Part Deux

Be warned...this is a long post.

For Juliana's "party" (family over for cake and presents), I did a doggie (and polka dot) theme.  She LOVES dogs, and I love polka dots!  I kept it simple and really liked the way the decor turned out.

Below are the birthday cakes I made!  Yup, I made them!  (Can you tell that I'm pretty proud of my cakes?)  Well, thanks to my friend, Cara, they turned out lovely.  Cara was my guide and after I emailed her various cakes that I liked, she helped me to pick one out that I could actually do and then she told me what materials I needed (which, thankfully, wasn't much!).  Now, I won't be the next Cake Boss, but it's a big step up from my usual sheet cake with too much frosting.  And, not only were they cute, they were delicious and Juliana knew exactly what they were and loved looking at them!

 So, here comes the present opening pictures....

 Along with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Harvey, we had Great-Gma Carolyn and Great-Gpa Stan, Auntie Erin, Uncle Kyle and his girlfriend Chelsie, and also Juliana and Kari's favorite babysitter, Maggie.  (Maggie comes over once a week while I go up for reading time with Christian's class.)  Juliana was thrilled to see Maggie!

 Juliana was so happy with her gifts--mostly books and shoes.  But, she did love her little stuffed doggie, and her water and sand toys too.

Kari and Christian also liked Juliana's new animal book :-).

 Kari wanted Juliana to stop so she could bestow some sisterly love.  Aw......

 I love Juliana's face in this picture.  We were all singing "Happy Birthday" to her and she was so tickled to be the center of all the attention!

 How do you explain how to blow out candles to a one year old??

 Now here's the moment I was waiting for...does she dig in or make a face??

 A little bit of a face...

 And a little digging too....

 Daddy helped her feel more comfortable eating her cake.

 But then she decided to follow in her siblings steps and stay as clean as possible.  *Sigh.*

 It was then time to head outside!  Maggie is so much fun and the girls all loved playing on the trampoline with her.

 Then, Great-Gpa Stan took a turn!

 Not too shabby for a 70-something :-) guy!

 And here's just a few more shots of the birthday girl, trying out her new swing!

 (Below is a close up of one of the new fancy pairs of shoes she got--she insisted upon putting them on immediately.)

Good times.  It actually seemed to be one of our more successful evenings with the whole family!

Happy Birthday, sweet Juliana!  We sure do love you!