an "owl-dorable" day...

well, it happened! my precious ava turned ONE!

we celebrated her special day with a fun owl themed party and it was a hoot if i do say so myself! our dearest friends and family joined together on a most beautiful saturday morning to celebrate one tiny little girl...to watch her "eat" cake for the first time in that tiny little life! it was a perfect party...and i am so thankful to all of those that were here!

i'm pretty sure that ava's favorite part of her birthday party was having an entire bowl of baby goldfish at eye level...that she was able to feed herself...she was so "owl-dorable"! (i just can't help myself!!!!!)

i thought that she was going to enjoy her cake much more than she did...it wasn't that she didn't enjoy the bites that she got...she was just much more dainty with it than i anticipated...and in true madeline fashion - right in the middle of watching my baby smash her cake - i had to go perform "surgery"! maddie got a thorn stuck in her foot (a BIG thorn...that i am sure hurt very badly) and i had to go tend to her! all of a sudden, it occurred to me that i might want to get someone to remove the large cake from ava's high chair before she had a sugar overload!!!! never a dull moment!

getting a little frustrated that we're not letting her touch this "thing"!!!

a little overwhelmed with all the singing!

big sisters trying to show her how it's done...maddie, why was the professional so far away?!?

starting to get the hang of it...

using our hands...

then decided a fork might be better...

this is what was left of the masterpiece!!!!

we sent the "empty nesters" home with an "owl always love you" soap and the "little chicks" took home a personalized bulletin board for their "owl-dorable" artwork!

we still haven't opened her gifts because our sunday was so busy...but we plan on letting her big sisters help her with that today!

i am just filled with so much love! i enjoy planning these special days for by babies...knowing that one day we will look back at how much they have changed...

and remember how thankful we were to have such an amazing family!