Team Barron: You Are My Sunshine! Anna's First Birthday party

Oh my goodness, the celebration has arrived! I cannot believe Anna Baby is ONE YEAR OLD! The days have passed in the blink of an eye. I knew they would. I held on tight to every single second of every single day with my Anna Baby. I revel in the teeny tininess of herself. I don't want her to get bigger. I want her to stay teeny tiny forever......I want them all too, but it can't happen.

And so there is something so terribly bittersweet about a first birthday. It's hard to put into words, but part of me feels like it's the day to say "good-bye" to the baby and rejoice in the health and growth of a budding toddler. But I want the baby days forever and I pray so hard that I will never forget Anna's life as a baby. I pray that all the moments I treasured over the past 365 days will meet my mind like an old friend. That every challenge and every joyful laugh will come flooding back to me as if it was yesterday. I hope that I can always BE IN THE MOMENT with my kids and look back completely satisfied that we PLAYED HARD during their childhood.

Anna, you and me baby girl. We did play hard. Oh how you have brought me SO MUCH JOY in just one year. I look at you in complete wonder of those big blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. God made you perfect Anna Baby. Simply Divine and perfect. You are the delight of my heart and a ray of sunshine!

Anna Baby is indeed our little sunshine.

So, it was only fitting to host a FIRST BIRTHDAY full of SUNSHINE and HAPPINESS! As I said, I love first birthdays. I think they are the most special. For each of my kids, I have tried to put a personal touch on their first birthday parties. For William, the theme was airplanes and he had his own little airplane outfit to wear. For Adeline, I chose pink and tangerine which were my wedding colors. I used my ribbon wedding cake table cloth on her table. And so for Anna Baby, I chose to make a quilt which led to a doll which led to a hat and a bib. I was basically sewing for about a month straight after the kids went to bed! I wanted to give her something tangible to keep just has I had done for her siblings.

A friend of mine made a similar quilt and told me it was easy. So I bought the supplies and watched a Youtube video to learn how to make the blanket. Once I was done, I took it to a quilt shop and asked them to back it and trim the raw edges. I worked too hard on the quilt top to risk messing it up in the final few steps. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out. I couldn't be more pleased. The nice lady who finished it for me even embroidered "You are my sunshine. Happy First Birthday Anna Baby" on the back of the blanket. I hope Anna will treasure her quilt forever and enjoy seeing the colors that celebrated her first birthday!

Anna Baby loves dolls. She is always carrying a doll around the house. Dada dances her dolly in front of her, and Anna laughs and reaches out to kiss the baby. It's precious to watch. When I say, "Where is your baby?" Anna immediately walks around the house to find her. She carries her babies and hugs them tight. So, I made a doll for Anna's birthday table. I have made a few smaller versions of the doll for Adeline. But for the table, I wanted to make a bigger doll. They are really, really fun to make and so I chose to coordinate her birthday doll with the tablecloth. Again, I hope she'll love seeing her baby doll when she's older. I kinda made up the skirt without a pattern (it was all in my head) so she isn't perfect. She's made with lots of love and that's what counts!

Then I thought I should probably make her a bib and a crown with my leftover fabric scraps. Thankfully, those two items were quick and easy. I didn't have a pattern, but I think they turned out cute!

The party was on Saturday, September 21st. I decided on a morning party with donuts, fruit and muffins. We pulled all the outdoor toys onto the driveway for the kids to use and I had our babysitter come over and face paint. The day was BEAUTIFUL. The weather was PERFECT! I think everyone had a really nice time too. Anna's great grandparents came to the party and oh, that was extra special! Bebe and Pops came to celebrate and helped us set up. William made a sign for the front door that said, "Please come to the driveway" and he drew some festive pictures of kids playing on toys.

Anna's two little friends - Maggie and Claire also came to the party. Maggie and Claire have older siblings at HH and the three girls were all born within weeks of each other. I think it will be fun to look back at this picture when they are in high school!

We invited several friends with older kids Adeline's age and so those children really had fun on the outdoor toys. I didn't take many pictures once people arrived. I was too busy watching Anna's smile and visiting with friends.

We sang Happy Birthday to Anna and gave her a small piece of cake. She was NOT interested. In fact, she hated it! But what's a first birthday without a cake!!?? You were a good sport Anna Baby!

The party lasted about 1.5 hours and then everyone was off to the races! William and Dan left for a soccer game and I put Anna down for a nap. Adeline was just thrilled that we threw a party. She hated for it to end and it killed her to watch all her buddies leave.....she had such a great time!

Anna Baby! YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, MY ONLY SUNSHINE! YOU MAKE ME HAPPY WHEN THE SKYS ARE GRAY! YOU NEVER KNOW DEAR, HOW MUCH WE LOVE YOU!"

Your birthday party was as special as you, my sweet girl! We love you to piece and our family is so very thankful that God gave you to us! My love for you is like nothing I have ever known.