Happy birthday, little ONE!

We planned the timing of our summer vacation in order to return home just in time for a sweet little girl's first birthday. I just cannot believe it was a year ago that we witnessed this beautiful miracle...

Now, a year later, Alyson is such a sweet and happy little girl! Stacey and I staged a little photo shoot to celebrate Alyson's big day.

Drew photo-bombing Alyson

What's a birthday without cake?

Unfortunately because of the timing of our trip, I missed out on seeing my cousin Elizabeth, which was very unfortunate because she was part of the reason I wanted to make it back in time for the birthday- she helped me create a very special gift for Alsyon! Elizabeth is a very talented artist and has an etsy shop where she paints and sells canvas shoes. My mom had ordered pairs for Laura and me for Christmas and I thought they made such a great gift. It hit me that painted shoes would be a PERFECT gift for a one-year-old who is just learning to walk, so I talked to Elizabeth and asked if she could do baby shoes. Not just any baby shoes either, Toms because Stacey loves her Toms and I knew Alyson had to have her own pink pair. Liz said little shoes might be difficult, but she was sure she could come up with something. I sent Elizabeth some scanned images of a book that Stacey and I both got for each other's children at birth- On the Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillman. I knew Alyson's party theme was going to be giraffes, so I made sure to include the page from the book that had giraffes. I also gave her some other things I'd like to see on the shoes, like alphabet blocks and the flower Alyson wore in her monthly photos, a Georgia peach, her name... somehow Elizabeth managed to work it all in on these tiny shoes and they came out even better than I could have imagined!

Alyson may not have been a fan

What ARE these on my feet?

 Some close ups of the details (just cropped from the above photos so they're not great quality)...

Happy birthday, Ms. Alyson!  We love watching you grow and change each and every day!

P.S. I've been meaning to post pictures of my own shoes, but have never gotten around to actually taking pictures of them! Look for those soon.... And in the meantime, enjoy this video I posted to Facebook of Elizabeth drawing!