Watermelon Extravaganza!

Welcome to Madeline's 1st birthday party! The theme was watermelon. I figured it was fitting for a summer birthday. My mom and I worked hard to make every detail perfect. I always come up with the ideas, but I would never be able to fulfill them without her amazing talents. We had about 45 adults and 20 children running around. We had tons of food, laughter, country music playing in the background, and many memories made. I can't believe Madeline is really ONE! The year went by entirely too fast. I just want to bottle up her adorable age and keep her my baby forever.

The Birthday Girl

Smash cake my mom and I made

These pops were a HIT at the party. My friend Angela suggested putting every fruit/veggie on a stick so her son will eat them! haha

I forgot to take a photo of the kid's food table! Thankfully my aunt snapped one with her phone. We had PBJ's, popcorn chicken, watermelon, and other goodies just for the little ones.

My mother in law carved a "1"! Very cool!

Picture wall...watch Madeline grow up:)

Pinata! My mom added pull strings. It was fun to watch the kids scour for the candy and prizes that fell from it. Thanks to Ally for being the strongest kid to break open the pinata! Apparently she will have good luck for the rest of the year.

The birthday girl's outfit change after the smash cake...courtesy of my mom's craftiness. AMAZING, right??

Watermelon lollipop favors

My sweet Ella in her watermelon skirt

Mama and Madeline

Anyone at this party can attest to this: She downed about 4 of these pops and when I finally took the last one away, she had a screaming fit!

See? My aunt snapped this pic, too! LOVE it.

Ella and her cousin Hannah

This watermelon ruffled bikini started my obsession with this theme!

It's smash cake time!

She was very sweet eating this. I was hoping she would dig in!

At home staring at her presents!

Love this simple photo.

There are a ton of pictures! To see more photos click HERE!

She's ONE!

**note this post is overdue**My bitty Madeline is ONE. On Monday she celebrated her big first birthday! Where did the year go? I feel like it was an hour ago that I had that crazy, quick, intense labor. <----- You can read about it there.

From the second I held her in my arms and looked into her bright red face, it was love. She fit into our family from the very beginning. Madeline is the epitome of sparkling personality. She keeps me laughing all day. She melts my heart when she blows kisses, and breaks my heart when she puts out her lower lip into a big pout after she doesn't get her way. I love when Ella screams "Maddie Monster!" as she toddles over to her big sister and destroys a perfectly prepped dollhouse. I love hearing her laugh hysterically when she's tickled and she makes me giggle watching her eat food off of her highchair like a vacuum. She lights up our lives. I can't imagine our world without her.

Happy 1st birthday Madeline Irene. You make my life better just by being in it:) Mama loves you like crazy and I hope you never get sick of me smooching your cheeks!

One hour old

One month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old (and yes you started walking then!)

10 months old

11 months old

ONE YEAR!

And that last pic is a little preview of her 1st birthday party!

Black eye

On the 4th of July Madeline had a little accident and her poor face took a beating. No, I didn't hit my kid. Geez. I may lose my patience, but I am not that bad;) A long table fell on her in the garage and just missed her eye (thank goodness!) and gave her the biggest shiner so far of my girls. I still love these pictures I took of her during the healing process. She's so stinkin' cute!

She now has a little scar under her eye which I pray eventually goes away. :(