G's Special Day

G's 1st birthday has come and gone. On the actual day (July 13th) we went to the mall with a friend (E) and then had dinner with Gma and Gpa. It was a low key day and G enjoyed herself as she always does every single day. Seriously, she is an amazing baby.

On the 21st, we had our celebration and it went really well. I was very anxious, because really...what do you do at a baby's birthday party? I mean, she's too small for activities that will engage her, and there was only one other baby to invite. So the party consisted of 4 parts.

1. General hanging out until everyone had arrived. At first it seemed slightly awkward, which is what I was expecting because I am not a good hostess as of yet. I lack the skills to start conversation when there's a large group of people. Fortunately there were two really cute babies to keep people entertained.

2. Food! We had snackish type things; cheese, crackers, fruit, veggies, and iced tea. Yum.

3. Present time. I had hoped G would be into ripping the paper off of her gifts, but she's not quite at that point yet. Hopefully for Christmas! The gifts she received were perfect. Everyone was so thoughtful and we definitely appreciated it!

4. Cake/cupcakes! I made the cupcakes (chocolate with chocolate frosting - from a box mix), and also used the leftover mix to make a small cake for G to dive into. And dive into it she did. She was timid at first, but she had chocolate EVERYWHERE by the time she was done.

All in all it was a really good day. I can't believe my baby is one year old though! Time has flown by, and now she has her first tooth and is walking (sometimes running!). I miss the days of the tiny newborn asleep on my chest, but I'm so excited by the fact that she can play now! She makes every day SO GOOD. Utterly and completely.

Blog Roundup

I've recently begun to read several new blogs, and I thought I'd share them with you:

Miss Abigail's Hope Chest
This is about the journey of a mother and daughter to revive the hope chest tradition! They are very crafty and the items they are collecting for Abigail's chest are absolutely beautiful. Kind of makes me want to get a chest for G!
http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.ca/

Made by Marquette
This blog is actually made by the daughter in law of the lady running the blog above. It's mainly diy crafts and projects, heavily inspired by things on Pinterest.
http://madebymarquette.blogspot.ca/

Etiquette Hell
It's always fun to read the social faux pas horror stories of other people and this blog provides precisely that, as well as advice to navigate the various situations should they happen to you. Lots of laughs, lots of cringing.
http://www.etiquettehell.com/

Fleur De Force
Essentially this is just a lot of product recommendations and reviews. I love the author and really enjoy her youtube videos as well.
http://fleurdeforce.blogspot.ca/

Kristina Horner
I've been a huge fan of hers for years, and she just recently started up this new blog. So not too much content yet, but I can't wait for updates.
http://kristinahorner.com/

1st B-Day

I've been preparing a bit for G's first birthday party. Her birthday is July 13, but the party will be on the 21st as that is when my brother arrives for his visit! I'm so excited for P to get here and that someone from my family will be represented at G's party.

The theme is Minnie Mouse. I found napkins, plate, hats, etc at Wal Mart so things will be fairly cute. I'm going to make chocolate cupcakes - my first time ever making cupcakes! Hopefully they turn out. It's not going to be a huge party - less than 20 people, I think. And it's not going to be long - only a couple of hours. In comparison to my cousin's son's first birthday, this is ridiculously tame. They had over SIXTY people stop by his party. My word. I could not deal with that. Holy moly. But my cousin is a social butterfly and I am not.

I'm looking forward to the party but it is so stressful figuring out who to invite. I feel worse about it than when I was making the list of who to invite to my wedding. This is a much smaller group of people and I would hate for someone to feel left out. I'm not even sure who WANTS to be invited. It's a baby party, not exactly exciting.

After the party I'll post pictures. If I remember to.