Jane's 1st Birthday Party

Way back at the end of June we celebrated Jane's 1st birthday party. Our Theme was "You are My Sunshine". A poor quality picture of the invitation.

We decided to have Jane's party at a park this year because our family room is still in renovation and without that area I was worried we wouldn't have enough space for a ton of people to be over. We thought that a playground right next to the party would be great for the kids. I knew that it could be hot that time of year but I didn't count on it being heat advisory hot. Then we were running incredibly behind getting set up and it was windy on top of sweltering. Not a great start to the day!

Anna inspecting the cupcakes

 I'd intended to go around and get pictures of all my decorations and the adorable cookies I ordered (yellow suns and blue "1" cookies) but in the chaos it never happened.

Jane and Gampa!

Gama and Gampa watched the girls for us while we attempted to decorate at the shelter house. My Mom and Hailie came up a little early and without their help we would have been even more behind. Grandma Paula even stood and plugged up the broken spigot on the tea dispenser until we would figure out a fix. (Did I mention things weren't going as planned?) A huge thank you Patti, Kevin, Paula, and Hailie!

I had a cute display board with all of Jane's monthly pictures but the wind kept blowing it over so it was put on the table and eventually closed up. Stupid Wind!

 A few friends I met through playgroups. Their kiddos were playing around there somewhere!

Jane's cheeks were so red the entire time. So HOT!

Once Anna saw Adell, all her other friends were pretty much forgotten. 

Cake time! 

The smash cake had melted by this point and was a little lopsided. Although Jane had had a few sweets before she didn't know what to think of entire cake being set in front of her.

Anna was sure to come over to offer some encouragement. She knew that the sooner Jane ate some cake the sooner she could have a cupcake!

Finally she got a little messy.

Our attempt at a Family picture. We really should have tried to take it before Anna got her cupcake. 

This girl shouted out something about Jane being so messy while looking like this.

Checking out the bubble machine.

The older kids were really into helping with gift opening. Jane tried every now and then to get in on the action but I think it was all happening so fast for her and was a bit overwhelming. 

Jane's second cousin Cal was so sweet with little Jane and tried to involve her. Such a sweet little guy.

My friend Amanda made this hat for Jane. She didn't want to take it off but it was so hot so I eventually got it off of her. 

Anna wanted to play with everything right then and there. 

Finally a moment of peace for Jane to play with a toy by herself!

Just checking out the new toys. 

Jane loves her new rocking horse. 

We had a lot of help cleaning up after the party (thank you to everyone who stuck around to sweat some more) and there was a little time for play before we were totally ready to get home to the air conditioning. 

Thomas and Kevin. Silly silly silly.

 Run run run!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Jane hadn't really napped that afternoon and was exhausted by the end of the evening. She woke up ready to go and anxious to explore her new things. 

Some of the leftover cupcakes. We saved a few and sent the rest with Kevin to work so we wouldn't eat them ourselves. 

Jane enjoyed the cupcakes more then the cake and wasn't as shy about it. (It did help that 20 or so people weren't staring at her)

Even though the day didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped I think it was still a nice little party. I'm really hoping our family room is done (or at least not a disaster) next summer so we can have the party at our house. I don't think I'll be planning a party in the park again. Live and Learn! Thanks to everyone who made it out to celebrate Jane turning 1 with us! Love you all!