Happy 1st Birthday, Evelyn Rose

Evelyn's 1st Birthday was on Saturday and I'm finally getting to the computer to post pictures.  No one told me just how exhausted we'd be after hosting Evelyn's party!  I guess I thought that only the birthday girl would really feel tired after her big day.

June 25th was filled with activity and company!  We felt so blessed to have so many of our wonderful friends join us for the celebration.  None of our family could make it to the party (we'll have a family celebration soon), so having friends to celebrate with on Evelyn's actual birthday was truly a gift!

We had a garden themed birthday for Evelyn (with her middle name being Rose, we felt a garden theme was more than appropriate).  I had so much fun designing invitations to match the theme and planning our appetizers and decorations for the garden birthday!  

I wanted the invite to include pictures from Evelyn's first 11 months of life in this world.  I made 11 petals and pasted a picture from each month on the petals of the flower.  Each month I took pictures of Evelyn and her Bunny, so that we could measure her growth against the same object!  All of the pictures I used for the flower were from the individual monthly shoots with Bunny.

Evelyn's 1st Birthday Invitation

With the garden theme set and the invitations mailed, I started to prepare for the actual birthday!  I kept the menu pretty simple; I wanted things that would be easy enough for all the party guests (even the youngest ones) to consume!  I planned to have pulled pork mini sandwiches, fruit and veggie trays, a cheese and cracker platter, dirt pudding, cupcakes, cake and chips.  The miniature sandwiches are always better when you have a bunch of people to feed at once (especially for the little ones with smaller stomachs)!  I decided most of the menu was straight forward but thought I could get creative with the fruit/cheese trays and the desserts.

A pineapple, grape and blueberry bouquet! Yum!

A cheesy bouquet

Appetizers on the move... time for cake!

Edible worms and dirt and a trowel for a spoon...
doesn't get any better!

Some of the spread... photographed the day after the event!

Evelyn didn't know quite what to do with Gus.
She's never seen him with facial hair!

By far the best decoration of the day was not anything I had planned and

certainly not something I bought from the store! Evelyn's best buddy,

Gus Skillman, came dressed as a garden gnome (his mother, Anna is quite a

talented costume designer)!  He came bearing a friendship rose and

big grin for little Evelyn's birthday!  What a happy surprise!

It was a truly special day for Evelyn!  We can't believe our little girl is one!  We feel so blessed to have her in our lives!  She is a precious rose in God's beautiful garden and we are so grateful that He has chosen us to be her parents!