Sydney's first birthday

ever since i took my cake decorating class, i wanted to make these lady bug cupcakes. i think that's probably where the theme of the party came from. :) the cake was made by my friend, Texas. isn't it amazing?? 

cousin Bennett running through the sprinklers. 

(left to right) cousins Chai, Tyler, Matthew, and Greyson. i'll admit i was worried that the older kids wouldn't care about the sprinklers (that was our activity + playing in kiddie pools) but it seemed like they had fun! 

cousins Cali and Bennett. love Cali's grin in this pic! 

when we got to the cupcakes, Syd had already been up a couple of hours past her bedtime. that + the over stimulation that occurs with have 20+ people in the house = zoned out Sydney. 

i had been told to not get my hopes up that she would actually dig into the cake, but she totally did! in fact, she had two whole cupcakes! 

love this family pic. 

and this one too. 

my friend Julie taught me how to make tutu's, so i made the tutu and headband. her hair is super crazy because i kept trying to keep on the headband and let my sister-in-law Kristen take  the pics! oh well. she's still super cute. 

trying to get the headband off. 

woo-hoo! she got it off. :) 

i want to eat her little toes in this one.

**special thanks to Kristen for taking the pics!