A Birthday Celebration

On Sunday, September 25, we held Aviva's first birthday party.

I admit it, we went a little crazy. The night before, we stayed up until 2 am, grilling brisket and about 120 pieces of chicken, making huge bowls of cole slaw, and baking cupcakes. Well, Peter did most of that, and I just baked.

The morning of the party we were scurrying around trying to finish everything and pack the two cars for the drive over to the venue. Our friend Julie let us use the grounds at her new bed and breakfast, Silverstone Falls. (Our backyard is on a huge hill, and not suited to a big outdoor party.) While we were getting ready, we didn't even have time to worry about the weather (it was a bit cool in the morning.) By the time we got to the party, the sun had come out! You can't tell in this photo, but there were about 50 people there.


So many people helped us with this party. Our friends Keri and Jessi baked cupcakes, and assembled the decorations. Uri, Jessi, and Leslie came early to the party to help set up and frost cupcakes. Tons of our friends helped us clean up afterward. We are so grateful to have such a wonderful community here.



Linda and Brian helped us hang up a sign that said "happy birthday aviva."
I was very happy with the decorations, which I had spent lots of time planning. Here's a short clip of the sign:


Thanks to Kirsten for the great idea of posting a string of photos from Aviva's first year (two from each month).

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Aviva, but she was not nearly as impressed as she had been with the waiters in Johannesburg. She did, however, like eating her cupcake.




She even tried to share with us!

Aviva spent lots of time socializing with the guests.
Thanks also to Kirsten for the idea of having a shirt made especially for Aviva's birthday. It got a little chocolate-y, but she still seemed to like it!
Happy birthday, Aviva!