A Pinwheel Party for Our Kaki-Pants!

I've been dragging my feet on this post... and as KK told me this morning, it is HIGHLY anticipated... everyone wants to see the evidence of this sweet little girl LOVING her cake! Come on, already... get to posting!

So I did... 

(WARNING: LONG POST!!)

A little background, first!

Since we were all going to be in town to celebrate our sweet Baby Agnew, we decided to tag team the weekend for Kaki's first birthday party. So on Sunday, after the baby shower fun on Saturday we threw a small birthday brunch for Kaki at Kk and Albi's house. I really wanted an intimate gathering of just family to celebrate our sweet girl, but I have ALWAYS dreamed of hosting a pinwheel themed party for my little girl someday... I L.O.V.E. pinwheels! The minute I found out I was going to have a girl, I knew that her first birthday party would be the perfect occasion for a pinwheel party... and having a birthday in June just happened to be the icing on the cake! Pinwheels scream summer!!

Even though it was just a small gathering of family, we still did invites... in fact, this girl's Daddy INSISTED on it! :) I love that about him!

I adore that picture of her... so sweet and innocent... be still my heart!!

I (actually it was really a TEAM effort... KK, Em, Martha and my Gram all did a lot to help out... which was AWESOME!!)  fixed a number of our favorite breakfast foods not forgetting Kaki's very favorite... WAFFLES! YUM! Justin took the photos for me before we got started... 

My sweet and SUPER talented friend Gina ONCE AGAIN delivered BIG for Kaki's birthday and made the CUTEST smash cake and cookies for Kaki's party... and YES, that is a "smash" cake! Sweet Gina loves Kaki and went BIG for her... and as you'll see later, Kaki MUCH appreciated it!

Look at that CAKE... gorgeous!!

AND the cookies...they taste even better than they look which is saying A LOT!

A close up of the table... the pictures on the yellow trellises are Kaki's monthly picky sticky shots! :) Oh how she grew up on us this year... :)

Pinwheel bouquets!! :)

I just took the pinwheels out of their pots this week... it was so sad... they are such happy creations!

And our Kaki girl... getting ready to eat with her super cute Happy Birthday sunglasses that Kk and Albi found for her!!

Four generations of Whitaker Women... Three Katherines and a Caroline!! LOVE this picture!! SO SO thankful for my Gram to be there with us... THANK YOU Gram for making the trip! We appreciate it so much! 

The duo... double trouble...

THE ONLY PICTURE I GOT OF MY AUNT MARTHA... SO SO SO sad... my kids LOVE Martha... heck all kids LOVE Martha! She is one of kind and we were so thankful to have her there. She was kind enough to drive my Gram down from Abilene to spend the weekend with us! I never expected for her to be at Kaki's birthday party so her being there was such a gift in itself! Loved it!

A little pre-party photo of big brother... sweet!

Alright so I don't know what it is about the Evans side of the fam, maybe it is our lack of consistent photography that gets us in trouble but no kidding EVERY fam picture attempt ended with someones eyes closed... so I made Justin take one for the team because I couldn't stand not to post one! UG!

Our family pics didn't turn out much better... I had a leaper on my hands!! 

And then... the Cox side of the family... the angels were circling and everyone was looking, posing and smiling... you've got to be kidding me... and I've got five just like this one! Ha!

Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Tag... just a side note... how impressive is it for Aunt Ree Ree to get so low with a 30 week belly on her?! SUPER DUPER if you ask me! :)

Another sibling pic...

Aunt Ree Ree snapped this gem... sweet boy...

Aw... sweet friends, those two!  

Oh and there is Martha again in the background... whoo hoo!! And Aunt Emily... I don't have many other pictures of her either and that makes me so sad... she is a worker bee by nature and was always busy doing something to ensure that Kaki was having a fantastic birthday party!! Aunt Emily is going to be a special gal-pal to have for sweet Kaki!

I'm ready for my close up now... and my WAFFLES!!

The Evans boys tellin' Kaki about life... Lord help her! :) Or maybe they were talkin' fashion... and if that was the case she was in good hands... aren't they handsome?

These next two I LOVE... the uncles with Kaki...

And the uncles with Caden at his first birthday party... LOVE that! Pretty special!

So after we ate and ate and ate some more we sat Kaki down in the middle of the action for some gifting! And I know it comes as no shock... she had LOTS of things to get through! :) And of course big bro was always around to keep order... 

Look how cute that Peacock bucket is from Aunt Emily... sah-weet... she knows a way to Kaki's Mommy's heart... peacocks for the Kaki-pants... :)

Kaki got LOTS of fun things... some new toys... puzzles, stroller, doll house, bath toy, shape sorter... books, CLOTHES and the like! AND KK and Albi had the sweetest toy chest made for Kaki to keep it all in... no more sharing with brother... it will be the perfect addition to her new room! :) It is in our living room right now and I stare at it all the time... imagining her packing her room up in it and taking it college someday... (I know... I'm crazy!)

And y'all know how much action the stroller has gotten! Teaching her to walk!! Thanks Nana and Bop!

After the present opening was complete we dressed down our girl and got her in her birthday bloomers!! Aren't they sweet... love this picture of the birthday girl and her grandmas!! Or as Caden told me yesterday, "Kk is not a grandma, she is a KK!" Oh what have we done to these poor children who are going to be all shades of confused when their friends tell them things like, "I don't have a grandma, I have a Ditty, a Nana, a Doodle, a Nini..." and the like! I kind of LOVE it!

CAKE TIME... 

Clap for Cake... Kaki was...

So Kaki is my brave child... not afraid to be the center of attention, doesn't cry when she is dropped off in the church nursery... isn't afraid to be away from Mommy and Daddy... she is happy go lucky and Miss Life of the Party... she LOVED the happy birthday ballad and was excited to get her hands on that cake...

Hmmmm.... a little unsure at first... she was all about the build up...

Lick... yum... the anticipation keeps building...

Uh huh... still good...

Oh, goodness... are y'all watching me pig out?!

Ah well... it's too good to care about being delicate...

Brother couldn't stand himself... he needed a taste and he needed it now... he knows Miss Gina's cake is worth the taking!

Here you go Kaki... let me help you out... 

Can someone get this kid outta my spotlight?!! Hello! My birthday! My cake!

I'll fix this... take that CADEN!! Face in the cake... 

HAHAHAHA! We were all in stitches and SO proud all at the same time! Oh my brave little girl!

Clap for cake... and for Kaki... 

I'm SO BIG and SO FULL of PINK ICING!!

Love this picture of the two of them SHOVING it!! Little piggies! 

After the cake fun, we bathed Kaki and got her de-pinked and said our goodbyes as everyone went in their separate directions... to Abilene...to Waco... to Houston... to Nacogdoches... and finally, back to the Rock... 

It was a perfectly pleasant pinwheel party for my Kaki-pants! It was a treasure of a weekend from start to finish, and boy, what a finish it was!!

We are so thankful to Kk and Albi who opened up their home to us and helped us celebrate Kaki's first birthday!! 

We are always overwhelmed by the blessing of family and this particular weekend was certainly no different. Our kids are FULL with love and support and most importantly prayer... 

THANK YOU all for coming and celebrating our sweet Lou Lou! It was a blast!!

And as you can see Kaki felt the same...

Life doesn't get sweeter than this, does it?! Happy Birthday Kaki!!