The big birthday bash has come and gone.  The toys are put away lining the walls and strewn all over our apartment.  I stuck some behind the glider in Millie Janalee's room to pull out between now and Christmas...just to add some excitement to a boring day in our future.

Now, I'm left with all the memories from my daughter's first birthday party.  I kept her monthly banner, first birthday bib, and birthday letter from her birthmother in her keepsake box.  Then I had a stack of cards.  I'm sure there will be a stack of cards for every birthday this girl ever has.  So, how can I organize these cards that will come each year?

A friend of mine shared her birthday card storage tip before the party.  And I LOVE it!

I kept a copy (or several) of MIllie Janalee's birthday invitation.  I punched a hole in the invitation and all the cards.  Then I stacked them together...invitation on top...and gathered them together with a ring.  All my baby girl's first birthday cards on one ring with her invitation.  And each year, I will do the same.

Sweet memories.  Gathered together and sitting nicely in Millie Janalee's keepsake box.  Easily found.  Easily assembled. 

Party Planner Anyone? {Party Details}

Thank you for all your comments and kind words here and on Facebook!  We had so much fun planning this precious party.  You only have a first birthday party once, ya know.  Ha!  Some may think we went a little overboard, but I wouldn't do it any other way even if I could.  Over the past year, I went back and forth on themes for the big birthday bash.  It wasn't until the drive home from our beach vacation that I finally texted my sister with a decision.

Sunshine and lemonade it would be!  Immediate Pinterest overload began for both me and my super creative event planning sis.  We created a secret board and shared pins from that day on.  In the meantime, I began my stage of denial and put the party on the back burner.  Because everyone knows that when you put it off, it isn't real right?  Thankfully, my sister never had a terribly hard time with the whole "turning one" thing.  She continued her search for cuteness to match the cuteness of my sweet girl.

And, in case you wondered, Auntie Kristin rocked the party planning!

We both loved the idea of a lemonade stand.  I should say that many times we had exactly the same ideas.  The difference: Kristin can create a masterpiece out of a splinter and I cannot.  Kristin and Lee built, painted, and added the accessories to this precious pint-sized lemonade stand.  It was the perfect size for Millie Janalee!  Oh my at the cuteness!

The lemonade stand stood by the driveway and was the first thing people saw besides the ribbons and balloons on the mailbox.  Next to the lemonade stand was a sign Kristin created leading our guests around the side of the house to the back yard.

I told Kristin that I would love to have signs leading guests as they entered, so I made about 10 signs for Kristin to attach to the dowel rods and add ribbon.  We lined the pathway with lemonade and birthday-inspired signs to greet our happy guests on this hot day.  It turned out just as cute as can be!

The back yard?  OH the back yard!  Beyond adorable!  Kristin and I shopped for nearly everything together, so I could hear how her mind worked and ideas formed.  It's quite fascinating actually.  I would find something I liked, and she would say, "Oh yeah.  I just need some ___ and ___ so I can stick it in ___.  That's easy."  Uhhhh....okay.  Then, I  spent the rest of the afternoon wondering why I didn't think of that.  It really did sound pretty easy.  One thing we both love is lots of cute ribbon.  We hit up Hobby Lobby, Walmart, and our own collections to create the ribbon goodness you see here.

Take a look at this ribbon chandelier.  I found a picture of this and loved it.  Kristin asked me for a hula hoop, and the rest is history.  Remember my hula hooping phase of "fitness?"  Yeah, I no longer own that hula hoop.  It is now a ribbon chandelier.  Ha!  We worked around the ribbon hula hoop for the rest of the decor.  And I'm pretty obsessed with the final product. 

There was not a detail untouched.  The tables were complete with lemon filled basket centerpieces.  The picnic table in the yard was even draped with fabric and a cute framed picture of my girl.

Let's all take a moment and pay homage to this incredible creation.  [A moment of silence here.]  This backdrop.  Oh, the backdrop!  I asked Kristin for a cute backdrop for when Millie Janalee eats her cake.  I was thinking a little painting.  Nothing major.  Then, I saw it.  The big amazing creation from scraps of fabric and tulip paint.  Never once thinking about how we would hang it, I jumped up and down with glee.  The day of the party, I notice these wooden boards with "feet."  When setup commenced on the party day, I notice that Lee is drilling these boards together after Kristin places the backdrop on the top board.  Lee built a backdrop stand for Millie Janalee.  Like a full-on heavy-duty construction project.  One that can't be completely put together until the day of the party.  Too big to go inside.  It was a magnificent creation if you ask me...

After I made the signs for the front yard and a few extra smaller ones, I mailed Kristin the signs and extra scrapbook paper.  She took the scraps and my smaller version signs to create a cute high chair banner.  Did I mention we were planning this party 2 hours apart.  It works, but not ideal for my concrete mind.  I like to see things and work in an organized fashion.  Not so much here.  It's a good thing my party planner had it under control in her controlled chaos.

I picked up these ONE letters from Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's (I can't remember.) and told Kristin I wanted to use them somewhere.  I asked if she could "cutesy" them up.  Ha!  What do you think?  The cute chalkboard easel food labels were a random find at Hobby Lobby too.  Perfect!

When it comes to food, I'm not all that into it.  I love the look of a finished product.  If I were planning this party by myself, I probably would have gone with anything I could have bought or had catered.  However, Kristin is quite the cook.  And not the 3 ingredient kind of cook I am.  She likes to do gourmet detailed cutesy foods.  So, we put our heads together as we decided what I could handle and what she would take over.  Ha!  We really did have a good time making the Strawberry Jello Smiles and the Pasta Salad wasn't too hard for me to pull together.  The rest...she pretty much whipped up on her own.  I did supervise the cupcake decorating, but I dared not touch them for fear of complete collapse.  I test tasted the delicious icing...and approved!  I do plan to share the recipes I used soon.

I am in love with Millie Janalee's twelve month banner Kristin put together!  And who would've thought that Command hooks would stick to brick that had been in the rain all day?!  Not me.

At the last minute, I found these adorable water labels for our water.  I wish I had a picture of the back, because the nutrition facts were personalized too.  Happiness 100%, Love 100%, etc.  I filled water balloons the day before and stored them in the freezer to add a little fun to our ice bucket. These made great ammunition for water balloon fights with the family after the party.  Just remember that some may still be hard ice.  (We know this from experience and a bruised toe.)

My mom has her own wedding rental service basically in her storage unit.  It comes in handy pretty often.  These cute lemonade serving jars were perfect for our big lemonade stand.  Yes, there was even an adult lemonade stand where my mom helped serve lemonade to our guests in mason jars with daisy lids and cutey patootie straws.

I wanted the kids to have something fun to entertain them as well.  Russ and I have 8 neices and nephews, but they are older.  For them, we set up a badminton set with a few other games in buckets for their fun.  This proved fun for the adults too!  For the little ones, we had a Fun Zone complete with a homemade ball pit and photo booth.  It was a hit!  Let me mention Kristin and Lee here again since Lee built a frame and stand for the plywood I thought was all he needed.  He also cut the hole while Kristin worked her magic with a paintbrush.

The favors, I handled.  Cute little sunglasses with lemonade pouches.  I made the cards on my computer and tied it all together with a cute ribbon.  "You are so SWEET to help BRIGHTEN my day!"

Of course, next to our favors sat the phenomenal poster Kristin created for Millie Janalee's first year.  All her favorites, her stats, the things she loves, and things we say about her.  All beautifully arranged without penciling anything out.  Nope.  Kristin laughs at the thought of a pencil.  It's all free-hand and work as you go kind of art.  Oh, to have that skill!

Next time I ask Kristin and Lee if I can host a party in their back yard, they may think twice.  I only asked for a location and I ended up getting a full event planning, catering, and construction service.  And landscaping too!  Lee worked tirelessly.  And I mean tirelessly in his yard the days leading up to the party.  Everything was impeccably cut, weed-eated, watered, swept, weeded, and mulched.  It was better than anything I could have paid for.

By far.

And, the party day?  Let's give credit to a sweaty Pawpaw who helped move lawn furniture from his house to this one, draped tarps over the pergola and backdrop, found fans, and hung lanterns.  To a busy Susu who drove all over tarnation getting last minute groceries, balls for the ball pit, watermelons, burgers, and more.  A helpful Uncie Bucket and She She who came in and never even took time to eat their take-out before helping tie balloons, lanterns, and climb ladders.  Sweet Mrs. Brenda who, after cleaning the house, helped calm the chaos by lending her hand. 

Party planner anyone?  Don't look at me.  I can help you come up with ideas...then I'll point you to the people that can make it happen (or at least tell you how to)!  So many thanks to the best Auntie and Uncie ever!

Sunshine, Lemonade, and FUN!

It's time!  Time for the big first birthday party post!  Saturday, July 20, Millie Janalee had her very first birthday party.  First of many I pray!  Maybe not as big, but certainly more fun parties in our future.  Ha!  It was a sweltering hot day...full of scattered showers.  Another blogger and myself were praying hard for a sunny party since we both planned outdoor party venues.  Kristin and I began decorating outside before lunch on Saturday.

Then it began to rain.  So we raced around the house...front to back...bringing everything back in.  This continued several more times, in addition to the cooking, tying balloons, hanging lanterns, etc.  It was a stressful morning.  Like, you didn't want to come near the house during this time.  It was a spectacle only suited for my family.  And I mean my Smith family.  This was not even suitable for Russ's family.  At all.  Haha!

The rain slowed and eventually came to a stop minutes before the party.  Just in time for all hands on deck to race around with sweat dripping from every limb and appendage of any kind.  Like, from our noses, ears, elbows, knee caps.  Kristin and I ran to change clothes...putting lotion on top of smelly sweat.  Maybe no one would notice.  All in time for the finishing touches on the food table.

Russ was on Millie Janalee duty all day.  His job was to see that she napped long, ate well, and was bathed timely.  He completed his job successfully, and Millie Janalee arrived at her party just minutes before 4:00 having had a 3 hour nap (unheard of) and clean as a whistle.  Such a great daddy!  God answered our prayer for a rested baby.  He cares about the small stuff too, you know.

As the guests began to arrive, I poured some Cheerios on the patio in front of Millie Janalee since she slept through her lunch.  She sat happily eating her Cheerios and greeting her guests with her "one" finger.  She did a fabulous job of telling everyone how old she was!

The guests arrived in mini droves and their faces lit up when they rounded the corner to the cuteness that was sunshine and lemonade.  Making a bee-line to the water and lemonade stand for relief from the July sun.  Russ and I were overwhelmed with the love from our friends and family.  Everyone gathered on the patio for an early dinner as they watched the precious video Kristin lovingly prepared for us.  Most, if not all the guests, were in the video at some point.  From praying for us to meeting our girl.  Every guest was special.  And a beautiful part of Millie Janalee's story.

After good food and great conversation, it was time for the main event.  Millie Janalee was super excited to dig into her smash cake that Aunt Jenny made for her.  Aunt Jenny is our go-to cake person...just like Auntie Kristin is our go-to event planner (that's a whole other post) and Matt and Leah are our go-to photographers.  Man, we are blessed with talented company!

Millie Janalee's high chair sat prepared for the festivities in front of the adorable backdrop Auntie Kristin made.  The cake was as cute as could be with a sweet pink monogram in the middle of the brilliant yellow sun.

Everyone began singing "Happy Birthday" together as Russ and I brought the cake to our birthday girl.  As you can see, the singing was a bit much for her little ears perhaps?  Or maybe we were off tune.  Ha!  Either way, she handled the voices of nearly 50 people directed at her very well.  I'm not sure I could handle all that attention either.

Happy Birthday, Millie Janalee!  Happy Birthday to YOU!

Make a wish!

Once the formalities were behind us, we helped ease Millie Janalee into her smash cake.  She was so polite with it at first.  Russ was the instigator as he worked tirelessly to get her to literally SMASH her hands into the cake.  She much preferred to be fed the cake.  [No surprise here!  The girl has no desire to use a spoon other than to play the drums with it at restaurants.]

After some encouragement and time, she got a little braver as she licked the icing off her hands and rubbed it all over her little face and hair.  This mama was cringing, no doubt.  As I like to keep a girlie girl squeaky clean.  Ha!  But I resisted the urge to interfere, knowing that she will only turn one once.  And memories are worth way more than clean hair.

Don't get me wrong.  After Millie Janalee had her fill of cake, I was on her with a wet rag in no time!  She's not a fan of getting her face wiped after eating.  This I knew.  So after cleaning as much icing as I could, we headed back to the ball pit.  The ball pit served as her favorite spot of the day!

If you have a young one, I highly suggest a homemade ball pit!  We racked our brains for something to occupy Millie Janalee and her little friend, Caroline.  Caroline is only 12 days younger than Millie Janalee.  Kristin found this ball pit idea on Pinterest.  She picked up the pool at Walmart (Because our Hawaiian themed pool we already had just didn't go with the decor. Ha!) and I ordered 100 balls from Amazon.com.  Except the night before the party...late night...we poured the balls into the pool.  That's when we realized they didn't even cover the bottom, much less provide ball pit fun.  My mom ran from store to store the day of the party and bought ALL the balls Dollar Tree had in the store!  Big and small.  Thus, our amazing ball pit!  We've already loaned it out once for another first birthday party.  Ha!  We also had a badminton set and other games set up in the yard for the older kids and kids at heart.

The thought of opening all the gifts with Millie Janalee seemed overwhelming, so we planned to open them later.  However, as guests left and only family and a few close friends remained...we decided to give it a try and only open a few.  Once we got started, we didn't stop.  Millie Janalee enjoyed it, and so did I!  I'm obsessed with baby/toddler toys, books, clothes, and pretty much anything that I know Millie Janalee will love or look cute in.  So opening these gifts was like my own birthday party!  Ha!  Millie Janalee was so blessed by our friends and family with amazing gifts!  I think I'm going to put some back, so I'll have new toys to pull out every once in a while until Christmas.  If I can resist opening them all and playing myself!

Mama, Daddy, and a one year old makes three!

She's getting the hang of unwrapping.

Her personalized birthday book from Aunt Nana

The girl loves to read!

Maw Maw enjoyed watching us open gifts!

The fun celebration, gifts, food, and decorations were fun and all.  But the most special part of any birthday party is the love you feel by those who come to celebrate with you.  Millie Janalee, Russ, and I surely felt loved on July 20.  We are surrounded by amazing family and friends.  Family and friends who have cried with us and for us, prayed endlessly, and loved our little family unconditionally.

People make parties special and fun!  People laugh to fill the quiet.  People hug to fill your heart.  People show up to fill your home.  And people celebrate to fill our memories.  Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us.

It means so much! 

The Yayas like the ball pit too!  Ha! (missing Yaya Hope!)

These ladies have the potential to get Millie Janalee into many a crazy adventure!

Russ's brother and his family

Part of the Mansel crew (Russ's sister and family...the others were at the beach.)

My crazy crew!

I don't know if you remember back to Millie Janalee's placement ceremony, when I was sad that Matt and Leah worked so hard to capture memories for us and didn't end up in a single picture?  Remember how I said I would devote an entire post to them?  Well, how about a paragraph for now?  This couple is one of the most sincere, sweet, giving, and precious couple I know!  Leah and I met in college, and I love how we can still carry on like nearly 10 years hasn't gone by.  Her husband is THE most phenomenal photographer I know!  And he has inherited the task of Millie Janalee's life photographer.  They arrived during the most stressful time of the preparations and just began snapping away and helping where they could.  Love them!  I am so blessed to know them.  And even more blessed to call them friends!

So glad we have them documented this time!

Russ and I truly are thankful for such a wonderful day.  We were thrilled to celebrate our little sunshine.  The girl that brightens our days and brightened our hearts over a year ago. 
She makes us happy when skies are gray!  She may never know how much we love her, but our little sunshine is here to stay!

I find it perfectly perfect that when Millie Janalee arrived, the rain stopped for good.  How perfect that this little sunshine would make a rainy day sunny.  A stressful mama delighted.  A tired family energetic.

She's pretty special.

This one year old of mine.

I pray that she not only bring sunshine to the lives of others...

I pray that the SON shine through her life in all she does.

I pray that our little sunshine also become God's SONshine!

Happy Birthday, precious one!  It's so fun to be ONE!