5th birthday. a tangled party.

our little "princess" turned 5 in july and had been begging for over a year to have a tangled party!  every day for months she asked me how many more days until her birthday!  she was a trooper and waited a week after her birthday for her friend and family party.  it was a hit!

guests were greeted by this sign and balloons upon entering the party

                             

                            

in the beginning while we were waiting for all of the princesses to arrive we colored tangled pictures.  my niece lexi was horrified when i suggested that she pick a princess dress to wear for the party.  she was our protective tiger instead! 

                           

  

chloe on the other hand, couldn't wait to put on her princess sophia dress! 

once everyone arrived game and craft time began!  we made "pascalions" as olivia calls "pascal" the chameleon.  they are the cutest party blowers.



then we played tug-of-war with rapunzel's braid!







then we tangled olivia up in yellow crepe paper



                     


"princess sophia" chloe,  sir brady, "rapunzel" olivia, and "tiger cat" lexi


next up was the flynn ryder pinata filled with the little gift bags i made.  each gift bag had a little rapunzel braid hair clip, a rubber ducky "from the snuggly duckling," a rapunzel paint set, and a bracelet.
 

                               





the pinata was a "hit" with everyone, and it held up pretty well so everyone had a turn.

i didn't take a picture but we had paper lanterns hanging from the pergola and another purple sun banner along the outside.

my very talented friend, jandy made these adorable cupcake cones

                          

we surprised liv with her very own first two-wheeler bike, all pretty in pink, purple and princesses.

happy birthday, livy!!!

we love you so much

you bring spunk and spirit to each day

fill our lives with silliness

you are the prettiest princess

but can keep up with the boy playing pirates and catching frogs

you are smart and insightful

never let us forget a thing (that's why we never make promises!)

love to sing, dance and be read to

you are our sunshine!

xoxo chicklet

love,

 mommy and daddy

shawnae's bridal shower brunch.

*i hate doing this, not going in ORDER of how events happened, but thus it must be so....i'm picking up in early december and then i'll back track...*

Dec. 7, 2013


big sistah- nickie, baby sister- chelsae, bride-to-be shawnae, mom and sis-in-law (me!)

my sister-in-law shawnae lived with us for almost the whole past year.  it was exciting and fun to see the changes in her and her life, watching her fall in love with tim and start their new life together.  naturally i volunteered to throw her bridal shower here at our house since this is where she and tim first met, where their friends and his family are located.

on the eve before my sister-i-law nickie arrived with her brood of three giggly girls.  we ate pizza and the kids watched a movie while we chatted and worked on finalizing details regarding the shower. mom and dad came along with great-grandma not too long after and the evening became a late one!  last minute shopping and preparations had us up until 3:30 a.m.!!! even dad got a "second wind" and helped whip up some delicious breakfast casserole for the brunch.

my brother was in the middle of butchering a deer so he had fun taking part in our craziness as well. (the only one not pictured here is chris, i think he took the pictures).

me finishing up the games for the party- we played a "he said/she said game."  i got the idea off of pinterest and them made one up of my own.  we also played a "famous couples" matching game.

the next morning everything was beautiful!  thanks to our menfolk who took the kids out for playtime and lunch!  we were able to set up in quiet and enjoy several hours of time with each other (and even sneak in a nap!) 

nickie was in charge of the hot cocoa bar and chelsea made the adorable tags for the toppings.  i did the donut "trees" (which looked much better in person). bryce found me these adorable vintage tea cups at the thrift store down the road..exactly what i had pictured in my mind

display table where there were some recipe cards for "advice for recipes for a great marriage."

these are the only sneak peeks you'll get of my christmas tree this year...

we filled my formal livingroom to it's capacitity!  we had 20 women laughing and chatting in here!

playing games....

opening gifts...

 

this frying pan had to be the ultimate gift!  it had a picture of rapunzel and flynn ryder and said: "when tim gets out of hand whack him with this frying pan!"

loved it, almost peed cracking up about it

she tried it out on tim when came over later!

family- grandma opal, mom, aunt brenda, cousin anna

 tim's sister-in-law brandy and aunt carolyn

family friend of tim's and romy, long-time friend of tim's, girlfriend to his best man, and one of shawnae's bridesmaids

all the single ladies...from shawnae's singles ward

it was a fun shower and we had a great turn-out.  so happy to be able to show our love for shawnae.
wedding countfown...2 weeks!

zach's 1st birthday.

*disclaimer: if you missed the previous post i am in the process of updating!  continue scrolling down to see all new posts!*

my baby's birthday was waaaaaaay back at the end of october.  sadly he has not had his share of the limelight that he so deserves!  he wasn't quite walking yet on his birthday, but began walking about within the first few weeks after he turned 1.  he is adventurous and brave, full of spunk, laughter and cuddles.  he is learning words but does not like to use them!

 

zach LOVED to play with this kitchen set but it was ALWAYS a mess and underfoot.  when we found out we were moving i packed it all up and sold the kitchen.  i have wicked plans to make an new one for olivia under the built-in bunkbed in the playroom!

he also spent many hours back and forth, back and forth, in this swing.  he absolutely loved it and would chill there for hours without hardly a peep.  he loved to watch me mow the lawn, or weed or sweep or clean or watch everyone eat at the patio table...let's just hope that maybe he loves it as much this year?  i have a TON of yard work to do!!!

he is often found dumping out drawers, stealing the tupperware, biting the lids and being altogether cute and rascally at the same time!!!

Birthday Party

i promised myself that i was going to keep things simple for zach's party.  i have a tendency to go over-the-top.  yeah, it's a confession.  in lieu of wiping myself out in exhaustion like i usually do as the party-prepping queen of madness, i made a simple banner, strung up some balloons, and pulled out my trusty chalkboards for decor.  the cake was even simple, two-tiered with rainbow chip frosting and a tiny little bunting.

            

i also "went a little over-the-top" by making a "first birthday" onesie.  well....he had to have SOMETHING special to wear!

                   

zach got his own cupcake.  i'm not into giving a baby a whole cake...that's a bit, ummm, ridiculous to me.

                
 starting out cautious, "you mean i can eat a whole cupcake mom?!" ...then, "Mmmmmm, this is tasty!" 

to sheer delight....

to a thoughtful stage of wondering, "where has my cupcake gone?"....followed by the rage of knowing that there is no more!

we had quite a few good friends and family over to celebrate zach's milestone with us.  earlier in the day we got a visit from grammie and grandpa graf, and aunties shawnae and chelsae.  we opened our special delivery from aunt nickie, uncle nick and the girls.  out popped a bunch of balloons! best. idea. ever!  there was also a cute ball popper hidden amongst the colorful orbs!

he also got a big ball popper from grammie and grandpa graf. (like my facial expression?!)

picture for zach from cousin, Lexi and from friend, Lily

i also spent a little (ok, waaaay to much time) making these cute bean bags. they weren't hard, but i played around with with fabric color scraps i wanted to use and then had to cut out all of the numbers in black felt and i hand stitched them on with a blanket stitch.  z

zach didn't really get the concept of throwing them into the bucket, but hopefully before too long he'll like to play with them and we practice colors and numbers together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!

you have made our family so much happier with your cheesy smile, contagious giggles, rascally ways, chubby cuteness and snuggle buggles!