Celebrating Ava Jane

Friday night we gathered with family to celebrate our sweet girls first birthday! Adam and I can hardly believe that a whole year has come and gone since Ava Jane entered our family. We have loved every moment that we have had with her. She brings such delight and fun to our family, to say we are smitten with her, would be putting it mildly!

Adam and I chose to do an "Apple of our Eye" theme for her first party. Here is what her invitation looked like, I ordered it from GiggleandGraceDesign off Etsy.



Deuteronomy 32:10 says, "He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye." Leading up to her special day Adam and I were thinking, praying and thanking God for all He has saved her from and healed her of, we were just overwhelmed with God's goodness to her, and us!

I knew as I was planning that I wanted the party to be very girly, so once I decided on the "apple" theme we went with the colors lime green and shades of pink. I think it turned out pretty cute.



I wanted to carry the apple theme through the food I served so that took a little bit of thought and research. I ended up serving a tasty assortment of sandwiches (turkey on hawaiian subs, apple pecan brie on sourdough and grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids).


I thought an apple and cheese tray would be fun so I went to my local Kroger where they have a large selection of every kind of cheese you can imagine. I talked to the cheese director there and he suggested three varieties to try: applewood smoked gouda (which I must say was my favorite), aged gouda, welsh cheddar and mild cheddar (for the kids).


I found an Apple Quinoa salad that I'd never tried and was fairly pleased with how it turned out. I did have to explain what quinoa is several times, and one party guest thought I was serving Thanksgiving dressing...overall I think it was enjoyed.


Instead of just one dessert I decided to serve a variety of sweets. Individual mini apple pies, sugar cookies by my sweet friend Carol who designed these cookies to coordinate perfectly and of course, we had to have cupcakes!





I served Apple Orchard punch and it turned out really nice.


Here's the dining room table. I made bunting out of coordinating paper and put one of Ava Jane's monthly pictures on each. Everyone commented on how much her "look" changed each month, she went from a dark headed little lady to one with very blonde highlights. No matter which month you look at, it's clear that she is adorable! And I just had to put the picture of her in the hospital with all her tubes for her 2-month picture...what a blessing to have her home and healthy! By the way, we recently received word from ACH that "Ava Jane has normal female DNA chromosomal formation"! What a wonderful report to get, a true answer to many many prayers!





Our sweet big girl!


And her guests...








Here are four generations, Grammy (Adam's Mom), Gran (Adam's Grandmother) Adam and Ava Jane.


Make no mistake about it, she LOVED her cupcake!






Ava Jane got many fun gifts but she particularly loved this little lamb, she was pretty cute with it as she snuggled and loved it!


She got many cute clothes and an adorable smocked dress for the fall, but by far my most favorite gift was given to her by Gran. She gave Ava Jane a miniature wood rocking chair that her Dad had sat in on his first birthday which was back in the 1890's...what a treasure, what a gift! I am going to take it and have her picture made with it this next week! I love history and the idea of passing things down so I was touched to have been given a gift with such history!


We did a trivia game testing people knowledge of apples and gave away a $10 Chick-Fil-A gift card to the winner and each guest got to take home some Apple Butter to enjoy.



Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you so much and are grateful that God chose to put you in our family! You are the apple of our eye, and we're so thankful that God cared for you and guarded you as the apple of His!