I never thought that planning a first birthday party would be that difficult. I never thought preparing for a first birthday party would be so much hard work...but it was! I figured out that it is the same amount of work as any other party you would have at your house...only through sheer hard work! I spent some days during the week cleaning up little areas here and there and then Friday there was a real push to get stuff clean as Grandma was coming and we had to pick her up from the airport at 3pm. Then the two of us did some preparing for the party the next day...then Saturday came and there were a million things to do! My goodness, next year it will be a potluck! A lot of effort went into this but it was worth it since everyone had a good time and Isabella got to visit with many Aunties, a couple of Uncles and all her cousins. It was a full house and at times you couldn't hear yourself think but it was nice to have so many people together.
In the morning Isabella opened the gifts that were here already...well, she did a little and we got to open most of them, so it was like having another birthday or Christmas...not bad. She, like others before her, got enthralled by the wrapping and by the first gift she opened and it was hard to get her back to the task at hand. Once the guests arrived we all ate some food and opened the gifts. She got some lovely presents...there was the little walking chihuahua a la Paris Hilton, a couple of large hard books in Finnish that will help both if us learn, a large stuffed Eeyore that she instantly fell in love with, a Hello Kitty hat and glove set and a onesie with a photo of Isabella and her Uncle/Godfather Tuomas of the two of them in France. Earlier in the morning we opened other gifts and there were many pieces of cute clothes and a book and her very own Muumin laptop (not that I believe for one second that it will stop her from playing with mine while I am trying to type!)
But first we had to get the party hat on her...that was fun. But in great motherly fashion I was able to distract her with another hat while putting one on her head. Then she forgot it was there. When the cake came out, she managed to get her fingers in it first...but I guess that it was her cake!
We sang Happy Birthday in English (at my request) which was nice since I have no idea what it is in Finnish. I guess that we could have sung it in both had anyone had the mind to suggest that. The sparkler, once we got it lit, was mesmerising. The rest of the time was spent catching up and playing. It was good that so many of Taneli's siblings could make it...there were 6 Lallukkas all tolled. And as I mentioned before, all the cousins were together.
In the evening we were able to relax and enjoy a bit of fun. Grandma and Isabella had a great game of tickle as you can see from the photo!
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