alices first birthday party.

so, all this talk (and work) about alices second birthday party has had me thinking about alices first birthday party, and totally piling on the mom-guilt because... um... i didnt do anything with those pictures (i dont think i even i put any on facebook). so i figured now was as good a time as any to share them with all you kind folks. 

we had alices first birthday at wilderness park, which is a super cute miniature forest right in the middle of redondo beach that my family went to a lot when i was a kid and if i remember correctly there have been multiple family birthdays over the years.

this is what alice looked like (at the time i thought she was so big, but now she looks SO tiny!):

fun fact: she still has that bear, he is NOT nearly that attractive anymore...

since alice was, you know, ONE, we just had a small morning gathering with homemade cookies and cupcakes and a vague "woodland animals" theme:

yeah... piping those cookies was quite an ordeal. 

i didnt do a whole lot for decorations, all the tablecloths were vintage from my collection at home, but i did make a cute scalloped bunting to hang in the trees:

while people were still arriving we took our christmas card picture:

 and once everyone was there we went straight to cake (since alice had maybe two hours of party in her before being due for a meltdown):

which was funny because alice wasnt all that into the cupcake. she really just wanted to finger paint with the frosting. 

then we opened presents, which was hilarious because alices favorite parts were all the cards, which she called "books":

and the money she got in a couple of her gifts:

it really never occurred to me that a one year old would want cards and money for her birthday, but she was really into those. alice is just weird, i guess. 

and thats really it, after gifts we cleaned up and went home for naptime. the end. 

and NOWWWW its time to really get serious about getting ready for her second birthday party....