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...

The Night Before

More to come, but this is what I did the night before...

Dreamland

I've mentioned my wild dreams before. They are vivid and bizarre. And a lot of the time I remember them.

Last night I met the Queen. Yep, the actual Queen. My old boss didn't want to bother with meeting her, so he sent someone else who got nervous and botched the meeting. Then apparently it was my turn. The strange part, as if meeting the Queen in my dreams was not strange enough, was that I was a teenager. I had all these important things to discuss with her and she actually listened. Then later, I got the chance to talk to her again and she called me delightful. Go figure.

There was some more about a tacky redecorating job in what I can only assume was where I worked, but I don't really remember that part. And suddenly I was in a room with some of my other high school friends. Fitting since I was still a teenager, and we were hanging out with the fifth grade version of ourselves. Yep, we were all there in double--one aged 17 or so and one aged 11.

How do you switch from the Queen to yourself as a middle schooler? And where does all this come from? I have no idea. In the last 24 hours I have had nothing cross my path that even remotely resembles the Queen or me and my friends as kids. But I woke up feeling rested when G started jabbering away at 6:30 am.

Faux Hawk

G woke up this morning with a perfect faux hawk. It was awesome!

I think he likes it.

I fear it's time for a haircut. This makes me so sad. I don't want my baby to look like a boy yet. [pout, pout, pout] Since his birthday is next week, I am going to wait for the haircut until he's one. Then we'll trim that hair off his neck and around his ears. And I'm sure I'll say, "He's so cute. Why didn't we do this sooner?"

Disclaimer: This was totally natural. I did nothing to get his hair to look like this.

Pool Time

Last summer G was a newborn. Neither of us were very keen on the idea of putting on a swimsuit and hopping in the pool. But this summer, well, let's just say I've been looking forward to some pool time! I have great memories of taking swimming lessons in the summer and I can't wait for G to do the same. Of course, that will be in a few years, but we can start the fun now, right?

The first time we went he cried. It wasn't a "I'm freaked out by this" kind of cry, it was an "Um, this water is cold!" kind of cry. We waited a week of 90+ degree days and tried again. This time we had loads of fun!

G kicked and splashed and laughed and danced in the water. He loved his little raft. He does such a good job of keeping his sunglasses and hat on when we're out in the sun. I think he likes to be able to see when it's so bright, so he just leaves them alone.

We're going to make it a goal to go swimming at least once a week this summer. Yay for pool time!

Splashing Daddy!

Sew...

I got a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago. I wanted to learn to sew things like pillow covers so I wouldn't have to buy them. It took me a little while to warm up and gain confidence, but pretty soon I started sewing stuff. One of my first projects was covering the cushions on my couch. What was I thinking doing that as a "beginner" project? Nothing beginner about it, especially since I didn't have a pattern or any idea what I was doing. It turned out OK--if you don't look too closely.

Anyway, I've made an ottoman cover, pillows, shams and curtains for a friend, burp cloths, a crib skirt for the nursery, some drawstring bags, and a few other things that I can't remember. Nothing that required any kind of real skill, just some straight line sewing.

Until lately.

I have been wanting to try my hand at sewing clothes for a while. But I'm scared. Clothes require skills and knowledge of sewing terms and patterns. Eekk! But then I stumbled across this blog and suddenly sewing clothes seemed much less intimidating. Clothes aren't scary. We wear them everyday.

So I decided to try something easy. Adam had just cleaned out one of his t-shirt (yes, I said one, there are at least three t-shirt drawers for him) and I had some old, white undershirts that were stained but not holey just lying around. I had seen this picture on pinterest and thought it would be fun for summer.


The link on the picture led me here. Hmmm...tutorial for a little girl's dress. Not quite what I was looking for, but I decided I could use the same concept just bigger. Plus, I was using a shirt destined for the rag bag, so if it didn't work, I wasn't really out anything.

First I laid the shirt out on the table and used another shirt of mine to give me an idea on size. I chose this shirt because I like the way it fits--not too tight, not too baggy. Then I added some to allow for a seam. In the tutorial she just draws with a marker (probably a fabric marker, but who really has one of those lying around? Not me!) right on the shirt. I busted out my trusty washable crayola markers and went to town.

I used a tank top as a pattern for the arm holes, but I didn't take a picture of that. Once things were drawn onto the shirt, I started cutting. I only drew half so I could just fold it over and cut out the other side. That left me with a front piece and a back piece that were exactly alike. Easy Peasy.

After I had everything cut out I just followed the tutorial step by step sewing the arm holes, then gathering the neck (I learned how to make something gathered!), and adding the colored yoke. This is where I deviated from the tutorial. I cut the bottom off another t-shirt so I had two strips of fabric. I sewed them together to make one long strip. Then instead of doing all the pressing under so you get nice finished edges, I just pressed my strip in half and left the edges raw. It's knit, it won't fray. I didn't have any blue thread so I used lime green and opted to sew two lines to make it more decorative. Look at me going rouge!

And instead of sewing the whole length of the tie, I just left it raw too. I decided it would be too bulky otherwise.

I've worn my new shirt a couple of times already and I really like it. I think I may make another one. Or two.

And the best part of this project was that I could finish it in G's naptime.