Olivia Has A Smashing Good Time!

That's our girl! She literally couldn't get any sweeter.

The tower of gifts.

Anne, the hero of the day, working the grill.

Mom giving her Baby Boy a pat down or something.

David and his Dad, Phil, who shares Olivia's birthday. Or should it be SHE shares his birthday?

Uncle Rich, aka Burgertime, enjoying what else but a burger.

A sleepy and cranky Olivia with Aunt Sharon, Daddy and Uncle Mike.

The Newborn family sharing some silly time.

Amelia Lusk making a fun face with Mommy Monica Scandlen.

That's cutie Nate Pastor peeking out of his stroller.

School buddy Aiden sharing a smile.

Half the party lined up on the wall enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Olivia's boyfriend, Tanner, and his Mom Julie.

The guest of honor getting ready for all kinds of fun even though she doesn't know it yet.

The unsuspecting smash cake.

Mommy giving Livi a hand with the candle.

Olivia wondering if it's OK to be doing this.

Livi feeding Uncle Rich.

Yep, that was FUN!!!!

I'm just gonna squish my hands in it one more time.

Grampy enjoying a piece of cake (not from the one Livi just hand her hands in).

Taking a walk break with Daddy and Uncle Rich.

Present time!

A big job so we brought in reinforcements for gift opening.

THAT was exhausting!

A month has passed since Olivia's first birthday and party the following day. I had so hoped to get this posted shortly after but so much has been going on. The Davis household has been plagued with one sickness after the other from upper respiratory infections (Olivia and Lisa), pink eye (Olivia and Lisa - twice each), double ear infection (Olivia), roseola that came with a 104.8 fever (Olivia) and kidney stones (David). Yes, all this has happened since right after the big celebration. I am hopeful now that spring has finally sprung we are all on the mend. It's time to take a quick step back and look at Olivia's grand First Birthday Celebration and I do mean GRAND!

It seemed like Livi's birthday went on for days, and it did really. First the packages started arriving in the mail about a week before her birthday from faraway family and friends - all wonderfully thoughtful gifts. She received a sock monkey, cute dresses, talking books, gift cards, a monogrammed beach towel and more - so much more.

Her actual birthday was on a Friday and Mommy took the day off to do last-minute preparations for her birthday party on Saturday. At lunchtime, Mommy and Daddy visited Olivia's class at Excel Learning Center in Palm Harbor and brought mini cupcakes to her and the only pal in the infant room old enough to eat them. We also gave Olivia her first balloon which she loved and was a big hit with the other kids. Ms. Diane and Ms. Laura helped us sing Happy Birthday to our Baby Girl and Mommy helped blow out the candle before the mess began. Olivia tried both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and it seems she might be a vanilla girl - well have to wait and see. Livi had great fun smooshing the cake in between bites and ended up with it in not only in her mouth but in her ears and nose as well. Ms. Laura promptly got out the shampoo and cleaned her up before we left.

At the end of the day, Olivia and Mommy headed to the airport for a special treat: a visit from my good friend Anne Boffa, who flew in from Boston just to celebrate Livi's birthday. (We've been pals since were were 10 years old.Now she's pals with my daughter, too. Her twin nieces, Olivia (great name) and Lindsey just turned one on Valentine's Day so we got to compare notes on all the babes.)

The night of Olivia's birthday and before Mommy got into more party prep, Livi opened one of her gifts from her folks. It was a set of four dolls. You see in the infant class, Olivia had a purple baby doll she carried with her from the crib to the changing table and every where in between. It was the first thing she grabbed in the morning and usually the last thing she put down before going home at night. We were warned they didn't have the doll in the one-year-old room which she would start the Monday following her birthday. We had to buy the whole set just to get her fave doll which she keeps at school. When she opened the gift she looked confused to have the doll at home but she immediately snuggled up to her. Too cute.

Olivia's party was held at 1 p.m. Saturday at picturesque Anderson Park on the west side of Lake Tarpon in Tarpon Springs. Shelter 7 was the perfect spot. It overlooked the lake and was in between the playground and the restrooms - both very important to many folks. The day was sunny and warmer than most of the winter but was cool under the shelter without the warmth of the sun. Most of our guests found spots around the shelter to keep warm. Too funny. We never would've guess we would have to worry about the outdoor temperature in March and in Florida.

The menu was simple: grilled out hot dogs and burger, baked beans, Nana's delicious potato salad and other picnic food. Yum! Olivia's cake was chocolate and vanilla and was decorated with one of our favorite pictures of her.

Naturally, Olivia refused to nap that morning because she knew something was up and the poor little thing was exhausted when the party first began. About 40 people showed up to celebrate our baby's birth. Special shout out to the Scandlen-Lusk family which drove over from Ocoee, and Olivia's paternal grandfather, Phil Epstein, with whom she shares a birthday and made the trek from Miami. The other guests came from all over Tampa Bay - including several Excel teachers and a couple of classmates, Aiden and Tanner. Everyone came just to cheer her on, see how far she has come in her first year and shower her with gifts. And man was it a flood. The generosity of our guests was overwhelming but more importantly so was the outpouring of love for our girl.

I have to admit I had a little day-of-party-panic attack that everything was going to go wrong. If it wasn't for Anne, I swear it wouldn't have come together. She even took over some of the cooking duties. My brother Rich really helped out, too, and my parents came to the park early to help keep an eye on Olivia while we set up.

The spotlight moment of the party was the smash cake. After Olivia's candle was blown out, she look incredibly confused when the cake was left right in front of her on her high-chair tray. She looked at me, she looked at Daddy, at all the people crowding around her and finally she just tentatively dipped a finger in. She looked up to see the reaction and then dipped another before checking the reaction again. Pretty soon she realized it was a free-for-all, and she went to town, giggling with delight. Soon, her frosted face said it all.