It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

We had Presley's party on Saturday the 19th and I'm sure by the title listed above you can guess what happened! She cried AGAIN at the cake! I have said more than once, she and I can't share the same genes! Ha ha! We all had a good time, until a storm blew up right as we were finishing eating and about to have cake. I'm grateful that it didn't rain any early in the day or the whole party would have had to be moved inside a lot earlier.

*just click on any of the photos and you can see them a little bit bigger*

The decorations were just fabulous if I do say so myself! My sweet mom made the tissue paper pom poms and painted Presley's name on the tablecloth. The signature tablecloth is a new tradition that I'm starting. We will get it out for every party and have everyone in attendance sign it each year. I think it will be really fun to look back on it when she gets older! My sweet mother-in-law Vicky helped me assemble the banners. We made a "Presley" banner and a photo banner that had 12 photos from the first 12 months of her life. It was a big hit! This party was definitely a family effort! Thank you again to everyone! Jeremiah and I couldn't have pulled it off without your help.

The food was SO yummy! Chef Daddy made everything. We had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salad and buffalo chicken dip. My mother-in-law Vicky made chocolate covered pretzel sticks and strawberries. Talk about divine! I think I ate about 5 or 6 strawberries by myself! And we had to have us some sweet tea to drink! Jeremiah sliced some oranges and put them in the jar with the tea a few hours before hand and it was delicious! I recommend trying it sometime. And although Presley didn't like the cake, her guests sure did! Nouveau Pastries did a fantastic job, as always! The cake was vanilla with strawberry filling and white chocolate cream cheese frosting! It is TO. DIE. FOR. Seriously! Jeremiah and I get it each year for our birthdays, so Presley had to have it for hers! I brought them a polka dot napkin for inspiration and they matched it perfectly.

We are guessing that Presley just doesn't like icing. See from the pictures below? She didn't want anything to do it. I even tried to feed the iced cake to her on a spoon. After we figured out that it might be the icing, we gave her a chunk of cake without it and it worked a little bit better! She ate a few bites and tried to feed us some too! It was so cute! But then after her little bit of cake, she was done partying and was ready for bed. I was so surprised at her not liking the cake. At every first birthday party I've ever been to, the baby is always covered in cake by the end. And it makes for some adorable pictures. Oh well! I guess there is always another birthday next year.


A huge THANK YOU to everyone for all of Presley's wonderful presents, but most of all for your wonderful presence at her party! We enjoyed it so much! =) Here's to the next great year!

Happy FIRST Birthday Presley!

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much!

24 hours and counting

Oh my goodness, it's so crazy to think that this time last year Jeremiah and I were enjoying a night in by ourselves. I had been canceled from work, but had worked the previous night and slept all day. Since I wasn't tired, we stayed up all night talking about anything and everything. (good thing, because little did we know it was our last night as just a family of 2!) I had my 37 week appointment that morning at 8 am. If memory serves me correct, we had finally dozed off around 4 or 5 am. So, extremely tired, I waddled into the doctor's office with my extremely tired husband by my side and received the scariest news that changed our lives forever! Our July 7th baby would actually be a June 18th baby! =) This year has been the craziest, greatest year of my LIFE! I'm surprised we all 3 survived it!

I really want tomorrow to be HAPPY. So, I'm posting the sappy part tonight! I re-read Presley's birth story and cried. {You forget all of the little details that happen in life. It's so awesome to relive them (in my own words, no less) whenever I feel like it!} And Presley gave me the best present tonight....she fell asleep in my arms! She has put herself to sleep for a few months now and will not let you rock past her finishing the bottle. She passed out as soon as I put her pacifier in her mouth, so I just sat there loving on my baby. I eventually had to put her in the crib because I have a mountain of a to-do list before her party on Saturday.

& here is my one year letter to P.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To my sweet Presley Grace,

You are such an amazing little girl! I never dreamed in a million years that I would have a daughter as wonderful as you. I never prepared myself for just how beautiful life could be when it is changed forever by the birth of a child. I always wanted to be a mom but, didn't realize just how much I would love this new life. You have made me the best mommy I could have ever hoped to be. You have completely changed me in every way possible for the better. You have made me more patient, kind, compassionate, grateful, understanding, hopeful...I could go on and on. I hope I can teach you half of the things that you have taught me about life.

Time is passing us by so quickly and I wish I could spend every minute soaking up your laughter and blowing kisses on your belly. It is so hard to believe that you will be one year old tomorrow! The moment you were placed on my chest for the first time will be forever imprinted on my heart. And it feels like it happened just yesterday! This past year has been nothing short of extraordinary. Watching you grow into your own little independent person has been mind boggling! Thank you so much for coming into my life and allowing me to be your mommy!

I love you!

The BEST Birthday Photo Shoot

So let me start with.....HOLY COW! By the end of this week, I will have a one YEAR old! I'm so excited that today starts Presley's birthday week, but I'm also a little sad. I have enjoyed this roller coaster year more than I ever thought possible. It's not fair that they grow up so fast. I feel like I blinked and Presley changed from my baby girl into an independent little lady.

Abbie Rolph was the wonderful photographer who took Presley's pictures. I can't sing her praises enough! She captured Presley's personality perfectly. The CD that she sent us has 222 pictures on it. Talk about hard decisions. ALL 222 of them are perfect! I'm not even exaggerating. It took me hours to pick these out to post on here. Lord help me when I get some of them printed to frame! ;) Hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I do. Well, I don't know if that's possible, being as it's my kid! :) But, anyway enjoy!









Presley was just DONE by the time the cake came along! We had been shooting for a good while and she was sleepy! So, Mommy learned her lesson for the party! =)

How can it be?

that in just TWO super short weeks, Presley will be a year old? I know I sound like a broken record, but gosh it's flown by!

I have a massive to-do list that needs crossing off before her party. The count down begins tomorrow. I'm going to a craft store in Pensacola to buy the things I need to start making the crafts. Party related tasks are going to be easy to cross off! It's the cleaning related tasks that I'll be procrastinating with! Ha ha!

Isn't this just to die for? It is one of my many craft projects!

We took Presley's one year pictures. I can't wait to see them! I should have the CD of all of the photos by the end of next week and I'll post some then. Abbie Rolph of Seales Photography took them. She came highly recommended by my mommy friend Sarah. We loved working with Abbie. I'll do a separate post on her photography when I do the pictures.....because she deserves tons of praise! =)

nothing new

There hasn't really been much going on in the Petty household. Just the everyday stuff. Presley just discovered door stoppers and she's in love! She will sit there and fling it back and forth until it comes off the baseboard. It's pretty funny how entertaining mundane things can be to babies!

The BIG birthday will be here before I know it and I'm procrastinating about making decisions for it. I have decided on a theme and place, but that's about it. I think we are just doing family as guests. I've gone back in forth in my mind on whether to invite a lot of people. I think it would be fun to have some friends that we have met through the Mommy & Me play group help us celebrate. But we have always just had family at first parties and ultimately Presley doesn't have a clue of what's going on! This party is for our memories. Presley can have her parties her way when she gets older....this one's mine! :)

This is an invitation idea that I've been eying. It fits the theme perfectly!

And finally, I can't WAIT to get my monogramming machine up and running! My mom got the software we needed so all that's missing is fabric, thread, and time to do it! I'm so excited. I've gotten some cute plain dresses for Presley and Kole that are just screaming for an applique to jump on them!