Addison's Blessing Weekend

A few weeks back, Addison got blessed at church.  It was a super special weekend, and so lovely to have so many of our family and friends there for it.  Our congregation, as many of you know, here in Scotland is super teeny tiny...and so I'm pretty sure we quadrupled the size of it on Sunday 26th! I had certainly never seen so many people in our small building before!

It had me reminiscing back to Ella's blessing day.  Ella and Addi both got blessed around the 3 month old mark, and so it meant they could share the same dress which I was very excited about indeed! I couldn't find the same little pink cardigan from last time but a lovely friend of ours from church, Margo, had gifted us this knitted pink one and so I thought it would complete Addi's little outfit perfectly, along with that adorable little bow! 

She looked absolutely beautiful! and I had to do a little comparison shot to big sister in the same dress too...

How fun is that! 

It was a lovely service - you were blessed by your daddy, and joined by Grandad and Uncle Arne in the prayer circle.  The spirit was strong, and the love in the room for you as those words were spoken felt palpable - a love coming from your father in heaven, but also all of those friends and family in the room who had come to support you in your big day too. I wished I had thought to ask someone else to write down the blessing, because at some point I was struggling to read what I was writing through the tears I was shedding! 

So many lovely blessings were pronounced upon you but the line that stood out to me was that you will have a 'love for humankind, and for the beautiful world we live in and as you appreciate both these things much joy and peace will come into your life'. The two greatest blessings in my life are the family and friendships I have, and the joy I seek from the nature and beauty all around us - so it made me smile to hear these two things mentioned in your blessing too.  

We had three speakers - Rachael (your big sister's primary teacher) who gave a beautiful talk all about what a joy babies and children bring into your life, your Auntie Mel then spoke and based her talk on some counsel from one of the apostles in our church - Dieter F. Uchtdorf - about prioritising family above all other things in our lives, and then Margo (a good friend of ours who had travelled all the way from Lockerbie) spoke about names and the significance of names and gave a little insight into the Braithwaite family name that she had researched.  We sung some happy hymns, especially chosen by me, and then it was time for everyone to enjoy some food...and a lot of cake because that's how Jones family celebrations go!

I loved these hello world plates and bunting that I found online - I thought it was a perfect theme to officially welcome you into the world on this Sunday when you were given a name and a blessing and your name would officially be known on the records of the church.  

Also mint green and rose gold are two of my very favourite colours so I was thrilled with the colour scheme too! Granny made this cute little frame with this sweet quote...

and wowed us all with her floristry talents as usual.  I just loved this wild arrangement and the way it looked on the table. 

Granny had made all the platters of sandwiches and brought a whole heap of strawberries to balance out some of the sweetness going on! Marion, a friend from church, also made lots of delicious soups too.

Auntie Mara couldn't be there, so sent tons of cheesecakes in her absence - which I'm sure people were pretty happy about! In fact this amazing Nutella profiterole hazelnut cheesecake went so fast I didn't even get to try a piece! She works for The English Cheesecake Company, and so always knows how to make a sweet contribution!!

There was also a mango and passionfruit cheesecake, carrot cake and a toffee birthday cheesecake.  Along with that I had made Nutella marshmallows, coconut & caramel rocky road, Nutella & white chocolate brownies, Biscoff chocolate chip cookies, triple chocolate magic bars and 'top hats' for the kids.  It was quite the feast! 

My mom was also in charge of drinks, and had this cute photo poster printed out as well with all little memories of Addi featured on it.  

As well as sleeping through her whole actual blessing, Addi had a nice nap on Granny while everyone was scoffing cake too! She had clearly partied too hard! 

We had to snap this family shot before we left, to remember the whole gang who made the day so special.

We also had a lot of fun on the Saturday, and Mia and Auntie Mel wasted no time in getting in some snuggles.  They were the first to arrive from Yorkshire.  Shortly followed by Granny and Grandad from Shropshire and then Grandpa and Uncle Ja from Bedfordshire.  

It was a surprisingly sunny day...

 so Ella and Mia got some bouncing in the garden in!

and after that we headed out for an afternoon at Harestanes.  Uncle Ja was quite the hit! and was great at keeping all the little ones entertained! 

It was so cute seeing Ella and Mia love each other so much - like little peas in a pod following each other around, Mia especially patted the back of her wibbly wobble horse indicating that she wanted Ella to join her on it! 

The girls headed for ice cream from Mary's Dairy (and Mom was actually more excited about it than this picture makes out haha!) while the boys went and hiked up a hill to see a local monument, so there was something for everyone! 

The kids played at the park and then in the giant sandpit...

but the icing on the cake was finding this table tennis table! The Jones family are serious about table tennis - we even had one in our garden growing up where we made lots of happy memories! 

The boys got serious in a doubles tournament...

and Granny humoured Ellis who so desperately wanted to get involved! 

It was a lovely afternoon out, and an awesome weekend all round that won't be easily forgotten. 

Granny was also pleased to get the picture she has so longed for of her and her four grandchildren.  This was the best of a bad bunch of about 20 takes! We discovered that taking photos of a baby, a 2 year old, a 4 year old and a 5 year old is no easy feat! so we settled on this one in the end and called it good! Happy for these cousins to spend a whole weekend of fun together! 

Bring on the next time! 

A Hello Kitty Happy Birthday for Ella Bella!

Ella Bella had a Hello Kitty theme for her party because she's all about the cats! and has become quite the Hello Kitty fan over the past couple of months! 

I made a bunting using all her monthly photos we had taken and was so happy with how it turned out - it was amazing to see how much she had changed with each passing month! and how much more hair had grown towards the last few months!!

These confetti balloons came all the way from Abu Dhabi! randomly after an etsy seller I'd been following for months who was based in London moved there just before I was about to place my order! Fortunately, she still ships to the UK! and I was so happy with how well they went with the colour scheme! 

Daddy worked tirelessly all morning putting everything into place and getting it just so, Mommy may have turned into a crazy perfectionist at times...but I kept saying 'she's only going to turn one once' so everything had to be perfect! and Auntie Mara also helped behind the scenes in the kitchen helping with all the finishing touches - I couldn't have done it without her!

I made this tissue paper garland after watching a few youtube tutorials on how to do it, and it was so super easy - now I will be wanting to make them for everything, they are so fun! 

 I think the whole table came together pretty well! and my weeks worth of baking was worth the effort!

Grandad Jones painted this number 1 in his workshop especially for the occasion! It fit in perfectly with the table!

Auntie Mara whipped up these coconut cupcakes, with fresh raspberry frosting and got these adorable Hello Kitty toppers printed especially for the occasion! 

I love how fun they turned out! and the cupcakes were so delicious! 

These Hello Kitty macarons almost never happened!! I have never made macarons before and they are known for being tricky to master! So I think it was the 4th attempt when I finally had some success! 

Mastering homemade marshmallows proved much easier, I flavoured these ones with coconut and then dipped them in chocolate and coated in extra coconut! 

No party is a party without pretzels so I dipped these in white choc and gave them a little Hello Kitty flair to finish off with, thanks Pinterest! 

and these chocolate covered oreo's were super cute!

There were hello kitty plates...

and chevron striped cutlery...and Granny Jones made this lovely little arrangement because you can't have a dessert table without flowers!

The drinks jars with little colour co-ordinating doilies on was another Pinterest find! and we served raspberry lemonade for fun!

 and then the centrepiece of the table - the cake! A 6 layer chocolate fudge cake, sandwiched with vanilla pink ombre swiss meringue buttercream and finished off with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream! and a little bit of kitty and bunting and sprinkles to finish it all off! 

You will notice there was no fondant in sight at Ella's party, I am a fondant hater! and don't understand why you would make a cake that looks good but doesn't taste good! So I'm going to try and keep making Ella's cakes totally edible and delicious...until a few years time when I'm sure she'll want some crazy character cake and I might have to give in - but even then I'll try my best to not use it!! 

We decorated the front door to let everyone know they were in the right place! 

and hung this cute little kitty garland in the lounge...although according to my dad he thought they were sheep!!

and little miss Ella donned her Hello Kitty party frock and we were ready for the guests to arrive!

In fact, I think Ella saw some through the window at this exact moment!!

We had a full house of all the immediately family.  Granny and Grandad Braithwaite came up from Bedford as did Uncle Ja, and Uncle Cam came from uni in Loughborough.  Auntie Mara came from London, Auntie Mel and Uncle Arne and Ellis came from Yorkshire and Granny and Grandad Jones and Auntie Alli came from Shropshire!

As soon as everyone arrived it was time for some of Daddy's famously delicious slow cooked pulled pork! So this shot was everyone chowing down! on some pulled pork dogs with homemade guac and chips! 

even the birthday girl was a fan! 

After lunch it was time for present opening, and Ella had quite the mound to get stuck into! 

which she was clearly thrilled about! 

There is nothing she loves more than ripping paper apart!

and reading all the lovely cards everyone gave her! She's quite advanced for a 1 year old ;) 

I made sure I broke out my co-ordinating ring for the day!

Ella got not one, but two Hello Kitty's of her own! 

This one came all the way from Japan, the real deal! Grandad Braithwaite brought it back for her from his business trip! I don't know many 1 year olds who would be lucky enough to be gifted one of those, I was seriously jealous!!

and this beautiful blanket was made by her talented Granny using all her little newborn outfits. It will be such a lovely keepsake for her to treasure always!

After Ella opened all her presents, she handed around presents for all the guests!

Each party bag had a Hello Kitty lollipop and a personalised mini book of photos of Ella and the family member!

We took a breather before we started on the desserts! So Ella got spoilt by all the attention, reading books with Uncle Ja...

and showing him her ballapalooza in action!

and snuggling down with Auntie Mel and cousin Ellis!

and engrossed in some of her birthday prezzie books of Bizzy Bear from Granny Jones! They are her faves! 

Trying to convince Ellis, but he wasn't too sure!!

Then it was time to break out the cake! which I was super excited about! Ella had never had any cake or chocolate before so I thought she was going to devour it and eat up every last crumb! 

My expectations were high! We lit a candle that played happy birthday, and it proved pretty difficult to blow out.


 I think it took me 6 attempts if you were counting!

The cake got cut, we oohed and ahhed at the ombre inside! and Ella got the first big fat slice!

 We all stood around watching, waiting for her to adore her 1st birthday cake! and this is what happened next....

yes, what an anti climax! My daughter apparently doesn't like chocolate cake!!! 

I was devastated, not because of all the effort I had put into the cake, I knew everyone else would enjoy it anyway but because I wanted her to have some yummy treats on her big day!

After cake, half the party guests went off to the mountains to play on a frozen lake we had played on the day before!

My nerves couldn't handle it two days in a row! so I stayed back with the birthday girl.

...and let these crazies do their thing! Fortunately there weren't too many injuries, just a few cold feet that may have slipped through the ice at a couple of points!

Undeterred by the cake fail, I gave Ella a chocolate covered oreo! and she did actually eat some of it!

Not the whole thing, but I saw a smile and I saw some chocolate enjoyment going on so that made me feel better about things!!

The party girl went down for a nap, it's tiring work being the birthday girl you know! and once everyone else returned it was time for some photo booth action! 

I'd set up a little prop area, with Hello Kitty party hats and blowers, and Daddy and Granny Braithwaite had helped me make this frame so we were good to go! 

The birthday girl got her pic taken with all the guests!

Granny Jones and Auntie Alli

Granny Braithwaite

Both the Grandads! 

Auntie Mara, Auntie Mel and Ellis!

and again with Auntie Mara!

Both her Braithwaite uncles! 

and even one with Uncle Arne, despite him not being a fan of photos!

Clearly the photo thing was wearing thin by the end! Look at that furrowed brow 'Mom, you're cramping my style'!!! 

It was such a lovely special day filled with all our favourite people who have so much love for our precious little 1 year old! Some very happy memories were made! and I just couldn't stop thinking the whole day where did that year go! how are we parents of a 1 year old! 

We held her party on the Saturday because we don't do parties on the Sabbath, so she woke up on Sunday 8th - her actual birthday and we wanted to make her morning special! So we glammed up her highchair and made her special blueberry pancakes for breakfast - blueberries are her fave! 

We headed to church and then came back for another round of present opening of gifts she had been sent through the post.

By now she knew the drill well, and got stuck right in!

It's almost like she was intently listening to each card I read her out!

She was one spoilt baby with so much love and thoughtfulness from friends near and far!

and she soaked up those Auntie Mara and Ellis cuddles one last time before it was time for them both to head home!

Well done if you made it to the end of this post! There was just so much fun I wanted to document it all! We so appreciated all the travelling everyone did on Ella's behalf! and for all the love that surrounds her!

She is one special little one year old, that's for sure!