Homefront 6: Lucy turns 1!

So, today I wished my baby girl "Happy 1st Birthday"! I can't hardly believe it -- the last year seems to have flown by in so many ways (and slowly in others, but certainly not in respect to Lucy). It hardly seems possible that she is officially a toddler and that our family is saying goodbye to the years of having a baby in the house (and, yes, we absolutely will not be having anymore).

We spent the weekend at the ocean where my parents, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin were vacationing. I made her cake early last week, so that I could have the fun of making her one before we were gone. This is what she got:

I was totally pleased with the cake. It took FOREVER to make, though. I rolled the fondant strips for the cupcake base out several days in advance, so that they could dry enough to hold their shape. I also made all the confetti pieces from fondant, as I wanted the coloring to match. That alone took 1 1/2 hours. Add to that the 1/2 hour I spent making the fondant several days before that. And then there was the baking the cake and making the buttercream and assembling....I think that cake had about 6 hours of work in it. But it was perfect for my little princess, so I'm not complaining. Oh, yeah, it was lime cake and lime buttercream, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites....mmmmmm!

And here is the little girly enjoying her cake:

And here she is opening presents. Doesn't that look like a painful way to sit?!?!

And then her birthday celebrations were continued at the ocean. Here she is opening her gifts there (decked out in her Buckeye gear because it was game day!):

She got the CUTEST tutu from her Great Aunt Deb, Great Uncle Thomas and cousin Casey! Now, I never in a million years would have thought to buy her something like this, but it is SO STINKING CUTE! Actually, my parents and sister & brother-in-law coordinated with the monkey theme, so she got an entire wardrobe of monkey clothes for the fall -- I can't wait to get this stuff on her!