Favorite Birthday Moments

We celebrated Bella's birthday last night and it went really well!

[In the spirit of total disclosure, I should mention that Bella was pretty miserable the entire time, but everyone else had fun.]

We invited a few close (adult) friends who are involved in Bella's life and there were four kids, so Bella had some friends to play with. We had a princess theme, but didn't go too crazy with it...there was a castle cake and a princess sign (Oh! And princess hats!), but no themed games or anything like that. Bella's grandparents on both sides have filled our playroom with toys, so when friends asked about gift ideas, I suggested Fancy Nancy books (I love them!)

Some highlights...

Mel picked out some fantastic balloons!

All of the ladies before the party! (A little jealous about how tan my mom is!)

Bella and friends! That would be David, Sean, and Madeline...baby Charlotte is with the adults.

The little princess is posing...and thinking about eating that rock in her hand.

The princess castle cake! I followed a Betty Crocker video online and it turned out really well! It was pretty time-consuming, but also pretty easy once it all got going. Mom helped me smooth out the sides and I made the windows/doors with pink wafer cookies (Kinslee would be so jealous!).

Opening presents...we have incredibly generous friends and we got some wonderful Fancy Nancy books (my request), a Disney store gift card that I can't wait to use for dress-up clothes, and a Rapunzel doll from Mommy and Daddy. Grandma Meyer had her open her new doll early and Grandpa Meyer sent some Bible books.

Blowing out her candles...she is starting to get really good at this! I used the "#2" candle from her early birthday and the added a few extra ones...unfortunately, the extra candles were trick candles that Steve had gotten for my birthday, so Bella got to blow them out three times!

A little blurry, but the whole gang! Our friends were so great and had fun wearing their Disney princess (or prince) hats. I made one for Bella, but she refused to wear it (stubborn independence is fun, huh?), so it's all the rest of us!

Happy Birthday, Bella! It's crazy to think that the next year will bring potty training, many more words, a new little sibling (hopefully), and maybe preschool! I'm going to go lay down now...