Tory's 1st Birthday

We planned. We partied. We be pooped. Tory's first birthday has come and gone.

Wrapped up in the excitement of first birthday celebrations, I decided to host not one, but two, birthday parties for our special girl. On Thursday, August 30 Andi and I hosted both sets of our parents, my brother Adam and his sister Lindsay for Tory's birthday. More family planned to join us later in the weekend for another celebration. We grilled steaks for dinner at our house and enjoyed a fun evening together as Tory opened her birthday presents and tasted her first piece of birthday cake.

Hard to believe a year ago we welcomed this little girl into the world.

The birthday girl.

So big!

Tory wasn't very interested in unwrapping her birthday gifts, but was very excited to play with all of her new toys. She received a push toy corn popper, a baby doll, ABC floor mat and money for her travel fund from Grandma and Grandpa, tons of clothes and a charm for her bracelet from Nana and Papa, a step stool, shoes and a monogrammed T from Aunt Lindsay and a baby doll and plate set from Uncle Adam.

Tory Girl loved her first taste of birthday cake. She shuttered from the high dose of sugar half-way through and smashed the pink and red frosting all over her face and hair. Tory didn't hesitate a bit. She dove right into her cake and enjoyed every bit of it.

On Friday, our family drove to our Wisconsin lake cabin to continue the birthday celebration. Months ago, I dreamed of hosting a wonderful family reunion at the cabin over Labor Day Weekend. Since Tory's birthday fell just a few days before, I thought it was the perfect chance for all of my family (who don't make the trek to Minnesota very often) to experience a slice of our life here while celebrating our special birthday girl. My extended family is scattered in Nebraska and Pennsylvania, and there have been very few times we've all been together in the last few years. Everyone was set to attend until my cousin Tara learned her husband's job was moving them to Switzerland in September. Their abrupt move prevented them from attending Tory's birthday, but my Nebraska family still make the trip to visit us. We had a great time enjoying the lake and each other's company over the long holiday weekend.

I absolutely love this photo of Brooke and Tory playing together. Now that Tory's able to keep up with the big kids, she had a blast playing babies and building sandcastles by the water. I have so many happy memories of playing with my cousins when we were little, and I love witnessing the same develop for my little girl.

Cousins Brooke and Tory

Lauren and Brooke driving the pontoon

Building sandcastles

Daddy and Tory playing in the lake

Because everyone was at the cabin all weekend, I didn't host an official "birthday party" for Tory. I hung birthday decorations for the entire weekend and we celebrated on Saturday with a big meal of pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad and cole slaw, baked beans, corny macaroni, chips and dip and yellow cupcakes for dessert.

Papa and Tory

We spent the afternoon down by the lake, relaxing in the sunshine and enjoying each other's company. These are some of my favorite times - laughing and relaxing with my family. Because we don't all get together very often (and very, very rarely in my neck of the woods) it was so special to be all together.

Afternoon boat ride

 Later in the evening, we ordered pizza and Tory opened more birthday presents. She received lots of cute outfits from my sister Ashley, cousins Jen and Jes and Aunt Cheri. Since Tory wasn't too interested in opening her own presents, she was lucky to have little helpers Brookie and Lauren to assist!

Cousins
Brooke (5 years), Tory (1 year) and Neeley (4 weeks)

All the party guests left on Sunday and Andi, Tory and I relaxed at the cabin for the last day of Labor Day Weekend. We're so blessed to have wonderful family who love our Tory Girl so much and I'm so thankful for all who traveled to celebrate with us.