Bee Happy!

Olivia's Bumblebee Birthday celebration was better than I pictured. The weather turned out to be perfect! Olivia looked so sweet in her honey yellow dress and Red Sox hat. She chose the hat herself. In fact, she hasn't gone a day without that hat in over a week.

Tardiff Park turned out to be the perfect place for a child's party. The playground wasn't too crowded, the hall was spacious and clean, and the picnic area was serene and beautiful. The birthday girl arrived fashionably late, after most of the guests (Tyler excepted) had already found their way.

It was so nice to have many of Olivia's cousins together for her first birthday. Let's count the wee ones, shall we? There was Aidyn, Evelyn, Cole, and Charlotte. Then, not family, but close enough, there was Ben, Mia and Emma. Lots of tots running, crawling, and lying around. Thankfully, Olivia behaved like a lady at her party and didn't maul any of them (that I could see, anyway).

Damien manned the grill and cooked a lot of burgers and hot dogs. I can't tell how they tasted, but from my previous experience, he is great at grilling. The Boca burger was delicious, even though I gave him a hard time about not buying Garden Burgers (sorry Damey). I did get many photos of the other man folk standing around offering him moral support, or just waiting for more meat to come off the coals, I'm not quite sure.

Uncle Nate was there to be sure that the toddlers ate their food. Thanks Nate!

After lunch, the kids went over to the playground to run around. They really enjoyed themselves. Luke and Poppie were there to keep an eye out. They did an excellent job! Once I mentioned presents, though, it wasn't hard to get the kids back to the blanked to help Olivia.
Olivia was such a gracious little hostess. She let the big kids help open all her presents. She was more interested in the wrapping paper (eating it) than worrying about who was opening the presents and who the gifts were from. That was my job, but I wasn't doing it very well with the toddlers "helping" so Auntie (Kaitlyn) stepped in with the assist. Thanks Auntie :) I spent a lot of time pulling paper out of Olivia's mouth.




She received many wonderful gifts including the bumblebee ride-on toy from Daddy, Cameron and I, which quickly became the hit of the party!
Uncley Tyler (as we like to call him) purchased a bee hive for a needy family in Olivia's honor, which was soooo cool!

After presents it was time for bumblebee cupcakes. We sang happy birthday and then she dove right in, but she was still pretty dainty about the whole cake thing. Plus, much to my pleasure, she didn't actually eat very much of it, so I wasn't too worried about a sugar coma later on. Cameron, on the other hand, had two cupcakes, of which he only ate the frosting!
It's so wonderful to see Cole and Cameron together. They get to see each other more often now that they moved to NH and it's great because they love playing together. They are both pretty rough and silly, and really enjoy each other! I love this picture because it really captures a moment where they look like they are sharing a secret!


After cupcakes, Olivia took her bumblebee for a ride in Aidyn's Radio Flyer wagon. She also spent some time playing with her new doll before the rain started. When it began to drizzle, we all went inside where the big kids took turns riding really fast on the bumblebee. Then they planted some bee friendly sunflowers and lavender before we all headed home. It was a wonderful day and the birthday girl had so much fun.

At home Olivia played with her doll some more and tried on her new fairy skirt that Aunt Kelly and Uncle Brendan gave to her. She posed for the camera which I thought was so cute. Then, she passed out on the chair. What an exhausting day for my little Livvy Bug!