Anna Nicole Smith‘s daughterDannielynn Hopeis growing up so fast.

Looking like the spitting image of her late mother, Dannielynn wore a bright yellow dress with pink and white roses while Birkhead looked dapper in a navy suit and pink accents to match his child.

“Larry met Anna Nicole at the party years ago. They come every year and it’s become an annual tradition,” Chris Barnstable-Brown tells PEOPLE.

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“Larry met Anna at the party. Larry was a photographer and guest and had been covering the party and met her there. He is from Louisville and they started dating. After Anna passed away, every year they come back to the party,” Barnstable-Brown says, adding, “Larry has brought Dannielynn for years. She’s a beautiful young girl now and becoming a young woman.”

Then on Saturday, Dannielynn honored her late mother with a special accessory.

Dannielynn and Larry Birkhead.Dia Dipasupil/Getty Image

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Birkhead’s life as a single dad hasn’t been without its challenges — and a big one is helping shape the opinion his daughter forms about her late mother, who died froman accidental overdosein February 2007 at age 39 when Dannielynn was just 5 months old.

“I have a block on her [computer]. We sit down and I have a talk with her and I say, ‘You’re going to see these things about your mom and not everything is true,’ ” Birkhead toldWendy Williamsin February 2017. “I take a little bit of Anna’s life and I put it into lessons.”

He added at the time that his little girl has grown up so quickly it seems like her milestones have come in one huge wave. “We went from diapers and teethingto braces and sports bras overnight,” Birkhead admitted to Williams.

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“It’s great and it’s a lot of work,” he added of parenting Dannielynn. “I know there’s a lot of single parents out there … but for me, when you add the Anna Nicole factor to it all, now it’s getting a little tough.”

In aninterview with20/20that same month, Birkhead praised his daughter forbeing “fearless like her mom.”

“She’ll get on any roller coaster that you put in front of her,” the proud dad said.

source: people.com