O Happy Day!

It was a day filled with the glow of ordinary things & we passed them quietly from hand to hand for a long time & someone said she had picked a perfect day to be born & I think all of us felt the same.  - Brian Andreas

This weekend was a celebration of Julia's first birthday.  My mom tells me that all birthdays are special for different reasons.  ONE seems significant to Charles and I because we managed to keep Julia alive and thriving for one full year.  If all else fails from this point on, we can add that accomplishment to our list of life successes.  It's significant because it marks the anniversary of her birth - is a milestone like no other.  It's pretty neat for Julia as we take inventory of the amazing learning curve that has taken place over the span of 12 short months.  Good Job Julia!  I would definitely need more naps if I was soaking in that much!  It also has such great meaning for everyone surrounding us as they have supported us all through the journey of parenting this past year. So, it made plenty of sense to celebrate with all of those great people. 

 The following are snapshots from the day on Saturday:

These photos make things look relatively tame...the reality is, we had quite a crew of babies, parents, family and friends.  For all of the photos I took, I wish I was able to capture more!

We hoped to have the party outside, but quickly had to move things inside about 20 minutes before our guests arrived for the party.  We had some simple decorations for the party including this banner below.  I got the idea to do a picture banner, but then decided to make it a timeline of her 12 months.  It's an easy project - I just glued the pictures onto round cutouts (you can do color photos, but the black and white added some consistent color to the banner). 

And as the years progress, I will simply add on a new picture from each year and continue to hang the banner for her birthday.  I will post my other great DIY party project tomorrow...

Thank you to all of our friends for celebrating with us! 

More to come tomorrow with photos from Sunday (her real birthday) and the chalkboard flower pot party favors.