The Best Party Ever!

Lylah celebrated her first birthday on Saturday. We had a pool party at my parents house. Everything was ocean theme and everything was wonderful. Thinking back about the day it just couldn't have went any better. The weather was beautiful. The pool water was refreshing. The decorations were cute. The food was yummy. Family and friends were there. Lylah was in a delightful mood and kept right with her nap schedule. A big thanks to my parents for hosting and staying up late Friday helping get everything ready. My dad is a master with an ice cream cake!! The cakes were perfect. Another big thanks to Nathan's family who drove 3 1/2 hours and made camp on the family room floor in order to celebrate with us!!! Those of you wanted a more detailed account of the party read on....

I rushed home from school on Friday so we could head to Indiana. We arrived, had dinner and watched Lylah play in the cabinets of my mom and dad's hutch. Lylah went to bed only fighting sleep for about an hour!! When I went down stairs at about 9:00, she was just sitting there like a little sleepy zombie. I layed her down and she finally went to sleep. That was when the preparations began. Dad decorated his awesome cakes even though he wasn't feeling well. Mom and Emily worked on making Jello jigglers. Nathan and Adam tried to make my potato salad fish which didn't go real well. I guess that's why I didn't take any pictures of them :) We finally got to bed a little after 11.
I woke Lylah up on Saturday morning at 6:30 so as to hopefully keep her on her weekday schedule. Mom and Dad gave Lylah her shopping cart present and she and Bella played with it for a while. After breakfast Lylah went down for her nap without any problems. Thus began the second wave of preparations. Dad finished up some cake decorating and some other food stuff. Me, mom, and Emily worked on decorations while Nathan and Adam put up tents for shade and blew up balloons. We got everything ready before the little lady woke up. When we brought Lylah out to see where her party would be she of course had to study it all for a bit before the excitement really hit. She oooo'd and ahhh'd at the balloons and rafts. People started showing up and the party began!!! When one of Lylah's best buddies got there she was so excited she even offered her several kisses!! We all played in the pool until lunch was ready. After lunch we moved right on to the presents as Lylah was starting to get sleepy. She was so sweet and excited about every gift, although she left most of the opening to me :) Finally we brought out the ice cream cakes. Lylah didn't know what to think at first. She just watched the candle as we all sang. By this time I did finally have to hold back a few tears!! Anyway she LOVED her cake!!! She didn't really dig into it, but she ate it up as we fed her and she did eat some of the whipped topping and twizzlers with her hands. After that Lylah was ready for her afternoon nap. She slept for 2 1/2 hours!!! I guess it was all of that fun! It was as my nephew put it THE BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!!