Mariah’s 1st Birthday Party

I look at these pictures and think, “Did I really just do all this?” OH YES…YES, I DID. You see, I typically don’t go all out like this. Usually, we have our parties at Happy Joe’s or at mom’s or in-laws. Since Mariah is our last child, this was THE LAST 1st birthday party of our kids. The last. 🙁 That was my reasoning with the ‘going all out.’

I remember that morning perfectly. It was mad chaos. Getting a party ready and our living room looking like this before guests came over all while having 4 kids +Nina’s 3 kids in the house… was pretty much close to impossible. THANKFULLY, our basement is finished, and I can’t even count how many times we had to tell them to stay down there until it was close to party time. I was definitely ordering Niña around like I was a sergeant. Her comment after everything was all said and done, “Next time I’m not showing up until the party starts.” Don’t you all just love our sisterly love?! 🙂

The night before, I bought all the food and decor. It was so late that I got home around 10:30pm. Of course Blaine was already asleep getting his beauty rest (must be nice). Once I got home, I was on a mission to get stuff done! I make the cake, cake pops, the ‘Baby it’s cold outside’ canvas, and her birthday outfit (I just totally winged it. I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like and made it came to life). I still can’t believe I got all that done before her party. I think I only had 2 hours of sleep, or I should say “a nap.” It brought me back to design classes in college.

Here it is! I learned 3 things:

1) Don’t EVER procrastinate…even though I will procrastinate again and again AND AGAIN. Even though it was such chaos getting this party ready and looking like this, I’m going to do it AGAIN. What an adrenaline rush. After looking at these pics, I loved how it all turned out.

2) I wish I had a nanny….just so Blaine and I can prepare without having to take care of kids at the same time. Blaine definitely has my back. Not only was he getting all the food ready. He was ironing the table cloth that was wrinkly as a crumbled up paper and bluntly told me to take a shower before everyone showed up in 30 minutes. Wow, I just said that.

3) I’m actually pretty good at baking…. I’m no cake boss, but I did make the cake and cake pops myself. Even though, they’re not going to win any 1st place prizes on appearance. Dang, they tasted GOOOOOD. Don’t you just hate when a cake or any type of dessert looks so put together on the outside but is so dry in the inside?! I was sad that there were no leftovers.

Decor, supplies for canvas, and birthday outfit: Michael’s and Target