Aliya Juel's 1st Birthday Party

Of course I threw Aliya Juel quite the bash for her first birthday. I may have gone a little overboard with decorations and food, but we did a join birthday with Morgan for her 6th birthday. Most of the food got eaten and I plan to reuse the decorations for her room. We had planned to have a sunny June evening Mad Hatter Tea Party. The rain changed things and we all crammed inside. It worked out and it was still a very fun celebration with good friends and family. 

We started with all the kids making Mad Hatter hats, then they had a tea party. It was so cute the way the kids decorated their hats, Jer took over Jaxon's and added a scarf and 10/6 tag. 

We sang Happy Birthday to the girls and gave them each their own cupcake. Aliya Juel is a messy eater, she can never seem to get the food in her mouth fast enough. I assumed she would have cake in her hair, nose, basically everywhere. Well, since this was the first sugar she had, she was content dipping her finger in the frosting and licking it completely off her finger before redipping her finger. She clapped after everyone sang to her. Then the chaos of a 6 year old and 1 year old opening presents at the same time. 

Aliya Juel's gifts included: CLOTHES!!! a Vtech art easel, princess eating set, pink dinosaur, baby doll, cloth picnic set, glow worm, little people carriage set, books, and hair flowers, tea set, baby crib, rocking chair, tea sets, hand me down kitchen, college money. It was the right balance of clothes and not too many toys.  She absolutely loves every item she got. We are grateful for all that came and celebrated with us. 

After things calmed down, I was in the front room and wanted to show Aliya Juel off and how she could take some step's to all of Jer's family. It usually takes a quite a bit of prompting for her to go for something. I stood her up and she just took off, without looking back. We were all very surprised and excited. She continued to walk for everyone, even after I got the video camera. I had my point and shoot on hand :) It is so cute to see such a tiny little girl walk. She looks like a newborn cruising around. She still falls down, but definitely has the confidence of walking now. She looks so cute.