This May I gained a whole new appreciation of what the first week of March entailed for my in-laws as my husband and his brother grew up with birthdays 5 days apart. Throw Mother's Day in there and, sheesh, we had a really fun, but exhausting week of celebrations.
We held Channah's party the Saturday before her birthday. I briefly considered hosting a "Survivor" themed birthday party, which was perhaps the best summary I could think of for this first year of our precious girl's life. However, I decided that may not cast the kindest light on this special celebration, so I decided a colorful, unique fruit market theme would be fun.
I got a lot of ideas from one specific blog by a mom in Spain. Obviously all her signs were in Spanish, which got me thinking it would be fun to throw in a little of the Mexican heritage from Seth's side of the family, so the result was a "Fiesta de la Fruita." Bienvenidos! (Welcome!)
The birthday girl (in her fruit dress :) )

We served various fruity snacks, like fruit-ka-bobs...
...and a fruit pizza/parfait bar...
...as well as a variety of fresh fruits and banana chips
One of my favorite ideas was to create custom fruit stickers that said "Happy Birthday Channah" :)
My in-laws were in town, which gave me the opportunity to employ my father-in-law's fruit carving skills
The birthday girl fully enjoyed her first opportunity to indulge in sugary treats. She particularly loved the sugar cookies I made for the mini fruit pizzas. Anytime we got the bag out later in the week she started flapping her arms around and hyperventilating. It was pretty funny. :)
I loved an idea I found to make a cake that looked like a cherry pie. Personally, I think it could have tasted better, but it looked cute anyway. :)
And the birthday girl enjoyed it (to the point she flatly refused to play her "sharing" game with her Daddy).

We had a great time celebrating both our Sweetie Pie and the fact that we made it through the first (colorful) year of her life. We love you, Baby Girl!
