Tova's First Birthday Party!!

A few days ago, as another 2010 month began, I realized that if I put off editing Tova's birthday party photos any longer, it would be nearly 2011 before I would end up showing them to you. So I put aside a few projects and had such a great time reliving Tova's fantastic party and appreciating the fact that it is well over! It was hard work, but definitely worth it.

Tova turned 14 months old yesterday, which is always so hard to believe. It was well over a year ago that David and I sat in the hospital room wondering what in the world we were supposed to do. I have never learned so much so quickly. Now, as Tova is daily learning how to take care of herself, I am in awe of every single accomplishment. Watching Tova grow has been the biggest blessing in life. She is so sweet and so much fun, beyond anything we had ever imagined. She is such a little character. Every day is better than the last, even with mean molars showing their spikes.

In case you don't keep up with our tweets, Tova is walking. She says uh oh, O's (cereal), hi, buh bye, dada, rarely mama, da? (What's that?), and a few other things. She absolutely loves socks and shoes, always trying to put them on her own feet, or ours. Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book is, needless to say, a favorite. We love Sandra Boynton books. Tova says something like "bee-bo" when we read the Belly Button Book. And she has always (from a remarkably young age) made a growl noise when asked "What do you say?" in Moo, Baa, La, La, La!

Back to the party. We were so blessed by everyone who was able to come and celebrate Tova's first year of life with us. We love you all.


I started planning the party several months in advance.  I absolutely love event design and really took this opportunity to dive in and see what I could do.  Unfortunately, I was swamped with work at the same time and bit off more than I could chew.  But it all seemed to work out in the end. :)

I had wanted so badly to have the party outside. I planned to string lanterns and poms across our lawn from our big oak tree to our porch. The natural light and crisp winter air were supposed to be perfect. And then it was freezing. And gloomy.  In central Florida. Two days before the party, I just knew it wasn't going to happen outside, so it was time to accept that fact and work to make the best possible adjustments for indoors.

We moved all of the furniture out of the front of our house and into our garage and back rooms. Then we tacked massive sheets of white fabric to the ceiling to cover the main walls. It was quite a nice transformation.

I started with a color scheme and added owls for fun.  The peaches and pinks were quite pretty. The bamboo plates, platters, and sporks were from www.greenfeet.com.

I made the cake topper - painted the wooden girl and put one of the tablecloth fabrics on her as a dress.  The bow is made from the twine I used on the owl lollipops and balloons. The little girl and "t" are affixed and I set the rose bud and owl on top.  The owl was from my Grandmother, who passed away in November.

The cupcakes were made from recipes in the book Organic and Chic.  The icings were amazing, the cakes were okay.  The two chocolates together were way too intense.  Maybe had the icings been swapped, they would have been better.  Baking supplies were from Bake It Pretty and Ultimate Baker.

Owl lollipops made from scratch. The cow milk glasses are from shopterrain.com.  We love them and use them every day now. Owl shortbread butter cookies from Organic and Chic that melted in your mouth.  Love that recipe!  And a bunch of peaches.

IBC cream soda and root beer. The mason jars with floral cut-out lids had white paper straws and tags that said "_________ is using this cup."

"Whoo wants a snack?"



Poms from www.pom-love.com.

The amazing ceramic owl from Fruitflypie on Etsy.






Liz and my cousin, Devon, with T in her tutu I made with pretty pastel tulle.

I won the hats by babydarling from a giveaway on martawrites blog.  So very cute!


We set up a little table for the kids to make their own paper owls. "Owl make an owl!"


Our good friends Ben and Amanda holding the Tove.

Our good friend, Matt Hires, came and sang "You are my Sunshine" and "Happy Birthday" for Tova.

EDIT: Don't forget about the birthday song video HERE with Mr. Matt Hires!

Tova First Birthday Song from Kallie Brynn on Vimeo.


I had my friend and fellow photographer, Tina Sargeant, take some photos with my camera while I attended to the smash cake.

"What is going on?"






She wasn't so sure about this thing called sugar.





You should really go check out Matt Hires' music!  (Now we're back to my photos.)

Ok, it's fun.




Who couldn't fall in love with these faces!?

And those teeth!?


A complete mess.

The perfectly amazing owl pinata from Birchangel Pinatas.


Mike stealing candy from babies.

It was such a blast!  I wish I had more pictures of the lovely people who came (and T in her tutu), but I was completely scatter brained.  I'm so glad I have these photos, especially to remember Tova eating cake for the first time.  Her faces are priceless.

Much love, d+k+t

all images © Kallie Brynn Photography