Friday, October 12, 2018

Mackenzie's First Birthday

We celebrated our little girl turning ONE YEAR OLD on Saturday. I still cannot believe a whole year flew by since we first met her. She has been the best GIFT to my husband and I. We just love her so much!





I started planning her first birthday a few months in advance. I knew I wanted to make my own decorations and really make it personalized. Since she was born, I made her "symbol" a lady bug. 

Long story short, I have always felt like she "saved" us. If I hadn't been pregnant last year in 2017, with my due date being October 2nd, my husband and I would have attended the Route 91 Music Festival in Las Vegas, which is where the Las Vegas shooting took place. I truly believe she had saved our lives. 


So I made her symbol a lady bug because she is our "good luck" charm. Ever since she was born I've signed her name with a little lady bug next to it. (We also call her "Kenzie Bug") So I felt like it just fit perfectly and decided to make her first birthday theme a lady bug theme. I know not everyone knows the story of why I gave her the symbol, but it is sentimental to me and always will be. 




Party Time

We had the party start at noon thinking she would have had her morning nap and been in a good mood by the time people arrived, but she was much too interested in what we were doing. It was almost like she wanted to get this party started!






Guests started arriving and we were a little scrambled getting appetizers finished, but everything ended up turning out great.  We did, however, forget to bring out the fruit and vegetable tray until an hour after it started and we completely and TOTALLY forgot to bring out the 7-layer dip. (oops!) So we ended up devouring it days after the party. Total fail on our part! Oh well!





We hired a taco guy, because who doesn't love tacos? And it made our lives so much easier by not having to worry about the main course. And they were of course DELICIOUS.

Mackenzie ended up falling asleep after the party started, so I put her down for a nap and she ended up sleeping a good hour. Which is when I finally got to sit down and enjoy some tacos and appetizers. (YUM!) I also served margaritas because I figured they went perfect with tacos. I made labels for the drinks and of course forgot to put them out so one of my girlfriends accidentally served her 5 year old a few sips of margarita. (Another oops on my part). So definitely will make sure to label the drinks next time.  

We had about 66 invitees and around 45 showed up. It was a good turnout and I was able to spend time with people I hadn't seen in a while. I tried making my rounds before Mackenzie woke up and I couldn't quite make it around to everyone and spend as much time with them like I had hoped, but overall I think I did pretty well considering it was a busy day.  Once Mackenzie woke up, I took her around to greet her party guests since she didn't get to see everyone before she fell asleep. 

After making rounds, we wanted to start her cake smash. We didn't realize the bakery would give her a free cake smash cake so I ended up making one. Which is the one we used. (We also forgot to take the one they gave us out of the fridge to soften the frosting, so it was a good thing I made one! Can you tell I was a little scatterbrained?)

She wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake at first and why so many people were standing around her, so I started putting some frosting in her mouth so she could get a taste. She still wasn't sure what the heck was going on so my husband started smashing her hands on top of the cake, then she started getting the hang of it. After a little while, my husband took the cake and shoved it in her face. She definitely does not like to get her hands or face messy that's for sure! 





After her cake smash we decided to the cut the ladybug cake. I had my cousin help cut it so I didn't ruin it! She did a fantastic job, by the way (haha.) The cake was so yummy! We ordered it from Beverly's Best Bakery. I chose the top layer to be white cake with raspberry fruit and buttercream and the bottom layer as chocolate with raspberry fruit and buttercream.

Most of the guests left after cake, but a few of my aunts and cousins stayed and of course our parents so we decided to open the gifts. My goodness she is so loved! She received some really awesome presents and we are still trying to open the packaging on them. (They sure do package those things like crazy Am I right?)




Her Birthday was so much fun despite all the work and energy it took to put it on.  I think she had a lot of fun spending time with everyone, eating cake, and opening her presents. She got a lot of "Clock" gifts since she is obsessed with clocks. (Everywhere we go she points them out!) What a fun day it was!

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