In the weeks prior to Chloe's first birthday I enthusiastically put together a "Smash the Cake" photoshoot for Chloe. When I was little I used to be such a party planner for birthday parties. A month before my birthday I would start sketching out ideas for decorations and the cake design. I admit I did the same for Chloe's cake. I was inspired by a cute flower headband that I found since Chloe is a little flower child, she loves being outdoors. I knew that we needed to take a few pictures of her all cute before we let her dig into her first taste of cake, and then we would see the magic happen as she "smashed" her cake. I spent way too much time decorating her cake. Having only one set of decorating tips and six different colors to use while having a one year old cling to your legs for your attention is kind of stressful. Looking back I probably should have done something more simplified, but Chloe will only turn one once and I wanted her pictures to look good.
We took so many pictures, and there were many adorable ones to choose from. I think Chloe had a blast and she definitely preferred eating the frosting more then the cake. I expected her to destroy the cake, but she was actually really dainty. Picking the frosting flowers off piece by piece. It was really cute and I'm glad we took the time to do it. Here are some of our favorite shots from the day (even though it's hard to just choose a few):
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| Pre-Smashed Cake |
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| Brian's Favorite |
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| My Favorite |
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| Smashed Cake |
For Chloe's actual birthday things were pretty simple and laid back. We had a coupon for a free birthday cupcake from Barnes & Noble for Chloe and so we walked there and let her choose which one she wanted. We invited my parents up for dinner and had a small party with just the five of us. We had spaghetti and Chloe was able to open her presents a lot more enthusiastically then she had on Christmas. Before dinner we took a walk around campus and were able to show my parent's around Brian's school. All in all it was a great day.
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| Chloe loves bubbles |
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| Chloe wanted to share her cupcake with River. River enjoyed it. |
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| Opening Presents |
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| Exactly how you're supposed to play with blocks......Right? |
