Pip Pip Hooray! It's Penelope's First Birthday!

I can't believe our baby girl turned ONE.
I have to admit, I was a little horrified. Where on earth did that year go?!? It FLEW.
But I had to put my sorrow aside and throw her a faboo soiree!
Oh. And it had to be PINK.


Here's the Birthday Girl herself at her scrumptious pink ruffle party!

I We made this pink ruffle wreath over the course of a couple of nights while indulging in some episodes of the Kardashians.

 Steve is The Man. He would kill me if this picture of him was out there, so SHHH. Don't tell him!

Pink candy centerpieces for the tables

And here is her 4 layer ruffle cake. I'd like to tell you it was such a cinch to throw together, but I'd be lying.
Making the cake, yes. Frosting it, totally easy.
Stacking four, 2-inch layers on top of each other with pounds of buttercream inbetween each layer, while trying not to topple it over on the tiny pedestal of a cake stand I "had" to use was not easy. Or fun.
Nor (for Steve) was the trip to the store at 11:30 that night for more powdered sugar. Let me explain:

I thought it might be "fun" (since the cake flavor was pink lemonade) to flavor the buttercream with lemon extract. Except that it tasted rancid. Like nail polish remover! I made Steve taste it just to be sure I wasn't crazy, and he said "You can't serve this! It tastes like motor oil!"
So off to the store he went, while I kept on with more preparations.
The cake wobbled to and fro until I thought I'd scream. Until suddenly I had an idea...
Skewers! If I could just hold the cake in place (as if I were doing an up-do with bobby pins), I bet it would work! In hindsight, I'm sure professional bakers use dowels in their cakes. That would have been smart, but I'd never done 4 layers before, so I didn't foresee that problem!
Anyway...deep breath.
 I think to the untrained eye, it turned out o.k.

We had a yummy, girly lunch; chicken salad on croissants (thanks Mim and Pops!), our fave spinach and arugula salad, raspberries with white chocolate and dark chocolate chips inside, romanoff,  fancy chips, and a delish Brazilian lemonade. Here is the recipe...you must make it!

Fun party guests!

It wouldn't be a party without them! They put up with the ridiculous weather (freezing and WINDY) that I knew it would be because it was an odd day. If anyone knows me, they know my theory about odd days and bad weather. And it held true, once again!!

Here are a ton of pictures of her with her little smash cake as well as her big cake.
I couldn't decide which ones, so I chose a few!

 

I was picturing her digging in with her hands and you know, smashing it.
But she wanted a fork.

So proper!

 

 

 

I love her attitude! We get this face quite a bit.

 

Here's the inside of my nightmare. Literally, middle of the night nightmare.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!!