Baby M's Very First Birthday Bash

Baby M celebrated her very 1st  birthday last week & we had her very 1st birthday bash this past weekend.

I am a bit poky about getting the shin dig posted.

A little birthday recovery effort has been going on over here.

Then add my home being invaded by neighborhood kids & well,

my time for me, myself, and I gets put on the back burner.

The birthday bash was incredibly laid back & very small compared to past birthday gatherings that have taken place for my other two wee ones.

The color scheme of the birthday was pink, white, and baby blue.

Here are some photos of Baby M's sweet little birthday party.

Her attire:

1. A birthday skirt purchased by an amazing friend, who also happens to be my next door neighbor.

2. I purchased a onsie and appliqued the number 1 to it.

3.  I made her a flower hair clippie.

4.  I, also, made Baby M a party hat  made out of fabric and embellished with a tulle pom pom, an appliqued number 1, and a silk flower.

She looked flippin' ADORABLE!!

And, of course, I wasn't able to get a great shot from my camera & I am waiting for a couple of others to send me their photos.

For party food, I kept it pretty simple.

I made lemon flavored cake balls,

rice crispy treat pops in the shape of hearts,

chocolate cupcakes filled with homemade caramel or a mini candy bar & topped with a vanilla/almond butter cream.

I also made Baby M her own chocolate smash cake with a vanilla/almond butter cream frosting.

I made a watermelon punch which just consisted of pureed watermelon with ginger ale & some sugar. 

It looked so pretty, & of course, I have no pic of it when added to the table!

Duh!

( I had the husband make the adults a grown up drink using the punch.   Yummy!) 

We also had some watermelon slices, grapes, blueberries, chips & salsa.

Things that the birthday girl loves to eat.

For decorations, I was very frugal & "decorating on a dime" would be an understatement.

I draped mosquito netting that my mom gave to me after her return from a trip to Vietnam along one corner of our  pergola. 

It was so billowy & lovely!

And free!

 I also made mounds of ruffled streamers & covered the "rafters", table & Baby M's highchair with them.

The cost for the ruffle streamer loveliness cost $2.00!

The streamers were so easy & fun to make!

I just took some plain old, boring streamers, set my bobbin tension to it's highest  on my sewing machine & then placed two different colored streamers together & started sewing.

Presto!

Ruffle loveliness.

It's like magic happening before your eyes!

I  made a balloon banner with the cost of maybe $3.00 (idea taken from here),

tissue paper flowers all of $1.00,

and displayed some fresh baby blue hydrangea flowers that were given to me by one of my son's sweetest friends who happens to be our next door neighbor as well.

A long while back, a friend of mine gave me oodles & oodles of white fabric.

Cost of fabric=FREE!

So, I dyed a large piece of fabric baby blue & made a tablecloth for the table.

The cost for the dye...almost $3.00

Total cost for decorating=a whopping $9.00

We all anticipated CAKE TIME!

Because she tends to shovel her food with both her hands during meal times

we thought, without a doubt, that she would go NUTS with her cake.

Guess what?

B-O-R-I-N-G

Nada!

No face plant into the cake.

No two handing cake into her mouth.

No throwing it all about.

NOTHING!

Oh well....

We did get some cute pics of her trying to figure out how to eat the darn thing.

It was such a great little birthday party.

She had a blast & in the grand scheme of things, that is really all that matters.

Happy Thursday!

~Amy

I'll be linking up to some fab parties!

If you really knew me, you would know that...

I am lousy at cracking eggs.  The word choice "lousy" is being rather gentle because to be quite truthful, I am worse than lousy.

 

I am terrible, horrible, extremely bad! 

Most days you will find me in my kitchen baking & cooking.  It feels like if I am not running out the door for a doctor's appointment for one of my three wee ones, I am in my kitchen with wooden spoon in hand, the kitchen aid whirring, cupboard doors opening & closing & me snippy snapping at my children to, "Stop putting your fingers in the batter" or "Dude, you just ate raw flippin' eggs!  Disgusting!  Out!  Out!  Out of my kitchen!"

(With my bionic read your mind powers, I am able to hear the mutterings in your head, and yes, I do know that the kitchen is the heart and soul of a home, and no, I do not always kick my wee ones out of the kitchen.  Only if the baking & cooking is business related.)

I know, I know.  You're  also wondering if I am constantly baking and cooking, why is it that I am so stinking horrible at cracking eggs.  

And, I have no answer, really.  Maybe, I have a secret fear of them.  THAT'S IT!  I fear pathetic little eggs!
I wonder if there is a name for this kind of thing.  Hmmmm...
Anyways...

Allow me to give you an example of my horrible egg cracking ways....

Last summer I was preparing a caramel swirled cheesecake with a gingersnap crust for our restaraunt.  Sounds yummy, right?
As my kitchen aid is whishing about I begin adding the egg additions.  The first few eggs are added without any incident & I am feeling overly confident.

Then the un-egg-spected occurs.

I begin to add my next egg addition and would you like to know what happened next?
That little sucker slips out of my hands & lands into the cheesecake batter.
While the kitchen aid is mixing!

I hear intense sounds of egg crunching & I tell myself to not overreact.  I can fix this, I can save the cheesecake!
I turn the machine off & realize that freaking out is in order.
It has never occured to me just how much damage a little egg could create.
Thousands, no, millions of egg shell pieces are now mixed into the batter and there is absolutely no hope of rectifying the situation.

The batter needs to be dumped into the trash & I need to start over.
Which would not seem so terribly awful, but I did not have the two incredibly important ingredients necessary to re-make the batter.
EGGS & CREAM CHEESE!

Bring on the tears & cussing.

 I rein in my overly charged pregnant hormones, grab my keys & money, & head out the door to go to the supermarket, again. 
I forgot to mention that I had already been to the supermarket an hour or so prior to "Cheesecake Pandemonium".
The cheesecake did get made, although it took me an entire day, and it was delicious.  (No egg shells second time around.  I decided to turn off the machine when it came to the egg additions.)

So, there you have it. 
True story!

Happy Thursday!


****update:  I just googled "fear of eggs" and there is such a thing!!!  Too funny!  It's called ovaphobia!  I nearly fell out of my seat laughing***

Proudly linking up to...

So much to do, So much to do!!!!!

I have so much that I want to accomplish by the end of the weekend.  It involves endless amounts of sewing and crocheting/knitting.  Oh, not to mention that  both restaurants need more desserts!  Did I mention that I have 3 children that I have to entertain while attempting to cross off items from my very long to do list?

Let's see..........my list:

(1)  create items to stock up my Etsy store

(2) sew curtains for my french doors, entryway door, kitchen window

(this will be put on the bottom of the list)

(3) make requested whoopee pies for the "Only Men Annual Ice Fishing Trip"  aka smelly men acting disgusting, drinking waaaaaay too much beer, cussing, behaving like small boys, freezing their biscuits off trip.  Not my idea of a good time but, hey, I don't have to go and husband stays out of my hair.

On these annual trips, something always dramatic happens like...trailer hitched onto back of a truck flying off the truck that is carrying snowmobiles, four wheelers, and other supplies.

(4)  make  skirts, skirts skirts for my sweet girls.  My 4 year- old has been demanding skirts in every color.  Therefore, I am going to try my best, to sew one or two skirts a week to meet her demands.  :)

(5)  finish mom's very belated birthday gift(s)

(6)  make a little something for a special auntie in Texas

(7)  desserts for our restaurants, which by the way take FOREVER!!!!!  Especially on short notice.

(8) some housework somewhere along the way

(9)  clean out backroom in order to re-do for son's new bedroom

(10)  make pajama bottoms for my three bundles of joy.  They are growing fast and furious! All of Little Man N's current pj bottoms look like he is wearing clam diggers!

I'll stop there for now because "time's a wastin'".

If you don't hear from me in a couple of days, send out the search and rescue party.  I may be buried under mounds of fabric and flour and unable to find my way out!