Claire's Birthday Party

This week, Claire met a HUGE milestone: She turned ONE!

Given the year she has had-- with multiple hospitalizations, every type of medical test imaginable, seizure medications, daily steroid injections, and countless therapies, we knew we wanted to do something special.

As Brad and I started thinking about how we wanted to celebrate, we realized we wanted to do something to give back. We have been so blessed over the past year by the kindness and support of others, so we wanted to do something to pay it forward. We decided, therefore, to hold Claire's birthday party as a benefit for the Center for the Visually Impaired, an organization that has really helped us over the past year. (You can read about our experiences with the organization here, here, and here.)

In lieu of presents, we asked all guests to make a donation to the Center. We really wanted to showcase the Center, so we asked if we could hold the party there, and they agreed!

It turned out to be an incredible afternoon! We did a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme, since it is my favorite Claire's favorite a good book.

I found some adorable invitations on Etsy.

The shop owner, Andy, was incredible to work with. She had so many great ideas, and when she found out about what we were doing, she did a lot of work for free. So, if you are in the market for invitations, cards, or other items, check out her Etsy store.

At the party, we had a craft table for kids to make tactile caterpillar cards:

Claire makes tactile cards in vision therapy from time to time, and she really seems to enjoy them. Tactile cards are great for children with visual impairments because they provide sensory input through the use of different textures, sizes, and shapes. They can be used to teach different concepts, such as big and little, many and few, round and flat, hard and soft, etc.

While the kids made cards, Ms. Memri and Ms. Anne offered the adults tours of the BEGIN classroom and active learning rooms.

After lunch, our friend, Kim Possible, used her skills as an elementary school teacher to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to the children.

Then, Claire's music therapist, Ms. Jacque, led a sing-along for all of the kids. (And some of the adults!)

The sing-along ended with everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to Claire. Naturally, after that, it was time for cake!

The cake was so pretty that we had a hard time cutting into it. But cut into it we did, and it tasted every bit as good as it looked!

The day was such a success. A BIG THANK YOU to the Center for the Visually Impaired, Andy, Kim, Ms. Jacque, Ms. Memri, Ms. Anne, and everyone who came out to help us celebrate!

[If you want to help celebrate Claire's birthday by making a donation to the Center for the Visually Impaired, please click here.]