the fun part of cleaning: Decorating!

Well of course it's fun to decorate, especially when it's for your baby girl who's just turned 1! Wow...time does fly. I can't say that I've been planning Addie's 1st birthday for 6 months (which apparently isn't an uncommon thing for some); but we did put some thought into it. After our little bug was a butterfly for Halloween, everything (on sale) at Hobby Lobby was a butterfly of some sorts, and a little much internet research, we decided on a theme: butterflies!

So we I started brainstorming a cute but classy (hopefully) way to pull all this off!

And it all started with the cakes:
My mom decorated many of our childhood cakes, so naturally, I figured I'd give it a go. I started with my mom's birthday cake and moved to cupcakes for our life group:

Then I did a trial run with Addie's smash cake for her studio portraits with DiAnna.

But when it came down to the real thing, it took 3 boxes of cake (I did the big one twice because I cooked the 1st one too long and it was dry (not burnt!)) and 8 cans of icing!!! I actually scraped the 1st butterfly I did off the top of Addie's cake and redid it! I knew I was a tad on the OCD side with certain things...but can we say ridiculous!?!?!

(Addie's smash cake!)

I have no idea why icing that's been formed into itty, bitty, tiny stars tastes so good...but it does!

Since we were mainly inviting adults, I wanted a more grown-up atmosphere (if that's possible!) but still fun and festive! So with the exception of the Happy 1st Birthday banner hanging in our living room, flowers donned with butterflies were the main decoration!

(our baby girl...then and now)

(my favorite: gerber daisies with purple and green flowers!)

But what party is complete without the balloons? There were more, but this was the only picture that really turned out! When Addie came home (from taking a nap at my mom's with her Daddy) while I finished up here, she immediately saw the balloons. She got super excited! She's been dragging them around now most of the day and has figured out that if she pulls on the string, she can get the balloons down to her level!

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Although I didn't manage to take a ton of pictures at her party, I'll post what was taken soon! :)