Winter ONEderland

I took a nice long break from blogging to spend time with lots of friends and family.  I'm going to skip the Christmas recap and head right in to our Winter ONEderland celebration for Little Miss.  That's right.  We now have a ONE year old.  The past year went by so fast.  Honestly, they all do.  Warning this post is HEAVY.  Picture heavy.  But I promise you won't mind, because while it might be heavy it's filled with cuteness!

First: our birthday girl

She was pretty tuckered out after a morning photo shoot at home and at the studio

But let's get to the party. I decided on a Winter ONEderland because, why not. It's winter and she is one.

First, the invite that went out: I worked with Wendy at Green Beansie to create an invite and a few other items. This was not the first party I have worked with Wendy on, but the first one we she designed specifically for me!  I sent her a few things I had seen, but after looking at my pinterest boards to see my style she designed the perfect invite! She is so great to work with and super creative!

I blew it up and put it in a frame that I doused in glitter.

Welcome.  I ordered 30 balloons.  10 of each color.  The stairs, mailbox and walkway all got them.  I tied the ones in the grass to golf tees.  It was fun and colorful and there was no question where the party was!  For whatever reason they popped frequently?!

The wreath I made for the door: Blue and white glitter tuelle.  It was a mess. I can't believe there is any glitter left on the tuelle.  I painted the snowflakes with the pink leftover from her room.  I sprinkled glitter that fell off the tuelle on them and then coated with some clear acrylic spray paint hoping to keep the glitter on them.

One of her proud big brothers wanted to help with the decorating as well



Seriously, doesn't get much cuter.

So glad these ladies were here to help me! The birthday girls Grandma and her Aunt Kelly!

Her Auntie 'Lissa delivered her cake and cookie favors, all the way from the Outer Banks!  Sorry, but when you have someone that bakes as well as her mom does, you have to make it work!  Thankfully Melissa was coming anyway!

The cake was absolutely perfect (& delicious). Seriously. I wanted a blue cake with some snowflakes. Strawberry flavored, which is a tradition among a few of us. I gave Melissas mom about as much direction as I gave Wendy. This was her beautiful creation:

Smash cake up close: Before

It had little clear sugar crystals that resembled snow or ice crystals. Simple and perfect!

I made 2 banners from felt snowflake ornaments.  The one on the mirror (above the cake table) spells out her name and the highchair says "ONE".  They were so cute up close, even though you could hardly read them, silver letter stickers were not the best choice.  They took a bit of work, especially since I coated them in glitter too!  Oh well.  It wasn't a total fail since they were cute and added a little more punch of glitter & snowflakes....just partial, since you couldn't read them!  On several tables were sticks the boys and I collected in the yard and spray painted silver.  We hung glitter (of course!) snowflakes from them.  Snowflakes also hung from the stairwell and chandelier in the dining room.

I didn't go crazy with picking food that had cleaver names. I picked some favorites of Little Miss and a few of ours.  I wrapped some different sized boxes in pink (Target), blue and silver (Michaels) snowflake wrapping paper. 

Wendy also created food tags for me. I didn't use too many of them, since everything was pretty self explanatory. However, I did want people to know a few things. I didn't want people to confuse the mayo and horseradish or fluff (Auntie JLa, you couldn't make it, but I was thinking of you!). Since there was alcohol, I also used one to let people know the pink lemonade was kid safe!

I did take 52 weekly pictures of Little Miss. I decided to scallop the bottom edge and put them on a one, that I cut out of poster board and covered in pink card stock. It was a fun project at first...then it got a little old. But once I had them all laid out and in front of me, I was glad I did it. It was so great to see all the changes before my very eyes. I could see where she chubbed up(between week 14 &15) and started rolling over (week 23) and where she was sitting up (week 28) and the one photo shoot she wouldn't stop blowing raspberries (week 30) and the one she only wanted to suck her thumb (week 41). People really enjoyed looking at it and I loved hearing the feedback.  I'm working on something to do with all those yards of fabric. (1 yard a week.  Some fabrics I used things around the house...a comforter, curtain fabric, a dress before it was hemmed, etc)

I also put her monthly pictures on silver doilies. I thought they sort of resembled snowflakes. Originally, I had something else in mind for these pics, but I saw the already silver (so much more fun than white, even though snowflakes aren't silver) ones at Michaels and went with it!

She was in awe as everyone sang happy birthday to her. 

Her crown was a last minute add on. I saw it and fell in love. Kari at Adams Blankie was great to work with. She has such pretty pieces (for girls AND boys!!), you have to check her out!

After an hour or so, it was cake time!

Present time.

Pictures with mom and dad

Three hours later everyone was headed out the door..Don't forget your favor (homemade pink & blue snowflake cookies from Mrs. Janie)

Tied with a tag from Green Beansie

And then it was time for a melt down/sugar crash:

We've had quite the year and Little Miss helped us in many ways.  She was a nice distraction, and a reminder that our future was bright and we had to keep going.  Happy Birthday Little Miss, you've changed our life!

Weekend Wrap Up

Or should I say weekend, week and weekend?
Two Thursdays ago Aunt Kelly came to visit!

She met Little Miss

Who wore her "My Auntie is a Fox" outfit

We celebrated Christmas

Had a photo shoot with a 6 week old

and her brothers

Got in lots of snugggles

Turned 35

Did Some reading

Lots of playing
Took pictures

Gave Hugs

Got Kisses

and was here while Little Miss and I stayed in the hospital. Thankfully it was a slow case of RSV and we were out of there within 24 hours! This happened to be a blessing. Chad got to stay for awhile with me and was there when we checked her in. Not the first time she has been in town for such an occasion!

This one I like to call "C.P. phone home". (Her fingers were too little for the pulse ox machine, so it went around her whole hand. It reminded me of E.T.)

A visit with Uncle Patrick

First snow of the year

Other than that we didn't actually do much. Hung out. Hung some pictures (now that we have been in this house for 4 months!)And we ate. And ate. And ate. And I got to sleep in. But not Aunt Kaaaay-Deeeee as she was called at 6:30 in the morning by a little boy with a pacifier stuck between his gritted teeth holding it in for dear life! She's such a good sport.

But now she is gone and we already miss her like crazy! See you soon!! XO

December Wrap Up

I really did mean to keep up with the blog over the holidays. Honestly. I did. Because it would make what I am about to do so much easier. But then again, if we kept up with everything on a daily basis, all our chores would be easier. You know, if you clean up while you are cooking, there isn't so much after dinner to clean up. And if you put away your toy when you are done playing with it, you don't have an entire playroom to pick up before bed.

December was busy. VERY busy. And I went from being 34 weeks pregnant to 38 weeks pregnant with baby #3. I also learned that week 39 won't be coming. Because that baby #3 is coming Wednesday. One day before I hit 39 weeks.

Finding and decorating a tree. Hitting Hallmark, so the boys can pick out their ornament. Wrapping up those festivities by searching for "the pickle".

Putting together the train (and changing the batteries on day 2!!)

Throwing up some lights outside, so we can say we "decorated"

The boys and I spent lots of time in the kitchen

We got ready for Christmas break with a school performance by Q (where he actually performed!)

Chad and I spent too much lots of time trying our hardest to be creative and find spots for "Elfie"

With some help from a favorite elf in Florida

Doing Christmas Crafts
Gingerbread House:

Including some time at Build A Bear to make a gift for our new baby sister!

Passing out in random places and random times

Annual trip to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

Riding the train with Santa (and Papa Joe, Grandma, etc etc)

Chaos of White House Family Christmas

And then it was Christmas Day!!!

The aftermath

And that my friends, was our December. January doesn't show any signs of slowing down. So you might want to brace yourselves and prepare to wait for a January update as well. Maybe even a new blog name, since we will have added some new XX chromosomes?!