Keaka Gets Her Cake (& Eats It, too!)

The Aftermath

During Keaka's party, we were so busy that she didn't even get a chance to eat some of her birthday cake! Sooo... Sunday (the next day), we let her dig in! Hey, could have been so much worse... (Ok, it was. It was actually all over her legs; just can't see it in the picture.)

*Note: I have some pretty hilarious video of this, but it's too big to post, and I have no idea how to clip it.... :(

Keaka's First Birthday Ever!

Keaka must have known it was her birthday.

She usually wakes up every morning between 8:30-9...
But on that day, she was wide awake at 7am, and in the BEST mood possible!
Luckily, Daddy had her present (Princess ball pit) set up for her just in time....

She didn't hesitate at all, haha!

*Smile for Mommy and the camera!*

She looovvvveeesssss all the balls she gets to play with now!

After that... we finished cooking and left for the church to finish decorating and do any last minute preps for the luau.

Talia making sure all the decorations were set up!
The screen & projector were ready for the slideshow, too!

People beginning to arrive a little after 3pm...
Each table had either a lollipop or chocolate bouquet, accented with a single, GIANT balloon!

We had 6 paper trees to decorate the walls, each a different color with corresponding birds and flowers. In the right corner, we had a backdrop the wishing well set-up infront of it, decorated with ivy garland and lights (mahalo Kaya's for decorating it!).

Some of the musicians... (L-R) Uncle Bobby, Uncle Rich, and Uncle Herby. David is in the back trying to fix the sound, hahah.

Uncle Bobby trying to convince Kelsy and I to sing a song...we did, but later.

Some of our guests! The Flemings and Harvey Lutu.

(L-R) Lorene & Hannah Erickson (& baby due in May!), Solomon, Jacqueline, Aunty Nani, and Uncle Jacques Chung Hee

Morreeee people! We had hundreds of people show up.

Shot of the food tables...
And if you wanna know what we had to eat, watch this vid:



So... Shredded beef enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Salsa/chips (everything homemade), kalua pig, lomi salmon, squid luau, poi, chicken long rice, mac salad, rice, teriyaki. Was that everything? Pani popo... Guava cake, lilikoi cake...

Everybody eating and talking story

.:Singing Happy Birthday:.
Each table had its own mini-birthday cake with a candle on it. After everyone sang Happy Birthday, Keaka blew out her candle--and the youngest person at each table blew out the candle on their cake as well! It was pretty awesome!

This is one of the cakes that Aunty Nani made for the tables:

Here's some video of everyone singing:

Keaka's 1st Birthday Cake! Right after she blew out the candle.

Hat from the Taylors

Keaka's Korner, right above her high chair

We also had a few games at the sign-in table... like...
1. How many cookies are in the cookie jar? (answer: 88. Bro. Dehart won with guess of 89)
2. What was Keaka's birth weight? (answer: 5lbs 13oz. Hoopii's won with guess of 5lbs 8oz)
3. What does Keaka's full first name mean? (answer: The fern that reflects the glimmer of the moon. Kealoha won with guess "The eye of the fern")
We also had "Keaka's Keiki Raffle" for the kids 10 & under. They could enter a drawing to win a $15 gift card to Toys "R" Us! McKinley Howe won the drawing-- woohoo!!
**The winners of the birth weight & name questions won a bag of rice and bottle of Aloha shoyu! :)


Keaka's rocking chair with her "Momo the Monkey" sitting in it, the wishing well, and all her presents!

What a lucky little girl!

The wishing well Daddy made!

Cards in the well

I must admit, I'm happy the party is over, haha!

It was a lot of fun, though, and it was especially good to see
friends & family that we haven't seen in a while.
We had the best music (of course!), the best food,
& the best company to help us celebrate Keaka's first birthday.

David and I are still talking about how great it was.

MAHALO to the following for their contributions in making Keaka's birthday luau such a huge success:
The PJs-- food (chicken long rice, squid luau, kalua pig, lomi salmon), decorating, set-up/clean-up, helping to choreograph the party, running food
The Kayas-- baking all the princess birthday cakes for each table, decorating, set-up/clean-up
The Nauahis-- teriyaki, water, rice, decorating, set-up/clean-up
The Galeais-- Mac Salad
Rob Meyer-- tortilla chips
Kelsy-- slideshow, saying the prayer (in Hawaiian! Cheeee!!), set-up/decorating, clean-up
Matt Taylor--coming from Utah!, helping run the party, and taking pics/video for us
The Lowes-- decorating, set-up/clean-up, chicken, running food
The Lutus-- drinks, pani popo
The Kauvakas-- guava and lilikoi cakes
The Akos--clean-up
MUSICIANS/ENTERTAINMENT:
Dad
Kelsy
Uncle Rich Mansfield
Uncle Bobby Mansfield
Uncle Hank Nawahine
Uncle Herby Fermantez
Kaiana Hoopii
Uncle Ken Purdy
Aunty Laureen Tau'a (dancing)
...The entertainment was BOMB, as always! Thank you all for contributing your talents!

Mahalo nui loa ia oukou for your continuous aloha and generosity. David, Keaka, and I love and appreciate you all.