Simply Happy: Ellie's ONEderful Birthday Party!

Last night was Ellie's first birthday party! As soon as Ellie started eating baby food and I discovered her love for getting messy, I couldn't wait for her first birthday cake smash. When we found out Ben's mom would be coming to town just one week after Ellie's birthday, we decided to wait and have a little party for her then. It was worth the wait and we're so glad that Oma could be there as well as grandma and grandpa and some friends :)

We started off the night with a baked potato bar because potatoes are Ellie's favorite! And she just so happens to love tomatoes and cheese as well (we did baked potatoes 'taco spud' style). It was a hit. After dinner, Ellie got to open her presents-- some of which, she had already ripped into earlier in the day when I unwisely left them sitting out, haha. Ellie pulled off the wrapping paper one strand at a time, handing each piece to someone after she tore it off. Good thing she's so cute so we didn't mind that the process took a while ;) She was VERY excited about her new toys (once they were opened) and had a blast playing with them with her friends! Speaking of friends, her first friend, Tripp, got to the party just as Ellie was finishing opening her presents and she was beyond excited! She dropped the present, crawled to him as fast as she could, squealing the whole way there, and motioned him back over to the present area. He then became the recipient of her wrapping paper offerings ;) Once the rest of our friends showed up, and Ellie got some of her excitement out playing, it was time for the cake smash!! **Side note here, I decided to find a healthier cake smash recipe on Pinterest so that she wouldn't get sick from a total sugar high. The day of the party was the first time I tried the recipe and it was a total fail! It had no flavor and was very dense and flat. We ended up cutting the cakes into small cirlces and stacking them so that it would look somewhat like a cake, but it was more like a chewy pancake. Haha. The frosting was good, though, so she didn't seem to mind ;)

Ellie had no hesitations whatsoever when that cake was placed in front of her! She dove right in and went to town eating, and coating herself in, frosting. She had fun pulling the layers apart and taking bites of them (or trying to, ha that stuff was seriously thick!) and was squealing with delight throughout the experience. It was pretty adorable :) When she had eaten just about all of the frosting off of the cake, we stripped her down, wiped her off, and let her get back to playing with her friends! The kiddos had tons of fun and the adults had lots of fun eating the rest of the (much better) dessert and talking. Each time someone left, Ellie crawled them to the door and waved to them as they left--such a good hostess! :) All in all, I have to say that it was a pretty awesome party! ;) Can't wait for many more to come!!

Before the party started, I took Ellie into her room and changed her into her 'party outfit.' I walked her out and said, "Introducing Miss Birthday Girl Ellie!" Everyone cheered for her and she had the biggest smile! She was totally working it :)

Our sweet friend let us borrow the pinwheels she made for her daughter's birthday and I printed and strung Ellie's monthly pictures-- turned out so cute!