Naomi turned 1 on Sunday and we had so much fun celebrating her birthday with family and friends.    My mom and grandma flew in for her birthday, which made the party extra special and it was so nice to have some extra help.  We had the party in the backyard and basement with the hopes that the little ones could swim and run through the sprinkler but it got cloudy and windy before the party, so we skipped the water play.

The beautiful birthday girl.

The invites that my husband created to make my vision become a reality.

Dessert table: cupcakes with a goldfish cracker on top, candy sushi and a fish themed cake (I just used two 8 inch round cake pans and cut one to look like a fin.)

This candy sushi is all over the Internet and I just had to make it.  It turned out so cute and was super yummy.  Here are the directions I followed...How to Make Candy Sushi

We put our Aquarium DVD on the big screen to make everyone feel as though they were under the sea.

Under the deck, we created a little underwater world using blue streamers as water and green vertical streamers as seaweed.  I got this idea from here.

The fish were super easy and made with a paper lantern (I found these at the dollar spot at Target), card stock and a large googly eyes.

Fishing area.

Bubbles.

We had gummy worms (fish bait), Swedish fish, and life savers (life preservers) to snack on.

Party favors: bucket w/shovel, beach ball, fish stickers, goldfish crackers and bubbles.

Food.

I couldn't get the candle to light due to the wind, and as you can see, Naomi didn't care about the candle...she wanted her cupcake!!

Once I gave it to her, she wasn't really interested (probably because she had no idea how yummy it was) so I gave her a little taste.

I love this picture of the kiddos coming to get cupcakes.

Me and my birthday girl!

Naomi was even hand fed by her buddy, Jett, who turned 1 last month.

Opening presents.

This face is priceless!

It was such a fun party with a great group of friends and family.  We are just so blessed to have such amazing friends to do life with. Our friends make living away from family a little easier.

At the end of the night, everyone was getting a little silly.  Love this picture of my mom, Mia, Me and Naomi.

We had a lot of fun reading about princesses when we talked about the letter p.  These were our three favorite princess books that we got from the library.  The Very Fairy Princess talks about princesses having scabs on their knees and being supportive to their friends, which is my kind of princess book. : )

P is for Pink and Purple

P is for Peacock

Peacock craft

P is Penguin

I cut out paper fish and wrote the uppercase and lowercase letters on them.  This is such a fun way to review the letters that we have already learned.

Feed the penguin activity

Of course we had to go see the penguins at the zoo.

Up next week...Mm

a year makes.

These pictures were taken exactly a year apart.  When I was pregnant, I could only imagine what my little girl would look and act like and now her personality is shining through.  As we approach her 1st birthday I can't help but reflect on the past year.  The first year is hard, but so amazing.  

We haven't decided if Naomi will be our last baby or not, which makes every milestone so emotional.  Omi Kate has made my life so much happier, joyful and complete.  She gives me the cuddles, hugs and kisses I need and her calm demeanor is just a breath of fresh air.  She is busy and climbs on anything she can, but refuses to stand or walk on her own.  She loves to be like her sister, but also does her own thing. She is super active, but also loves to sit still to read a book.  She is a total mommy's girl, but also gives daddy lots of love. She is Naomi, and she is absolutely perfect.

Our new playroom has been finished for a couple weeks and we LOVE the space.  It turned out so perfect; my heart smiles when I'm in the room.  I used a turquoise, red and yellow color scheme and bought most of the furniture at IKEA.  

Our old playroom was upstairs which was really great for awhile but now that Mia is getting old enough to be downstairs by herself, we decided to create a new playroom in the basement.  We are quite lucky to have a huge room in the basement that gets great natural light and has a bathroom attached.  It is the perfect spot for a playroom (and I no longer have toys everywhere on the main level).  

Old Playroom:

 

New Playroom:

Toy storage/organization is really important to me so I decided to use the Expedit shelving from IKEA and bins from IKEA.  The bins fit perfectly and are HUGE.  They hold a lot of toys, which is great. I created labels for the bins, laminated them and stuck them on using Velcro strips.  I just searched the web for pictures of the toys so we would know exactly what belongs in each bin.  This makes clean-up so much easier!

We made a Duplo table out of an IKEA Lack coffee table (we just left off the bottom piece).  

I left this side of the room open for dramatic play.  The awning is from IKEA. We still want to put a mailbox over here somewhere but haven't done that yet.

 link to "This Little Light of Mine" printable

Reading and book accessibility is always a big priority to me.  Here is our cozy reading area. The shelves are from IKEA and the rug is from Target.

Dress-up area.

Our art/school area.  I am still planning on painting the table red, but keep forgetting to buy spray paint.

My work space/ art work display.

Want to come over and play?

And, this is what it looks like after some playtime. ; )