celebration

If we loved having parties any more than we do, it would be scary.  And also very expensive.

The Rio inspired movie night bash was a hit and we’re pretty sure everyone had a great time.   I think we’ll make this movie night thing a tradition.  The kids really seem to enjoy it and I can’t think of any other way to get a room full of 6/7/8 year olds to sit quietly for 2 hours and still call it fun.   

You've already seen how overly excited the Jewel cake made us and we were even more excited about all the other details.  We found this year’s favors --- pink lily hair clips --- on Etsy through Dreamz Come Truee and ordered the feather boas online at partyfeathers.com.  Each lily was .50 and the feather boas were 1.00 each.  I don’t know that you can find pseudo bird disguise party favors for less than $2 anywhere – so pretty pumped about that.

Other than that is was business as usually; popcorn, pink lemonade and enough sugar to take everyone from zero to 150 before their plates were clean.  Which is fine considering the majority of them went home right after cake. J

Also, a select few did get to spend the night marking the occasion as Alex's first official slumber party.

And even though the slumber ended for the group at 6 am, I awoke a bit later to find them all seated around the dining room table finishing up the cereal Alex had "cooked" for them. 

So as it turns out having a 7 year old is both shocking and rewarding.  I'm shocked that she is able to make breakfast for herself and others ---  and I feel like breakfast in bed rewards for mom are now a real possibility going forward.

Happy Birthday indeed! 

piece of cake

Can we please get excited about the fact that we made a cake in the shape of a blue bird from the movie Rio?  Small victories my friends.  They matter.

As you may have read last week I accepted the challenge of duplicating a Jewel cake for Alex’s birthday party, found via a Google Image Search.  Not that big of a deal until you consider the fact that I don’t make cakes in the shape of cake pans let alone in the shape of birds.  So please excuse me while I overenthusiastically celebrate this moment.  

And let me also just say that Fun-fetti cake from Pillsbury is amazing and delicious and should be a part of every celebration.

I should also add that my husband and daughter are full of brilliant ideas and this wouldn't have been possible without their helpful suggestions.

As far as birds go, this was the tastiest one I have ever consumed.  If I ignore the fact that 10 kids aided in blowing out the candles and abandon all my germ-a-phobic ways, it is safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed devouring this treat.   And the birthday girl was pretty please too. 

As it turns out, making cakes from boxes isn’t all that hard.  

Sure, it is pretty creepy looking and not quite as glamorous as the original --- but that's beside the point.  I was just happy none of the kids asked "what is that supposed to be?"  

Because then I would have had to ask them to leave.  Seriously. 

getting ready

Preparations for Alex's birthday movie night party are underway....

Stay tuned for the run-down and proof that we survived 12 kids taking over our home...

Do You Know This Bird?

This is Jewel.

I don't know Jewel.  I've never met Jewel but she is the inspiration behind Alex's Movie Night Birthday Bash coming straight to a living room near you --- well technically near me ---- on Saturday.

I've started to compile a few ideas and the favors I ordered arrived a couple of weeks ago.  They are very reminiscent of the favors we gave for Alex's party last year.  The fun stuff, I've got that covered.  Finding it at a massive deal?  Yeah, I usually have no problems there.  But when it comes to some of the other details, this is where I need a little help.

And this is where I tend to make the ridiculous mistakes parents make.

I do a Google Image search.  With my seven year old.  And things like this appear:

Parents: Google Image Searches are not for kids with wild imaginations.  Thanks to it, I will now be making what I can only predict will be a major blue frosting disaster.

You would think I would have learned my lesson back in November when we went looking online for a unicorn stocking cap.  Sounds innocent enough.  But then this happened....

Which led to this happening: 

Which now leads to this happening every time we leave the house: 

Yes, that's my kid.  In the unicorn head. 

So thus begins an adventure in something I can do but don't do really well: baking stuff.  Add to that: frosting stuff to look like a very specific character from a film.  But because birthday celebrations are kind of my jam, and she is kind of adorable I am going to go for it and see what happens.  

And rest assured there will be no more helpful image searches between now and then - just to be on the safe side.  It is her birthday afterall and while I can't entertain her every whim, I suppose I can try to bake instead of ordering cookies like I usually do.  Sometimes you can have your cake, but no matter what it looks, tastes or smells like -in this case - she is going to have to eat it too. 

Stay tuned to find out if this challenge is for the birds...

Real Friends. Fake Cigarettes.

We are huge Mad Men fans.  If you don't watch the show then you have no idea what you are missing and you'll have no idea why we look the way we look in the following photos.

For the past year or so we have been NetFlix-ing all four seasons with our good friends Erik & Stacey, almost every Wednesday night after the little one goes to bed.  We are all obsessed. So when we decided to help Stacey throw a surprise 30th birthday party for Erik, we knew a Mad Men theme would be a huge hit...at least for us.

We were a little nervous considering we didn't really know anyone on the guest list and we weren't sure if anyone actually watched the show or would dress the part, but we were pleasantly surprised!  Almost everyone dressed up and a good time was had by all.

Below are a few shots from one of the coolest events that we have ever hosted, complete with a whiskey bar, candy cigarettes and some pretty impressive powder-filled fake cigarettes along with a John Deere riding lawnmover.

Again if you don't watch the show, those things mean nothing to you, but either way, some highlights of the evening are below: