Lemon's 1st Birthday Party

Weeks of remodeling, days of prepping, cleaning, baking and decorating were so worth it, we had a BLAST at Lemon's first birthday party!  40 of our closest friends and family came to celebrate with us and we had so much fun!  Lemon was totally overwhelmed (and slept three hours during/after the party), but I will remember that day forever.

Thank you to everyone that came over to party with us, it meant so much!  Lemon may not remember her party, but these pictures and videos will be so fun for her to look back on later.  And, I will always remember how much fun we had!

We made sure to have a relaxing, normal morning before Lemon's first nap so that she would be in a good mood for the party.  She slept about an hour and a half and woke up kind of in shock that people we already here.  My dad and Aunts came early to help set up food and pictures.

 My Aunts and Ian's Dad (I told you he was half Native American!)

 

 Livvy, Lemon's BFF (Melissa's daughter, who watched Lemon) showed up in her party gear!

 My mom and Joe helped us so much by bringing fans, a cooler and buying the food!  Once again, I don't know what we'd do without them!

 There's June, our friend who takes all of Lemon's pictures!

 Lemon, Livvy and our niece, Selma.

 My Aunt Virgie came all the way from Nashville to party with us!

 Besties.

This is one of my first yoga students, Drew, who is now a yoga teacher herself at the hot yoga studio we go to.  She is also a friend of ours and maybe even soon to be nanny for Lemon!  (Cross your fingers!)

 My cousin Stormy (second from left), her friend Katie, my Aunt Kathy (they both came from Milwaukee for the party), my sister in law Kelly and my Aunt Donna.

 One of my besties, Christie, who helped us decorate the day before, for 7 hours!  She also painted my toe nails for me that night because she said, "You are hosting 50 people at your house tomorrow, you can't have these toe nails."  We love her more than anything!

This is our friend Nicole who helped us with the pallet couch cushions.  She also made Lemon the most amazing chair for her birthday, scroll down to see!  (You can also order one, in any style/fabric you want, for your own baby here!)

My bestie Christine and our friend Lauren who made the cutest Lemon headband for the party!  (Then I made her give it to me!)

Um, the chair.  How amazing is this?!  I have not cried since Lemon turned one, I didn't even cry on her real birthday.  But when I came out and saw this, I cried.  So so cute!

 

 

 Time to swim in our matching bikinis!  (Mine is from Victoria's Secret and Lemon's was handmade by Courtney @islas_closet on Instagram, check her out for the cutest baby suits!)

 Jenny, our other bestie, bough us this awesome Lemon slice pool float!  Sooooo cute!

Someone was getting tired so it was time for cake:

She wasn't really into it and had no idea what to do!

 My mom gave her some to try.

Tired, hot and probably weirded out that everyone was crowded around her!

Oh and the foot made an appearance.  

 Over it.

 

 The Aunties having a taste!

 My lemon cupcakes were to die for, I had to have one before they were gone!  (And yes, that's frosting from Lemon's cake on my arm!)

 Nap time for baby!

Christie repaired the pinata from Nicole's birthday, the day before the party, filled it back up with candy and then this happened:

 Lauren's son Spencer.

Our nephew, Reggie.

Christine's son, Espen.

 We didn't have a place to hang it so Aunt Christie had to dump the candy out!  Ha!

 And then Christine got inside and Lemon said goodnight to her!

My dad hurt his foot so he had to come home from his cross-country trip.  I was so happy he could come to the party and he helped us so much that day, and was on his foot way too much!  I love it when he's home.

Baby asleep, time to party!  My mom, Carol and my dad helped clean up while all of our friends and I swam.  It was so much fun and made us realize that we need to do get togethers like this more often.  I am so thankful for my mom and dad helping to clean up, we were beat by the time everyone left!

Wearing Lemon's headband.

These girls are my favorites.  Just missing Lauren but she had to take a tired Spencer home!  And Espen - love him!  I was at his first birthday party and he's almost 7!

This baby slept almost 3 hours during/after the party and then hung out and watched Hotel Transylvania in her new chair all night.

The next morning we opened presents and even though she looks sad she had fun with all her new toys.  (She fell over this box and took a tumble, so then I had to take a sad picture, it was too cute!)

 Loving her bouncing turtle from Ian's mom, Patty, who also made food for the party.  We love her!

Also loving her little books from her Aunt Ashley, Uncle Leith, Reggie and Selma.  This girl LOVES books.

A wonderful party for an amazing baby girl!  Thank to everyone who came over and to everyone who helped, we appreciate you all so much.  We love you and had SUCH a good time!

To my beautiful girl:  You have a box full of mementos from all of the people in your life who love and care about you.  One day, when you are 21, you will open this box and see all of the things people have given you, tokens of their love and letters describing each one.  It does take a village to raise a child and all of the people who came to your party have helped us in one way or another, to raise you, even in this first year.  They will be in your life a long time and you will come to know them as part of your family, even if they are not related to you.  They love you very much, and are so happy you are in their lives.  We wanted you to have all of these things, when you are old enough to appreciate them, so that you know just how much you were loved, even as a tiny baby.  We love you little Lemon, more than you'll ever know.