A Teddy Bear Tea Party

When deciding what "theme" to do for Kalea's first birthday, it took me quite a long time.  A lot of it had to do with the craziness of this last year and not having a lot of time to get ready.  All I have to say is thank goodness for my Mom and Sister, otherwise there wouldn't have been much of a party theme going on.  When I finally figured out what I wanted to do, it was one of those moments when you just think, "Of course!"  I decided I needed to incorporate teddy bears into the theme since she absolutely loves her teddy bears she has.  My mom has a ton of them for her Christmas decorations, so I figured that way it wouldn't look too funny with all of the decorations set up for the Holidays.  I wanted the party to be easy in terms of set up so it turned into a "Teddy Bear Tea Party."

My mom and sister created this banner with a picture from each month.  It is now hanging in her room!

We used a combo of her teddy bears and Gramma's and had them set up all over the house with tea sets.  

I love having this picture of the hubby drinking his tea.

The dessert table with cupcakes and cookies.

My mom decided to put marshmallow teddy bears on top her smash cake.  She was originally going to dip them in chocolate, but I went for simplicity instead.

Her "Kalea is 1!" banner

The guests enjoying the party.

Kalea was starting to get a little tired, so we sped up the party a bit and went to the opening of the gifts fairly quickly.  She loved this balloon given by Carla; later she popped it but it kept her entertained for quite a while.

The buchner girls smiling for the camera, notice Gma on the right also smiling...I love it!

Her cousin Aydan giving her a big hug.  She was a great helper in opening the gifts since Kalea wasn't too interested.

Showing off her new clapping skills.

I love Gma!  Isn't she pretty?

Aydan really enjoyed all of the new toys she got to play with since Kalea isn't quite there  yet in knowing what it is all about.

Family picture

She loved her birthday cake!  Gramma did a great job!

She was a little interested in the cake, but not as much as Aunt Sara wanted.  She was very proper in the eating of her cake.

Later in the evening, after her nap, she played dress-up with some of her new clothes.  This adorable dress is from our cousin Jacque.  

Kalea just looked on while Gramma opened all of the gifts from the packaging and the other kids played with them.

This outfit is from Aunt Sara and she is so cute in it.  She is playing with the gift from Mommy and Daddy

She looks tough in the picture, I love it!

We ended the birthday festivities with a small family dinner at Islands restaurant.  This is the best picture I was able to get with Gramma, Grampa, and Kalea.  It was a wonderful first birthday!  Thank you to everyone who made it out the last Saturday before Christmas to help us celebrate!

New Jersey Trip, Part 2

Now that all of the fun of traveling, birthdays, and Christmas has come and gone, I can finally share some more from the events these past 2 weeks.  

When we were in New Jersey, Mom Mom and Pop Pop couldn't wait for Kalea to open her Christmas presents since we wouldn't be able to stay through the Holiday.  They really enjoyed her opening her presents, especially Pop Pop.

The weekend we were there, we had a little birthday party for our little one year old and I snapped this picture while we were opening her presents.  I should have taken one looking into the other room to see the rest of the family, but instead I just have this one.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to see lots of family all at once.  Thanks everyone for making it out and helping us celebrate Kalea's first birthday!

Kalea took a little bit of time until she dug into her slice of cake, and she really loved it!

While in New Jersey, we were able to have a little play-date with Pat's childhood friend and there little 15 month old, Zoey.  

We met up with Kalea's Great Aunt and Uncle for some lunch one afternoon.

She loved looking at all of the ornaments each night with Mom mom and Pop pop.

One of Kalea's many presents from her loving Grandparents.  This was one of her Birthday gifts.

Luckily, the rain we had the last couple days of our trip cleared up in time for us to head to Storybook Land and check out all of the lights and see Santa.  Mom Mom really wanted to do this while we were out there, so luckily we were able to do that.  We were also lucky that not only were we rain free, but it was in the high40's/low 50's for the night so not too cold for the middle of December.

We took a ride on the train and Kalea loved it!

We changed her into her warmer Winnie the Pooh outfit.

And we ended the night on the Carousel.

She really liked the ride and all of the lights.

The morning we were leaving, we had some time to head over to Aunt Mare's house to visit before we had to leave.  We got to meet the newest cousin, Juliana.  She is about 3.5 weeks old here.  

Her big brother Trevor is 3 and trying to sneak another scone.  

Pat's cousin Dave and Kalea crawling around.

Aunt Mare enjoying some baby Kalea time!

We had such a wonderful time visiting friends and family.  The time flies by so fast and we never get to see everyone we want to see.  I didn't have any pictures, but Pat got to go to the Eagles game with his two best friends (even though they stink this year, they had fun), and we met up with our friend, Amanda, at her work.  We also spent a lot of time with the family next door.

Hopefully next time we come out, we will be able to meet up with some of those we missed seeing this last time.  Until next year!  

Santa! & Friends, Traveling to NJ

It is amazing to think that it is already 2 weeks into December and we are already visiting friends and family in New Jersey.  It has been a crazy year, to say the least and that trend is going to continue right up through the New Year.  We have enjoyed a Christmas Cookie Party, a work Christmas Dinner at Donovan's (yum!), and just last weekend, Kalea got to meet Santa for the first time.  

We decided to see Santa while he was making an appearance in Temecula, and there was quite a wait.  We arrived to a pretty good sized line and were informed that Santa would be taking a 15 minute  break soon.  We had about an hour to hang out in line so Kalea decided to take a nice nap on Daddy's shoulder.

She was so tired but was quite a trooper once it was her turn to sit on the lap of the Jolly Old Elf.  She was quite fascinated with his fluffy cuff and big white beard.

The photographer was able to get 7 pictures and this last one she actually smiled for the camera (a tough thing to capture form our little one!).   Shortly after this picture, she had reached her limit and began to cry, so Daddy swooped in and saved her.  She loved visiting Santa and I hope she enjoys seeing him every year.

After Santa, we met my parents at a great winery and had some lunch.  It was such a great meal I forgot to take some pictures!  Sorry Mom and Dad!  I need to get better at taking pictures on normal outings!

The next day we made plans to meet by best friends, Andrea in Old Town Temecula.  We have both been very busy and it has been difficult to meet up recently.  This was a great opportunity to just hang out with her and catch up before the Holidays.  

I haven't gotten a picture with her and Kalea since last Christmas when Kalea was 3 days old!

It was a crazy few days getting everything ready at work for a vacation back East.  Hopefully they are surviving without me!

We decided to take an early flight to help with Kalea traveling since she is a morning person.  We were allowed to board just after First Class so we had some time to hang out while the huge plane was being boarded.  She was already interested in the screens in the back of the seat and looking outside the window.

She also grabbed the flight safety card all on her own and began "reading" it.  I promise she did this all on her own and was really interested in it.  It kept her occupied for a good 10 minutes.

After this cute moment we had a looooong day of plane problems.  After sitting on the plane for 2.5 hours, they decided they needed to de-plane and jack the plane up to check on mechanical problems.  We ended up getting food voucheers and a different flight that arrived 3 hours after our original arrival time.  To top it off, our bags didn't make it and we had a small snafu with our rental car (this one worked in our favor since we ended up with a better car!).  Luckily, we all ended up home safe and sound and our luggage arrived the next day.

The first full day of our trip, Pop Pop was very anxious for Kalea to open some of her Christmas gifts since we aren't staying through the holiday.  He wants her to have an opportunity to play with them while visiting, so he helped her along a bit in opening the gifts.

Later that night, Mom Mom was showing Kalea the Christmas decorations in the house.

And later that night Kalea was out cold in her arms with the long travel day finally catching up to her.  (She slept over 12 hours last night!)

We can't wait to see what else this trip brings!