Lavinia’s 1st Birthday & Party

Last Wednesday was Lavinia’s birthday! We woke her up with an “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY” shirt and a crib full of balloons. Every time we are in the check out line at the grocery store Liv points at and squeals at the balloons so I was not surprised that we absolutely loved having a dozen of her very own balloons!

We had a relatively mellow day – Henri went to work like normal and Liv and I met up with some friends at the splash pad and had lunch at Panera with my parents. We did keep her up late so that we could do cake and presents with the grandparents after Henri got home for work. Liv was a little unsure of her cupcake until I cut it up into smaller pieces for her, then she devoured the entire thing! 

The combination of being overtired and consuming a sugar bomb resulted in one goofy babe! 

Since Liv’s birthday was on a Wednesday we choose the Saturday afternoon afterwards for her birthday party. She’s still on a 2 nap-a-day schedule so we needed to keep things short and sweet to fit between nap times. An ice cream social fit the bill!

I wanted things to be extra special so I went a little crazy and homemade all the ice cream for the party. I used the Ciao Bella cookbook for the most of the flavors but deviated a little on some.

Lavinia made quite the entrance in her cute party dress and sandals that lasted approximately an hour before being removed for some serious water table play with her friends.

The party passed in a blur of ice cream eating, catching up with our guests, holding cute babies and watching the kiddos splash in the water table and baby pool. It was good that we did a practice smash “cup”cake on Wednesday because it went much better the second time. 

We had a wonderful time with family and friends and are so grateful for everyone that came out to spend the afternoon with us. 

Here’s to the adventure of having a one year old, soon-to-be toddler!