Motch Moments: Happy Birthday Charlotte

Charlotte is 1! It was hard to capture the birthday girl because she is now walking and all over the place!! Charlotte took her first steps around 11.5 months but the day before her birthday she went from taking 2 steps in a row to 10! I can now officially say she is a walking TODDLER!! (where is my baby?)

The birthday girl

A first birthday is so bittersweet for a mother. I am so excited to see Charlotte growing up, becoming more independent and exploring the world around her. However, time goes too fast and a mother can only try to remember all the special moments (thank goodness for technology these days). I have been so blessed that I was able to stay home with Charlotte and be a part of every moment this past year. I have loved being the one who taught her to sit up, crawl and walk; I can't wait to be a part of all the new things she'll learn as a one year old!

Attempt at a family picture

Charlotte had a wonderful first birthday. I picked a Mardi Gras theme for her party since it is so close to the holiday this year. Charlotte loved all the tissue pom poms, balloons and crepe paper that I added to the house decor.

Getting ready for the party

My new love - tissue pom poms!

My good friend Karen gave me the great idea of a photo banner! In accordance with the Mardi Gras birthday theme, I made her banner into a Mardi Gras bead. It was fun to see how she changed month to month.

I set up a craft table for the older kids to make masks and crowns. I thought I would end up with glitter everywhere but it actually wasn't bad at all! All the kids did a great job being creative!

The mask and crown craft table was a huge hit!

When I was growing up my mother always went out of her way to make special cakes for my birthday. I wanted to be able to do the same for my children so a couple of months ago I took a cake decorating class at Michael's. I thought it came out pretty good and Charlotte seemed to really like it!