Pretty in Plaid Birthday Party

We had so much fun celebrating birthdays with a joint party for the girls this year!  We decided to try this after our poor December baby was having little attendance to her parties and the weather is so unpredictable in November that planning an outdoor party is a bit of a gamble. There is a small enough age gap that at (almost) 3 and 5 we can still get away with such things. Our girls are pretty easy to please, give them some cake, a few friends and some room to run and they are down to party.

We hosted a Pretty in Plaid bonfire in our backyard where we roasted hot dogs, served chili and corn bread, raced horses, popped candy-filled balloons and celebrated my babies . The girls had fun hiding in the tee pee, stuffing their faces with marshmallows. That, coupled with the much anticipated races on stick horses and running around with their friends, pleased the girls. The adults got to sit by the fire and sip seasonal ales while filling their bellies with food. There was a cake this year (not cupcakes, which according to Amelia are NOT cake and do not count on birthdays) and two very happy girls blowing out candles!

I got to put my craftiness to work this year making invitations, practice my hand lettering with the envelopes (long live handwritten letters!), sew a little with the tricky tee pee and I even did a little paper mache for the confetti eggs. It was just enough handmade details to make my heart happy!

Party Planning for Birthdays 2014

Party planning for birthday party 2014 is under way! I Love party planning with a capital 'L.' It's kind of my thing. List making, creating, cooking, entertaining, I swoon! This year we are trying something different and having a joint party for the girls and we are doing it before either of their birthdays. In previous years we have celebrated with individual parties close to their birthdays, which has always been fun but also a lot of work.  With their birthdays falling in/close to the holiday season it seemed less stressful this way and easier for our guests to attend. We will see how it goes this year, maybe it will the first of many celebrated this way! An added perk to celebrating early is the weather (fingers crossed) will allow for an outdoor party which will mean we won't have our house bursting at the seams or have to spend too much money renting a space. 

Fall is my favorite season so I'm excited to embrace it for the party theme. Cool weather, warm clothes, hearty foods, does it get better than that?  Now if you will excuse me I'm going to plead with my children to take a nap so I can immerse myself in all things fall and fill up a new notebook with list after glorious list!  

Pigeon Party! Second Birthday

I'm in the mood for a hot dog party!

Have you met the sassy pigeon from the pages of Mo Willems books? If you haven't, you are seriously missing out. Whether he is trying to drive the bus, stay up late or just eat HIS hot dog he never fails to entertain. But be warned: it may be hard not to give into the pigeon because, "What's five minutes in the grand scheme of things?"

When we began reading books to Amelia she quickly became attached to the pigeon and requested we read the books to her all the time. We too loved the pigeon and his antics so it was an easy pick as the theme for her second birthday.

I used my cutting and pasting skills to put together some handmade invitations to invite our friends and family.

Snow Bunny 2nd Birthday

Having a December baby has its challenges. We have yet to decide the best time to celebrate a birthday that falls on the 19th. It usually coincides with one or more peoples Christmas celebrations and the weather can never be predicted. This time we decided to just roll with it and have her birthday as a casual dinner with family on her actual birthday. I embraced the cold weather and the Christmas decor and put together a snow bunny party. A few headbands (left over from the Pippi Party), plaid fabric, glittery snowflakes and icicles and we were ready to party.

I was a little ambitious when it came to the invitations.  I hand painted little bunnies on 10 cards which didn't sound like a lot until I started....and was interrupted every two minutes by a toddler. I also put together bunny ears and scarves for our party guests to wear and take home as favors and my nephew was even a good sport and let me take his picture wearing them (apparently it's not cool to dress like a bunny when you're 8). I love how they came out and I really like the idea of practical favors. After disappointing Amelia with cupcakes rather than a cake for her birthday she was adamant Marinn needed a cake. We loaded one up with a billion tiny, sparkly sprinkles and they were in little girl heaven.

We had a great night celebrating with our family and I think Marinn is the best gift-getter I've ever seen. She was so excited and thankful as she opened each gift! Happy birthday my little snow bunny!

Birthday Brunch

My poor, neglected second born...

As if it weren't bad enough we lost most of her baby pictures when our computer bit the dust, I also have not made the time to share her birth story or her birthday parties. It may be due in part to the fact she came so close to Christmas and her birthday parties are squished between Christmas festivities, it may be due to the fact that life with two children is, well, busier! Regardless of the reason I am committing to play a little catch up. My sweet, sassy, silly Marinn Lee is too important to me to let her feel left out!

Today I'm going to share her first birthday party. I wish I would have taken more pictures because we had a lovely time at brunch celebrating with friends and family. We ate yummy quiche, homemade biscuits with various spreads, and flipped our own pancakes at the pancake bar. (I have the best pancake recipe in my arsenal) The room was decorated with the Sunday funnies, festive oranges and blues, and bright colored flowers. We wore necklaces we made out of fruit loops and Marinn was dressed in the dress I made her. I think she rather enjoyed her chocolate and sprinkle covered birthday pancakes, which has stayed a tradition for birthday breakfasts. 

Birthday Adventures With Pippi & Amelia

"Life is a breeze

We live it for fun

 

No apologies

To anyone

 

We live on the seas

We do as we please"

 

 

 

Cowboy Campfire Baby Shower

I had the privilege of hosting a shower for a friend today and I thought I would share a few pictures from it.

Once we knew she was having a boy I was certain of what I wanted to do for a shower theme. The baby's father's nickname is Cowboy Junior (Grandpa is "Cowboy") so Cowboy Junior-Junior needed a Cowboy campfire shower in his honor.

Homemade chicken noodle soup served out of tin cans, made from scratch biscuits, and a s'mores bar seemed appropriate for the occasion. (Is it weird that the tin cans were inspired by the scene in Dennis the Menace where the guy eats all the beans??) It was unseasonably warm, but comfort food was good none the less.

I used lots of bandannas incorporated into the decor courtesy of the farm/cowboy party from earlier this year and I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

Ice Cream Shoppe 3rd Birthday

 

It's official, I have a three year old! We celebrated last weekend with friends and family and had a great time. My favorite part of the whole day was seeing how excited Amelia was to blow out her candles. She stood on her chair in front of everyone (her favorite place to be) and sang "Happy birthday to me!" and blew out her candles. I had to relight them so everyone else could sing to her, silly girl!

 

It's hard to say who had a better time with the sundae station because the adults were just as excited about it as the kids were! Amelia has told everyone who has asked her about her party about the toppings she chose, nothing else. I think that is a good sign that it was a success.

 

 

Winston's First Birthday

I'm delayed in posting this, but I still wanted to share with you some pictures from our fun-filled day celebrating my nephew Winston's first birthday. He was such a cute cowboy and his grandma made the most amazing stick horses for the kids to take home as favors. The heat held off and it was the perfect weather to spend the afternoon on 'the farm' (aka my dad's backyard.) I ate too many hot dogs and peanuts and washed it down with bottled rootbeer -so good! I couldn't resist making the girls cowgirl outfits and Amelia ended up with a dress (rather than the skirt I made for the occasion) because she insisted she needed a dress. Marinn got a shirt to go with her jean shorts. All the kids looked so cute it their boots! (Courtesy of Grandma Chris who didn't get to come up for the occasion.) Happy birthday Winston!

White Trash Birthday Bash

My husband turned 27 today. He jokes about my being so old (since I'm a year older then he) but the fact he stayed in bed all day, sleeping off the beer he drank last night, may be proof that he's the old one. It may not be a glamorous way to spend a birthday but I think that after last nights events, it's appropriate.

I had the idea to do a "white trash" themed party a couple of years ago but work schedules never allowed for it. Andy happened to have a schedule change at the beginning of April that freed his weekends so I knew if I was going to make it happen that this was my chance. So I did what any classy gal would do and sent out a facebook invitation (and a few texts to those who don't have facebook) announcing the party.

Since having children parties (at least as Andy once knew them) have become a thing of the past. Needless to say it didn't take much persuasion for Andy to jump right on board with the idea for this one. He was actually very excited to go to the thrift stores and found some sweet clothes to wear. For him: a plaid flannel shirt,  a tee shirt that read 'call the ugly police I just witnessed a felony,' jeans with holes in the knees and a mullet wig (from a party store.) For me: a tank top that laced up the sides with General Lee (that I made out of a men's tee and borrowed shoelaces), acid wash jeans (one size too small), and pink faux snake skin pumps. Oh and a scrunchie of course!

We broke out the turkey fryer Andy inherited from his grandpa to fry up corn dogs, fish nuggets, tator tots, onion rings, mushrooms, okra, sweet potato fries, as well as Twinkies, Oreos, and Snickers. Throw in a giant tub of cheese balls, a ranch fountain, and a kiddie pool full of beer and you've got yourself a party!

At one point it started raining and I was afraid the party would be over before it really started but it blew over and we spent the night relaxing on the couch in front of the fire pit and playing beer pong. With excessive amounts of fried food consumed (the Twinkies were everything I imagined them to be!) and equally excessive amounts of beer I'd say the party was a success!

Oh, and did I mention the crowning jewel of the food table, the jiggling jello mold? (Made with vodka of course!) Or the White Trash soundtrack featuring the likes of David Allan Co, Toby Keith, Lynard Skynard and Hank Williams Jr? ....it's a family tradition...