Musicians in the Making

While on a recent playdate at KatieGrace's house, Lorelai and Miller found her trunk of musical instruments.  Since we don't keep many of those things around our place they were like kids in a candy store!  

First up was my music man on the trumpets.

Lorelai found a guitar to match her outfit of the moment.  (Fashion show post to follow at a later date.)

Apparently the level of musical expertise wasn't up to KatieGrace's liking.

All Aboard the Gingerbread Express

My mom found a gingerbread train on sale at Bed, Bath & Beyond, so one Saturday that was their activity of choice.  They made it in the morning and then napped while it "set."  They got to taste it after they woke up.

The architects.

Kneading the icing.

Laying the groundwork for the gingerbread.

Our train before decorations.

The bright candy bowl...mmmmmmm!

The bright green icing kind of made it look a little more like a haunted house than a gingerbread train...

...and there may have been some structural damage along the way.

Here's what the intended finished product was supposed to look like.

Here's what ours looked like.  I see no difference.  Must be a mother's love.  :)

Pajama Playdate

A few weekends ago my friend, Susan, and her daughter, KatieGrace, came over for a pajama playdate.  Luckily the kids, as well as the adults, are all great friends so while the little ones played the grown-ups got to chat and hang out.

When we hang out I typically provide the entree (pizza) and Susan provides the dessert (cupcakes).  She sweet talks the people behind the counter at Ingles and gets them to rearrange one of their containers so that we can have 3 vanilla cupcakes with white icing (and by white I mean iridescent yellow on this occasion) and 3 chocolate cupcakes with white icing (my favorite!!!).  This time the chocolate ones were decorated like some combination of an ice cream sundae/milkshake thing.  They were adorable and tasted every bit as good as they looked!

The kids enjoyed their Dora-themed cupcakes.

Getting punchy we decided to put leftover stickers on our faces from last year's calendar.  Susan had a reminder on her forehead to go to the dentist.

Time for some smooches...pucker up!

Absolutely Adoring My New Chapeau

One of Dan's friends/co-workers has a girlfriend who crochets.  She made me this incredibly fabulous hat in my favorite color.  Next up on her needles for me is a hat/scarf set in a classic color combo: black and red.  Photos to follow...

A Bouncy House, Balloons, and Bows

After pancakes it was time to head out to the garage for some bouncy house fun.  If you look really hard in the background, you can see Miller in his blue Spider-Man pajamas.

Here's Cara Beth closing here eyes and making a wish before blowing out her candle.  I think the way this picture was captured looks so sweet.

This is Ruthie.  She was a six-year-old helper at the party who served as a hostess and gave out all of the pancakes to the little kids.  Right before I took this she was starting to doze off because she said it was, "hard work being a helper."   :)

After Cara Beth opened her presents, a group photo was attempted by the birthday mom.  Miller accidentally sat in the birthday girl's seat and he wouldn't stop playing with the balloons that were attached to it long enough to look at the camera.  The other kids were ready to get back into the bouncy house, so basically the photo was a lost cause.

So, for humility's sake I'm including this one. Just for kicks I tried to get Miller to put this bow from a present on his head.  He wouldn't do it so I put it on my head instead.  Miller took my picture.  How do I look?

Pancakes & Pajamas

The theme for the party Miller and I attended last weekend was "Pancakes & Pajamas."  Not sure how I missed that one in my party-planning repertoire, but I will be sure to file it away for later ~ too, too precious!!! 

The first thing on the agenda was to make sure all of the party guests had an apron so that they didn't get their PJs dirty.  They came in orange, purple, pink, and green.  The animal choices were frogs, butterflies, and ladybugs.  Miller looks quite handsome in his, if I do say so myself.

The table was set with bowls of toppings (blueberries, bananas, strawberries, marsmallows, and chocolate chips), whipped cream, and syrup.

It also had bowls of cookie cutters on them.  That's because...

...while some of the pancakes were smaller and had faces on them, the others were regular sized and could be cut out into various shapes for the kids to enjoy.  On a side note, clearly Miller was only interested in the sweet toppings. 

The finished product of the cups for the kids.  Makes me want to hit a Starbucks right now!

This is one of Miller's friends from school, Eli, who just adores Miller.  I kept trying to get a picture of them but my little man wasn't having any of it.  Poor Eli kept trying to hold his hand and give him hugs, but Miller kept turning away and just kept eating.  Finally Eli kissed him on the head.  This was the pure reaction of happiness that Eli had from finally getting to show Miller some affection.  How sweet!  Miller got to be happy, too, because he still got to eat.  Everybody wins!

Taking Some Serious Notes

I used to consider myself a pretty decent hostess in the party throwing arena, but clearly I have a lot to learn from the party Miller and I attended on Saturday.  I'm going to post pictures from the actual party later but here are some of the photos of the decorations.  I was telling Ma about how fantastic they were and she pointed out to me how they were done to impress the adults.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that, I would have done the same thing.)  Well you know what...they impressed this one!!!

The entryway table decorations.

Miniature cupcakes/party favors.  (Both for the kids who came AND one to take home for each of their siblings!)  I REALLY have to step up my game!

"Tall" Starbucks type coffee cups for the kids to drink out of with lids on them, of course ~ complete with cupcake ribbons on them.

Individual printed labels for each type of drink available ~ both for kids and adults.  Each label had its own unique cupcake holder.

A cupcake tower with both mini and regular sizes.