Celebrating 1.

Brooke's birthday was such a fantastic day. Our gorgeous Big Lady had so much fun the whole day, starting with a yummy pancake breakfast and finishing with birthday cake blueberries (cake didn't go over so well, so instead she had fruit.) She had such a delightful time at her birthday party, so blessed to be surrounded by so many people that love her. Here's the party run-down in pics :)

The birthday girl in her party outfit! (Yes, it was 100% necessary to put her in a tutu for her birthday. I mean, how much fancier could you get?)

 The Sesame Street theme was a success, much thanks to the help of Brooke's Aunt Sus (the decorations) and Grandma (the cake.) Everything looked pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself!

Happy little family :)

 A mountain of gifts. Such a lucky girl!

She opened each present by herself, spent a minute adoring the contents, thanked every single gift-giver (with no exception - so polite), and then moved on to the next one. She was a very efficient gift opener!

 Next up: cake time! More exciting for Brooke was the singing. We'd been practicing singing "Happy Birthday" to her all week so she would recognize the song and not be afraid. Worked like a charm. She LOVED being the center of attention (cough cough like mother like daughter cough cough).

 She scanned the room as we sang, looking at all her adoring fans :)

 "My very own little cake to smash in my face and consume with wild abandon and make a crazy mess with? Eh, no thanks! Wait...there are blueberries? Yes! Gimme!"

 No sense in wasting a perfectly good cake... Let me remind you that I pushed this kid out after 46 hours of labor and survived a full year of toting around a giant baby - I earned this.

 A very tired girl at the end of the party. Off to bed she went, 2 hours before the rest of us rang in the New Year.

Thanks to everyone who made Brooke's 1st birthday such a lovely day. We love you all :)