So this is it. The big day. The big birthday party I’ve been planning all year. It was great. Everything I wanted it to be. Baby Bug seemed to love every minute of it. She didn’t even cry, except for the times when she wanted me to hold her and I was too busy putting whiskers on the cat cupcakes. I expected major meltdowns because SHE DIDN’T TAKE ONE SINGLE NAP ALL DAY!!! But no, she was an angel baby. I told you she thrives on excitement.

I tried to take a lot of pictures but I was distracted by all the stray pieces of trash I needed to throw away. I did set up a couple of trash receptacles. Thanks for the hint on that one. Thankfully everybody else had cameras too so I expect to get a lot more pictures via email in the next few days (hint hint). I also tried to make sure I talked to everybody but it was hard. So much to do so little time!

As usual, we completely over-did everything. I bought too much food and made my mom slave away in the kitchen rolling up little pieces of turkey and salami and cheese and chopping up vegetables and fruit. I tried not to be too bossy but it’s hard when you want everything to be perfect and guests start showing up an hour before you want them to.

The early birds pitched in and helped me, which was super sweet. My sister-in-law cleaned my bathroom. That’s love, I tell you. Two friends iced the cupcakes and placed all the little sugar covered fruit roll triangle noses and ears on the cupcake cat faces. My nieces decorated the banister with pink crepe paper.

Guess what the best thing about getting ready for this party was? You’ll never guess. I didn’t. It was a complete surprise. While I was out in the sticks going to a wedding, Toby had the whole house steam cleaned! I had no idea he was going to do this. It was my dream come true because I hate hate HATE my carpet and I’m very self conscious of it. Especially when people who are coming over are allergic to cats. It causes me quite a lot of stress, actually. I lay awake late at night worrying about it. So when I came home from the wedding, laden with heavy boxes of food and preparation items for the party and I look down at my feet and I see clean carpet, you can imagine how happy I felt. Not just vacuumed carpet but clean carpet. Sure there are still some old stains that will never come out but just knowing that it’s not slathered in cat hair makes me feel so much better. Toby is the best.

Speaking of Best’s, the BEST part of the party was the cake smashing by Baby Bug. She did not let me down one bit. I’ve been looking forward to this moment my entire life. She smashed and smeared her little cupcake like a proper baby should. Red velvet cake crumbs and icing were everywhere and when she couldn’t get enough of it in her mouth with her hands, she put her face down into it and ate it like a dog. I was so proud. That’s my little tutu wearing princess. She’s not afraid to get a little bit dirty to get the good stuff.

The presents were another story. She was so tired by the time we got around to opening them, it was all I could do to keep her on my lap while we ripped up the wrapping paper. She twisted and wiggled and squirmed every which way. I can’t believe my Dad was able to get as many shots of us opening presents as he did.

The party was just all around fun. All the other children were really really good and we didn’t have any major incidents. Except for when Super Chic had an “accident” in the cardboard cat palace. But I sorta expected that and thankfully it happened at the end of the night after all the babies were long done crawling through it.

Baby Bug is completely bored with the giant pink contraption so I took it apart and sent it home with my nieces. (With the soggy parts cut out of course.) It was kind of like the Christmas tree. So fun to put up but then so much more fun to get rid of.

I think I officially got tired of pink after I painted that thing. After this, no more pink. Pink, pink, you stink. Of course Baby Bug will still wear pink but as far as making pink things goes, I’m done. DUN. I’m changing my blog masthead to tangerine and chocolate or something like that as soon as I get a minute to myself and my computer. But that might be a few days because I have a good friend in town and tomorrow we are going to get my hair cut. Finally.