Made During Nap Time: July 2011

Yup - our daughter is another year old!!! Seems like we were JUST having her 1st bday! Guess time flies when you're having fun - and we have a LOT of fun!!!

I'll save all the sappy sentiments for another post - this one is all about the P-A-R-T-Y!!!! I LOVED the theme for this year. It was based off a book given to her by her friend Owen for Christmas 2010 and as soon as we read it and heard the song that goes along - it was a given theme!! She would sing and dance and shout out words to the book.... Oh, guess I should mention the name right? It's Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes - and if you haven't read it - you are missing out!!!! The story is based on a painting (of Pete the Cat) done by James Dean. Eric Litwin (aka Mr. Eric) co-founder of The Learning Groove wrote a little story/song about Pete and shared it with James. Then history was made!!! The two collaborated on the book and the result is one of the most fun children's books we've ever read!! Adorable song, fun illustrations, great moral, easy for kids to memorize and learn - it's just awesome!

Here is the youtube book telling - take a minute to watch it so you can get a full understanding of the details of the party (it's short and you will love it!!!)

And without further ado - here are the photos by the amazingly talented Tate from Taken by Tate. I can't thank her enough for capturing the party the way I had it envisioned in my head and for taking the stress out of running around with my camera!! I could actually just sit back and enjoy the party! There are a couple thrown in that I took (look for the not-so-great ones haha) but the good ones are by her ;)

There were a TON of pics so here is the link to them all
And a link to the candids during Mr. Eric's performance
**Please note that printables were done with direct permission from the artist. They are currently working on Pete the Cat party supplies!!! So if you are planning a Pete the Cat party - check with them for availability!

The party invites. We gave each guest a copy of the Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes book as part of the invitation so everyone would know the words and song!! They were tied together with a white shoelace :)

Pete the Cat birthday party based on Eric Litwin's book I Love My White Shoes and James Dean's Pete the Cat

The outfit (dressed in blue like Pete!)

AC loves her white shoes too - but her's are a little more 'girly' with silver sparkles ;)

The Party Decorations

Anna Claire's Party Chair

Strawberry bubble favors. The circle said:

"Strawberries are red, blueberries are blue, my party was awesome because of you!
Thank you for coming!"

Strawberries, blueberries and "mud" (nutella) of course....

Ahhhhhh - I was going back through my pictures and found this I took BEFORE the party - I TOTALLY forgot to put in the little 'cat food' stakes :( Would have made more sense if I did haha.
Oh well - this is what the buckets were 'supposed' to look like.

We invited Mr. Eric (author of the Pete the Cat book and co-founder of the Learning Groove music classes) to come sing, dance and tell stories to all of Anna Claire's friends!! They had a BLAST!!

Mr. Eric autographing his new book Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes for Anna Claire.
This was his gift to her!!! We got a copy 3 days before it was released - what a spoiled child ;)

Side story - the pics in the white and yellow frames are photos of her on every holiday: Halloween (little red riding hood), Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter and 4th of July. Actually didn't plan that but was trying to find year round pics and they just happened to fit the number of frames I had!!