Friday, May 21, 2010

Celebrating One Year

Nana and Ellie.








Nana and the girls.







Sharing Ellie's cupcakes at our family celebration.






Ellie's new birthday dolls, which Kate allows her sister to play with (sometimes). :)




The big birthday girl, sporting the onesie Mom made for Kate's first birthday.



We had a great celebration for Ellie's birthday. Thanks to all who came to the party, and thanks to all who remembered Ellie from afar! Also, a huge thank you to the Reaves family, who loaned us their house for the big event. My mom was here to help us organize and plan the festivities, and she was such a great help doing that and hanging out with the kids. Thanks for coming, Mom!

While Ellie's party was a lot of fun, we learned a few things the hard way. Let me share them with you, so that when you want to document a special once-in-a-lifetime-occasion you don't make the mistakes we did. 1. Plan what pictures you want taken before the event starts, and designate a picture-taker. Jon and I realized after the party that we only had pictures of Ellie eating her cake. Not a single piture of any other attendee, besides Kate. RATS. 2. Check electronic equipment and see that all is in working order before using at said event. We wanted to take video of the party but had technical difficulties. Unfortunately, we didn't realized these difficulties until AFTER everyone sang to Ellie. So you don't get to hear the entire birthday song. And you don't get to see little Emily (who is standing next to Ellie's chair in the video montage) lean forward and blow out Ellie's candle after the song is over. And you don't get to hear everyone laugh. (Sigh) Costly lessons learned. That's why it's taken me so long to post this --because I am disappointed in the documentation we have. ti's not what we'd hoped for. But we'll know better for next time.


So enjoy the video montage of Ellie destroying her cake, hear the laughter and chatter of unseen friends, and say one last happy birthday to our sweet Jelly Bean.


The cupcake cake!




A video montage of Ellie devouring her cake (to include the sad 1/2 of Happy Birthday:(

3 comments:

shortygoldstein said...

:)

Anonymous said...

After reading your explanation, I was thrilled to see that you did get some good video!! What a fun day for all. WOW! Elliana Hope destroyed that cake! Loved all the pictures with Nana...how fun that she could be there. Love to all...can't wait to see you next week...G+P

Nana said...

What great pictures and what a great time I had at your house. Thanks so much for everything. Also, these pictures take me right back to being with you. What fun. What a wonderful 1st birthday and Ellie did not disappoint with her excitement about her birthday cake! Thumbs up to you, Kate! Love,