Two Times the Fun

In the midst of waiting for Adele to make her appearance, G-man turned two. I didn't plan anything because we just weren't sure where we would be on his birthday. Little Miss took her sweet time, so all of a sudden, it was G's birthday and we didn't have any plans to celebrate.

My mom was here already, so she baked a cake.

We blew up some balloons leftover from last year's first-birthday-extravaganza.

A few friends came over.

BAM! Instant party!

Thankfully, we had planned ahead and gotten a few presents. Plus, Graham got some fun prizes in the mail from generous relatives.

Then, to make the birthday fun last even longer, we had another celebration when my dad, brother and sister-in-law came to meet Adele. (Originally, this was going to be the only party.)

We had saved a few presents, so Graham opened those.

My mom made another cake.

The balloons that hadn't popped were still floating around the living room.

Lucky Boy! Two parties for a two year old.

TWO! I love this boy more than I ever thought possible.

Make Something Monday: Freezer Paper T-Shirts

I'd love to be consistent enough in my projects to keep up a weekly post about them. Of course, there is more to my life than just bringing my ideas to completion, so I'm not going to commit. I do have a few things in the coffer, (yep, I just used the word coffer) so we'll keep it up for a little while.

My niece just turned six. She's in first grade and has more toys than a lot of kids dream of having. For her birthday I wanted to give her something fun that she could wear to school.

I've been experimenting with fabric paint this summer, which I know sounds kind of scary. I was a little nervous at first too. My last venture into fabric paint was 1985 and I was decorating a pair of Keds. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was the 80's and puffy paint t-shirts were sort-of popular. (I'll admit, I wore one of my t-shirt paint creations as a PE shirt for part of middle school. There may or may not have been a teddy bear on it.) But the fabric paint I've been using is nothing like that. I guess it's the same stuff, but the way I'm using it is VERY different. There is a technique of making fabric stencils using freezer paper. (There's a great tutorial here.) So far I've made Graham a shirt for watching the Dallas Cowboys and shirt for watching the Denver Broncos.

It's a really easy project, and I'm kind of addicted. I decided to give my niece something with a graphic picture and maybe add a little fabric for something different. Ohh, look at me trying something new! I picked an owl since they are popular right now and planned for my little owl friend to perch on a pretty, little branch.

There were a few flaws in the stencil, but it adds to the charm, right? Plus, even stuff you buy at the store isn't perfect all the time. I did sew around the edge of the branch to make it look a little more professional. I really like how it turned out.

Who needs just one shirt? Certainly not a stylish little girl! So I made her another one. I saw this pillow on pinterest and thought it was cute.

I drew a few little birdies and cut them out as a pattern, ironed on my Wonder-Under, and soon I had a happy little flock. I stitched a wire perch for them and debated sewing around each one, but in the end I opted to leave them as they were. The little birds would have been more secure through washing and drying if I had stitched around them, but my sewing skills aren't that great. And after sewing the branch on the other shirt, I wasn't willing to tackle 12 tiny birds. The final product is pretty adorable, if you ask me.

It's been fun working on a few projects here and there. I love being able to share them with others, and it's fun to make things for a little girl.

So...it's Monday, go make something!

The First Birthday--the party

Being the crazy mama that I am, I planned two parties. Friday night, on G's actual birthday, we had a potluck cookout with our small group friends, namely G's little baby buddies. Four of us in the group had babies last summer and G kicked off the birthday bashes. EL is next, followed by EH, and J rounds us out. So fun that the babies even have friends!

Anyway, Friday was the friend party and Saturday was a cookout with the extended family. We had a great time. Saturday was just too hot, so after we ate and G smashed his cake, we moved everything indoors. Oh, and it was so hot that the balloon arch wilted away one popped balloon at a time. When it's hot enough to pop balloons, it's time to come in.

First, the friends:
The grown-ups had fun eating and talking and playing some games.

Then it was the kids' turn to have fun.

The only little lady.

My kid is so much like his father. He hardly got messy. He's such a "clean" eater--no face plants, no hair smearing--just fingers to mouth. We finally took it away when he just started clearing off the tray using his sweeper move. When he's done with something, he wants the mess gone!

This was our valiant attempt to get all the babies to look at the same time.

and they're out...

Finally G and his buddy J made a run for it. 

Then the family:
This party was in the middle of the day. The set-up was the same, the food was basically the same except  my mom and I made it all (burgers, potato salad, ramen noodle cabbage salad, baked beans, watermelon, strawberry lemonade), the cake was the same. It was just a lot hotter and there were more people. Still lots of fun, but G was pretty partied out by the end of the day.

I'm telling you, the kid is a "clean" eater. Cake destroyed, no mess on little man. No post-cake bath for this boy. Just a little rinse off in the baby pool and we were good to go. He definitely played more and ate less the second time around. That's ok. He doesn't need the sugar or the excessive amounts of food coloring anyway.

By the time we got to presents G was starting to run out of steam.

G's last present was a wagon. Who can resist two little boys in a wagon? But G was done. It was naptime. And his cousin J thought it was super fun to grab the sides and rock the whole thing back and forth. G was not down with that action.

"Hey man, quit rockin' the boat!"

All in all it was great birthday. I can't believe my baby is a year old! 

The First Birthday--the details

I will begin by stating that I know G will not remember this birthday. But I will remember this birthday. And when he asks, I will tell him that he was loved and celebrated. I will also tell him that he's not allowed to have an outdoor party again unless it involves a pool.

I had dreams of this beautifully decorated party that was cute and clever and coordinated. Then I snapped back to reality. I didn't want to spend a lot on this party, and when it came down to it, I didn't want something perfect, I wanted something fun. So, fun is what I did.

I made a "1" wreath for the front door and attached everything with pins so it can be usable every year. I used cream yarn to cover the wreath so it will go with any party theme in the future. Yay for fun new traditions. (Note: I planned to hot glue a thumbtack to each piece, but the tacks didn't stick far enough into the foam wreath to hold anything securely. So I just used pins and got over the fact that you can see them.)

I also made a bunting for the front porch. While we were visiting my parents, I dipped into my mom's fabric stash to make my flags. I just used the pinking shears to cut them, which meant the only sewing required was to attach the flags to the bias tape. Easy peasy. A few of the fabrics have sentimental value, but most were just random. I ended up with way more than I thought, which means I scored two buntings. They're so fun and summery that I just took them down two days ago. If they weren't getting faded in the sun, I probably would have left them up all summer.

The last decoration was a balloon arch. I followed this tutorial and it worked like a charm. I had trouble finding waxed kitchen twine, so I just used wax coated dental floss. It's super cheap and doesn't break, especially when it's only holding balloons. I enlisted the help of one of Adam's summer interns at the church to help me blow up balloons. We both got super light headed. Thankfully it didn't take too long.

So, the party was light on decorations, but it really didn't feel that way. We put some colorful tablecloths on the tables in the garage and used colored cups and napkins, so maybe that made it feel more put together. Either way, it looked great and felt welcoming without a lot of effort.

I also made G a shirt to wear. It had a 1 on the front and back like a jersey along with his name on the back. We got him some new little g's for his birthday, so of course everything coordinated.

Man that kid has long hair! Someone should give him a haircut!

Finally the cake. Oh the cake. After my cakes in a jar disaster, I focused on actually having enough cake for all the guests. I only had 11 jars, so those were just going to be a novelty for the kids in addition to cupcakes. I'm not great at making fancy cakes and I didn't want to mess with having to cut anything, so I went the cupcake route. Instead of layering the colored batter, I just made each one a different color with white frosting. Several cake mixes (yeah, I used a box. The frosting was from scratch, though) later, I had a lot of cupcakes and enough batter left to make G's special cake. This was my inspiration for G's cake because it's one of his favorite toys:

Since I'm terrible at frosting a cake, I decided to make the cake itself colored. I found a set of three biscuit cutters that were graduated sizes and then used a glass and a plastic lid to make the largest rings. I baked each layer in a different pan--mostly small casserole dishes--so they would be large enough to cut two circles (I had to make two cakes since we had two parties) but small enough to make sure the layers weren't too thin. Once baked, I wrapped each layer in plastic wrap and popped it in the freezer to cool and harden some. When it was almost time for the party I just cut my circles, stacked them up with a little frosting between each, and we were good to go. I was so nervous that it wouldn't work, but it turned out AWESOME! The second one was a lot better (more even layers and much straighter) then the first, but I didn't have time to take a picture of that one with his toy.

It turned out to be such a fun celebration. Getting all the food ready and worrying about the sweltering heat made things a little stressful, but once the party started, we all had a great time. My goal was to have everything ready so Adam and I could really enjoy celebrating our son's first birthday. And we did.

cricket....cricket...cricket....

Yeah. That's the sound of silence.

I've been hibernating. I know hibernation is usually a winter thing, but it tends to be my go-to after big events. So, after G's big birthday bash, I took the week off. Then Adam's sister and our nieces came for a visit, so there was no time for writing about anything.

But now I feel like I can re-enter my life again.

Here's a teaser of the best birthday ever...