Beth's Birthday Party!

I decided to make a separate post for this. Beth's birthday party was a ton of fun. My sister hosted at her house, so we had a big family pool party and bbq. Danielle did a wonderful job decorating for the party and we had food contributions from many people. I was very happy that everyone seemed to like the maple-teriyaki marinade I made for the chicken. Danielle also made the birthday cake, which came out amazing - she did regular and mini cupcakes and made the #1 with them. They were super tasty too! Beth loved her birthday cupcake, but I think she made a bigger, more fun mess eating the watermelon! As always, we are very grateful to celebrate a big milestone with our wonderful family and wish more people could have visited!

On the morning of Beth's birthday party, Nora and I made Beth a birthday crown. It came out really cute and seems to be a perfect craft for an almost 3 year old!

Here is a boatload of photos from Beth's special day.

Showing off her birthday crown!

Close up of the cake.

The cake/gift table


The food! Super yummy. chicken, burgers, fruit salad, edamame and corn sala, pasta salad, garden salad...


A close up of the wall above the food. A photo from each month of Beth's first year! Awesome!


The BBQ expert.



Beth enjoyed the watermelon.






Nora enjoyed the watermelon too!


Family enjoying food and conversation.


After lunch, the pool lots of fun!




Then it was time for cake! Singing happy birthday to Beth.

She was a bit vocal about her impatience to get that wonderful looking treat!

Finally! She gets her hands on her cupcake.

And she enjoyed it!

Licking frosting from her fingers.



Shortly after gorging on cake, she totally passed out in the stroller. She only slept for about an hour, but it was a very nice rest!


Opening gifts. She did a pretty good job of staying focused and ripping paper!