Life with a 13 month old

Here are some recent pictures of Peyton....

Playing Peek-a-bo

Every girl needs to learn about accessories!

First day of school (post about that coming soon)

John won't pay for a housekeeper so I making due with the staff I have

Our Cupcake's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Peyton's birthday party a week later due to the holiday weekend and it was so much fun. I have been planning a cupcake themed party for months (mostly due to my trip to Canada and wanting to stay ahead) and it came out just like I wanted.

It was so much fun to celebrate Peyton's big day with our friends and family. We are so blessed to have such great relationships here and this year has been such an amazing year due to their support, prayer and encouragement.

Here are some pictures from the big day and you can check out more here! I didn't upload ones with people in it because it was taking too long so check out the other ones!

I looked everywhere for invitations and couldn't find something I loved so I ended up making them myself and liked how they turned out!

A couple of days before the party we took Peyton to the park to take some portraits of her in her outfit. I ordered this tutu and personalized onesie off of Etsy from the Pampered Little Princess Boutique. It was really nicely made and you can completely customize it to your colors etc!

I ordered the bloomers off of Etsy as well but the person I ordered it from no longer has an account but you can find tons of cute diaper covers on Etsy. She also made the personalized bib for her to wear when eating her cupcake!

Here is the party girl looking to see if her friends have arrived yet! Isn't she so cute on her tip-toes! Here are pictures of all the decorations I made hanging up around the house and on the chandelier as well as the favors.

Here is the door sign I made from a cupcake template I found online and then had John enlarge on the copier for me. I used two different card stocks and scrapbook sticker letters.

This was the inspiration for the color purple for the party. I found this cupcake fabric for the tablecloth and needed some complementary fabric to make it big enough so we went with purple and so everything was purple. This was my first sewing project ever too and I am happy it turned out!

I decorated the cupcake stand with various pieces of purple card stock and ribbon to dress it up more.


I ordered the name banner from Whimzy Creations also on Etsy and she was so easy to work with and turned it around super cute. You can order Happy Birthday ones as well but I liked this one so we could use it other times for her!

Here is the table with all of the food....veggies, fruit, chicken salad with cupcake shaped bread, chicken nuggets and also Red Velvet cake balls.

Here is a close up of the cake balls. I got this idea from Bakerella . Hers are a whole lot nicer but I was having some problems with the whole process so my friend Diane came over the night before the party and helped me figure out a solution. So, we made them more by hand instead of doing the cookie cutter method and then put them in little cupcake wrappers. They turned out great thanks to Diane's help. I did follow Bakerella's recipe though!

Here are the cupcakes! My friend Lindsey iced all of them for me which was amazing! I got the little cupcake picks off of Etsy again from Orange1 who did a great job and you can again customize it however you want. I got some that said "Peyton," "Happy Birthday," and
"One." A nice way to dress up your cupcakes!As I am sure most kids do...Peyton was not a fan of all the excitement and attention!

But she did love the cupcake and frosting!

We ended the day with lots of presents and one very tired cupcake!

Happy Birthday Peyton!

What a great day we had celebrating Peyton's birthday! We are so blessed that God has given us this precious little girl to raise. I never knew being a parent could be so difficult and rewarding at the same time. I love it! It has been an amazing year and I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us.

Here we are putting together Peyton's birthday present last night.....

Here is the birthday girl playing in her fort and reading books....

Part of Peyton's birthday present was making her room into a more of a big girl room. I found a dresser on Craigslist for $30 and when I picked it up there was a scratch so I only paid $20. It was an UGLY fake cherry color so I painted it a green color, found some cute knobs (pink crystal ones) and it is super cute! We also rearranged her room so she has a play area and room for her birthday present...a table and chairs for all of our tea parties. I love her present and her new room!

Here is Peyton checking out her new table and chairs...who wants to come over for a tea party!

We had chicken nuggets and homemade mac and cheese for dinner and instead of cake we had ice cream sundaes since Peyton LOVES ice cream. My mom has some better pictures of us blowing the candle out on the ice cream cone so I will post those when I get them. I love that we went with ice cream sundaes instead of cake because it will always remind us how much she loved ice cream.

After ice cream it was time for presents. She got her first baby doll, some play ice cream cones that help teach colors, clothes, a music box, a tea set and a music CD (which she started dancing to immediately). She is a lucky girl and had fun giving her baby doll a kiss and playing with her new toys!

Overall a wonderful first birthday and a day full of memories! Next step...her big birthday party with more family and our friends next Saturday. I have lots of stuff ready but still have a lot of work to do and because I am running out of storage room our dining room table has become the holding spot.

Countdown begins

Two more days until this little cutie turns one....

Three more days until.....

I was featured on Creative Parties and Showers!!!!

As you can tell, I have been in a blogging slump lately. Partly because I have been sick and also because I feel like nothing exciting has been going on.

Anyways....remember that Canada Day party (which by the way will be even bigger and better in 2010 given the amount of Canada gear I picked up this summer on our trip)...well, I submitted it to Creative Parties and Showers, an amazing website with tons of great ideas and awesome parties. I honestly didn't think it would be featured since it was my first party to submit but guess what.......IT WAS FEATURED TODAY! So Cool! Check it out here!

Definitely a way to kick you out of your blogging slump and help you smile when you are checking email at 4 AM because your munchkin won't sleep.

Stay tuned for details on Peyton's first birthday party coming soon....

Home Sweet Home

We have actually been home since Saturday but it has taken us a couple of days to get back into the swing of things and for me to have a chance to sit down and blog (I really don't have the time now considering the insane amount of laundry that is waiting but it has waited since Saturday so it can wait a couple more hours).



I could really go on and on about our trip and what a great time it was but that would be way too long. In summary we had LOTS of great family time, beautiful scenery, cool weather, ice cream, watching Peyton entertain us, reading four books, running a 10K, Settlers of Catan, and pure relaxation!



Here are some pictures to help summarize our vacation....

The View from the Cottage

First of many ice cream cones

Four Generations

Family Picnic

Insisting on walking at the craft show

More ice cream

Swing that Papa bought Peyton

Going on our first boat ride

Playing in the newly built beach

Posing in the scenery

Getting her nails painted by Auntie Ashley

Having her dessert at Montana's - 3 Ice Cream Cones!!

Mommy...I am ready to go home!