The Cutest Little Cupcake!

Let me start this post by saying that this baby girl is really special to me.  Marlee Addison is the daughter of one my best friends/cousins.  Wendy and I have been super-sister-close since we were born.  She is three months older than me, and we were always inseparable...until she moved away our freshman year of high school.  Despite the distance, we stayed close and we try to spend as much time together as we can.  When we can't, we spend hours on the phone.  When Wendy was pregnant, my biggest (selfish) wish was that she would have a little girl as well so that they could be close like we were.  Well my wish came true!

Marlee's party was cupcake themed, and it was adorable.  She used all of the bright versions of the pastels, and she had lots of little personal touches sprinkled (haha) in around the house.

















Marlee's cake was one of my favorite decorations.  Her aunt and uncle bought her cake, and I think they did a really good job picking it out.



Marlee was an angel during her cake smash.  She ate the cake, offered to share with others, and didn't melt down even once. 

















After she was done with her cake, we took the little kids outside to join the big kids for water fun.



Mikayla really enjoyed the slide.



Emmy liked the pool, but Marlee enjoyed drinking the water.



Joey & Michael did canon balls in the big kid pool.



After Marlee had enjoyed the pool long enough, we went back inside to open presents.  We bought Marlee a couple of outfits and a pair of matching shoes, but I had to buy her a fun gift too. We got her a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal that matches Emmy's.  I think she liked it!



We ran outside to snap a family pic before Marlee could fall asleep.





Emmy enjoyed hanging out with Joe.



Happy 1st Birthday Marlee!  We sure do love you girly! :)

Emmarie's 1st Birthday Party {Fun Stuff}

After we had done all of the traditional birthday party stuff: food, cake, presents... We went outside to play on the WATER SLIDE!  My dad is a go big or go home kind of guy, so when we started looking at waterslide rentals for Emmy's party and Kari's graduation, he decided instead to buy one.   So the beauty that you will see below is available to be rented if you are  in the south Texas area. :)

One  more picture of the birthday girl because how can it be a birthday post without her.



We got a family picture of the three of us on this milestone day.  We all look happy, and I think that describes how we really felt that day.


Here is a picture of Emmy and Daddy.


Lauren and I have been friends since middle school, and now our babies will be able to grow up hanging out as well.


Emmy was super excited about the water table that Brian and his family got her.  She wanted to open the box and set it up right then!


Melinda is another one of my life long friends.  She made the trip down from Austin to be with Emmy for her birthday.


She got a couple of super cute outfits from Ollie, April, and Mike.


Then it was time to get outside to the slide.  I took a million a lot of pictures, but I will try not to bombard you.  Emmy was fearless, and she even went down the slide a couple of times on her own without Daddy.


Mal thought the slide was super fun!


Layla couldn't wait to climb up and go again!


Some of the "older" people thought it was fun just to watch. :)


Steve and Dana won the prize for best splash!


Emmy hugged all over Papa and Granny.


She modeled the new backpack that Grandma Susan made for her!


She showed off the activity walker that Henry brought her.


And she unwrapped the sweet puppy that Raeassia, Trey, and Darryl gave her!


All in all her birthday was a day full of fun, love, and happiness.  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in Emmy's life that wanted to celebrate with her.  I hope that in the coming years, they will all continue to have such a positive impact on her life. 

After the party was over, I started thinking about what her theme for next year's party should be.  Bradley just shook his head and sighed.

Emmarie's 1st Birthday Party {Cake Smash}

The cake smash was one of my favortie parts of first birthday parties.  Emmy's cakes were especially beautiful (in my unbiased opinon of course).  Raeassia worked so hard on Emmarie's cakes.  She made a three tier cake and two smash cakes: one for the party and one for professional pictures.   Each cake was made up of seven different colored layers of cake, one for each part of the rainbow.  I gave her an idea of what I wanted, but she took the meager ideas I provided and ran with them.  Everything was so much more beautiful than I could have expected.  You will notice below that she even tried to match the smash cake to the invitation.


Here is Emmy standing by her cake.  It is almost as tall as she is.


She looks so confused about why she is being allowed to stand on the table.


I am so amazed that this year passed by so quickly when I look at my sweet little "big" girl.  She was enthralled with the candle.


At first she wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake.  The outer layers of icing were a little thick, and she had only had cake once before on her actual birthday.


But it did not take her long to figure out what was "going on" on her plate.


She was quite happy to make a wonderful mess.  And for once, I was happy to let her do it.


She was in such a good mood from her sugar high that she was even willing to share her cake with Nana.


If I had to caption this picture, I would say "Nana, watch this!"


It is amazing how happy a little bit of refined sugar can make a one-year-old.


That's probably the biggest she smiled the whole day.


Her aunts sure do love her a lot!


We decided to take a mini group pic of the people that take care of her on a daily basis.  I don't know what I would have done without each of them this past year.


A slightly blurry picture where you can see all of the layers inside the cake.


Nana was eager to start passing out the cake.


This is the remnants of the smash cake.  She ripped the top red layer off in all of her Godzilla-like destruction.


Everyone (especially Dana and Halle) seemed to enjoy  the cake.