Rewinding. This week's post is a very picture-heavy, and with good reason: Katelyn's first birthday party! Yippee! So 3/3 was last Wednesday (poor K was still sick) and Thursday night Will finally came back from his NYC business trip. Thursday Katelyn stayed home from school again and Will's parents helped drop off Tyler and semi-watch her that day. I think I got to get some work done at least. Friday was tough though, Katelyn was super clingy and screamed if I was out of sight - which made it really difficult for Will/I to get any party preparations done. We finally decided to let my nanny go early (her bf was extremely sick as well) and our party preparations took a hit since only Will could do stuff. But, we managed to pull it off! And now to the party!
We'll start out with some of the decorations. Here's the pink K tissue thing that I made to hang on our front door. It actually came out smaller than I had planned, and many fingers were singed with a hot glue gun. But I think it still came out cute!
Here are the tissue pom-poms that I fell in love with after seeing them online. They're quite pricey to buy so we decided to make them (many DIY tutorials on line). Definitely not as easy as they make it look, but if you squint a bit, they're gorgeous! Perfect for a pink little girl birthday party!
Our dessert table! Things got adjusted on it as we added things, so the placement isn't exactly what I would have preferred, but no big deal. I'll be more anal about things next time. :)
Too bad the table wasn't bigger, we could have fit more yummy desserts on it!
I am normally not into pink, but I just couldn't help myself for Katelyn!
My friend Lara made the delicious cupcakes and little cake for Katelyn. They were REALLY yummy. Unfortunately we had quite a few leftover cupcakes, and I was forced to eat them. They couldn't go to waste!
Darn you can't tell from this photo, but I made cute little pink labels for the water bottles, and also little cupcake napkin rings to hold the napkins/forks! Happy birthday Katelyn!
Oh my, and there was a lot a lot of food (thanks mostly to my mother-in-law). My in-laws cooked up a storm!
My favorite dish was the home-made potato salad in the pita pockets with fresh lettuce. So delicious!
Yum. Even Tyler took a few bites out of one of those chicken legs!
Mmm, smoked salmon crackers with capers.
Katelyn's photo mat! We had one for Tyler's first birthday that is still hanging in his room - now Katelyn will have one of her own too. :)
This was really fun to make. I printed out a photo from each month of Katelyn's life and printed them out 5x5 in black and white. Then I mounted them each on some cardstock and tied them together with ribbon. It came out really cute! Also hanging in her room now. :)
Favors! I was not brave enough to actually bake the cookies myself so instead I chatted with the Albertson's bakery and they decorated sugar cookies with a pink cupcake and a K on top. Not, eh, the quality of decorations that I had expected, but you get what you pay for! I think they still came out cute but I will probably not use them again in the future.
Now onto the party! We got a bubble machine (Katelyn loves bubbles!) just for the occasion. I had actually looked into renting one, but they're so inexpensive we just bought one instead. Tyler loved it!
This picture always cracks me up - he was so crazy about chasing the bubbles that he ate it. Hah!
These are some photos from my in-laws' camera. Thank goodness Katelyn was much less clingy that day and allowed other people to hold her while we got stuff together. How cute is she with her grandpa?
Yay balloons! Another one of Katelyn's favorite things!
This photo is so cute - both Katelyn and grandpa have the same toothy smile. Heehee.
Here's my mom with Katelyn! It was so cute, as more and more people were coming, we all congregated in the yard/back area of the house. It was quite loud and I was worried it would be too overwhelming for Katelyn. But then I found my mom and Katelyn sitting on the couches in the living room near the front entrance. Katelyn was happily sitting there next to my mom eating. Whenever someone new would come in, she'd look up and smile at them and go back to eating. She would even smile at me when I came by, but not fuss or anything to be picked up. It was so cute watching her be so well behaved!
Katelyn with Will's parents! She really has quite light hair huh.
Love this picture of Katelyn and Mariam. There weren't many people that she "let" hold her that day, and Mariam was one of the lucky few!
Me and Katelyn with auntie Mariam!
My girls with Katelyn! Thanks so much to you guys (and Frank!) for helping get everything ready!
Back inside, Katelyn enjoyed playing with her friend Jayden. Jayden is only 1 month older than Katelyn!
Negotiations over cupcake stickers. Katelyn means business.
Look at what I got!
It was a lovely day and perfect for playing in the backyard. Tyler liked taking pretend food orders from Uncle Jesse. It's been quite a while since we've played outside - Tyler was very happy about getting to.
A guest brought a dog. A chihuahua! I am not against dogs but definitely not inside the house. At least the dog was little - but super active! Katelyn liked playing with it.
Picture time! Prepare for picture overload. Will had just put up a little photo lighting setup that morning so we were excited to try it out. Here's me and Katelyn!
Will and me with Katelyn. Isn't her "I am 1" banner cute?
The birthday girl! The "1" candle (saved from Tyler's 1st birthday) is really doing an injustice to the beautiful cake. Doh.
Katelyn was a little timid at first but then got right into the slapping/patting the cake. There was very little interest in actually eating any of it!
Pat pat pat pat!
Ok, maybe just a little taste...
Video of Katelyn smashing her birthday cake. LOVE her little giggle and shriek of excitement!
My mom even snuck in for a quick photo and Katelyn treated her to a little cake on the nose!
My brother and sister in law brought a delicious taro sheet cake (my new favorite!!). Katelyn didn't think it was very pretty though (plus she was overdue for a nap).
We quickly tried to get some quick photos before we put Katelyn down for a nap. Family picture! Lovely expression Tyler has, don't you think?
Attempt two - better (kind of?) Tyler, but Katelyn isn't smiling at the camera! Oh well.
me and Will!
What life would be like if we only had one kid...
Picture with the Chang grandparents.
and with my parents.
with my girlfriends!
with my girls!
with my brother had his (pregnant!) wife michelle!
With Lara! LOVED her little cake and cupcakes!
With our friends Chrissy/Jeff and baby Jayden!
With our friends Shirley and Jesse! (Sharon was off playing somewhere)
By the time Katelyn woke from her nap, most of our guests had left. So no one really got to see her second birthday outfit! Much more casual and comfortable.
Here's a last photo with my in-laws and my sister's inlaws. They came late and most everyone had left/ everything had been cleaned up, but at least they got to see K's cupcake dress! :)
...and Tyler got to play some golf with Grandpa Yang. :)
So you'd think - Whew! - what a relief - 2 weeks of Katelyn being sick, Will being out of town for a week, Katelyn/me/Will all catching the stomach bug during that week, a party to prepare for, ... WHEW, done! Relaxation time! Right? Wrong! Saturday afternoon, as Will's parents and my sister's in-laws were preparing to leave, what did we find in the house? SWARMING TERMITES. Yes, you read that right. I have never (knowingly anyway) seen a termite. I went to sit down in the living room to nurse Katelyn and as I did, I looked down at the rug. What was all that black lint? Wait, moving black lint. Wait. OMG - they're little bugs with big wings. ALL OVER. Imagine my terror. A week later I am now a termite expert. We found holes in the wall behind the piano that the subterranean termites had come from (they leave mud tubes since they need a moist environment). Terrible. The next few days were spent vacuuming up the constant stream as the swarmers (that's what they're called!) kept coming out (they swarm to try to mate with another termite). gross. Since then I've got 8 (or was it 9?) different estimates from termite companies (expert I am now!) and looks like we'll be fumigating to get rid of the dry wood termites, a perimeter treatment and spot treatments for the subterranean termites, and then wood work to repair all the visible damage that the termites have done outside the house. It never ends!!
Oh wait, I didn't finish what happened the birthday party weekend though. You thought we were done, huh! Nope! Sunday morning we headed over for a playdate at my friend Marj's. It was our usual group of playdate friends since two of the husbands were out of town. Also, it was one of the boy's Dylan's bday coming up in a week, and since they weren't having a party we brought gift and some leftover cupcakes! What started out as a lunch playdate (got there ~10am) extended until 8pm at night! How can you deny the kids when they're having so much fun? :)
Tyler and his buddies Kaden and Dylan. Seriously Tyler, who taught you to smile like that?
Katelyn had a great time too! I think this was our first playdate with the group where Katelyn was actually mobile enough to join in on the fun!
She even got to push Madison around in a stroller. So cute!
Tyler and Kaden!
Will sitting at the kids' table! Love Katelyn's little chair that we bring with us - she gets to be right in at the table with the other kids - plus she's kind of standing so she's more stable and can't topple over!
Surprise! Some of the families even brought Katelyn a small gift! Totally unexpected since we don't usually celebrate 1st birthdays in this group. Katelyn loved having everyone sing her happy birthday!
Video of the kids singing happy birthday to Katelyn (Tyler is being silly and purposely singing the wrong words!):
Hi friends!
Group pix!
Katelyn loves swings. She loved their swing too!
Loving it!
Katelyn has this smile that she'll do - it's her pirate smile - with one eye closed! I am seriously going to have to find a self-supporting swing for our yard.
Video of Katelyn on the swing:
Tyler and his buddies Arden and Dylan! Arden is such a princess - she changed her outfit so many times while she was there - and there was lots of dress twirling!
Katelyn got a nice hour long nap in while she slept in my ergo baby carrier. She hasn't been in that thing forever, and I was (pleasantly) surprised that she was able to sleep in it.
Uh-oh. I'm not sure what she ate - a little of the cupcake? - but then she started having some sort of an allergic reaction. Her face became splotchy (which I wasn't so worried about) but then her chest/back started getting red and bumpy and itchy. Yikes. We gave her some children's zyrtex and she puked it right up! Poor K! Next we tried children's benadryl and it seemed to help a lot. But...we had to change her clothes and since I had just taken out all her (too small) back up clothes from the car and hadn't restocked, we had to borrow some of Maddie's clothes. 3T! Katelyn didn't mind. :)
Somehow we all decided to stay for dinner - the kids were having fun entertaining themselves and the adults were relaxed and enjoying the company. One of the dads headed out and brought back korean bbq and veggies from the store and we grilled it and had dinner!
Madison got a chance to push Katelyn around in the stroller too. Madison is 2 1/2 ... doesn't Katelyn look as big as her?
Love this photo - Madison has a "woe is me" look on how much effort it took to push Katelyn around.
Tyler and Arden spent a lot of time hanging out that day. At one point they were even hiding under the sheets in Maddie's room! Hmmm.. we better keep an eye on them. Arden is quite a leader for Tyler though. There was a moment when one of the kids were sleeping upstairs, and Arden and Tyler ran up into the hallway - we told them to come down and Arden was laughing and Tyler said to her: "what are we doing now?" Aiya!
By the time we got home that night, it was late and both kids skipped baths. Oh yes, and there were still termites in the house. Sigh. Oh well! At least Katelyn is feeling much better now but her night time sleeping has become quite disruptive. She doesn't cry at night, she SCREAMS! Blood curdling! I feel bad for our neighbor's daughter who's bedroom window is right next to Katelyn's...
Have a good week everyone! Next week's post: Tyler starts taekwondo!!
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