro Soup for dinner (a favorite of Elsie's), served with green salad, fruit, and Prickly Pear Sparkling Lemonade.

After dinner we played "Elsie-themed" celebrity Jeopardy. We had different topics about Elsie and however much was won by all the "celebrities" (our guests) we would donate that amount to Elsie's college fund. Sadly, I can't find the list of questions that we asked. But here is a picture of the categories.

Baby Talk related to first words and signs; Stats had to do with numbers (birth stats, hours of night-time sleep, etc.); Favorites (obviously) were her favorite activities, toys, and people; Firsts were about first foods, steps, etc.; and Misc....well, was miscellaneous.

Elsie getting excited about playing the game:

The final Jeopardy question was: Who was Elsie named after? They could all answer together, but Auntie Kerry nailed it. Her first name was after her great grandma Wright's middle name, and her middle name (Jane) was after Elena's middle name because she was due on Elena's birthday. So they doubled the money for Elsie for a total of $248! Yay!

After the game, we opened presents. She got an adorable navy and white polka dot outfit from Auntie Kerry and an elephant ball blower and jammies from us.

She was sad because I put her shoe clip in her hair:

Cute matching cardigan, shirt and shoes from Auntie Kerry:

As is typical, she liked the paper and bags better than the gifts.

Auntie Kerry was also kind enough to bring Owen a couple of Cars cars. He was pretty excited about it.

Opening the elephant from Mom and Dad:

She was a big fan of the balls.

After presents it was time for cake. (Be prepared for a obscene amount of cake pics.) We made strawberry cupcakes (Owen picked the cake mix specifically for Elsie's party) with to-die-for strawberry, cream cheese frosting. Elsie was super anxious to touch the cupcake and dig in.

She was pretty sad we made her wait to touch/eat it until we finished singing.

But once she had it, she just mostly just wanted to squish it and then drop it on the floor. Which of course led to a chant of "Happy birthday to the ground!"

She did, however, enjoy the ice cream...

And quickly asked for "more"...

SO BIG!

All in all, it was a great party, and I'm so glad we had so many family members who were able to come and help us celebrate our sweet and beautiful little girl. I am still so sad she continues to grow up and there is no stopping it, but I am overjoyed to have her as a part of our family.

Happy birthday, Elsie Jane!