More Party Planning

This itty bitty squishy baby is turning one on Saturday.

I've tried to slow her down, but she's grown into a chunky little toddler overnight- and a fiercely determined one at that. Landon has preferences, Claire has OPINIONS. Loud ones. We never baby proofed with Landon because he had an implicit understanding of what not to touch, and if he ever did do something he shouldn't, we just redirected him and he quite happily did something else. The Biscuit, on the other hand, requires extensive babyproofing and constant supervision. A frequently heard refrain in our house is, "Mommy!! Biscuit's not being safe!" Thank goodness she has Landon to watch out for her because we do occasionally have to take our eyes off her for multiple seconds at a time.

So our crazy little toddler is turning 1 and we're having a party. There will be the aforementioned rainbow cupcakes (both in mini and regular size), a small round (rainbow!) 3 layer cake for Clairebear to tear through (Landon dismissed his cake at his party, opting to eat watermelon instead. I think Claire is going to attack it- the girl eats absolutely anything you give her and then reaches out to grab your own food off your spoon), and possibly sugar cookies, if I have time to make them. There's a lot of baking and frosting in my future. We'll have lots of real food: Mexican Cheesecake, my mom's bunko friend's black bean salsa (delicious!), a cheeseball, sliced cheeses, Italian meats, olives, fruit, veggies, and crackers. An assortment of beverages: red wine sangria, beer, juice, fancy water, and soda. And most important, good friends and family to share the fun with.

I love entertaining, really love it. I love buying the decor, picking out the recipes, the baking, cleaning, and decorating, and the sharing of a special occasion with lots of people in our home. The only downside is that I have this real job that gets in the way of my little hobby. This week has been insane. I got 102 emails between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. today and those are only work emails - I get all personal mail, spam, ads, etc. delivered to my various gmail accounts. I did manage to make a diagram of how my counter will look with the various food I'm making and the serving dishes I'll need to use while on a recruiting committee conference call. Luckily, most of my deadlines are Friday, so I can dedicate my Saturday to baking (but for a firm recruiting event Saturday night) and my Sunday to prepping and partying. And if I can't make the stuff, I'll run to the grocery store and buy something, but I really enjoy the act of preparing food by hand to share with people I love.

Clairebear has an adorable little shirt from this etsy shop (love them) and a pink tutu and is going to LOVE being the belle of the birthday ball. I'm still a little sad she's already turning 1, but I'm looking forward to the celebration of this first wonderful year with my baby girl!