Finally...we come to Elise's Birthday

Elise's FIRST Birthday (3/27/08)

Because we were still in the middle our our big tile project (actually the guy was working in our kitchen that very minute), we did a low-key birthday celebration for Elise on her actual birthday. A Little Debbie with a candle. hmm...a family TREND?
She obviously liked it and ate it all up! It was on to planning her big birthday party. Coming from a family of seven kids, we didn't always have big birthday celebrations. I guess I get extra excited for birthdays to make up for it...the first birthday is especially important --- I think anyway.

Because I go a little overboard, here's what my kitchen looked like the night before the party. I don't know what Chris is talking about when he says I can make big messes when I get "crafty"... Luckily, I always have sisters who offer their services. My oldest sister, Gina, was a huge help. She even spent the night so we could stay up late. Thanks to my other sisters and SILS for their help too.

THE PARTY:

We really wanted to focus on making the party a fun day for Elise, so we thought of lots of things Elise likes to do. For the theme, we chose to do a "Ducky Party". One of Elise's first sign-language signs was for duck. She seems to really love them and does the sign and makes a quack sound - so it was a natural choice for her party theme.

For the activities, we did finger painting -- messy, but fun!

- a fish/duck pond (thanks, Gina for making and manning it)...

Since Elise's birthday conveniently fell after Easter, we found little ducks that made quacking sounds on clearance - so that was the main prize for the fish pond.

A funny story: Ava was so excited about the fishing game after getting the duck reward, that she kept throwing her line over the pond even when no one was manning the station. I guess she threw it over a few times, kept looking at the hook each time, and disappointed said, "ughh, NOTHING!" That's so funny to think she thought it really was magic or something.

Elise loves to dance to music so we did some musical lily pads (the "everyone wins" version where you don't take any away), and sang along to some fun songs on a cd...
...like "If You're Happy and You Know It"...

We also did a little duck pond with water so they kids could splash around a bit.


Of course, we also had cake & ice cream, duck feed: Kix cereal, M&Ms and teddy grahams (cuz ducks love to eat bears), cheese squares, and tuna-fish sandwiches (more popular with the adults).

Nom-Nom!

Can't forget the bubbles - another toddler favorite.
Elise had a FABULOUS time, which was exactly what we wanted. She loved splashing in the water, reaching for the bubbles, singing and dancing to the music, and stuffing cake into her mouth. She also loved playing with all of her little friends and her family -- a very fun and memorable day!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, SWEET ELISE!