Tenley's First Birthday Party

Saturday we celebrated Tenley's first birthday with our family.  I found the sweetest invitations on Etsy so we decided to go with a Princess theme.

Princess Tenley came dressed for the affair.  I bought an iron on transfer that said 'one' and put that on a plain white shirt. Then I made her tutu out of tulle and one of those stretchy crocheted headbands.  The crown headband was found on Etsy.  All of this went together to create her pink and gold color scheme.

Most of the guests heeded Princess Tenley's request to come dressed in their 'royal best' and we provided crowns and tiaras for everyone.  We had good sports and all wore their crowns!

I made lasagna roll ups, cheesey garlic bread and a lettuce salad for supper.  Easy and delicious, plus it was something I knew the Princess would and could eat. Of course for dessert we had birthday cake and ice cream.  I found the cake topper on Etsy also.

I decorated Princess Tenley's throne with a few balloons and a simple garland I made with tulle and ribbon.  It matched her tutu I made.

Tenley loved having 'Happy Birthday' sang to her!  We had been practicing singing to her for a couple days prior to her birthday so she wouldn't be overwhelmed by all of us singing at once.  Even with practicing over and over and over again for months I knew Tenley wouldn't be ready to blow out her candle - luckily she had a very capable big brother (Tate) to help her with that!

I think Tenley really liked her cake but she was quite the lady and kept the mess to minimum. :)

After eating cake it was present time!  Like all one year olds, Princess Tenley wasn't quite sure what to do with the gifts.  Tate showed her a few times how to unwrap or pull out the tissue paper from the bags to see what was inside.  She opened a gift from her Great Grandparents Maier first and was totally fixated on it! Trying to get her to open another gift was quite the challenge! She was smitten with the 'talking' book!  I was just fine with that, it showed how much she loved and appreciated the gift!

Finally we were able to move on to the next gift.  Again, fixated!  She really knows how to drag out the gift opening process, ha ha!

Tenley ended up receiving a tea set, a Leap Frog picnic basket, books, clothes, and my personal favorite - a Raggedy Ann doll. My niece was super sweet and gifted Tenley her old princess castle and fairy house!  What a sweetheart!

After that it was time to play with all of those new toys, read all those new books!

On Tenley's actual birthday we had our own little celebration here at home.  Andy insisted I make another cake so after supper we had more cake and ice cream.  We gave Tenley her gifts, she seemed to understand what was inside that pretty paper more this time!

Aiden, being the best big brother ever, gave Tenley a giant PINK teddy bear!  It's bigger than Tenley is!  He saw that pink bear the day we found out we were having a girl and knew he wanted to spend his own money on it for her.  He's been stashing it in his closet for months! Such a sweetheart!  And of course, Tenley loved it! She gave it a big kiss!

Tenley Louise, age 1.  Happy birthday, Pretty Girl!

Tenley Louise || 1 Year Old

Dearest of all dear Tenley Louise's,

My beautiful little girl, you are ONE YEAR OLD now!  I can't even begin to try and tell you how much joy and love and excitement and peace and girliness you have brought into our lives!  I look at you still and absolutely can NOT believe you are here, my daughter!

I always imagined you'd be calm and quiet, reserved, maybe even shy but you are exactly the opposite of all those things!  You are wild and loud, an extrovert to the core and you are not afraid of anyone and make friends wherever you go!  Just yesterday at the grocery store you and an older gentleman struck up an instant friendship - every time we'd run across him in an aisle he'd make a little sound to you and you'd beam with the biggest smile!  Another lady caught your attention and made you scrunch up your nose with your smile!  You are the sweetest little Pink Princess of a baby I've ever met.

Yes, BABY.  You will always be my baby so you'd better get used to being called that!  Daddy told me this so you can blame him if you don't like it. :)


You are quite the talker!  Always babbling and singing your songs.  You say 'Da-di' and it sounds like you say 'Hi there' in your own little way.  You wave bye-bye very well, love playing peek-a-boo and will pull your arms up over your head to play but never cover your eyes which is so darn cute!  You have been clapping for months but you really get into it now!  You walk like a pro and even run sometimes - you never crawl!  You have figured out how to climb up on the kitchen chairs and try your hardest to climb up on the couch but you aren't quite tall enough to get there yet.

When playing your go to toy is your dollies!  Nora Jean gave you her Little Tikes Princess Castle and you like playing with that now, too.  You love looking at books and being sang to.  You give your dollies and stuffed animals kisses, talk about melting my heart!  Tate is your favorite playmate until he gets too rough.

Currently you have two teeth on the bottom but you are definitely working on those top teeth - they are puffy and swollen and hurt.  You had 4 shots at your check up yesterday and boy did you cry!  The kind of crying where you just can't seem to catch your breath.  You are still the cutest little crier and you can push out soap opera style tears at the drop of a hat ... do I see acting in your future? :)

You are constantly on the go and trying to keep you corralled at church is near impossible!  You have taken to screaming when you are tied down and don't like it so that's a lot of fun when everyone is praying.  Daddy is helping coach Aiden's basketball team so I am left to wrestle you all by myself on Sunday afternoons.  Luckily those games are quick so it's usually for only 30-40 minutes.  You give me quite a workout!

You are 100% on table food.  Each week you try something new.  This week you had your first hamburger and loved it!  Everything gets cut up into bite sized pieces and you feed yourself quite well.  We are transitioning to whole milk and sippy cups, both of those things are going fairly well.  You don't love the sippy cup but at least now you will finally drink from it - before you just chewed on it. You don't like being cuddled while drinking your milk anymore, that really breaks my heart.  I guess you are saying that you're a big girl now and to give you a little space. Sigh.
I would say chicken is your favorite meat, green beans your
 favorite vegetable and mandarin oranges and bananas share the top spot in the fruit category.  You tried lima beans that other day and that was a big fail!  Otherwise you are pretty happy eating whatever I make for you.

You had your first taste of sugar this past weekend with your birthday cake and I think it's safe to say you didn't hate it.  You didn't make a big mess with the cake, you were quite the lady.  I'm excited for Thanksgiving next week, you will love everything we serve and even get your first (tiny) slice of pumpkin pie!

You are so much fun to dress!  I have finally branched out from just pink, although pink is still the main hue in your closet.  You still have very little hair, although it's really filled in over your head, so we are still wearing strictly headbands these days.  Maybe by next Spring we'll get to try on your first barrette?!?  You do have one small spot in the back that is long enough for a tiny ponytail but Daddy thinks it'll look funny so I have yet to get the elastic out to try that.

Here are your stats for this month:
Weight: 20lb 15oz - 70th %
Height: 30.5" - 90th % (you've really stretched out!)
Diapers: size 3 Pampers
Clothes: still running the gamut here.  I have you in mostly 12mo but you are small enough to fit in 3-6m skirts, 9 mo dresses.  You are just a tiny peanut!

Happy happy first birthday, sweet girl!  May all your dreams come true, may your days be full of laughter and may you always always feel how loved you are!

Love always,
Mommy