Georgia's 1st Birthday

The day had finally arrived!! I couldn't believe it was Georgia's 1st birthday and that we've already had her in our lives for a whole year! It really does fly by so fast. As fast as that 1st week after they are born!

Stopping to remember that amazing day:

I will always love that day and Christmas time so much more from then on because of Georgia! I'm so lucky to be her mom.

Back to present time...

I couldn't wait for her to wake up from her afternoon nap! Even though I was desperately rushing through her cake and still in my pj's as guests started to arrive. Thank goodness for Cathy and all her help! While I decorated and baked, she got all the food ready. Finally the princess awoke :) 

Sharing snuggles with Papa as she drinks her bottle:

Then it was time to party! 

She LOVED the special polka dot balloon just for her :) and which I begged for after threats of NO balloons due to a price hike and a shortage of helium?!?! So random. 

Thanks daddy for picking up the balloons :) 

Oh Zach...in his all his bright blue. At least it's not his trusty yellow shorts amiright?

So happy that so much family was able to be there! And so happy to have it in California at Nana & Papa's house with the perfect weather and their awesome backyard.

Even this goofball made it for 4.5 seconds with some mild no threats at all ;)

 And lots of cousins and even second cousins!! Harlee, Lyla, and Bonnie:

 Harlee & Walker

Crissa, Chandice, Cora, and Sydney:

This stud:

 The not-so-candid Ryan & Julie :)

After lots of yummy finger foods (most popular of which were the bagel bites hahaha I guess the child thrives in all of us!) we put on a dance party for the kiddos and had some laughs. They are crazy good at dancing!!

Proof:

Love this girl so much. She laughed and shook her booty and clapped her hands and gave me kisses through it all! (please be kind to me... I am pregnant & swollen & very aware of it)

 Then it was time to bring out the smash cake and sing happy birthday! And apparently scream "eat more chicken" through the whole song? Silly kids. 

I did a basic chocolate cake (recipe on the back of the Hersey's cocoa mix) with whip cream frosting, ombre pink style! It looks crappy but I was in a hurry! 

Then we stripped her down and let her have at it. 

She was such a lady... not knowing what the heck to do, just poking at it with her finger tips until I finally got her hands messy.

 And then it went shoveling in!!

And then Zach decided to smash her face into the cake:

But it didn't turn sour until Aunt Toni smashed the rest of the cake into her tummy and then the tears came! Every good party needs a few tears. So while we bathed her upstairs, Cathy brought out the cupcakes for everyone else.

After that, we moved things inside and brought out the presents. But she was pretty much in a sugar coma the rest of the evening:

Yes, that's whip cream barf on her lips. And those tired droopy eyes!

And she was not the only one having a rough time:

But we got lots of neat gifts and SO many toys! She was seriously spoiled. Cam & Chan gave us this cutest mini mouse ears hat with her name embroidered on the back! So we definitely need to make our way back for a Disneyland trip.

And the game changer:

 Jordy gave her a bear that she absolutely loved and started jumping up and down and giving it kisses. Too cute! We put it in her crib along with her other bear from Nana so she plays with it every day.

All in all, it was the BEST day I could have asked for! She was happy, surrounded by family, and loved so much! She went right to bed after such a fun filled day. We spent the rest of the night hanging out with family and pouring over the pictures and laughing at how I look like the random creepo hanging out in every picture, so out of place with my dark hair and skin. She doesn't look one bit like me but I sure love her more than anything!! She makes me the happiest momma and I'm so grateful for her each and every day. Love my babygirl and life wouldn't be the same without her! 

Birthday Holiday Month

The month of December now belongs to TWO people!! We started it off by celebrating Krystal's birthday with homemade mini oreo cheesecakes (yes I realize Georgia probably looks more theirs than mine -___-)

Georgia was not impressed until we sang. 

Then it was on to preparing Georgia's FIRST birthday AND Christmas with only 3 weeks!!! I did not realize that Christmas and Thanksgiving were so close together this year and I sort of went into a panic since obviously I procrastinated Christmas shopping like I do every year. But after figuring out Zach's gift, the hardest man ever to shop for, I felt better. And after mapping out some birthday plans for Miss G, I started to have less anxiety and more anticipation! 

First up: the birthday tutu :)

I was about to buy one for G when my friend told me it was so easy, I should just make one! Which satisfies the extreme pickiness in me since I could pick out exactly what colors I want and have at it. It was perfect! All kinds of pink and a hint of aqua. I couldn't WAIT for her to wear it! It really was so easy, maybe took me 30 minutes to put together. 

Next up: the cake topper

I knew two things - I wanted glitter & pink. So I cut out a cardboard board one and slowly covered it in hot glue and glitter. Not too messy and super easy. No candle this year...good thing she's 1 :)

The perfect find: I searched high and low for the cutest little gold shoes and couldn't choose just one. Thanks to my Mom, she spoiled G with BOTH pairs for her birthday. A girl can never enough shoes... (thank you Target)

And finally, the thing I was MOST excited about: the invitations!! 

I knew I wanted her party to be pink and gold and when I started looking around, my extreme pickiness kicked in so instead of having major anxiety over making someone else create and tweak something 100 times until I got what I wanted and still end up unhappy, I decided to make my own. In WORD DOCUMENT. Yeah, super easy! It wasn't that exciting until I found a free fonts page and then my abu-eyes about popped out of my head and I got giddy. Little did I know that taking it to Office Max to be printed would be an entirely different mess of anxiety all on it's own. Mostly because I ended up paying twice as much due to someone else's incompetence and that it is sooooo annoying. Hmmm who do I sound like???? My mother??? :) just kidding. 

After the invites were sent out, I got to relax! Except that I didn't because I had to get ready for Christmas

-____-

Soooo instead I got to wrapping. And after teasing my sister for screwing up "homemade tags" for her wildebeest chillens who would never appreciate it anyway, I somehow ended up with this:  

Extra bows and a homemade gift tag for an almost 1 year old. And she had more fun trying to rip off the bows throughout the next two weeks than she did on Christmas morning when all she wanted to do was grab other peoples presents and the tree ornaments. Well maybe it was because daddy already ripped her gift open right down the middle when he loaded it into the car ;) but probably not. Because she's 1. I even  marked her second gift "from Santa" because every child deserves a gift from Santa every year!! To all of which Zach shook his head because he is the biggest bah-humbug there ever was. Seriously. EVER. Someone needs to hit him upside the head with a giving tree.

I loved seeing the Christmas spoil all wrapped and pretty under the tree!!   

Yes, those pretty silver boxes are for me :) because they came from Nordstrom and didn't have to be wrapped, which means that I can expect all future gifts to be from them for the remainder of my days because "THEY WRAP FOR FREE!!" and that's how much Zach hates wrapping. It's a good thing they match or I might have made him re-wrap ;)

Other things we've been up to this month...

Being super cute in beanies (and handmedowns!):

We watched dad shovel the driveway but only for a few minutes because it was THAT cold.

Taking lots of baths :) and looking like such a handsome BOY. haha

Making new friends at church. These two have their own corner in Sunday School where they share steal toys from each other and occasionally hold hands poke each others eyes out. But they are so cute and entertaining.

Warming up our fireplace:

And inside a popped collar robe:

And when that's not enough, turban style blankets:

Being the cutest baby on the block:

Following me everywhere:

I love this door and that she can climb right up and look out at the snow :)

I mean, check out that booty:

 Playing very seriously with her crib bears (yes I know she looks like a boy):

Making new friends at the car dealership (she always thinks boys who can walk are out to "get her" and squeals and screams when they walk around and they are all just blank faced and confused):

 I hit 20 weeks (but look more like 30 here):

 Went in for a quick check up in her new ugg boots from my mom:

And had an AWFUL time.

Poor babes had an ear infection and got SUPER freaked out when the doctor tried to check her ears. I have never seen her that upset and scared over being looked at and it was heartbreaking. So glad we got it figured out before we took off to California for the holidays!

This face:  

I. DIE. 

Seriously, I love this picture. I look at it all day (as the screencover of my phone) and it makes me beam. Because this ONE face of hers, is MINE. Yes, I know everything about her is Zach, but that one face is mine all mine! My mom called me "crinkly nose" growing up because I scrunched my nose just like that all the time. She always tells me I was the only one of her kids who smiled like that. It's like the smile of pure joy - when you're so happy, even your nose is smiling. 

She is probably so happy to be going to sunny CA where all her family is waiting for her and she doesn't have to bundle up!!! Here we come...