Celebrations

Is it possible for a 5th child to really believe that they are loved every bit as much as the 1st child, even though their 1st birthday was celebrated with cake 5 minutes before bedtime, as opposed to big, extravagant party that baby #1 had on their 1st birthday? I hope so, because I sure love this little guy!  How is it possible that he is 1?

Miss G celebrated her birthday too- this took all my party planning energy, I really wanted to make up for the lack of celebrating last year when I was in that new baby fog! (see, last year his birthday was all about baby H!)  We did a pirate party complete with a treasure hunt, pin the patch on the pirate, cannon ball blast, (that was popping black balloons to retrieve treasure- thanks Sam for blowing up 50 balloons!) and decorating paper mache treasure chests.  I used some of the free printables from HERE as well as the cute pirate clip art I showed in the last post for decorations and to turn the hot dogs into little pirate ships- that might have been my favorite part! I never take enough pictures!

We have also been potty training, Thanksgiving, losing teeth, and working through mounds and mounds of laundry and dishes as usual!  I miss blogging and reading your blogs though!  Thanks for hanging around, I really appreciate those who take the time to read and comment, you're the best! Miss G left this letter for the tooth fairy and I loved it.

I couldn't bring myself to check the "no" box with that frowny face beside it so I had to leave a note explaining that I didn't have any real pictures of myself- she cut that part off and kept it somewhere safe...

The tea party: Mrs. B turns 9

I never posted pictures from the tea party!  It was cute if I do say so myself, Miss B and I had a lot of fun planning, cooking and setting it all up but to be honest, the real hit with the kids was the swimming!  It probably had something to do with the 100+ degree heat...

We shopped around places like Home Goods, Marshalls and Tuesday Morning for some cute tea towels and I made tea towel aprons for each of the girls.  They served two purposes, they helped to decorate the table and then went into their take home bags.  Mine were simply wide grossgrain ribbon sewed across the front of the towels, but if you wanted to be a little fancier, you could add pockets, buttons and trim or stitch or iron on a monogram.

B. is a *bit* like me when it comes to food- she wanted all of her favorite foods there!  Every day she thought of something else we should serve, but we eventually narrowed it down to cinnamon rolls, little fower and butterfly sandwiches, chocolate strawberries, cream wafers, and mini muffins.  To drink she insisted on hot chocolate (remember the heat?) and orange juice.

For the sandwiches, we did cucumbers with chive cream cheese on flowers (cut from white bread of course!)  and then turkey with cheddar cheese in butterfly shapes.  The little pink and orange flags were a clearance Martha Stewart find and since they matched our colors we just had to use them!  We grabbed a bunch of mixed roses from the grocery store at the last minute, cut them short and put them in some little empty jars I had and tied them off with hot pink ribbon.

One other idea I had that would have been really cute, would be to use a vinyl cutter (Cricut, Silhouette etc.) to decorate or personalize the tea cups!  I didn't have a collection of mis-matched pretty china patterns, and didn't want to buy more for the party so we just used my wedding china which was plain and simple, but could have been adorable with some added pink and orange flowers or something! Oh and one tip, chocloate covered strawberries are best served on cooler days- the first one that was taken slid right out of the chocolate! 

PS- Did I mention I have a 9 year old??  How and when did that happen?  I can't possibly be that old! SHE can't possibly be that old! 9 more years and she'll be a woman.  Going to college.  That cannot be possible...

Lovely Love

Happy Valentine's Day to you! My cookie exchange party was fun but I forgot to take pictures darn it! Besides spending time with girlfriends I don't get to see much, my favorite part was making the invitations and stuff for the party! I did snag a picture of the water bottle labels before the kids confiscated them the next morning- they matched the invites and little cards to label the cookies- I loved them.I had a lot of fun making this Valentine banner too, I will keep it and pull it out next year. I just printed the letters out from my computer, 2 to a page, then trimmed them and used a scalloped punch on the bottom and tied them together with tulle ribbon.I also had to share these cute things my friend Ashley made for me- she used American Crafts papers and embellishments and stuck them on painted blocks cut from a 2x4 and then attached some hot pink vinyl letters to spell "love". The candy topiary was just made with a painted dowel and styrofoam ball stuck into a pot. It gets surprisingly top heavy with all those valentine candy hearts so make sure you weigh the pot down well with plaster and rocks or something if you make one!

By today I was a little Valentined out but luckily my kids reminded me that Valentine's Day wasn't over when my party was, and they expected some celebrating! So we kept the red tablecloth out in the dining room and ate heart shaped french toast this morning in there. (FYI- heart shaped french toast is WAY easier than heart shaped pancakes and really cute with powdered sugar and strawberries if you have them- pretend I took a picture for you!)

Great Party Ideas

I just wanted to share this great party blog I came across- Blonde Designs. It's two moms, Angie Gubler and Kristin Reece who were both designers for Martha Stewart Living so you know they are brilliant! One of them had the most perfect "B/Bee" party for her daughter, Beatrice. I especially love favors, these beehive sugar cookies:and these cute (and cheap!) personalized alphabet coloring books, printed right off her computer:They also design stationary and there is lots of great inspiration for invitations and announcements as well as several other party themes- go check it out HERE.

My baby girl is 4!

And she started preschool today.Miss E has waited a loooooong time for preschool- She only got to go for a few weeks last year before I realized it wasn't a good environment and I never got her back into anything so she was SO ready and SO excited! She got to take these (super cute!) Hello Kitty cupcakes in to share. (copied some found on Flickr HERE.) We decided to skip the party (due to no money, and no energy for a super cheap home-made birthday party) and just try and make the day special for her- she wanted to go to the "Dinosaur Museum" so that's what we did! We finished the day with presents and Chips Ahoy ice cream cake at home and I think she had a good day!
She has suddenly grown up and along with the bossy-sassy side of her personality, we've seen a really fun, organized, hard working girl come out- she must get that from her dad. I have caught her cleaning her room late at night when she's supposed to be in bed sleeping, one day I took a nap and woke up to find she had been cleaning the house- really. She had organized messes that were in a couple rooms, wiped down the kitchen table, and the counter, sink and toilet in her bathroom. (possibly with the same rag, I re-cleaned the kitchen table promptly.) Happy birthday sweetie!!

I love a good list of ideas

I can't wait to go through the 101 DIY Project ideas from the Stylish Events blog! Check it out HERE. They are all wedding related, but a lot can be used for other things and they'll certainly inspire you. And Creature Comforts made some cute labels you can use as treat bag toppers or stick on labels- get those HERE. And finally, Little Birdie Secrets has a list of great Teacher Appreciation gift ideas HERE. I really like the idea of decorating up a bottle of hand sanitzer! The one below is from Poppy Paperie.

Easter- Lacking pictures

We've probably gone 2 months without a drop of rain here but on our Saturday Easter picnic/parade/egg hunt day it decides to pour! Luckily Mimi and Papa offered their house and there was a great brunch and indoor egg hunt. Miss B found the silver egg with $10 and everyone ate candy all day. (and went through sugar withdrawls all day Sunday.) I made my traditional bunny cake and it was the cutest one yet- did I get any pictures? No. I finished Miss B's skirt, no pictures yet. We were rushing out the door late to church Sunday and I had left my camera at Sam's parents house so no pictures again.

Hillbilly/Red Neck/White Trash Party

Preston and Ginger had a fun theme party last weekend- I wish I had taken a lot more pictures! The party was out of their garage and Preston boiled up a million crawfish. Debbie let me take a picture of her with one: (yes, a lot of people were ACTUALLY EATING them!)Debbie and Shane: I won an awsesome recycled trophy for bringing the best side dish- proof I can cook! My Major Award: and the winners of the Best Dressed awards:And my country boy: (you may see him in this very outfit working outside many mornings)And me in my trashy shirt: (which you will NOT see me in again- it says "this shirt looks even better wet")

Kim & Derek: (who incidently cut his hair for the occasion, and is still sporting the mullet today) And David and Ruth, probably the couple everyone in the trailer park hates because they're so cute.