Can you even believe it?

We celebrated this girl's first birthday last Saturday!

Time flies faster every year.

We had a very small brunch party with a few family members.  It turned out to be quite cozy meeting for breakfasty comfort foods (some of C's favorites-- bagels, muffins, eggy-cheesy casserole, citrus fruits) and coffee on a chilly winter morning.  The big girls helped pick out balloons and I decorated the living room with a birdie-themed birthday banner featuring pictures of C at each month of her first year.  (I was aiming for something like this but mine was a little thrown together and didn't come out quite as neatly.  And it kept falling down off the wall.  As a busy Mom of three I really should learn to avoid looking at things like pinterest before birthday parties.  I just set myself up for disappointment in my own party-throwing skills.  But anyway...)

C plays peek-a-boo with herself in the mirror.  She thinks she's covering her eyes.

The birdie cake, surrounded by more pictures!

L "helped" by blowing out C's candles for her.

She sampled her cake... in typical dainty C fashion, she limited herself to a few bites only.

...and then the rest went in her hair.  But what's a baby's first birthday party without a little cake smearing, right?

We opened a few presents (with sister's help, of course).

The birdie placemats from Aunt Beth were a big hit!

She was inspired to look out the window and see if she might spot a few real ones.

She loved on all her party guests...

...and then it was back to the birdies.

(I had to include this memorable party moment: big sister dubbed herself "balloon girl" and tangled herself in all the party balloons, running around the house.  We had to use scissors to cut them loose before nap time.)

This is C's latest thing: she loves to pump her fists.  It reminded me of Kevin from Home Alone, so now whenever she does it I say "yessss".  And she grins.  And we do it together.

I took the fist pump pictured above to signal an approval of her birthday party day.

And she really was just about the most perfect little birthday girl.