HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!!

The big birthday weekend is over! Whew! It was so much fun, lots of work, but I totally enjoyed every bit of it! Now, before you say anything....I have a couple of disclaimers! First of all, this post is a lot of pictures! I can't help it. I love pictures. The fact that I have over 300 pictures from the day is a testament to this fact. Lucky for you, I can't find the ones I took as I was baking. Hopefully they will turn up and I can eventually post them! Secondly, yes, I know that Hayden won't remember any of this day, except for through pictures. If you are my "facebook friend" you have seen some of these pictures. I know some of you will think I went a bit overboard, but, that's my perogative! I waited a long time for Miss Hayden, and by golly, I wanted to celebrate! I didn't do anything I didn't want to do. I enjoyed making things, crossing every "t" and dotting every "i" (except for the fact that I totally forgot my cute little flower shaped jello jigglers!!). It let me use my creative skills. I had a blast! So...maybe the party was a little bit for me too???? Of course! I gave birth to her, after all!

The party preparations began on Wednesday when I began baking. Actually, I began making some of the decorations weeks before. I had to spread the food prep out over the few nights leading up because otherwise I wouldn't have had time to get it done. I still wouldn't have gotten it all done if not for my sister, who helped me a ton Friday night! I seriously baked more for this party than I have in my almost 10 years of marriage. Unfortunately, now I've proved I can do it, so I may have to pick it up a bit.

***The Party***

We had the party at the Creative Arts and Events Center in town. It was nice not to have to worry about how the house looked...because let me tell you, it looked really bad! Honestly at times, it looked like Betty Crocker herself had exploded in my kitchen! (I actually took pictures for proof!) We decided that if I ever decide to be a professional baker (ha!) I am going to have a larger kitchen!

I made this birthday banner for the party. I'd seen them on ETSY for sale, but decided I'd like to make my own. I plan to take it apart and use the "HAYDEN" in her bedroom. Multi-purpose, you see!

These are the cupcake pops that I made. This was quite a time-consuming project, but really rewarding because they were so cute...and actually yummy. At first, I didn't like the texture, but they have grown on me (not that I ate more than one or anything). I found the instructions for these on Bakerella's blog.

This is the fruit basket I created. It is assorted fruit on skewers with mini marshmallows topping them off. These were a huge hit! I could have had many, many more (I refilled once)! This was the only thing that had to be prepared on Saturday. I did worry about the skewers being used as weapons....and all the boys at the party didn't let me down!

I made this sign for Haydens' highchair! It too was fun to create! I haven't scrapbooked in forever, so this kind of filled that "need".

This is a view of one of the tables. I made the pots that have the cupcake pops in them. Easter grass was used to cover the "foam" holding the pops. Then, as you can see, there were balloons coming out the pots. You can't see a close-up, but I made napkin rings and had the silverware already wrapped. This made it easier to set the tables. It was another project that was done ahead of time.

This is Haydens' giant cupcake! I bought a little, undecorated 3-tier cake at Wal-Mart because I wanted to decorate it myself. It was one of the last things I did as far as decorating. My icing wasn't the easiest to spread, so it's a little rough. It wasn't the best decorating job, I think I could do it better the next time, but it's cute enough! And you may hear rumors that I had my sis separating sprinkles by color to use on some of the cupcakes....now, would I do such a thing? That would appear somewhat obsessive...

This is the cupcake table. I served strawberry cupcakes with creme cheese icing, chocolate cupcakes with whipped icing, and yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing. It was fun decorating the cupcakes different ways! Did I ever mention on my blog that I would love to be a pastry chef???

This is the absolutely adorable, heart-stealing, cuddling, climbing,non-walking,cutie-patootie

****BIRTHDAY GIRL****

Hayden and Harrison with my nieces Charity and Christina.

**Hayden and Nana Kemp**

**Hayden and Papaw Kemp**

**Hayden with Papaw Tom and Grandma Judy**

**Our family**

I'm not sure...but I think she may be a little bit spoiled! I mean, look at that cute chair! Talk about fit for a queen!! It matches her room perfectly, but she loves it so much, we're leaving it in the family room! I'm calling it her "lazy girl"!

And judging by this picture...I think she likes being spoiled as much as we love spoiling her!

I made the bow for her hair because I ran out of time to order one from Etsy. Her dress came from Etsy. What an ordeal it was picking out what she would wear for this day! I think I made a good choice...and believe me, there were several, as in LOTS to choose from!

Hayden was a very happy girl...especially considering the fact that she woke up at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning (much earlier than her normal rise and shine time)! I was worried when she got up that early! She had a very quick snooze on the ride to town, but woke up as soon as we got to the party!

We got Hayden this "whisper-ride buggy"! We saw them last year at various campgrounds and thought at the time "we're going to have to have one of those next year!" She loves it!






I think in this picture she is thinking "faster!" All the kids had fun pushing her around in her buggy!

After cleaning up the mess of opening presents, it was on to her cupcake! She enjoyed being sang to. I had made her a birthday hat...all one year olds must have a birthday hat. My mistake was that I had ribbon to tie it on instead of the usual elastic. She wanted nothing to do with it, so I'm saving it for another year. It was cute tho!

She really had no interest in her cupcake. I'm thinking she might be a bit of a priss! I'll take it while it lasts, because I'm fairly certain that once her Daddy and brother get one-on-one time with her, when she is most impressionable, she will end up a tomboy! I'm just telling myself that tom-boys can still be "foo-foo"! I think of a friend of mine who can be "foo-foo" one minute and the next minute be shooting an opossum off her back deck!

She didn't even want to touch the cupcake!







I really tried to help her get in the spirit of making a big mess! It didn't work, but I succeeded at looking a bit silly!

She's looking a little tuckered out at this point!









She was an absolute joy throughout the party! She was ready to get down and get going though. I think she was "cooped" up enough! I tried to get some good pictures of her in front of this pretty "palace" painting that was in the room, but the minute I let go of her, she was off! So, no posed pictures like I had hoped for...oh well!

Another picture of the *four of us*!!! Harrison wore his shirt that he wore the day she was born!

After the party, we went home and Hayden chilled out for a while!


She loves this new chair! She got many, many nice gifts for her birthday. Along with her buggy, we gave her a jewelry box, and started a charm bracelet for her. Yes, it's something she could care less about now, but it will be special to her one day. Harrison got her a shopping cart. She got several cute outfits and pretty dresses, a bathrobe, a picnic basket and picnic set, books, a baby doll, a Fancy Nancy Madame Alexander, various toys, and lots and lots of love! It was a great day!

It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. We enjoyed celebrating Haydens' Birthday with family and friends! We are SO VERY FORTUNATE to have this beautiful, healthy, growing, little girl.

I mean....Is she beautiful, or what???

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In other news....

I'll post Easter pictures as soon as I can. Sunday is Parent/Infant dedication and we will be dedicating Hayden , so I may post those pictures at the same time as Easter.

Hayden is cutting her two upper molars! Her fingers can be found in her mouth 100% of the time! She's not been eating very well...but still nursing LOTS!!! She's going to be difficult about the whole "weaning" thing, I believe!

Yesterday, I thought she'd be taking her first steps soon. Today, it seems as if it will be awhile. Hmmm.....

She is saying "Da-E" for "Daddy" and "Ma-me" for "Mommy"

When I say "give mommy a kiss" she comes at me with open-mouth kisses! love it!

She LOVES her glo-worm! She is beginning to show interest in her baby dolls. She hugs her toys like glo-worm and dolls!

She is becoming quite the climber! Today I found her on Harrisons' bed. He has a trundle that was pulled out...but she made it all the way up to the top! Where was her mother, you ask???

Harrison has his first baseball game Saturday! Yes! I love baseball!

He has a "sculpture" of some sort in the art show! Pictures soon!

We have friends (Aaron works with him) that had TRIPLETS today!!! Praise God for these little miracles! They didn't come easy!

Stellan is in Boston!!! He may be having an ablation on Tuesday. This is a risky surgery on a baby his age. Please continue to be in prayer that surgery will not be necessary.

Please continue to pray for Jonah! He's so adorably sweet! (see his button on my side bar)