Elsie's 1st Birthday Party

December 9th we celebrated Elsie's First Birthday!  We had it at the local church fellowship hall which was nice because we didn't have to worry about fitting everyone into our house.  I spent quite a bit of time preparing for the party and had fun making the decorations and cupcakes (John helped a lot too).  We had about 40 people there including babies, kids, and adults.  So many family and friends were there for Elsie's special day!  My sister and her family were unable to make it at the last minute due to bad weather so we definitely missed them :(

I knew for quite a few months that I wanted the theme to be "You are my Sunshine".  We sing that to her every night before she goes to bed.  I really enjoyed finding ideas for her party and have already started to think about her next one (which will be on a much smaller scale :).  We had lots of help from my parents and John's parents getting ready for the party the day of and help with the clean up from John's aunts, Grandma, parents, and cousins.  Here are some photos from the day! 

Grandpa Craig helped with frosting her little smash cake

Ta-Da!

All the kiddos

 Front Row-Elsie, Aubrey, Orson, Bryson, Greta and Parker, and Danny

Back Row:  Ella and Briggs, Wyatt, Jaden, Emma, and Olivia

We first started out with presents because the casseroles I made for dinner took WAY longer to bake than I thought.  Oh well... I guess you learn to adapt. 

Elsie got this Rockabye Rocker from John and I.  I was shocked when 

she got on it and actually knew how to rock.  

Elsie and Cayden checking out one of the presents. 

Elsie got so many wonderful gifts!  Lots of books, this awesome busy box, a turtle bouncer, elephant ball popper, some puzzles, and some toys.   She is one spoiled little girl!  

Enjoying her cake...this is just about as messy as she got.  She just wasn't too into it.  Maybe next year :)

One tired little girl-I actually think this was taken before the party.  She took a nice long nap with Grandpa right before heading over to the church.  

Elsie just loved walking around with these balloons.  

Here are some decoration photos.  Most of the stuff I got from Hobby Lobby and I did a lot of it by hand thanks to my awesome Cricut Machine.  

I made this photo garland showcasing each monthly photo to show how much she has grown.  

Thank you to everyone for making this such a special day.  John and I are so blessed to have Elsie in our lives and all three of us are so blessed to have all of you!  Cheers to a wonderful first year!!!!