My baby turned 1 !!!!!!! {tea party 1st birthday, toddler tea party, 1st birthday, cake jars, italian soda bar}

So this day finally came! My baby girl turned 1! When my son turned 1 we planned his party theme around his nursery theme, Pooh Bear. Which happens to now be his favorite stuffed animal ever! So with Isabella we did the same. Her nursery theme is Alice and Wonderland so we went with a Tea Party theme. I worked with Kanga Crafts through etsy.com and had some amazing party decor made with pictures of Isabella! She made me photo-fetti, a photo name banner, cupcake toppers, stickers with her picture on them to top the cake jars, food and drink tags, a door sign, a center piece sign, and little party favor bags of skittles with a top with a cute picture of Isabella eating candy. I loved everything she made, it was amazing! She worked with me every step of the way too! Letting me have tons of input and always delivering just what I asked for!!!!! I had it in my mind that we'd do the party outside and hang these big puffy paper lanterns from the trees in my backyard and I was going to make these beautiful damask runners for all the tables to match the bright green trees. So I went to the fabric store and bought lots of fabric and thread. Then it hit me that I haven't sewn since I was 12! and well lets just say I'm not really anywhere near the age of 12, not by a long shot, I'm not even 12 backwards! Oh I wish I was though!!! Anyways, so I reached out to my Mother in Law's best friend, Pam Stafford and I brought her my material and she graciously made me the most beautiful table runners I've ever seen!!! Well this little tea party would not be complete with out a tea cup twirl skirt and #1 shirt for my little birthday girl!!! I ordered that on etsy from Lakin and Lila! I just LOVE etsy.
Then it was on to plan out the food and desert. Of course it would be hot gorgeous weather by June so I didn't want to make hot food, I wanted summery food like pasta salad, fruit, and maybe sandwiches or lots of summer-like finger foods. With wine, iced tea, and all that fun summery stuff. I had just come across my friend Elizabeth Kartchner's blog http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com (the most amazing woman with the best, most inspirational blog out there) and she had blogged about her birthday party and posted a few pictures of these cake jars that just looked amazing and she had an Italian soda bar!! What a great, fun, summer-like idea that I thought would go perfect with the tea party! Well the closer it got the gloomier and gloomier the weather looked! I had a little hope that in true Sonoma County weather fashion, I'd wake up and it would be 90 degrees outside...but instead I woke up to the easy up we put up the night before for the guests that wanted to escape the "kid fest" well that had been demolished by the nasty wind storm that took over our backyard!!! It was so bad the bars were bent to the point that we couldn't fold it back up! The sky wasn't just cloudy, it was dark grey and it was raining in my ears not on my head! Not fun! But the tea party must go on! So I strung up the lanterns in my tiny playroom and staggered the tables and turned my house into a maze! and after a trip to 2 different costcos and a trip to walmart my Mother in Law tracked down another easy up and we were back in business for our evacuee center! and wouldn't you know it by the end of the party the sun popped out it's little head! just in time for the kids to go running outside into the rain demolished backyard, now filled with snails and worms and piles and piles of mud and water puddles! wooo hooo! I guess the lesson is learned that you can't plan anything!!!
The one big hit though was the deserts. But I had no doubt that it wouldn't be! I had all the desert made by Carolyn at Your Sweet Expectations in Rohnert Park. She is only the best cake baker on the planet! ....and that's an understatement! don't believe me? try her out, I'll buy your cake if you don't like it! She's amazing! Her and my Mom have been besties since I was a toddler. So my Mom and I went to her bakery a couple nights before the party and helped her put together the smash cake and the cake jars. We made cake jars from carrot cake and her signature wicci frosting (whipped cream and cream cheese aka heaven times a million) and we did a dozen cake jars with chocolate cake and my Mom's (now Carolyn's) peanut butter frosting (I could eat this alone with just a spoon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) I also wanted to have a few red velvet and vanilla cupcakes so she whipped up a couple dozen of those as well. Let me just say, I had 2 dozen cake jars and 2 dozen cupcakes, maybe 25-30 guests and not one left over crumb! ok well I had 1 cake jar but that's because I hid it in the back of my fridge!!! and we ate it for breakfast!!! YUMMMMMM! Ok enough of me re-living Bella's wonderful day! Enjoy a few shots from her opening her presents the morning of her actual birthday and some of her party this past Saturday.

my son liked the baby stroller more than she did!


notice my son in the back ground playing with the candy he just stole from Isabella! But I's her party and she can cry if she wants to! Is'nt that how it goes??