A Super Sweet Sundae Celebration

This past Sunday we celebrated Sweet G's 1st beautiful year of life!

 (pictured in the same dress big sis wore 2 1/2 years ago)

After much dialogue on how to celebrate while staying within our modest budget, we set the date and time and made the notice to our immediate extended family and a couple friends who, are family. Once it was official, the SUPER Duo Team Emde (aka, Mimi & Bapa) pitched in for absolutely amazing results. This included hours of research, visiting 10 different nurseries, questioning, translating, working with the landscaper to finish our beautiful cottage style soft-scape backdrop. Meanwhile, Superdad is mixing and pouring cement, scoring on his hands and knees, installing patio covers, hanging lights, sealing floors, building a fire pit, cleaning up, hauling dirt and much more I am forgetting, to make our backyard a gorgeous place for hosting and enjoying. 

Late last week, I had 1 of the hardest days since becoming a mom which included passing out in the morning (in keeping with my pregnancy tradition) and a tantrum by a certain Spicy one so bad that had me considering performing an exorcism. Once that was behind me, somehow I pulled it together and with Mimi's help snatching the girls away for a day and a half, I was able to do some much needed deep cleaning, painting that was started and unfinished from over a year ago and lot of fun little projects! 

Without the constraints of feeding, entertaining, bathing, wiping bums & napping (that is, imposing forced naps, not partaking in them myself), my creativity let loose and the ideas kept coming! It started with this banner made from wooden pendants my dad cut that I covered in various scraps of fabric I already had. 

    
Then I found a font I liked, printed out the stencils and went to town with different paper. It was so fun to make, I even used a cordless saw for the 1st time but boy were my hands sore after all that stapling and cutting! It was definitely the 'centerpiece' and the source of much inspiration!

Since I am obsessed with themes (as you can probably tell by looking at every room in my house) I took the "Sweet" theme and well, ran with it... all the way to the candy store! The next idea was for the centerpieces. Re-purposed jars (originally filled with peaches which we enjoyed as a side dish) filled with a variety of candy with a few bright faux Gerber daisies. 

The best part about this? They didn't go to waste because once dinner was finished, the flowers came out, and the jars moved over to the "Sweet Sundae Station" for ice cream sundae's with lots of yummy toppings! 

 Add some over-sized lollipops and you're practically in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. 

 kidding. 

But the party prepping fairies were definitely looking out for me. The only thing purchased for this event was a couple cans of spray paint, dowels at 75 cents a piece and the styrophone circles for the lollipops. Everything else we already had! And while I was in line waiting to check out, wouldn't you know, I see leftover Christmas items in the dollar bin and some of them, even 1/2 off! 

I couldn't resist. A variety of sanitizers, body sprays and bath salts in "Sweet Candy Kiss" and "Frosted Berries and Cream" scents, they were the perrrrfect favors!

And pictures were cropped and displayed on an old cork board that got a nice coat of bubble gum pink!

The meal was centered around BBQ Beef Sandwiches on Hoagie Rolls in a sweet & tangy BBQ sauce

Side dishes were homemade and brought by loved ones such as Grama Emde's famous tomatoes & cucumbers in a sweet vinegar marinade

 ...Mimi's yams in a secret sweet syrup

and a sweet corn bread treat made by yours truly!

Even the corn dogs were transformed into a sweet delicatessen

We had about 30 guests. Less than half of the number at Spicy's party. However, it is important to note that her event had a dual purpose, namely to give mommy a major emotional boost to survive through the 2nd half of daddy's deployment. 

Needless to say, from young to old not so young, everyone had a great time!

Me & my Sweet G

Following in her sister's footsteps, Sweets surely did not disappoint when it came time for the cake...

        Getting her 1st taste from Spicy             Spicy getting a taste from mommy

That a Girl!

Another flashback

Pure Joy. 
What an incredible baby girl you are!

After dark, we inaugurated the fire pit by roasting marshmallows for Smore's with good friends. It was the perfect way to end a perfect day.