Kaitlin's First Birthday Party

We had a great time at Kaitlin's first birthday party. Most importantly, I think Kaitlin had a fun time too. She loves to have people over, and seems to just enjoy all the hustle and bustle. The only time she got upset was when Mama tried to make her wear her beautiful party hat while eating her cake. (Which Dan said was a little "pageant mom-ish" of me). (Sorry if I offended any pageant moms out there...) I'll tell that story later though. Apart from that, she loved the tissue paper when opening presents, she loved her cake and she loved having her baby friends here.

First, here are the party details. I decided to put them in one slide show so you can just skip on over it, if flowers, crafting, and "tablescapes" don't make you excited. (I love that kind of stuff).

These are just some little details that I want to remeber...We used my Grandmother's pink table cloth, my mom's ivory tablecloth, my Aunt Linda's china, and my silver for the party. It was fun to have a little something from so many ladies in the family.

I made a garland with a photo of Kaitlin from each month of her first year and hung it over the family room fire place. I think that was my favorite decoration. The "1" above the fireplace was made by my friend Shannon for her daughter's party. I was just lucky enough to get to re-use it. Thank you!

We had a brunch--an egg casserole with mom's homemade salsa, french toast casserole (which is SO yummy), fresh fruit, and muffins. The cakes were chocolate with buttercream filling and yellow with chocolate filling. I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory.....

Now for the party part.

I'm putting most of the photos in a slide show because there were so many, but I had to leave a few out to record the memory that went with it.

First I thought this was cute...

Do you like my bracelet?

Oh, I just love your paci!

Andrew had a chocolate covered strawberry. Apparently it gave him a good fight.

Shannon gave Kaitlin this sweet dress. Megan thought she might like one too and carried it around. It was so cute.

I made a video of Kaitlin's first year, which our friends and family were kind enough to sit through.

All 24 minutes of it.

Did I mention I have really nice friends and family? I'll post it next week in case you're REALLY desperate for something to do.

Then we did the cake. I bought the sweetest little hat for her (actually before she was even born)...and she wasn't fond of it. She was tired and was not happy about even being put into the high chair. The hat was the final straw. You can see in this photo I was holding her hand to keep her from pulling it off....

I thought maybe if we kept it on her long enough for her to see the cake with the candle on it she'd forget about it. So, I kept trying to get her to wear it, which made her even MORE mad, and then I (jokingly, making fun of myself for trying to get her to wear a hat she clearly didn't want to wear) dryly said, "Kaitlin, you will wear the hat." Apparently not everyone knew I was joking. Which leads me to think that perhaps some self reflection is in order. My own husband didn't even know! Which later led to the "pageant mom" comment that I mentioned above....Anyway, here's the photo of angry Kaitlin and her neurotic mother...(I still think it's funny). No permanent damage was done.

As much as Kaitlin didn't like the hat, she loved her cake....

I had to take one last photo of the cake before cutting into it....

We hardly saw all the bigger kids during the party. Apart from coming down to eat, they were happily playing upstairs. They have a good time together. I'm so glad.

It was a really fun morning. Thanks to everyone for coming and helping us celebrate.

Happy First Birthday, Katiebug!!

Now this Mommy is going to go get some sleep.

Andrew's 3rd Birthday Party

Although Andrew's 3rd birthday isn't until the 8th, we had his birthday party this past weekend so that we'd be able to celebrate his real birthday as a family without having to worry about party preparations.

We had just a small gathering of 3 families and of course, grandparents. One of Andrew's friends arrived late, so she isn't in the photo, and Matthew was not in a photo taking mood (not surprising), so here are the rest of the party goers.

(Noah is behind the yellow balloon. We just do the best we can. :))

And here are some cute photos of the Grandparents. I love this one of Winnie and Carl.....

And although the trip was honestly quite difficult for my Dad, my parents were able to make it to the party. Such a wonderful gift. We appreciate this as we know how hard it was....

The theme was a "boat" party as Andrew loves boats and water. So we set up the pools for the kids to swim (it was a tad chilly out though) and had lunch.

And here's Andrew proudly displaying his age....

Andrew received lots of nice gifts....

And had a fun cake that he picked out. We were in Fred Meyer walking by the bakery when he saw this cake on display. He was SO excited, literally jumping up and down, pointing and saying, "For my party!!!! For my boat party!!!!" It was so cute...so here it is. And thank goodness for the Grandparents who got it all properly assembled before the party started. They should include a sign "Some assembly required...."

This has to be my very favorite photo of the day though. How sweet is this?

Claire and Andrew are such a cute pair. Claire is unusually petite for her age (she's 7 weeks older than Andrew)and Andrew is unusually tall for his age, so it's funny to see them side by side. They are sweet friends. I love the expression on their faces--you can see they really love each other.

It was a fun, relaxed day. Andrew had a happy time doing all that he loves...boats + water + friends + lots of sweets and sugar = a pefect day.

Happy 80th Birthday Dad!!

We celebrated my Dad's 80th birthday on July 5th. What a milestone! We decided it would be best to just have a small gathering. Just "family" (chosen, married into, and genetically speaking, as well).

The above mosaic includes some of the decorations/food that was served. The Tootsie Rolls had special meaning. When I was little, occasionally my Dad would stop off on his way home from work and bring us Tootsie Rolls. I remember what a treat it would be for him to come home with these treasures (along with Necco Wafers...but the Tootsie Rolls were my favorite) in his pocket. Tootsie Rolls have always reminded me of my Dad.

I took some photos of everyone with Dad as they arrived.

We had some special guests that came as well. Our dear friends, Kristi and Ryan and their sweet kids, Caden and Meghan made a trip to see Dad. Kristi is like another daughter to my Dad--we grew up always at one another's house. We didn't tell Dad she was coming, and the expression on his face when she walked down the sidewalk was just priceless. He was really so happy to see her. What a gift. We're so grateful that they made the effort to come and visit Dad.

We had a delicious dinner and just a nice time visiting. My mom worked really hard and made an amazing video of photos documenting much of my Dad's life. What a labor of love. It was really a special gift to him. And fun for all of us to see.

And just a few more fun photos from the day.....

As I went through the photos to put this together I was struck by how happy my Dad looks. He really looks great. I think it just speaks to what a nice day it was for him, and what good it does for the soul to know you are loved. We love you so very, very much, Dad.

Happy Birthday!

Matthew's 5th Birthday Party

Matthew wanted a "Captain Hook" party for his 5th birthday.  I'm not a skull and crossbones kind of a girl, but I have to say, I had a lot of fun with this party.  The kids (and I) really enjoyed the games--a treasure hunt, walking the plank, and throwing "cannon balls" at Captain Hook.  My friend Shannon, (crafter extraordinnaire) helped me make some fun banners and I made our usual sugar cookies--this time in the shape of a crocadile as that is one of Matthew and Andrew's favorite parts of "Peter Pan."

The Treasure hunt started with a ring at the door where Peter Pan left a bottle with a note in it requesting the kids' help in finding his treasure before Captain Hook finds it. The night before the party as we were getting ready, Dan happily made available a bottle (from his favorite beer). Matthew, who notices everything, later asked, "mama, why did Peter Pan leave his note in a beer bottle?" Oops. He really thought it was Peter Pan doing all of this--it was so cute. He said it was his favorite part of the party. Mine too.

The "canonballing" of Captain Hook started off tamely enough. The kids had fun throwing the balloons at a blown up picture of Captain Hook. Until...I'm not sure who started it, but the whole thing dissolved into a water balloon fight amongst the men (or shall I say, Boys?)

I think this party was my favorite, to date. Just a relaxed, fun, day. And most importantly, the birthday boy had a fabulous time.