"The Girl Who Lived" Turns One!

...and she partied like a rock-star.

It was a busy week in the lead up to Kaia's party. After a major house cleaning over the July 1st holiday weekend, and much shopping, baking, tidying, errands, multiple trips to the grocery store (Brian: Do you need more butter for your baking? Me: Yes, the answer is always yes.) and a last minute trip to Party City the morning of (apparently the canisters of helium you can buy to take home during this helium shortage do not allow your balloons to float for more than 6-8 hours...so don't blow them up the night before thinking you can be all 'prepared in advance'. You will wake up to them on the floor. Party FAIL), we were ready.  I must say that all the work was worth it and Kaia's party was a smash!

We had 26 people at our house, (10 men, 9 women, 2 kids, 3 toddlers and 2 babies) and while I had hoped that maybe our little backyard might be fun to play in for the kids, the weather didn't cooperate, so everyone was in our living room/dining room/kitchen. Brian barbecued (note: it's awesome to have a summer birthday here in Canada since your party can include barbecued hot dogs rather than boiled).  I baked (my ass off).  My mom and mother-in-law brought side dishes.  Everyone ate and drank and had a good time.  Kaia got presents and had her first taste of icing (after putting it in her hair).  What more could a one year old ask for?

When I thought about Kaia's party back in June, I decided that while I generally think the "rainbow" baby term can be a little overly schmaltzy (and I'm not), it would be a perfect party theme. Plus it was an excuse to use colour...and I love colour! Our rainbow theme was my own special nod to big brother Aidan as well as to how miraculously lucky we feel every day when we think about how well Kaia has done. She lights up our lives and I'm blessed to have her.  Happy Birthday my Kaia-Papaya.

And here are some photos!

Would you like some cake with your butter?

Kaia chillin' with her toys the morning of the party.

Home made chocolate cupcakes with rainbow frosting.

Kaia in her party hat!

La  "piece de resistance". The Rainbow Cake! It was covered with white icing and people actually clapped when I cut into it.  Super gratifying considering it was A LOT of work to make. It tasted amazing too! Score!

Kaia eating icing for the first time.  I gave her a purple cupcake. The frosting was a nice accessory to her yellow dress.

One of Kaia's new toys.

Parties are fun!

Balloon!

"So tired Mommy...I think I'll just stare off into space".