Some of the most famous moments in history are as follows:
1) On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed
2) On October 1, 1971 Disney World held its grand opening
3) And on October 25, 2014....Emerson's first Birthday party went down in history books
"Four score and seven hundred balloons ago..."
Last winter my Mom, Dad, and brother were in my parents' bathroom giving Emerson a bath. For some reason we decided to make it a family affair. We had just gotten home from another child's Birthday party, and I was thinking while talking out loud to her.
"Emerson, I can hardly WAIT for your Birthday party. I don't know what I'll do yet, but it will be a WONDERLAND!" Like ONE, get it? And just like the movie...Alice in..."
And then, divine intervention came from above, and the best possible theme for her Birthday hit me like a wrecking ball..."Emerson Alice in ONEderland!"
1) Her middle name is Alice, 2) She's going to be ONE...it was an absolute match made in Heaven. In that single instant my mind opened up to all KINDS of possibilities, ideas, and projects for her party. I went absolutely mad. Pun intended.
Over the months my obsession grew. I lived, dreamed, and breathed this party. I wanted it to be unforgettable. Outrageous. Mind blowing.
Fortunately or unfortunately I am wired this way. I want everything to be over-the-top. When I was little I had to "collect them all" in the happy meals. If I liked one shirt I wanted it in three colors. This party was no different.
Here's the challenge- that I loved- about this party theme. You won't find ANY "Alice in Wonderland" decorations. Anywhere. I scoured every party store in the state. Frozen? Barbie? Mickey Mouse? Cowgirl? You can find almost anything except Alice in Wonderland. But that only expanded my imagination.
I practically wore the hinges off the doors in Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Jo Ann, Carolina Pottery, and any other store that had remotely whimsical merchandise. Then I made a mad dash for the crafting session like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
Tulle and ribbon are on sale this week??? YES!!!!
You see, I was literally in my hospital bed recovering from giving birth when a thought ran through my mind..."I get to throw her a Birthday party! What am I going to do???" I was thinking about it even THEN!
A constant question I got from my parents and Ryan was: "Why are you doing all of this? She's only one. She won't remember it."
I'll tell you exactly why: because I will remember it. Our families and friends will remember it. It will be in her scrapbook. It is my first time ever throwing a Birthday party, and it will therefore be a spectacle. Number two, she will enjoy it in the moment, and that's what matters. Number three, if I must go on...do I really remember every detail about my class field trips and church trips? Not exactly, but I wouldn't have missed them for the world.
For the past several weeks I frequently received packages in the mail. Surely our mail lady was curious.
"Attention, warehouse workers. Another shipment for the Moody party is departing. I repeat, another shipment for the Moody party!!!"
"But we JUST had fourteen packages yesterday!"
"I know..."
The larger packages were mailed straight to Dillon so as not to raise Ryan's blood pressure. My Mom called me up a month ago and said, "Katharine!??? What are these two massive boxes on my front porch?!"
"Oh, no worries, mother. Those are just the balls for the ball pit."
Totally necessary, obviously.
All the preparation, online browsing, Pinterest marathons, shopping, cutting, gluing, drawing, painting, folding, shoving, breaking a few things, ribbon tying, etc. came down to Wednesday of party week when Emerson Alice and I headed to Dillon. That's when official preparations began.
Meanwhile, enjoy this live footage from Hobby Lobby.
I decorated our church fellowship hall for the next three days. It was an absolute marathon. I also enlisted the expertise of Sue Darmon, a good family friend, for her help with the centerpieces and some other items. She is one of the kindest people you'll ever meet, and she worked so hard with me as well tying bows, making various items, and bringing other fabulousness to the table. Literally. She even helped us clean! She is an angel.
The events that unfolded in the days leading up to the party depicted true Carlson mishaps and misfortune. At some point ALL of the following scenarios took place: my Mom and I locked ourselves out of the church, my Dad insisted that I take a break and actually eat something, and I went to Hardees to find out that they were OUT OF BISCUITS?!?, we made three trips to get the projectors working and brought a cable box instead of the DVD player, the register at Sams went out JUST as we had unloaded all of our things, there was a random man lingering in our church lobby that a staff member had to run off, I realized after hours of work that I didn't have the proper wall adhesive, so MANY of the decorations fell, resulting in hanging them ALL over again. This happened about three times, and I may or may not have lost it a time or two.
It's HER party, and I'll cry if I want to...
The balloons I ordered online required a special type of inflation, so my Dad and I took two cars to Florence in case they wouldn't all fit once they were blown up. The ladies at Balloons, Etc. were SO NICE, and they suggested that we blow up a couple of them ourselves. That was free, and it would also give us more space in the car. She gave us long straws to start blowing them up for a trial.
This is the last straw.
You have to picture this: we are exhausted and weary from climbing ladders and barely eating or sleeping for days at that point..and here we had driven thirty miles to blow up balloons with straws. It was completely hilarious. There was a specific way that we had to inflate them, and my Dad's face was turning red when he said, "This balloon is taking forever to inflate! It's so slow!" Then when he looked down and realized that it was a SNAIL we absolutely died laughing.
The tortoise wins this race.
Naturally, I had to commemorate "Birthday Party Eve" in a special way...
'Twas the night before Emerson's first Birthday party,
and all through the town.
The guests were sleeping,
because tomorrow we'll throw down!
Balloons are flying,
Ribbons are tied,
There is an explosion of decorations,
And the paint has dried.
Planning such an occasion is certainly no joke,
I'm tired, part insane, and somewhat broke.
But the event will all be worth it, I hope and I pray,
After all...shouldn't life be a party every day?
Finally, at 12:00 pm on Saturday, October 25th, it was time for our family and friends to witness the inner workings of my months-long ONEderland obsession. An invitation that was equally formal and fancy was only appropriate.
At least I decided against hiring a King to hand deliver the invites door-to-door. Maybe next time.
When guests arrived I wanted them to enter a different world.
I wanted to replicate our wedding reception. Ceiling decorations can really give an event that extra something special. I think we came pretty close.
There was a special surprise guest who would make an entrance during the party. Hint: the footprints on the floor as you entered. I also had two slideshows on each side of the room; one was of scenes from the original Alice in Wonderland movie, and the other included hundreds of personal pictures and home video clips.
The cake table!!! I wanted to make it extra dramatic. I had been working on this chalkboard on and off for weeks. I was THRILLED when this beautiful canvas came in the mail, and I layered some tablecloths and fabric on the table. The cake was exactly what I wanted. It was also DELICIOUS!!! Thanks, Karen Lane! The glitter issue (mentioned in a previous post) arose from making the numbers on this clock. I was originally going to use those for her month 1-12 pictures, but then I got another idea. This clock was the final decoration I made for her party at 2:00 am the night before.
Any smears you see are the result of Miss Emerson. In hindsight, I guess it gave this a personal touch.
The PLAY area!!! I wanted kids to have something to DO at the party. Something totally fun. So I found this Play Hut tent with all kinds of detachable pieces, a six foot tunnel, an ABC mat with extra blocks, and I filled this large, inflatable pool with 1,000 balls.
The play balls are currently residing in Uncle Jay's room until further notice. They will surely make a good Thanksgiving surprise in a few weeks!
For the older kids I created "Imagination Station" where they could color their favorite character from the movie or decorate/monogram a hat for the photo booth.
A photo area at a party is a must! I drew and hand painted each of these figures back in July. I worked tirelessly and then had to buy special scissors that would cut cardboard. I was thrilled with how they turned out. They almost look as if they popped out of the movie and into the room to join the party!
One of the highlights of a first Birthday party is the cake smashing. I wanted to do something extra dramatic with Emerson's high chair, so I decided that an overhead canopy would give me the effect I was looking for.
I made the "Emerson Alice in ONEderland" banner using cardboard cake baking circles and scrapbook paper. Then I painted and glued wooden letters from (where else?) Hobby Lobby on them. They fell THREE TIMES before we got the correct kind of adhesive that would hold properly and be safe for the walls.
I had a beautiful cloud backdrop behind these letters, but the first time we put them up it fell down a couple of hours later, splitting the banner in half. Imagine if you will a cloud background.
Sue did an INCREDIBLE job with the centerpieces. Would you look at the detail on this one bird cage alone?
This was a table of "one" paraphernalia, along with her month 1-12 pictures.
I debated for months on what to do for the party favors. Taking after our wedding reception again I finally decided to record "In My Daughter's Eyes," a song made famous by Martina McBride and also included home video footage and hilariousness from her first year. The DVDs were 30 minutes in length and required dozens of hours of recording, creating, editing, labeling and burning 100 individual discs on my Mac.
You can see the song and video here on Youtube!
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I was absolutely thrilled when all the guests started to arrive. I could not WAIT to see everyone and get this party started!
First we all feasted on 600 nuggets from Wendy's, sandwich trays, peanut butter and jelly, little weenies, assorted chips, phenomenal cookies, handmade chocolate suckers, Gatorade, sodas, water, and juice.
Personalized napkins and sugar cookies: divine details.
The ball pit was enjoyed by ALL ages! It was totally therapeutic.
Soon after the meal, Emerson fell into a deep sleep. She was sleeping so soundly that when I tried to wake her up her head just bobbed around. Unbelievable. Perhaps I should have held the party at 2:00 am. Anyway, I did what I had to do and went forward with the party in the midst of her snoring!
I had the white rabbit come running in the room after lunch. He was late for a very important date! I enlisted a dear, awesome friend, Hannah, to wear a rabbit mascot costume I found online. That resulted in another phone call from my mother several weeks prior... "Katharine, there is a rabbit costume on my doorstep. Really?!??!"
YES, really! The white rabbit entrance made the party EXTRA special!
While Sleeping Beauty was still getting her rest I decided to open her gifts. This ribbon banner took a long time to make, but I was pleased with the final result!
I opened the gifts in a flash, because a few people had to leave before we cut the cake, and I therefore felt it was necessary to go 100 mph. Next time when she's actually awake I'll let her do the opening and enjoy each item. We DEEPLY appreciated everything she received, from precious outfits, jackets, books, and PJs to musical instruments, tea sets, toy buses, stuffed animals, a stroller/tricycle...and much more! I am almost through with my thank you notes to each person who generously gave us a gift. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I was FINALLY able to awaken her somewhat to smash her cake, but as it turned out she was completed fascinated with the rabbit instead.
The Emerson Moody front row fans.
The little ones had a blast with the crafts and hat making.
I was absolutely thrilled with Emerson's first Birthday pictures, taken by Sarah Thomas Hughes of MadSky Photography. Accidentally locking my Mom's keys in the car after this session was totally worth these beautiful pictures she captured of Emerson. Here are just a few highlights.
I was over the moon when I found out that Sarah had a baby grand piano prop.
Emerson and I both celebrated milestone Birthdays just 27 days apart from one another, so I decided to commemorate the occasion in a special way...with our own personalized, numeric crowns.
Note: this idea may only be cute in her younger years...hahaha! (Can you imagine us wearing "22" and "51" hats at her college graduation?)
Months of party preparation + three days of set-up + five hours of cleanup =
Special thanks go out to the church staff, those who helped us move chairs, tables, and doors, and my parents and friends who worked tirelessly to put up and take down what seemed like millions of objects.
...But I still had more celebration in me! Ryan was on vacation last week, and since Emerson's actual Birthday was on the 29th, I invited some friends over and recreated ONEderland in our house. The fun truly NEVER ends!
When Birthday turns into Birthmonth....
First on the agenda was decorating our Mad Hatter hats!
...and then taking pictures in the living room photo booth! Grandaddy and Daddy popped in earlier that day to say hello to the Birthday girl and then continued hunting.
Since she wasn't asleep for this soiree, I didn't exactly have to pull her leg to smash this cupcake.
This episode was promptly followed by a bath, but I admittedly enjoyed her vanilla icing scent.
Were the parties over? NOPE! Nanny and Papa joined us for a delicious Birthday lunch on Friday with Honeybaked Ham sandwiches and sides.
I think it's safe to say that Emerson Alice is now officially partied out.
Her fir$t Birthday was a $ma$hing $ucce$$, and I don't think I left out a $ingle detail for the occasion. My next step is to open a Birthday $avings account in addition to her college one. Good GRIEF!
I can imagine writing my will one day and listing the specific items up for inheritance: flower balloons, feather decor, bird cages, colored ribbon, vases, decorative bugs and snails, cardboard cutouts....
What am I supposed to do with THAT?!?
Truthfully I have enough decorations in storage for Emerson's retirement party. But it was exactly what I envisioned, and I wouldn't have done anything differently.
In the past year I have witnessed Emerson's first crawls, steps, words, and so much more, but I pray that I am allowed to be there for her first day of school, heartbreak, lost tooth, first performances, future Birthdays, college move-in day, first job, her wedding...oh, HEAVENS what will I ever pull out of my hat for that?!
Let's have time stand still in 2014 for the sake of my emotions and wallet.
At 4:25 am on October 25th, 2013 the Heavens opened up, and God put an angel under our care. This reward did not promise to be easy all the time, but it is beyond anything I could have ever asked or imagined.
2014 has definitely been a year of firsts, but we normally don't think about the lasts. Emerson Alice, there will be a last time that I make a bottle for you (which is coming soon, God help us), a last time that I pick you up out of the bathtub or buckle you in the car seat, a last time you'll reach your arms up for me to hold you, the last time I'll carry you into daycare versus you walking beside me, a last time that you'll call me Mommy, and a last time that we'll hug heart to heart and cheek to cheek.
We have officially had in you in our lives for 365 days. Every season, every month, and every day has been made whole by your presence. You are the sunshine in my heart, the smile on my face, the light in my eyes, and the beat in my step. I love you more every minute of every day. My heart has exploded. There is nothing like the connection we have when we lock eyes and laugh together. I have a best friend that is about 30 inches tall but is still able to be silly and connect with me on a level that only we understand. I pray with everything that I am that I will be by your side for many, many years- from your first steps in the family room to your first steps down the aisle, because when Daddy and I said "until death do us part" on our wedding day, we were talking about you, too.
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