Christina's First Birthday

This is going to be a long one, so brace yourself.

Two days before Christina's birthday it was looking like the party was going to be a huge disaster. The weather report was all rain and thunderstorms, I didn't have any music planned for the party, the food wasn't ordered, the cake wasn't ordered, Christina's birthday dress was missing, and I felt like I was getting sick. Sounds like I didn't plan at all, but the sad thing is I put a lot of time and money into planning the party. Things just didn't go the way I had planned and with the trip to Georgia the week before, I put planning for Christina's party on hold and then forgot where I left off.

Luckily when the party finally did arrive, everything went smoothly. The weather was horrible and we had to bring the party indoors instead of having the pool party I had planned, but at least everything else worked out. The inside of the house looked great with all of the decorations, almost everyone made it to the party, and Christina had such a great time.

Here is a little recap of Christina's first birthday party:

There was a lot of work involved in decorating, but I had great helpers. Thanks to my sisters Rachel and Mackenzie, everything came out great. Take a look:

dolphin shaped pb&j

favors

desserts

CC's special chair

My Dad and Step Dad put together a wonderful performance for the party. It was actually a special dedication, just for Christina's birthday.

Everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

Take a look at the entire performance here:

Here are a bunch of pictures of Christina enjoying her party. Even though she got really tired only an hour or so into the party, she still was happy and loving the time she got to spend with everyone.

This is the same candle used for my first birthday. My mom saved it and we thought it would be really cool to use it for Christina's first birthday.

This is the personal cake I made for CC, can you believe I actually decorated this myself! I did everything by hand, but of course I had help in the creativity department (thanks again Rach!)

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear CC, Happy Birthday to you.

Christina wasn't really interested in her birthday cake, but Nik really wanted her to eat some!

"The Game": Nik's family has a tradition which involves putting your baby down on the floor in front of three or four objects. Depending on which one he/she chooses, you will have a glimpse into their future. For Christina, we put down money, a bottle of liquor, a bible, and a cell phone. They represent wealth, alcohol, religion and technology.

Normally this "game" is done at home with just the family. We soon realized why. And she's off . . .

She immediately went for the cell phone but when the crowd yelled with excitement, she stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at everyone.
When she finally did turn back around, she stopped and looked directly at the liquor bottle.

But again the crowd went wild! So she stopped and then grabbed The Bible! The crowd roared once again and CC immediately turned around and started crying.

With all of the distractions, we thought it would be best to try it all over again. This time we told everyone not to make a sound.
Take two:

And she reached for the Bible again! Everyone gasped and Nik yelled out "Nooooo!!" That of course caused our little girl to get upset again. We tried to let her finish what she was doing but she kept crawling back to my Mom for comfort.
So we had no choice but to determine the winner as . . .

Don't take my word for it though, you can check the whole thing out yourself here:

Christina got a lot of wonderful gifts. Thank you to all of our friends and family that came to celebrate this special day and making my little girl the happiest one year old ever!