Celebrating our Bug!

This past weekend we gathered with family and a few friends to celebrate Lilly's first birthday! I was pretty selective in who would be recieving invites since Jake's first birthday was an absolute zoo with about forty families in attendance... yowza! So aside from the other pastor at our church and his family, we sent invites to a few families that have babies Lilly's age- you know, her little friends. My sister, Mindy, designed the invitations and set the theme for the whole party:

And as a sidenote, she does freelance work, so if you're ever looking for design stuff, she's a great option. She has a craft-blog, too, which can be seen here.

But anyway, going with a ladybug theme was fun and easy! Instead of trying to find a lot of ladybug decor, we kind of veered toward red, black and white with polka-dots. And of course our party-girl had to dress for the occasion and I found the perfect dress and shoes... and then majorly failed and did not get a photo! This is the best I have (and if you look REALLY close you can see the ladybugs on her dress and shoes), but I know this outfit will be revisited for her 1-year-old photos soon!

We just did a light lunch with a mostly bug-themed menu: chicken salad sandwiches, ants on a log, Lilly's favorite (yogurt) parfaits, caterpillars-in-cocoons (pigs in a blanket), and Ladybug Chow (potato chips and a giant bowl of Cheerios for the little ones).

And of course there were cupcakes and a smash cake, decorated by yours truly... one of my favorite things to do:

The decorations were downloaded for free from Smitten Blog Designs, and my lovely friend Laura, who surprised me from out of town, put her crafting skills to work and strung the banner together for me. It turned out super-cute!

We had a small turnout due to babies with fevers and busy Saturday schedules, but Lilly loved the attention, loved being sang to, and as expected, REALLY loved the cake!

It was a special day indeed for a very special girl... I still can't believe she's a year old already (sniff).