Allison's First Birthday - Phases 3 & 4

I while back I blogged about how my good friend Jenna's little Allison turned 1 and about how Jenna had so many fun things planned to celebrate this momentous occasion. We had planned to take a couple of photo sessions plus the party, but it turned out to be 4 different sessions.

Whew! I do think we got it covered, and I've decided that I love photographing this age of child - they're cute and expressive and fun, but they're too young to be self conscious or have fake smiles. I felt like we captured a large variety of cuteness - - you be the judge:

(her new Easter dress)


(one of the hats I had made as her birthday gift from me)


(another of the hats - my favorite.)


I love the backlighting shining through her big girl pony tails!


We got so carried away with these that we ran out of light for the cake pictures, to we ended up doing them the next day: thus, phase 4.

There's a gal near us who makes really great cakes and Jenna commissioned her to make one that matched Allison's "1" outfit. Get a load of this adorable cake-art:


all completely edible, of course - the candle was one of those rolled Italian cookies with the cream inside covered in fondant - so cute!

She had figured out how to blow out candles by this time:


... and had a great time eating her yummy cake.



Jenna and I were having such a good time that we may have encouraged her to eat the cake just a little too long....


Oh well! She'll appreciate it someday.

Love you, Allison! Happy Birthday!