amelia's first brrrrrr-thday party!

the weekend of amelia's first birthday party was the warmest one we've had in a while... that figures since i'd been planning a "winter ONE-derland party" for my baby girl's first shin-dig! i wasn't hoping for snow on the ground or anything miraculous... but the frigid temperatures from this past weekend would have been nice! :) there i was turning our church fellowship hall into a winter wonderland while wearing flipflops. oh well!

i had so much fun gathering up decorations for amelia's party, thanks to after-christmas clearance sales! i felt like we kept the decorations pretty simple, though brian may tell you a different story after hanging who knows how many snowflakes!

these snowflake lollipops and blueberry candy canes (dollar tree!) were the party favors.


i intended to cute-sy up our coffee and hot chocolate bar a little more, but i ran out of time. and right as the party started, we blew the outlet by plugging in the hot pot and the coffee maker into the same outlet. ooooooops. thanks to jeff and kristie for handling that mini-crisis. i don't even know if we ended up with hot chocolate after all!


the tables had a little bag of "snow" with balloons. and simple snowflake tablecloths.


i loved these huge snowmen! and as you can see, the kids loved playing in the fake snow. we seriously could have just had fake snow everywhere and sat and watched them for 2 hours. now that would have been an easy party!


this adorable snowman sign is courtesy of aunt kristie. i'm showing a close up so you can see how the coal on their tummies makes the letters... too cute!



i could not resist making frosty the cheeseball for this party. how funny is he? my mom actually ended up constructing the snowman because (yep, you guessed it) i was running out of time. i guess he was good. i'm not really a cheeseball fan.


and here is amelia's sweet cake. my mom did a great job creating this igloo smash cake. i could not have been more pleased with how it turned out! and it tasted really delicious too!


when the kids arrived, they colored cut-out mittens that we'd use later in a game.




our first activity was making igloos out of marshmallows and icing!


i am sure brian was wishing that he was taking pictures and i was helping with the igloo!


the kids did not mind getting a little icing on their fingers...


and apparently the adults didn't either!


the finished igloos!


after creating the igloos, it was time for the sled race! my children did some trial runs in our hallway to make sure the sleds worked ok, and they could not wait to have this race. (they also currently pretend to be dogs 95% of the day at our house, so to be a sled-dog was an added bonus!) here are avery and ethan on the first leg of the race.


caroline acting the part of a dog-- tongue out and all! :)


ishen was so cute as he barreled down the way... but when he approached the turn, he went in reverse. it was hilarious.


after the sled race, it was time for cake! everybody decorated their own snowman cupcake. the kids had fun making silly faces with chocolate chips and candy corn, and the adults had fun stealing all the fixin's for the cupcakes!





speaking of cake, amelia was more than ready to dig into her cake! we took a bunch of pictures first (of course), and she was DONE staring at that cake! she tried pulling the tablecloth to get the cake closer to her, and when we moved the cake again, she gave up and started eating the tablecloth....


singing happy birthday to my baby girl


a quick family picture with the birthday girl! (if you are concerned--as was i-- that brian is wearing a t-shirt to his daughter's winter one-derland party, never fear... it is a snowboarding t-shirt. i choose my battles.)


ok, amelia, NOW you can have your cake! (and eat it too!)


amelia loved being allowed to play with her food! she smashed those icing hands together over and over. in time, she will appreciate that icing!!


the sugar rush is starting to kick in!


all three loving the cake. this may very well be my favorite picture of my three kids!


"i KNOW you're not swiping my icing, lola!"


hurricane amelia strikes the arctic


we asked that our friends not bring presents, but the grandparents did give amelia a few little things. she loved this jiggling pig!


sisters with the "sisters" book


don't i look so surprised in this picture!? this is the present WE gave her! haha! i am such a dork.


so i bought this snowflake headband for the birthday girl to wear. and i totally forgot to put it on her. but it did not get neglected....



five 3-yr old girls + cheap-o snow blankets= snow princesses! (though poor savannah got stuck with a "snow shawl"!)


each girly got their turn as a snow princess... what is it with three year old girls and princesses? i cannot fight it, lest i try.


kids loved playing with the fake snow blankets the best! go figure! by the end of the party, they were in shreds! (see savannah's "snow shawl" above)


so much for the winter wonderland.... the kids worked up a sweat flinging the snow everywhere!


our final game was "pin the mittens on amelia". i saved this one till the end, and by this time, most of the kids were more interested in flinging fake snow all over the place! oh well! but the kids who were interested took a turn.


indica and avery were the winners of the mittens game! they got to take home the much sought-after penguins.


so we had a fun celebration for our baby girl's first year! we loved sharing her special day with friends and family. i will end with this precious picture of amelia with her great-grandmother. i love how my grandma's sweet face of experience is admiring amelia, who has so much ahead of her. this one's going in a frame, for sure.


happy birthday, amelia! we love you "snow" much!