Sierra Turns 1!

Bet you thought I was never going to get around to this! (Actually posted almost a year later)

Sierra's first birthday - looking back

The invitation I made. We had family and a few of our sweet neighbors over to help us celebrate. I just had to use her birth-date for her first birthday party theme in southern California!

We got a few decorations, but the main ones were our girls in their Mexican dresses from the local swap meet. They were so excited to try them on and danced all about the house to the cd we also picked up there the night before. 

 


It was so fun watching Sierra walk around in her long dress since she was still pretty new to walking as it was - I couldn't get over the cuteness of it! But Lily's gestures and facial expressions in this video crack me up! Along with the classic Lily ending - she's always getting hurt.

Decoration/Party Game: Photos of Sierra from each month of her life. (Guess the closest correct order to win a prize.)

All ready to party!

Sierra actually fell asleep and missed the first part of her own party! But the games were really more for the older kiddos. Lily and Sierra's cousins: Evie, Isaac, Auji, and Audrey, Lily, and our neighborhood friends: Jake and Kianna, Tristan and Kira, Gabe and (the other) Lily. First we played the Sombrero Game - like hot potato, but whoever got the hat when the music stopped had to do a dance. It was pretty funny and the kids were pretty good sports, but I didn't really expect to last even as long as it did - I just wanted to use the hat!

Next we did the classic pin the tail on the burro.

There's the birthday girl! 

Sierra woke up just in time for the pinata! I can't remember if we let her have a swing at it...(I wanted to). But I do remember we bought so many goodies to go inside the pinata that when we opened it up to stuff it and discovered how tiny the inner chamber was - we had to alter it to fit everything in...and even though we duck taped it all over and added our own tissue streamers to cover it up - the result of that was not a very sturdy pinata! He unfortunately didn't last long, but he sure was cute :)

I don't remember how many kids got to take a swing or who brought it down, but I do remember not everyone got a turn before that burro was down!

In an effort to have no one trampled or left without loot, and because we bought mostly small toys and things this time instead of a lot of candy we told the kids to each pick 11 things. They were much more deliberate, and probably bargaining about it, so it worked pretty good!

Checking the guesses on the photo game.

An adorable card Sierra's cousin Isaac made her that I happened to take a photo of.

The birthday girl and me.

The cake! 

(I just kind of winged it at the last minute as far as cake decorating went
 - from some picture of Mexican embroidery designs I found online.)

Happy Birthday to you! All eyes on the birthday girl!

It can feel a bit overwhelming to be the center of attention,
 especially when the house was empty before your nap.

Big sister helped to blow out the candle.

Sierra was not too sure about her cupcake at first.

Hmmmm...This is pretty good after all!

Getting into the spirit!

Got some cute smiles, but she actually didn't end up eating much cake. I think it was too sweet for her. With Lily's first cake I used cream cheese frosting, but this was straight butter cream and the sweetest thing Sierra had tasted in her life to this point! I was OK with that. Trying to raise kids who don't overload on sweets. So far they want them but they can't handle a huge helping and know when to stop - for the most part :)

My cute man in a sombrero. Fiesta numero uno!

Time to open presents!

Lily picked out and bought this little penguin with her own piggy bank money. 
(You can see here Mike is not a big fan of pausing or posing for pictures.)

Sierra got loaded up! Thanks again to everyone for the awesome presents!

Pinata pieces always make good party hats!

Grandma and Audrey, Isaac and Lily hanging out after all the excitement is over.

Sierra was wiped out after the party she fell asleep right on the floor. 

Later she got a little fever, poor Birthday baby, but it didn't keep her down for long!

Playing with Grandpa in a cooler lid 'boat' later that night :)

I wish I had written this sooner so I could include more about Sierra's little one year old self (as I write this she is almost 2!) Sierra is such a sweet smiley girl and a delight to have in our family. She is so determined and independent. She started walking full on all over the place at 11 months, and started talking more and more at around 13 months, just the opposite of Lily who said "Airplane" at 11 months and walked at 13. Sierra's first word was "tickle tickle" and she loves to roughhouse with her sister and dad, and has the most delightful giggle. We are so grateful for our sweet baby-girl and love her so much! 

A friend inspired me to take a photo each month to frame to see my babies grow. I did it for Lily and for Sierra too, we have them hanging over their beds and that's what I used to make the game at her party. I think it's so fun to see the changes as my baby grew from day one to one year. Here they are for you to enjoy too!

Sierra's First Year Month by Month:

Happy 1st Birthday, Sierra-girl!