A Birthday Party, in Review

Well, we made it. After more than a year of planning (I know, I seriously need to get a life), Norah's first birthday party has come and gone. The following is a photo-recap of Norah's big day. (And this is a fun picture of Norah making "monkey sounds")

This was her birthday party outfit (purchased from a super-sweet seller on E-bay)I sewed a little, red bow on the monkey's head to make it a little bit more girly. I loved that the back of the sweater had the back view of the monkey.

This cake was my inspiration for the entire party. I saw it on Martha Stewart.com while I was pregnant and fell in love.











Mom snapped a picture of me showing off Norah's freshly decorated smash cake around 3pm, Friday afternoon. I put the finishing touches on the big cake around 11pm that night. It was a LONG day! (But totally worth it!)














Monkey Cupcakes-These were my own creation after I started to panic that there wasn't enough cake for everyone (or enough chocolate for my chocoholic friends) The ears are halved Nilla Wafers, the eyes are chocolate chips, and the nostrils and mouth are made of licorice string.



















The "Spread"







My personal favorite project for the party was the favor bags for Norah's little buddies. Mom helped me sew the felt monkey faces that decorated the front each bag (I also sewed a safety pin on the back of each one, in case the kids wanted to keep them to pin to their backpack, bulletin board, shirt, or whatever).




Contents of the goody bags: monkey stickers, a flannel monkey sack with a ribbon drawstring, filled with a set of alphabet magnets for the fridge, a bag of banana runts (remember the 3 lbs. I bought?), and my personal favorite, a stuffed monkey with little magnets inside his hands and feet. (And yes, if you're observant, you've noticed that this bag went to AA & Trae, and no, they aren't kids, but Amanda asked me to bend the rules since she and Trae had to work and couldn't make the party, but came to town Saturday night to celebrate with us)

We actually used the stuffed monkeys to decorate the house before putting them in the goody bags. (Might as well get our money's worth out of them!) There were 15 of the little magnetic monkeys, so Jason hid them all around the livingroom, and we let the kids have a monkey scavenger hunt. The first kid (with adult help) to guess the correct number of hidden monkeys won a barrel of monkeys. (It was pretty funny watching all the adults scanning the room while the kids were playing)

We had a house-full! (Close to 40 between the adults and kids) We are so blessed to have so many friends and family members who love Norah. It was very humbling to know that our house was filled with people who deeply love Norah and pray for her on a regular basis. I hope she'll look back at these pictures some day and realize how much she is loved.

One of Jason's groomsmen even surprised us by coming into town. (Here he is visiting with Grandad Shelby in the kitchen) We really enjoyed getting to catch up with Brett and share the weekend with him. He was an ideal house guest--very low-mantainance, cleaned up after himself, and most importantly, he and Norah played very well together!


Here we are goofing around with Jenny and the twins, who came to the party in their adoreable monkey tees. Patti was so funny--she went all over the living room pointing out each of the little magnetic monkeys, beckoning the nearest adult to hand them to her. She gathered quite an impressive collection!

Finally, it was time for the cake! Norah beamed with pride when we presented her with her own monkey smash cake.
Jason and I helped with blowing out her candle---but if mental concentration could have extinguished the flame, she wouldn't have needed any assistance.

She stared at the cake for the longest time before digging in (she was probably wondering if it were a mistake that we set it within her reach or some sort of mean trick).









She got over her timidity pretty fast... and I'm not sure, but I think she liked it.












Mom R video-ed the mometous occassion, while a nervous uncle Grant mused whether or not Norah would survive the amount of chocolate she injested, unscathed. (Don't worry, she did--we took it away before she made herself sick)

After the cake, we opened gifts. Jason and I were completely overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of our friends and family. (And Norah loves everything she received!)


It was a memorable day (well, Norah probably wont remember any of it...but we have lots of pictures, so at least she'll know we tried to make it special). I'd say I can't wait til next year's party... but I think in the mean time, I'll just enjoy Norah while she's still 1 and hope she doesn't grow up too fast!