Cerise's First Birthday Party!

Since we were in California during Cerise's birthday we waited until we were all home before having her party.

Part(y) 1: The Presents
The weekend prior we had a little family outing to the DI near our house to pick out her gifts from us.  After we finally convinced Cairn that Cerise wouldn't like the broken Polly Pocket Playhouse (even though she probably would) Cairn latched on to a popper vacuum.  Since Cerise reached for it too we figured Cairn found herself a gem of a gift.  And for only a buck fifty!
Grant and I chose the mint condition... gee what are these things called... it has the bent wires and colorful wooden beads... Anyways the girls love it.

Of course Cairn was designated present opening helper.

The whatchyamacallit

In the process of it all Cairn only had one small melt down.  But it was nothing that extra mommy snuggles and a picture couldn't solve.  And she wasn't the only one envious of the gifts...

Of course the winning gift came from Grandma and Grandpa.  Who can't resist balls gears and a noise-making base?!!  After a few days it turns out that Cerise really likes the balls that fit neatly in her hands and Cairn has commandeered the rest.

Part(y) 2: The Cake

We reserve the right to prevent our kids from having any dessert or sweets for their first year... sorry Grandpa.  So on her official birthday she was given tastes of ice cream, but we really kept everything to a minimum until we could put her cake in front of her and let her go at it.

The cake is a beautiful butterfly not because I planned it that way... but because the silly thing stuck to the pan  and I had to cover up the mistake.  Though I'm not sure what the point of that was if I just tell everybody about it...  The small ones are Cerise's.

So because little girls take their time with new toys and opening presents... older boys lose interest and disappear to their own entertainment.  Cerise saw us pull the cake out and she really wanted some... and we had to wait for people to regather.  And there was a melt-down... that magically disappeared  when her cake was put before her...

She began by picking the fruit off... then the chocolate frosting bodies

Then her hole hand went into the cupcake

 And it was all good.