They say it's your birthday (party)

We had a nice little family party tonight to celebrate Ellen's first birthday. I didn't want to do anything too elaborate, but tried to pick a "theme" that was something she cared about. What does a 1-year-old care about? Ellen seems to really like porcupines (at least the little one she has), so that seemed good!


I got Ellen a birthday t-shirt from a friend of a friend. She has an etsy shop and lives here in town. It turned out so cute and she was so easy to work with!I did just a little decorating ... we have our Christmas decorations up (mind you, a pared down version), but it was still a birthday party! (I'm very aware of this as a fellow December birthday girl). The paper banner is from Paper Source and the big photo was a DIY project online. You can go to The Rasterbator (true name - terrible, but true) and upload a picture and it will print it out in any size you want. It is little tiny dots if you are up close - I printed with the smallest dots, but you can do bigger dots for a more abstract feel. And, it's free! (minus the paper and all the printer ink).

I had to do a little something to go with the theme. Betsy thought these were ghost cupcakes. Come on ... they look like porcupines, right? Work with me here.

I made Ellen a different cake with this recipe. It's a little healthier than your standard cake, but still really yummy. It was a bit of a construction nightmare, but I was proud of it.


Not too much messy cake face ... Ellen has always been a pretty clean eater. She loved it - not squeamish at all with the icing!


We had a yummy dinner and a nice bottle of wine that we picked up in Napa before we got married. If this isn't an occasion to celebrate, what is? Ellen got lots of very nice gifts from her family and friends ... in fact, a few things that Santa planned to bring!

Ellen was a champ and tolerated all of the busy-ness pretty well. She even decided to take her first few steps to Aunt Betsy! I witnessed them as I was prepping dinner, and Erik was at the grill, but she is sure to be off and running soon.

Thank you for all of your well-wishes on the occasion of this first birthday. We are all so lucky.