Madelyn's First Birthday

Madelyn woke up the day of her birthday with a pretty runny nose, nasty cough and slight temperature. By mid-morning, her temperature was just under 103 and all she wanted to do was sleep. This was not how we expected to spend her first birthday. Luckily, by night time she was feeling a little better and was up for trying her first taste of sugar in the form of a giant cupcake courtesy of Angie and decorated by Patrick. Here's a picture Ang took with my phone:

Notice the very tired eyes on our little girl

We weren't sure if she would like the cake because she's really not a fan of sweet tasting things. She despises fruit (as in, refuses to eat any type of it at all) and the few times she's had things that are just naturally sweet, she hasn't really liked them. But, she ended up loving the cupcake.

Thankfully, Madelyn was back to her normal happy self by the day of her big birthday party at our house. We had around 50 people here to help us celebrate Madelyn's first year. Angie and I had such a great time hanging out with all our closest friends and family, Patrick loved having a bunch of bigger kids around to play with and Madelyn was a perfect little hostess the whole time (when she wasn't napping) - walking around to everyone, hugging people, smiling and playing games. She looked beautiful in her dress made by Meme and really seemed to love having everyone here. It was a perfect day outside too which didn't hurt.

Thank you again to our families for helping get the house setup, the food made, the decorations up and keeping our kids happy and entertained through it all. And thank you again to everybody that gave up their Sunday to come celebrate Madelyn - especially those that traveled long distances: the Garitys, who came all the way from Idaho, Aunt Jill, who came from Chicago and Rob, Michelle and family, who came from Tennessee. We know how precious time is, especially on weekends, so it truly means a lot to us that you're willing to spend that time with us. What great memories!

Here are a few pictures from the day...

Angie's Owl Cake and some of the great food

Birthday Sash from Papa!

Here's a slideshow with the other pictures or you can look at the whole gallery here: