Bella's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Bella's birthday the Sunday before the actual day. All of her grandparents, great-grandparents, and local aunts, uncles, and cousins came to our house for lunch and to open gifts, so we had quite a full house! It was horribly hot that day, which kinda stunk because I had wanted to open presents outside. But we stayed in the nice air conditioning. :) Here are some pictures (actually a lot) highlighting the big day!

Her birthday decorations were pink and princess themed... of course! I forgot to take a picture of the plates and everything, but it all matched the balloons.

Here is Bella's adorable cake, which is shaped like a crown. A lady in Pella made it out of cake, big cupcakes, and little cupcakes. It not only looked cute, it tasted awesome! Which was good, since I ate the leftovers for the next week. I am now officially sick of cake however.

Bella's birthday centerpiece... which she maybe didn't care so much about, but I thought it was very pretty. We've had a lot of fresh flowers around lately with all of our holidays! I'll be sad when everything dies.

And here is the birthday girl with her birthday princess hat on staring at her cupcake with a suspicious look. It was pretty funny; Bella just started at the candle like this the whole time we sang Happy Birthday. Apparently she has not seen fire before!

Bella was not too sure about this whole cake thing. She was probably thinking ummm, Mommy doesn't usually let me get messy.

I had to help her give the frosting a try before she would touch it...

And as you can see, Bella definitely decided she liked it! However, she never dove into the cake a and made a mess, even when we gave her another cupcake on her actual birthday. That might pose a problem for her one year pictures- I'm planning on doing a cake shoot, and I don't think she'll be into it!

Posing with her big cake!

Bella obviously has many new fun toys to play with- all of which she loves I might add! She doesn't even play with her old anymore.

She received money from Great-Grandma Vermeer and Great-Grandpa and Grandma Huyser, which we used to buy her a baby crib and highchair. Great-Grandpa and Grandma Zylstra bought her a Little People School Bus.

Aunt Anna gave her a Baby Einstein book that plays music. This was one of the first presents she opened I think, and after she opened it, all she wanted to do was look at the book. As I've said, the girl loves her books.

Uncle Shawn, Aunt ChyAnne, Dylann, Jager, and Tatum bought her a Baby Alive doll. When the baby gets fed its bottle, it talks and makes noises, so Bella thinks that is pretty fun. Uncle Jer gave her a stroller for her babies.

Grandpa and Grandma De Haan gave her this Little People Riding Toy. Although Bella is sitting on it here, she hasn't really used it to ride a whole lot. However, she does like playing with all the buttons and making music! Plus, the seat can be opened up, so she likes to put all of her rocks inside the seat.

Grandpa and Grandma Huyser gave Bella a dress and shoes, along with a Little People castle that is in the background of this picture. Derek and I also gave Bella a Little People dollhouse- and she is loving the Little People! She has them go nigh nigh, puts them in their chairs, loads them up in the bus... it's so cute to actually watch her "play." Derek and I also gave her this learning home playset that is supposed to be like an actual house.

After everybody left and the birthday girl took a nap, we took some pictures outside. I received a new camera for Mother's Day/our anniversary/my birthday, so I have been taking a ton of pictures of Bella. :) She is a good model for me to practice on!

Bella was dressed the part of a princess on her special day- even with her bruised head!

She looks like an actual little ballerina here with her skirt all flounced up. :)

Showing off those big beautiful eyes!

We've noticed recently that Bella is starting to thin out and lose some of her baby chub- Her little body is looking more like a toddler, so sad!

Mommy painted Bella's toes for the special occasion, which actually went well. I wanted to do her fingers too, but Daddy vetoed that idea.

Bella actually didn't mind wearing her hat during the party. If I got it on and she didn't notice it was there, she would just leave it be. She's obviously quite used to wearing headbands, so it's not too big of a difference. :) Hopefully I will someday get to put some bows in her hair- it is starting to grow just a little bit!
Angel face. :)
Or crazy happy face! :) Bella is a very special little one year old. We can hardly believe that an entire year has gone by already, but it has definitely been so amazing and one of the best of our lives. We are so very very blessed with our little lady. Bella is such a happy good girl with such a sweet and fun personality. I'm sad that the baby stage is ending, but yet I know that much more fun lays ahead as she continues to grow and develop into the person God made her! Happy birthday Bella- we love you!