a very merry first birthday

we had such a lovely time on saturday celebrating olivia's first birthday. 

as you all know, i've been a busy little bee 

on the hunt looking for little knick knacks to decorate her 

mad hatter party with!

here are some photos of her special day!

i used jumbo playing cards and scrapbook lettering to make

a "happy 1st birthday olivia" banner

my little thank you gifts contained purse candies

and a home made sugar cookie

phew! all that hard work paid off, my pom poms and

paper lanterns come to life!

the "play room" was filled with toys for the little ones to busy

themselves with, after all a first birthday usually caters to adults..so

this worked out quite well..and we had alice in wonderland playing in the background!

a closer look at my fave paper lantern..my thumb is still mad at me 

for this!

the lunch spread

drink me! home made punch :)

cake pops! everyone expected a topsy turvy cake

or at least some kind of tiered cake..but i thought i'd do something

totally different and i'm glad i did..they were a hit!

the cake pops were an assortment of carrot, chocolate and lemon cake

with coconut butter cream and strawberry, orange and lemon

flavored white chocolate. decadent!

home made sugar cookies with coconut royal icing

(can you tell i'm on a coconut kick right now?

must make a visit to butter bakery for some toasted coconut marshmellows!)

these cookies were the ones included in the thank you bag.

the first birthday cupcake! vanilla cake with coconut butter cream

(duh!) neatly displayed on a tea cup and saucer :)

the birthday girl was a bit stunned when we started singing for her

but quickly snapped out of it when she had a taste of her cupcake.

man, did she ever have a lot of sweets that day!

the fam!

olivia absolutely loving the red queen..after all miss olivia IS the

queen when mommy's not around!

enjoying a cake pop with mom..

and dad..

had to throw this one in of my niece chloe, who

threw a total hissy fit if a cake pop was taken out of her hands!

once the madness was over, we came home to unwind

and open up some presents. this card was made by big sister emma..she was

very proud to show her little sister what she had made for her :)

here's a closer look..

all in all it was a fantastic party. everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves

very much, the children were getting along well..and the birthday girl survived her

very first party. i think she was definitely cut out for this sorta thing!

a big thank you to all of you that 

 celebrated this super special day with us, thank you for spoiling

our little one with your love!

happy birthday olivia!

in about an hour and a half from the time i've started typing this post -12 months ago- my precious little

olivia evangeline was born. i can't even believe how quickly the time has gone. you think because of the experience you've gained, you'll have so much time to enjoy the snuggles when they're the littlest but sadly it just isn't true. every member of the family requires the attention of mama

so life just doesn't stop..even for a baby!

i wrote out my birth experience for both my girls so that every year on their birthday i could read and remind myself what a gift these girls are and what it took to bring them into this world. perhaps when they're older, i'll read the story to them too. having just read the story of how olivia was born..i'm taken back to that very day right down to the very last detail. its so surreal to think that she's 1!

so let us take a trip down memory lane and see how this little angel of ours has sprouted into miss 1 year old shall we?!

june 24th, 2010

2:31am ~ 8lbs 1oz

~july~

~august~

~september~

~october~

~november~

~december~

~january~

~february~

~march~

~april~

~may~

~june~

olivia, you are a blessing.

 you will never know how many times my heart melts when i look 

into those beautiful blue eyes of yours. your sweet smile brings me

so much joy and your unending love for mama

is the greatest gift a mother could ever receive from her child.

as you leave baby land, you enter a world even more exciting

and new. i cherish the milestones you've

achieved and look forward to watching you grow.

happy birthday my livi-loo!!!

parting is such sweet sorrow..

sigh.

it's over.

the most magical week of my entire life is over.

we had an AMAZING time in disneyland..and the 3 of us (although i believe even little olivia

is also suffering from withdrawl) are depressed. in the morning we're supposed to grab our

breakfast and head into the magical kingdom bright and early..and we're not!!

now, to answer the question i'm sure everyone's dying to know: how did emma react?
well much to our chagrin, she was confused by the whole ordeal
and it wasn't until we described disneyland and the hotel we stayed at
in further detail to jog her memory did she jump for joy. i think
next time we'll just tell her the night before...that seems like
it would be more fun lol!

i could probably write a whole blog on how sad i am to be back at home,

but i'll spare ya the sob story..here is a glimpse of the magical time

we spent at the happiest place on earth:

our first day at disneyland

i found the door to club 33! disneyland's most exclusive club AND the only

place you'll find alcohol within the park (tucked away beside the blue bayou restaurant)

sleeping beauty's castle..the epitome of disneyland

the soundsational parade! "m-i-c-k-e-y m-o-u-s-eeeeeeeee!"

(still have this song in my head!)

testing out my brute strength over at mickey's toontown

look at the detail..doesn't it just make you want to cry?

(i did, on the inside!)

the ride of choice! the mad hatter's tea cup ride

at the mad hatter's hat shop..who doesn't try on all the hats?!

animatronic ariel from the new little mermaid undersea adventure

at california adventure..totally awesome ride..and privileged to go on it twice!

surprise! emma was hilarious the whole trip. everytime we were in a shop

or about to leave the park..she'd say "oh, can we get my belle dress quickly?"

she's been talking about this belle dress since the last time we were at disneyland (in 2009)

so it was our second surprise to her..to get all dolled up at the bibbidi bobbidi boutique!

finally! a photo with minnie mouse..we picked a good day to line up for a photo with her!

surprise #3! a princess lunch at ariel's grotto at california adventure.

it was worth every penny..the meal was fantastic (3 course) and emma got to meet,

get autographs and photos from

ariel, aurora, belle, snow white and cinderella!

this was the dessert served at our lunch...soooo decadent..yup that's

a white chocolate conch!

king and queen for a day :)

having a princess moment!

olivia was a real trooper this whole trip. she happily let us put her up to all the hat

and sunglasses trying we were doing and slept really well too!

she especially loved meeting characters that were fuzzy..like pluto and

chip and dale.

of course, a visit to disneyland isn't a visit without a ride on "it's a small world"

featuring the fantastic art work of mary blair (disneyland is featuring

an art gallery in main street, usa with all of her dazzling art work..she is responsible

for the quirkiness in the alice in wonderland movie!)

emma was amazing this trip..on our last day she dosed off in our stroller while

waiting for the magical! fireworks display. wow the fireworks have come along way.

not only was there an actual tinkerbell flying in the sky..dumbo was there too!

magical indeed.

the loot we took home: a minnie apron, minnie toque and ball cap, towel,

pancake mold, key chain, reversible princess stuffy (belle/cinderella),

baby princess bath toys, vintage disneyland trucker hat,

vintage minnie mouse hoody and my most prized souvenir:

my alice in wonderland tea pot/cup and saucer set. the start to my vintage

collection!

thinking about our trip just gives me goosebumps and there are times

where i feel like i need to fight back tears. disneyland is a well oiled machine..that

 leaves no stone unturned as far as detail and leave

everything to one's imagination.

this walt disney quote is very well put.

time to start filling up the piggy bank for our next trip!