Pioneer, Little House on the Prairie First Birthday Party

Well, about seven months ago Lilly turned one ;) We had a super party and I never blogged about it. I have been feeling nostalgic lately about Lilly and how she really is still a baby at 19 months old but she won't be for long! Such a personality and almost 'chatty' now at home, she even sometimes waves at people in public now (against her very nature). We had the party at my husband's parents house and it really was the perfect setting for the 'theme'. I try not to go hugely overboard on a birthday theme but this one was a little easier since we had so much stuff that could work already and anything I made could be used over and over since it was so neutral. Ava and I have been loving the My First Little House books and I think that inspired the theme a bit. First birthdays are just all about family and some sweet decorations for the photos in my mind ;) We have traveled home for each of our girl's first birthdays and have had about 40 people at each one, they end up almost being a family reunion. It's not pictured here but there was a HUGE amount of food served at the party.

Huge carrot cake with fresh flowers and a naughty big sister who snuck in and put her fingers in the cake. It was pretty easy to fix though. I still can't believe she did that.

Some antique napkins ironed in half and hung over twine. 

Main Table: Prairie Lincoln Logs that we already had, plus a few little wagons made by my husband from clearance craft kits from Michael's, some little baby food jars with fabric tied around them, and a burlap runner. This table came out so cute and we have used everything on it in lots of other ways since the party. 

The sign in sheet scrap book pages. I've never done anything with them but I have made and put out sign in sheets for all the girl's parties by some miracle! One day I'm sure they will all turn into something really adorable. 

Lilly was just walking ;)

Me and the girls - oh we are going to be a gossipy group one day ;) 

The banner I made hanging over the door was my favorite party decoration. It was sewn to some yellow ribbon and crocheted lace with burlap and vintage napkin pennants. 

We clipped a painters drop cloth to the wagon = instant covered wagon rides. I made that bonnet! It is hanging in her room. I love having it around as a special memory. I have a few little things from Ava's first birthday too. 

Ugh such a gorgeous, creamy, chubby baby! Perfection. I honestly can't believe she's mine some days ;) 

My father in law and sister in law painted this adorable lady bug tire swing. It is so much fun, I bet my girls and nieces will remember this ladybug tire swing as adults. 

Lilly now at 19 months old - adorable and so herself. She's going to run a small country someday or be the scariest boss you have ever had ;) 

First Birthday Prints and Our Mia Nolting Draws Letters Prints

I can't wait to post about Lilly's birthday it was perfect! In the meantime here is Lilly's takeaway print. I decided it would be more fun just to have this be a keepsake as opposed to my regular first birthday invitation, plus me pulling together mailing anything is almost impossible these days. Even though alas I couldn't get it printed at 5x7 for less than $1.50 a print! So now I have to mail them with the thank you notes anyway, but they are all ordered on Arts Cow for a very good price. We did two different main images because one was from my phone and I was worried about the resolution - but just fyi they both printed well. These both came from KM Thomas and I am always happy with her work and she is super speedy too! Ava's first year invitation is still up on Oh Dee Doh.

Also! I got back my Mia Nolting Draws Letters files back and they are great! I sent her the names and $1 per word via PayPal (so $2 per print below) and two weeks later I got a high res .jpg file. I can't wait to get them in some sweet matted frames but I supposed there are lots of cool things I can do with them. The bonus is that Ava (three) is at the age where she loves to read her name and she was so excited about the prints. 

Three!

Ava had a great party this past weekend. We did lots of blue and red strawberry decorations and the best chocolate cake ever!

Hat template from oh happy day

Seriously this is THE best chocolate cake ever and did I mention so easy! 

I ended up making the table runner and the little felt strawberries. I had lots of help from my mother in law finishing them all!

Cricut banner made from my favorite cartridge Country Life.

Easter Re-Cap

We had such a beautiful Easter Party! In big part to my husband and my sister-in-law who stayed up with me working till 1am the night before. I will never figure out how I can spend two months planning something and end up doing 75% of the work the night before. I was doing this in high school, college and even at work! It isn't procrastination, it is probably more about being unrealistic with what I have time to pull off without being up all night. Ah well.

This runner is from Williams of Sonoma (found on clearance a few years ago). 

 

Centerpieces are milk glass vases filled with tulips and Gerber daisies. 

I didn't exactly finish this runner before the party. It isn't lined and the bias tape didn't make it to the edges. But actually it still looked great on the table. 

These cupcakes are copies of these. I used gel icing tubes to decorate the cookies. 

This cookie recipe + this fresh strawberry cupcake and cream cheese frosting recipe. 

Napkin Rings made by my sister in law; tutorial here. 

They have carrot napkin packets ;)

So excited about the egg hunt! We must have done a good job with the build up. 

There was a cricut banner, by my sister in law again. For some reason you can't see any of the cute ribbons or flowers in the photo but they are there!

Oh these girls!

And the ham was delicious!

More Easter posts here. 

My New Career and a Tinker Bell Birthday

Well, hopefully not really my new career. Even though I was a pretty exciting Tinker Bell for my niece's third birthday in February.

 My only real character act was pretending to fly around the house and chase the girls and scream. I did this in front of my husband's entire family in a dress that I bought about 15lbs ago. But the kids loved it so much that I only had slight feelings of 'what the hell was I thinking' when it was over. Here the girls are all hiding from me - SO cute.

 The finished cake made by my sister in law.

The cake in process

Oh yes there was a Cricut banner. 

 Do you like my Tinker Bell rub-on tattoo? I feel the need to say here that I don't have a real tattoo. 

Yummy little three month old. Lilly is twice as old now!

Dora the Explorer Party Part II - Ava turns 2!

Did I mention, oh yes I did in Part I, that we had 18 out of town guests for Ava's second birthday at the end of July. The low points were that the heat index was 110 and we had major AC problems (right...) and also maybe that the two things I did make for the party ended up as always being 'night before projects'. But oh well such is life. The night everyone left the house did get back to a normal temperature which was of much relief to me considering I have tried so, so hard this pregnancy to avoid swelling.

But here are the high points! We had the party at the Daytona Beach, Museum of Arts and Sciences - lots of trains, hands-on children's exhibits, lots of art, and more! Museum's are a great place for a party.

So besides the cookies I made this cool Cricut birthday banner (other banners here)-  yes it did take about 5 hours thanks for noticing ;) For some reason you can't see how super fun all the sparkly ribbons are that are tied between each letter in the photo. 

When I realized that Dora figurines were like $6 each (robbery!) I decided to order the cake from Publix and just add the Swiper Ava wanted. 

Can you see the big paper stars on the table? My husband cut out like a million with a star punch because he is really awesome like that about any task you can mindlessly do while watching TV. This includes folding laundry ladies! Oh and Ava is wearing an authentic vintage Mexican dress from eBay. She really liked it!

Also, I made some big paper Mexican flowers to hang from the ceiling and they made a big difference in the room. You can barely see an orange one in this photo. I obviously wasn't taking pictures because there are mostly ones of people and not my decor ;)

Ava got some fabulous presents - I mean just perfect! This drum was among her favorites.

She also loved her Ladybug Western Chief Boots, Coat and Umbrella.

We made lots of Pizza in the children's museum area

We also checked out the trains before we left ;) Look closely at those little munchkins. 

Most importantly everyone had FUN! 

update - oh look I found a photo of the decor ;)

I have to say I am a big fan of home parties but after the Museum I am not sure I can go back! What about you have you ever tried a public venue for your child's party?