Olivia's 1st birthday party

Oh, the first child's first birthday party.  We had so much fun - and by "we" I mean me because Olivia was oblivious to everything except the fact that other kids were playing with her stuff.  I am glad that we had it and am glad that it happened the way it did but in retrospect it was over planned, there was too much food, and too many people in my house.  Pretty typical I'm sure for the 1st birthday party of the first child :-)  Anyway, there are tons and tons of pictures but I tried to edit them as best I could . . .

The kitchen: grown-up food on the left, Olivia's throne in the middle, and the kid's table on the right.  This is pretty much the extent of the decorations - one thing I didn't do was over-decorate.

A close up of the kids table complete with PB&J in the shape of butterflies all courtesy of Meagan Avery!

Beautiful cupcakes made by my co-worker Akane and Olivia's personal cake made by my Mom (aka Granny)

The kids party favor bags - all personalized by name, gender, and age, again, courtesy of Meagan Avery!

Olivia was napping when her guests arrived and we took a risk and woke her up . . . whew, worked out in our favor.

Nice picture of Olivia surrounded by her family.  From left, her Aunt Nina, Granny, Paw Paw, Nana, cousin Caitlin, cousin Hayley, Papa, cousin Jamie. 

Bouncy castle in the backyard for the bigger kids.  Like our "lawn"?  We are in a terrible drought here in Texas.

Olivia playing with her friends with Mommy monitoring closely because she's not the best at sharing her toys yet.

Cake time!  I think she would have stuck her face in it if everyone hadn't laughed and startled her.

This is as messy as she got - definitely her mother's child.

Olivia got so many really nice presents that she had no interest in opening . . .

 . . . so the older kids helped me instead.

I don't like to say "favorite" presents because we are grateful for all of them, but these were the biggest hit right off the bat:

Beth Matthews gave Olivia this fairy chair that pulls out into a little nap couch.  Sonnie dove into it and loved it so much that she recently got one for her birthday.  Olivia LOVES this couch and pulls it to the middle of the living room floor every morning.

Olivia got the CUTEST mouse hat.  I love, love, love it and pray that she will keep it on this winter.  I am going to put it on her head every day until she does

First pair of little Nike tennis shoes.  Stylin' baby!

At the end of the day, the party was a great success.  Olivia had fun playing with her friends and is such a lucky little girl to have gotten so many wonderful presents.  I'm not sure that next year will be such a huge ordeal . . . who am I kidding?  Of course it will be!

Happy Birthday Sweet Olivia Mouse!