Happy 1st Birthday Ella!

I feel like this should be a "Flashback" post, since I waited so long, but here it is anyway! Ella's birthday party was a blast and we were so thankful and blessed to have our families and some of our close friends there to celebrate with us. Ella had a great time too and wasn't traumatized or overwhelmed by people staring at her or singing to her. She dug right into her cake, but actually went slowly and didn't even really get that messy (That's my girl)! Here is a photo journal of the day!

 Here are some pics of her "birthday outfit". I had so much fun trying to figure out how to make this. I was completely determined to be able to do it, and I did! None of it may make it another day, but it did that day and I was proud! And I thought it looked pretty cute too!

Here are the cakes (made by a friend Jocelyn) who just looked at a picture of what I wanted and completely recreated it! She was so amazing! AND...the cakes tasted awesome! And in case you can't tell, it is Strawberry Shortcake's hat. We just went with a strawberry theme overall, but I just loved this "hat" cake!

These are some of the decorations and what the house looked like as the party started...

Gift Table complete with Strawberry Shortcake blanket (made for her at birth)

 Dining room with punch, refreshments, and of course the cake...

 Tissue Pom-poms throughout (Ella loved and immediately noticed when they were hung. For over a week, we would walk her to one and then to another as she pointed to them. It was great!)

 Chocolate Lollipops in the shape of a strawberry for favors...so yummy!

 Month by month picture gallery of E!

Here is her baby book and this blog printed and put in a notebook so people could look back at her life so far...

 One of our gifts to Ella...a retro child's patio set...so cool!

 And finally, her birthday banner that I worked long and hard on...hopefully we can use this over and over!

Here are some of the gifts and shots of Ella playing with them...

How do I open it?

 New Giraffe riding toy...

Another gift from us...a slide!

Enjoying her new patio set...

Now, this post wouldn't be complete without pictures of her eating her cake...

Thanks for all of the well wishes...this was Ella's best birthday yet! Ha!