1st birthday party

There is a reason I am sad that Aubrey's birthday is in January and that is that there will always be the potential for bad weather. Mother Nature decided to show us that that potential by giving us a lovely snow storm that started the day before Aubrey's scheduled party. I did the no snow dance and made lots of prayers, but alas, none of them worked and the snow came anyway. We decided on Friday that the chance for snow was so great we would move the party to Sunday. Not a huge deal, but we knew that would limit some people being able to come, but we had to do it. We ended up getting about 4 inches of snow plus a nice layer of sleet/ice on top of it. Needless to say I was pretty upset by Saturday morning. Then, about 10:00 Saturday, the manager from Chick-Fil-A called me and canceled my party food order because the store was not opening that day. He said he could try to come in the next day and cook them, but there were no promises. Now, I was in real panic mode. We still planned for 20 people to be there and I had no idea what to do for food. Around lunch time, Todd, my mom, Aubrey, and I bundled up and threw the truck in 4-wheel drive and made the trip to Harris Teeter to pick up the cake. While we were there, we noticed a display of party foods in the frozen section that we guessed were being readied for Super Bowl parties. So, we gathered up a couple of boxes of frozen chicken nuggets, frozen pigs in a blanket, and a huge fruit tray and decided to cook the food ourselves. I called the manager at Chick-Fil-A back and told him thank you for his offer to come in and cook, but we would just take care of it own our own.

By mid-morning Sunday, the sun was shining and we noticed the snow was melting on our street so we started feeling a bit better about the party. Then, the emails and texts started coming in from people who couldn't make it. And my heart just sank. I was not mad at them because I didn't want anyone risking their life to make it to a party, but I was disappointed. We still decorated and made all the food and decided just to go with it. We ended up having 9 people make it out of the 40 invited, including 1 of my brave coworkers. We did have a nice time and the food turned out pretty good. We also watched the slideshow of pictures of Aubrey from the past year and it was so bittersweet to watch. The cake was fantastic and of course, Aubrey wanted nothing to do with smashing her big cupcake. She liked the cake once I started feeding her, but really never dug in. She started getting fussy around 2:30 and we ended up laying her down for her nap while everyone ate cake. I realized after the party, I never got my video camera out so I missed that opportunity as well, which made me even sadder. I know I should be grateful that we had sunshine and were able to have a party for her and I am. I am just sad that we didn't get to share it in the way we planned and hope that next year can be better.

In her party outfit

Her giant smash cupcake

After the party was over