Creative Birthday Parties - Part 2

As promised, here is the second edition of creative birthday parties.

EG's second birthday party had a Curious George theme, with yellow, red and aqua accents.  CG had become quite a thing in our house, so it only seemed appropriate to use it as our theme.  The weather, once again, came through for us and cleared up just as the party was about to start.  So we were able to take advantage of our extra outdoor square footage.

I made the banner half the size of the previous year's banner.  It was still big, but it fit into an indoor space.

I took on the task of making the cake for her second birthday.  I went with a banana theme and tried out several banana cake recipes (using EOP's associate's as taste testers) before finalizing the cake.  I made a banana oatmeal cake with cream cheese frosting. 

 I also made banana chocolate chip cupcakes with buttercream frosting.

 

I had to buy plates AND napkins for this party, but we still had plenty of plastic forks from our wedding to use.

 

Internet clip art to the rescue again.  The 2nd Curious George movie became the main clip art used.  How could you go wrong with George holding a 2 for a second birthday party?  I used it for the invitations and stickers again

I also made little signs for each food item at the party.  We had Chef Pisghetti's Pizza, Farmer Renkin's Vegetables, Clint Quint's Fish Crackers (the Quints love fish crackers, mmm, mmm), and Curious George's Banana Cake. 

The candy dishes were decorated using ribbon scraps to give them some color.  The party favors were dollar store Curious George coloring books.

 

 

We decorated with yellow polka dot and turquoise balloons and red polka dot wrapping paper table covers.  We also displayed her Curious George books and George himself (from the Kohl's Cares collection), around the house.

 

 



 

 My one stroke of genius, unassisted by Pinterest, was the Pin the Yellow Hat on the Man game.  I traced him onto cardstock from our television displaying an image from my computer.  It is not easy to find an image of the Man without his hat on!  And let me tell you, this distressed our 2 year old to no end.  The whole time I was tracing him, she kept saying "Uh Oh" and "No Hat Mama!"  But she did enjoy placing and re-placing his hat on him after the game was played.

 

Can't wait to post about this year's party!

 

Creative Birthday Parties - Part 1

I just made my annual trip to Kinkos to print birthday party banners, party favors and other paper items.  This year's theme is Daniel Tiger and I found quite a bit of pre-made free printables on the PBS Kids website, but I also made some of my own for party favors.

I like to make as much as I can and print it myself because it saves us money.  I have so much scrapbooking stuff left over from my days as a Creative Memories consultant.  It will take a lot of years of birthday parties before I run too low on supplies to make my own banners.

I will post this year's birthday party after it's over, but here is a glimpse at our first party to give you an idea of what can be done.  Mind you, most of these ideas are from Pinterest - what a wonderful and overwhelming tool for party planning.

EG's first birthday was an owl theme with pink and orange accents.  The weather behaved perfectly for an outdoor party on our back deck.  This was very good, because we couldn't all fit inside the house!

The banner was so big, we had to hang it outside!

 

I looked for girly owl clip art on the internet and found this little owl with flowers.  I used it on her invitation, which I created using digital scrapbooking software and printed it on photo paper, and also on the custom stickers.  Later when I was looking for plates, I found that the image I had been using was a paper plate from a party supply company.  So I bought the plates and a matching balloon for the party.  We didn't need to buy plasticware or napkins because we had plenty left over from our wedding (you will see this theme throughout this post).

 

 

 

 

My cousin Stephanie, who made our wedding cake, made the cake and she used that same owl image to make the cake topper.  Isn't it so, so cute!  She also made her an extra cupcake/smash cake.  Carmelized apple cake with buttercream frosting, if you're wondering :)

 



 

I made owls out of paper lanterns (that we had left over from our wedding) and scrapbook paper from my stash.  I also printed pictures of EG from her first year and used colorful paper to make birthday hats on them.

 

 

I also made owl cookies, using white cookie frosting, chocolate chips and candy corns.  The cookie itself was a circle with some added triangles for ears.  They could easily be made into cats too, just decorate the face differently.  

  

My choice of table covering was white paper cloth (leftover from our wedding), topped with colorful wrapping paper.

 

 Stay tuned for our Curious George 2nd birthday party!

 

Back Yard Chicken Fun

We are at the time of year when my excitement for garden fresh produce wanes.  I can't even look at a tomato right now without getting queasy.  My creative dinner ideas that incorporate tomatoes are tapped out.  It was fun while it lasted...

 

Earlier this summer, we tried letting the chickens out to walk around the yard.  At that time, they were not really interested in exploring.  However, now that their coop has been in the same spot all summer, they were more than ready to explore the lush green of our back yard. 

 

For about a week, we've been letting them out for a few hours every day, and every day they get more and more brave on their radius of exploration.  The first day they were more than content to just munch on the grass surrounding their coop/chicken run.  Today, they were all the way up to the back porch and checking out the sand box while EG was playing in it.  They were nice enough to clean the bugs off of the walls and top too!

 

It's been fun to watch them play out there.  I've noticed that they are out in the morning earlier than they used to be, hoping that I will let them out.  Whenever we go out to check on them, they come running to us from wherever they are in the yard, probably because I usually lure them back into the coop with a treat (they're not sick of tomatoes yet.)  I've also been entertained by Gennie chasing a squirrel out of the chicken run.  It seems he was getting too close to their flock block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember, remember, the 11th of September

 

I was reminded this morning at Refresh (the mom's group at my church) that today is September 11th.  I'm not sure how it snuck up on me.  I guess I should have known since yesterday was September 10th.

Today is two of my friend's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mary!  Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Today is EOP's anniversary of employment.  And I forgot to send him to work with treats for his classmates, er, workmates.

Today is the 5 year anniversary of our first date, a double date dinner at Bell's Pizza and an on campus movie at MSU (Monsters vs Aliens).  The day before the CMU vs MSU game (my and his alma mater, respectively) where CMU beat MSU in the last few seconds of the game (a very exciting few seconds for the Chippewas).


Today is the 13 year anniversary of the day the first major terrorist attack occurred on American soil.  A day that still brings tears to my eyes when I retell my experiences from the day.  One of our ice breaker questions at Refresh today was "what were you doing on 9/11/2001?"  Most of the girls at my table were still in high school (I am not a young mom) or still in college, but I was out of school and in the working world. 



I started to retell how I had stayed home from work that morning to go to a doctors appointment before commuting to work (80 miles one way).  I turned on morning television on our 1 station that came in with an antenna and sat down for a little breakfast.  Shortly thereafter, the show was interrupted with pictures of downtown New York and a tall, broken building with smoke billowing from it.  As I told how I watched the other plane strike the second tower, I immediately choked up.  That image is still so fresh in my mind, how horrified I was, how confused I was, what was happening?  I was glued to the tv.  It was hard to go on with my day, but I did, stopping at whatever television I could find along the way.  I didn't want to go to work, but I did.  I don't think much was done that day, everyone was talking about it, getting updates from spouses and friends at home who could get the latest news.  I even had to go to my evening floral design class at LCC, which did not cancel classes.

A year later, I spent Labor Day weekend in New York with my friend Emily.  We went to the site of the World Trade Center and also to the field where the plane landed in Shanksville, PA.  I made a scrapbook of my trip and included my account of the day that changed me forever.  Something I can share with EG someday to help her understand what happened.

I made another trip to New York with my friend Susan, Labor Day 2006 and I spent a morning at the memorial, which was built by then.  The pictures are from that trip.

I remember, do you?

 

 

 

(Not-So) Speedy Delivery

I have a list of easy meals to make for mom's of new babies in my head, but by far my favorite is chicken and sweet potato stew.  I found this recipe in a little freebie Crock-Pot cookbook several years ago and it's always a hit.  Since the weather has turned more "fall-like" (actually more spring-like with all this rain), I thought it would be a great meal for Holly and her family.  Best of all, we get to eat it for dinner tonight too! 

I am pairing it with a loaf of French bread - from the Meijer bakery - and a dessert of some sort.  I, of course forgot to think about dessert until this morning, and seeing as I've been very delinquent in keeping the staples in stock in our home lately, my options are limited.  I thought about making no-bakes, easy peasy, but not enough oats in the house.  It seemed that everything I thought about making had oats in it - BUST! 

So then I decided to make a chocolate cookie cake and I was successful at getting it baked, but things got tricky when I tried to transfer it to another pan to cool.  It fell apart so, so, so many times.  It wasn't fully cooked in the center, it seems. 




Since this family is also a fan of Daniel Tiger, I thought about making it a chocolate chip cookie smoosh cake, but I changed my mind after it broke for the umpteenth time.  When something seems bad, turn it around and find something good (getting to eat all of the messed up desserts is good!)

So, plan B (or C or D) it is! 

Brownies.  Good old Trader Joe's boxed Truffle brownies.  With pink frosting, because of the baby girl.

Here we go to deliver the meal!

Here is the recipe for Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed (I use unpealed red potatoes sometimes)
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 can (28 oz) whole stewed tomatoes (I use diced instead)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup nonfat, low-sodium chicken broth

Combine all ingredients in a slow-cooker.  Cover.  Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.  Stew is done when root vegetables are desired tenderness, at that point chicken should be completely cooked.

Labor Day Fun

Happy Labor Day friends!  We had a very low key day today after spending the previous 2 days on the road, visiting friends and family.  After the crazy storm came through and nearly washed our whole neighborhood away, the sun came out again just in time to warm up the grill.  We grilled the last of our 1/16 of a cow we purchased last New Years - a giant sirloin steak and topped it with garlic and herb goat cheese (from Trader Joe's) - and a zucchini we purchased at the city farmer's market last week.  We also had tomatoes from our garden and fresh sweet corn from Papa's garden.  What a delicious way to end our last summer long weekend, and celebrate the labors of many Michigan growers. 

 

 

Even the chickens enjoyed the tomato and corn cob leftovers, especially EG's, who has not perfected eating every kernel of corn like her parents have.

 

Celebrating Love's Patience

Love is patient.  This was a perfect theme for the wedding we attended this weekend.  It was a great weekend of celebration and such a blessing to be a part of.

I have known Suzanne since college.  We were in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship together during school.  She became staff for IV after college and I started volunteering with IV.  She is the kind of friend who, no matter how long it has been, is so easy to talk to and have fun with.  We share a love for football, especially our alma mater, and pizza.

We also shared a similar struggle after graduation, being single in a post collegiate world.  We both talked about being a single girl in our twenties, late twenties, turning 30 and being single, in our mid-thirties...

I got married in 2010 and Suzanne was there.  Celebrating with me, wearing the latte dress with the persimmon belt that I asked her to wear, carrying the fall flower bouquet that I made for her while she helped "process" the rest of the flowers for my wedding.

In March, Suzanne came to my birthday party, and she brought a date (!!!).  A very nice gentleman that I didn't really get to talk to, but EOP did and thought he was cool.  Then we met for lunch in April and I asked her how things were going with Nathan and she said great (!!!), like late summer wedding great.  A week later, she sent me a text with a picture of her new engagement ring (!!!).  The date was set for August, a short 4 months away (yay for short engagements).  Late summer wedding it is!

I was so honored that she asked me to help her out with her wedding by handling her flowers and coordinating the ceremony logistics (helping out with gathering people for photos, pinning corsages on people, running errands, cueing people's entrances).  I was also so excited to return the love that she had given me when I was getting married (and all of our friendship before and after).  We talked details and I ordered what we needed.  The wedding colors, turquoise and coral, were so bright and cheery, I was so excited to see the final product!

The fun began last weekend when I stayed at her house for the bachelorette party.  On Sunday, we worked on some wedding projects, including custom color M&M favors and chalkboard table numbers.  Since I was on a roll with chalk boards, I volunteered to handle those.

They looked so awesome nestled in the hydrangea centerpieces.  The only thing that would have been better is if my fine tip pens (both of them) did not quit working at the same time, right around number 9.

 

On Thursday, I picked up all of the flowers for the wedding from my favorite farmer's market in Lansing, Horrock's.  I have been ordering flowers from them for about 15 years, so we have a great relationship.  Plus they have a great selection of cut flowers to choose from.  We used white hydrangeas at the reception and an assortment of orange and pink flowers in the bouquets.  I ordered the extra flowers, like the corsages and the dad's boutonniere, from them too.  I am not a huge fan of making corsages, they are tricky.

The bride carried a hand-tied bouquet of peach roses, free spirit roses (such an amazingly fragrant and lovely flower), coral spray roses, orange waxflower, and peach and orange hypericum berries.  The stems were wrapped in aqua ribbon.  The maids carried hand-tied bouquets of the same, without the waxflower and with pink spray roses added, and the stems were wrapped in orange ribbon.

The orange flowers popped so well against the turquoise bridesmaids dresses.  Such a beautiful wedding color combination.  Beautiful bride, beautiful maids, beautiful day.

 

Congratulations Nathan and Suzanne, your wedding was beautiful and the party was super fun!  May God bless your marriage and future together.  I'm looking forward to our October football game with pizza after!