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Miss Claire celebrated her 1st birthday with a pink elephant themed party, in honor of her long-time best buddy, Mr. Elephant. While she napped, mommy and daddy decorated the party area with pastel balloons and pink streamers. Daddy even got the wise idea to use an extra white tablecloth as a “splat mat” underneath Claire’s highchair. We laid out elephant plates & napkins, polka-dotted candy & nut dishes, flowers, pink lemonade and a strawberry cake decorated with - you guessed it - a pink elephant! The cake later proved to be just as yummy as it was cute!

After Claire woke up from her nap, her Auntie Bonnie changed her into the cutest birthday get-up I’ve ever seen. I custom ordered an embroidered pink and green dress, bloomers, bow and party hat from Robella Children’s Boutique on eBay. I got a fantastic deal and was extremely pleased with the finished product. Doesn’t Miss Claire look absolutely adorable??

First up on the party activities list was opening presents and I must say that Claire was a pro! She tore through cards and packages, showing little excitement over the actual gifts, instead ripping the paper to shreds. Such a shame because she received some really cute things! Swimsuits, dresses, pajamas - even a tutu (from Aunt NaNa) and a personalized beach towel (from Auntie Bonnie)!

Just when she thought the present opening was over, Grandma and Grandpa brought up a big red wagon! Claire was so excited! It has two seats - just perfect for sharing a ride with Cousin Cash. Daddy took them for a small spin on the deck, but didn’t stay out too long because it was HOT out there. Plus, it was cake time!

Let me preface the following words and pictures with this: We usually do not give Claire sweets or sugar of any kind and that includes juice (she likes water, so we don’t see the point). However, it was her birthday and that means all (well, most) rules get thrown out the window. Bring on the sugar overload!

All it took was one little taste of icing from mama’s finger and it was all over. The huge piece of cake on her plate didn’t stand a chance. She devoured it - using both hands to work as quickly as possible. Giving mommy or daddy a bite, usually something she enjoys, was NOT going to happen this time. “No sharing baked goods,” she says!  She topped off the sugar fest with some vanilla ice cream and pink lemonade. Yes, we know we were asking for it.

We figured the kiddos could clean-up and run off steam (ie: sugar) outdoors, so we stripped them down and plopped them in the kiddie pool on the deck. That lasted all of 2 minutes. Cash had other ideas (like running around the house) and Claire likes to do whatever he’s doing. So we all changed into swimsuits and headed over to the shore. Notice Claire’s belly full of cake sticking out of her new swimsuit from Auntie Bonnie below! We must have worn Claire plumb out because she was out for the night at 8:00 pm. Cash stayed up with the grown-ups and we feasted on burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, etc. - all the good cook-out stuff!

It was a fabulous day. Eric and I had fun watching our little wiggle worm enjoy all the special things that were just for her! I believe her favorite were the balloons…

A HUGE thank you to Les & Shirl for offering up their home as party central and hosting my family for the weekend. Also, thanks to everyone for all the sweet gifts. Claire is a very blessed little girl!

Grandpa and Uncle Jay were kind enough to stand in as videographers for the event. We’ve got about 35 minutes of tape that I’ll try to edit down and post the good snips. In the meantime, there are TONS (pun intended!) more photos in the 1st Birthday Weekend photo gallery. Enjoy!