PARTY TIME!

First of all I would like to send out a HUGE thank you to all of you that helped me with Alida's party!! Matt and I are so incredibly lucky to have friends and family like all of you!!

The party was a success! The balloons were deflated when I arrived in the morning....who knew that helium wouldn't last over night??!! i was tempted to run out and get more balloons but there just wasn't enough time! The day started off with some family pictures (the Lewandoski side) taken by my friend, Suzanne Collier. The picture process reminded me just how hot it was outside! UGH! It was pretty humid which made matters worse. Alida was quite clingy and not her usual self throughout the pictures but she didn't meltdown, which was good! The rest of the day is quite a blur. I'm not sure if I sat down or even got to talk to anyone. I felt like I was running around with my head cut off before the party even started. This is apparently common at first birthdays! Thank goodness it only happens once for each child :-) I think (at least I hope!) everyone enjoyed themselves, the food and was able to keep at least somewhat cool. The kids kept themselves busy in the baby pools....thank goodness we had them! We only forgot two things all day...the ice cream and the DVD. Considering the cake was huge and my wonderful sis-in-law, September, baked some absolutely delicious desserts I don't think the ice cream was missed. As for the DVD...since no one really knew it existed it wasn't a big deal. But we really wanted to show off our hard work in creating a slide show for her first year. I am hoping to figure out a way to download it to the blog....haven't been able to do it yet. But...all in all the party went quite well.

Alida held herself together quite well. She didn't nap as perfectly in the morning as I had hoped...I knew that would happen. But, she pulled through.....I don't remember any tantrums!