Stop by and take a Peek at AB's Minnie Mouse Birthday Bowtique..

Hello.  

Yes, I did survive both AB's birthday parties, and our vacation to Louisiana.

I know I have a lot of catching up to do.

Because AB doesn't have "real" family here we decided to celebrate her first birthday twice.  Here with friends, and back in Louisiana with family and friends.

(never again)

No.  Really.  Both parties were lovely.

Mommy.  A little stressed and a little worn out.

I work full time.

I'm training to run my first 10 mile race in September.

 May just about killed me.

AB's two parties.

A vacation to Louisiana

Swim lessons

Birthday Parties for friends kids.

Rain.

Did I say rain?

Needless to say I was kinda happy to see May go.

AB is our Minnie Mouse Bow Girl, so her party just had to represent that.

Orange and Pink were our wedding colors, and just so happen I love those colors on AB soo..

Party Colors were set.

4th of July last year I came across Sara at

Doodlebugs and Butterflies 

She has since made every holiday outfit for AB so it was only fitting that she would make her birthday outfit:

I knew the style I wanted, and I knew that I didn't want Minnie Mouse as she would take her birthday pictures in the outfit and to be honest Minnie Mouse owns my house these days, I didn't need her to be plastered on my walls too.

I thought it came out perfect. 

As for the decorations.  Well.  Don't get me started. I didn't feel good at all the day before.  I still woke up at 4:30 to start my preparations that day knowing decorating without AB's help is much easier than with her help.

I felt a little better but not enough to complete everything.

So this is how it ended:

This was really pretty at 5 am.  As the sun began to rise the ballons began to pop.  I'm not sure how many balloons we had, but we had less than 1/2 remained when we cleaned up.  These were strung with thread and needles.

Blueberry Minnie - with Pineapple and Watermelon Bows!

Not quite complete but with the rush of things I wanted to get a picture in.  We had Minnie/Mickey Mouse bowls that I found at Target around Christmas time.  To keep the inside of our house showing through the sliding glass doors I used the Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck Wall pictures.

After 5 years of living in Florida I have not found a great Cake Place.  I wasn't a fan of any of the character cakes that our local grocery stores had so I just had them match AB's outfit.  Because I had her pictures taken professionally for the cake smash a few weeks prior I just had them remake the cake.  Of course they forgot her smash cake, so the job wasn't as pretty as the first one, but it did the job.

I had so many ideas for things to give the kids as favors. When you are having two parties it can get pricy.  So I did cotton candy bags and added the Mickey Mouse heads.  These would become Minnie Mouse heads at my next party when I had more time! 

More balloons.  These my friends are the cause for my lack of decorations as I sent my husband to party city to have them blown up.  Long story short PC employees can be rude and take a very long time! 

Of course my no napping child would decide to take a nap 30 minute before her party began.  It worked out for me because I was able to get a few last minute things done without her on my hip.  However I had to wake her up and waking up a Sugga Bear is often like waking up a regular Bear.

Once she got outside and saw all her friends she was happy and ready to play.  We had set up a sprinkler and the kids enjoyed cooling off in the water. It ended up being the perfect Sunny Day!

My awesome husband managed hamburgers, hot dogs and jambalaya.

 Cake time!

Sugga Bear Fact:  THEY LOVE CAKE

AB's FL was great.  Simple and Sweet just like her.  Friends, Cake, Presents, and Water Fun - She couldn't ask for more!

Time for Louisiana...

Because we are from Louisiana and our family and friends live there we wanted to at least let AB have her first party with her family.

Her Louisiana Party happened a little different.  She decide to nap during the party so we weren't able to get as much done as we would have liked.  Although I admit with more helping hands we were able to set up a lot faster than her Florida party but I did have a few minor (okay maybe a little major) breakdowns.  It was my Sugga Bear's party, it needed to be perfect!

This shirt is also from Doodlebugs and Butterflies.  It is the shirt she wore to school on her Birthday Day.

Isn't her cake beautiful.  Notice her shirt matches.  Gosh I love Sarah @ Doodlebugs and Butterflies!

 I serached and serached for the perfect cake.  My cousin had put me in touch with her friend Celeste who does cakes on the side.
http://www.asliceoflifedesignercakes.com/contact.html

I had picked two cakes from pintrest that I loved, and asked her to do the bottom of one cake, and the top of another, and of course in my colors.  She fit my idea perfectly! I had many complements on the cake, and the best part..It's DELISH!

 I made the cup cakes.  I wasn't sure how many people we were having, and I didn't know I was getting a smash cake too.  Did I say how awesome Celeste is?

 I got tons of compliments at AB's FL party on my blue berry Minnie Mouse.  I got the idea from a tomato Elmo I saw.  AB and her cousin Anna LOVE blue berries so I figured it was a MUST.  Sure enough Minnie didn't last long.  Matter of fact she had been picked at before I got to this picture. :)

Minne's bow is watermelon cut with cookie cutters - butterflies of course. :)

 A much better shot of our Minnie and Mickey bowls.

The kids favors - cotton candy, stickers, and other little things.


AB had a great time at her LA party.  She enjoyed time with her family and friends and we couldn't be more thankful to those who took the time to show up.

Of course she passed out before everyone left and a few people stuck around and waited for her to wake up and eat her cake.

Uncle Landon knows that Sugga Bear Kisses are even sweeter when covered in icing.

It is amazing how quickly a year passes by.  It is amazing how much a child changes, and learns in a year.  No party could ever capture the excitement I have in my heart that my sweet little baby has grown until this amazing little girl before my eyes in one year.  Birthday Parties are a lot like weddings...you spend a ton of time preparing, things get left out, what you thought was imperfect is perfect, and in the end it goes by so fast that you aren't even sure you talked to everyone that was there.

On to year two.
Who knows what next year will bring.
I'm taking a break until January though.
This Momma is DONE!

until next time.....
From Our Swamp to Yours....