Summer Picnic

My mom's work has an annual summer picnic and we went a few weeks ago, right before our trip to the coast.  It was bloody hot but we still had a great time.  Here is Savannah and Abbie.

One of the employees is a young man who Sydney thinks is pretty cute.  He was putting  "Team USA" tattoos on the kids and Sydney blushed mightily the entire time.

Then Savannah wanted a "too-tat," as she calls them.  So of course she got one and I love how Sydney was watching over her like, "Don't even think about taking my boy."  Sing it with me..."and Lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man!"

There was also a police officer there who was letting the kids get in his car.  I just have to say, this had better be the ONLY time my girls are in the back of a cop car.

Savannah's 2nd Birthday Party

The Inspiration:

This last weekend we had Savannah's birthday party.  I came up with the idea for an owl and pinwheel party last summer, just around her first birthday.  A friend of mine, Patti, had a baby shower when she was expecting her son, Everett.  Her friend threw her the cutest little baby shower and it was an owl and pinwheel theme.  Before you read the rest of this post, please click here and check out her adorable baby shower that inspired Savannah's birthday party.

Go ahead, check it out!

Isn't that ADORABLE?!  I never would have put owls and pinwheels together as a theme, but seeing it there just sealed it for me, and I immediately called Melissa and we started working on a party.  I was so incredibly happy with how everything for the party turned out.

The Decorations:

I had it in my head that I wanted to make a pinwheel wreath to welcome everyone to the party.  I originally put these pinwheels on my burlap covered wreath and hated it.  I re-did it at the last minute and I LOVE how it turned out.  Now, this bright and cheery wreath is on my front door.

The food table was where most of the decorations were, along with the favor boxes and cupcakes.  I was really pleased with how bright and colorful everything looked.  Melissa, my bestie over at 5M Creations, designed and printed the things for the banner, party hat, invitations, centerpieces, water bottle labels, and cupcake toppers.  She let me put most of it together since she knows I like to be super involved in the party process.  She printed out a bunch of paper for me to form into pinwheels, which I used to make the other centerpieces, the wreath, and the wreath garland along this table.  I also made the poms (successfully, this time).

I kept the decorations on the kid's table pretty low-key since they would be making a huge mess with cake later on.  A double-sided centerpiece, personalized water bottles, and poms made a cute little table.

I have to give a HUGE shout-out to Melissa.  As with all of our parties, we talked for hours and hours over the last year, going over every detail of this party.  My parties are as much her's because she truly loves my children and enjoys helping me make their parties awesome.  Thanks, bestie!

The Birthday Girl:

Savannah had such a great time at her party!  She played so hard and only stopped when it was time for cake!

Partying With Friends:
We had the party at a local indoor playground that is designed for toddlers.  All the kids had so much fun!  They ran and played and jumped and screamed and just had such a great time!  We are so, so blessed to have so many people in our lives who love our children.  We had lots of friends come out to celebrate Savannah's birthday with us.

The Birthday Girl and her Family:

Happy Birthday, Sweet Savannah!

Funky Plate

Today is this little miss' birthday party.  Here she is with what has become a tradition in our house.

Her Funky name plate.  And I'm not calling it "funky" because I like to be cool, hip, or trendy.  That's the actual name of these name plates.  I get them from an online store called EM Tanner Designs.  Remember back when Jon and Kate Gosselin were still married and they had their reality show?  Aw, the good ol' days.  All their kids had these plates so the parents could keep the food straight for all eight kids.  I loved them then so I got one for Sydney and Madison when they turned two.  Then, I got them for Micah and Mason when they turned two.  And now, it's Savannah's turn.  I know she doesn't look pleased in this picture, but she was actually really excited.  She kept pointing to her name saying "Sa-nan-ah."

And speaking of "Sa-nan-ah," home-girl graduated out of her highchair a few days ago.  This was extremely difficult for me.  I'm not really ready to sell it, I can't seem to get over the fact that I will never have another baby who will need all these baby things.  So, it's hanging out in the garage for now and Savannah gets to sit in her big girl booster seat at the table.

As you can see, she's just a teeny bit excited about being a big girl like Sydney.  For old times sake, here's one last cutie-patootie picture of her in her high chair.

I kind of think she looks like Victoria Beckham in those shades.  My baby!!

Epic Craft Fail

Savannah's birthday party is this weekend.  It's an owl and pinwheel themed party (stay tuned for pictures of the party and the baby shower that inspired the theme) and Melissa and I made all the decorations.  I wanted a little something for the tables at the party and I saw these on Pinterest.

Aren't they adorable?  I've made tissue poms before and they are not only really easy, but they are super cheap and always turn out looking amazing.  So I got my supplies and went ahead to try to make some of these cuties.

Yah, didn't quite happen. 

I followed the directions to a tee.  And when things started to go horribly wrong, I started over and again made sure I was following the directions.  I think part of the problem was that the directions had me make a full sized pom when clearly, these are mini-poms.  I know this because the 5 inch styrofoam ball that makes up the head looks proportionate on the mini pom owls, but on a full size pom, it looks miniscule.  My pom owl came out looking like a green dementor (a dementor is a mythical creature in the Harry Potter series).  Here it is.  Please don't laugh.  Remember, I didn't have to share this with you, but I did.

This picture was taken after it had sat out for a day, so the pom looks particularly terrible here.  It was actually more oblong shaped when I made it which is how it was supposed to be, but do you see what I mean about the head?!  And for the life of me, I couldn't get it to attach like it said it would in the tutorial.  You can see the side of a proper pom next to my dementor one.  So, so bad.  Needless to say, there will be no little owl poms at Savannah's party.  No worries, though.  I'm super excited about the rest of the decorations but oh my, these were such an epic crafting fail.

For you non-Harry Potter fans out there, here is a dementor for your reference.

Now that you've seen this dementor picture, look back up at my failed owl pom and tell me you don't see the resemblence!

Bad, Bad Wife

In the midst of our crazy summer, traveling, ballet, gymnastics, swim lessons, and getting ready for Savannah's birthday party, I neglected to mention on this blog that Chris also had a birthday. 

Oops.

Sorry, babe.  But you know, when you have kids, parent birthdays get put on the back burner. 

Literally, on the back burner.  Here is a picture of the horridly ridiculous cake that Chris got for his birthday. 

A disgusting neopolitan cake picked out from the shelves of Safeway on the day after his actual birthday.  To give me a little credit, he was out of town on his real birth-day, so we celebrated the next day.  But we're totally broke, and any extra money will go to Savannah's party, so a $5.00 cake sufficed.  He actually liked it, he'll eat pretty much anything but tomatoes, but the girls and I barely choked it down. 

And did you see the candle?

When we went to eat the cake, I realized the only candle I had in the house, besides a ginourmous apple pumpkin spice Yankee candle, was the candle I had purchased for Savannah's upcoming party.  So, for his 43rd birthday, Chris got a "2" candle on top of his cake. 

Lest I sound totally unprepared for his birthday, I actually wasn't.  I may have blown it in the cake department, but I had his gifts all wrapped and ready and made a nice dinner.  And the funny thing is, Chris really liked his cake.  He delights in being cheap frugal and trying to help us save money.  This cake for him was perfect, and that's all that matters.

So happy late birthday to my awesome husband.  I love you so much!  Next year I promise I will have a real candle for your cake.

Beach Trip

The last two summers we have done a long weekend at the beach.  It's always something we look forward to.  This year we decided to make it longer since it's our vacation this year, so we went for five nights.  Let me tell you, it was perfect!  Absolutely, positively, with a cherry on top perfect-o.  The weather was awesome, and we stayed at this really cute beach cottage that is a block away from the beach.  We did nothing but play on the beach, shop, eat tons of saltwater taffy, and build fires on the beach to make smores.  It was just totally...chill.  The girls had such a great time.  I hope they can look back on these beach trips and remember playing in the ocean and sitting around a fire on the beach at sunset roasting marshmellows.

Part of the reason we chose this week to go to the beach was because it was Savannah's birthday.  My baby is now two years old.  I remember two years ago when we went to the beach and I was gi-normously pregnant and Chris dug a hole in the sand for my belly so I could lay on my stomach.  All you mom's out there, you know how amazing that feels to lay on your stomach when you haven't  been able to in months!  I just layed there all day while Chris and Sydney played in the water.  Last year at the beach Savannah and I mostly stayed in the tent and nursed.  She couldn't even walk yet.  This year Savannah and I were able to be out playing and goofing off with Chris and Sydney.  We had a special cinnamon roll breakfast on Savannah's birthday morning and gave her her first present of the day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Savannah!

Today is Savannah's second birthday!  Where has the time gone?  Seems like it was just yesterday that she was placed in my arms for the first time.  Now she is a sweet and spunky little two year old.  We spent the last week at the coast for some much needed family time.  I will post pictures of the beach later, but here is a shot of our birthday girl this morning when she opened her new Cinderella barbie.

Happy Birthday, Savannah!  Mommy, Daddy, and Sydney love you so very, very much!  You are an amazing blessing to us!