Natalie Grace's First Birthday Party

Happy First Birthday Natalie!

To celebrate "the Big One," Natalie had her first birthday party on Friday evening. Our family and friends gathered and the night was a blast. We weren't sure what the birthday drama queen would think of the whole "party" idea (she can be pretty shy). Once she warmed up, she really seemed to get into the excitement of it all. It couldn't have been more perfect. So, here are a ton of birthday pictures to scroll through...

Enjoy!

We decided to have the party at our neighborhood clubhouse. It was so nice not to have to clean our house for the party only to cram our poor guests into a "standing-room-only" venue. Here, we had plenty of tables, chairs, and room for all the kids to run and roam. It took so much stress out of the whole deal. I'm hooked now.
Here were some tables for the kids and buckets full of noise-makers. What's a party without some decent noise?

Tables for the "big kids"

Here's the birthday princess!

The necklace she's wearing was her birthday present from Gavin. We ate at Bob Evans a few weeks ago and Gavin found the necklace in a cute little butterfly case at the checkout counter. He insisted that this was the perfect present for him to give his sister. He's so sweet to her.

She loved the balloons!

Time For Cake!

I've never seen a kiddo attack a cake in quite the same manner as my daughter...

(there's a little video clip at the bottom of this blog entry)

She loved the cake so much, she actually "hugged" it into her mouth! She certainly got her hands messy, but seemed to prefer the "no-hands/shove-my-face-into-it" method.

In the midst of eating cake, she found a stray pacifier in her highchair and popped in in her mouth. She took a quick break and then tossed the pacie for more cake.

Showing off her "caked" hands

By this point, she had pretty much quite eating the cake, and was just happily playing with it.

When she grabbed handfuls big enough to lift the entire cake up off the tray, we figured it was about time to call it quits before the whole room was covered.

My Friends Brought Me Presents?!

Quite blessed (and spoiled) was my little one.

Her cousin Jake, being so very sweet.

How polite! Little Miss Manners actually appears to be reading the card first.

"I may look sweet and innocent, but deep down, I'm a rockstar!"

"Happy Birthday To You...."

Here's a little video of everyone singing "Happy Birthday" and Natalie tasting her first cake.