Kay's Birthday Wishes

The start of our walk.

Just had to get on really quick this morning and share the fun Kay had last night.  I asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner... she picked meatloaf and corn!  :)  Then she kept trying to decide between cake and cupcakes for her birthday dessert (no, there were none left over from the party).  She finally settled on cupcakes... and so mommy made JUMBO cupcakes for her.  (They didn't even finish a half of one.)

When I asked what she wanted to do after dinner... I was expecting her to ask to watch a movie or something like that.  She instead declared that we should go for a walk.  After dinner was eaten and the cupcakes were out of the oven, we prepared for our walk.  To which Kaylana stated that she wanted to go put on her Dora jammies and go for a walk now.  With her in jammies and bare feet, Colson in his clothes and just his socks... we headed out (with them in the double stroller) for what became quite a long walk (and ending with me walking back home while Geoff ran the kiddos back the long way!).

Cheesy grins and muffins in a stroller!

Colson with his Half-Birthday present  :)

Kay insisted on a picture of "all of us" but not mommy.  Lol.

Amelia Bedelia!  She's so silly.

Fancy Nancy!  A favorite for sure.

We went all over the surrounding neighborhoods, enjoying the beautiful evening.  I was surprised at how long we stayed out, but we had so much fun.  When we got back we had present time!  Because Kaylana and Colson's birthdays land 6 months apart, we are able to ease the difficulty of sibling jealousy with an easy half-birthday gift solution.  Plus it's fun to celebrate the half-year mark at their age anyway.  I love that Kaylana is so grateful even for the little things.  She was so good about saying thank you enthusiastically (without being told to) for everything she was given. 

After that it was bedtime for this tired momma.  I've been getting up around 5:30am or 6am (though my goal is to get up at 5am, I'm working my way there slowly to get on my new schedule for getting everything in a day --or that's the plan anyway--) so I get really tired about 9:00pm.




The picture below I captured while on my solitary walk back home (don't worry, it was a short jaunt and I was more than happy to slow down for a little while).  The sun was setting and everything had that touch of gold in its path.  Stunning! 

As beautiful as that golden sunset was for my eyes to behold, I was reminded of how my family touches my heart with more warmth than the sun and fills it with joy and love more precious than gold.  And it goes without saying (but I'm going to anyway), no beautiful creation and no amount of joy and love can go without remembering the Creator of it all, the One and only Son that makes all things beautiful.  I feel blessed, even though life is difficult and far from perfect.  Finding my joy in what I have rather than don't have is a much better way to live.

The Sunset at Trail's End

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to my beautiful, silly, smiley, smart,
dramatic, girly, social, pink-loving,
amazingly wonderful daughter,
KAYLANA!!!

I cannot believe that you are already 5. It seems that just yesterday I found out I was pregnant for the first time... and yet, here you are growing, learning and changing each day into a young lady and telling me just how much you can do all by yourself. *sigh* The years pass so quickly, but I enjoy your antics (when they aren't full of stinkers anyway, lol) and the goofball you are. You are truly a joy to me and I look forward to each day in the future watching you grow. But you'll always be my baby girl.

The beautiful girl the day of her party!

This post is a little different, it’s all about… my little princess and the fun of party planning! Yep, I am finding myself with a whole new world of creative fun… as if I need MORE things to do, right? ;) The kiddos are getting to the age that themes and better “style” are more important than they were in the past. Since my kiddos birthdays are almost exactly 6 months apart, (and since I am not usually very prepared for the way dates tend to sneak up on me), I have begun to start planning the next party as soon as the most recent one is over (or just before, depending on how antsy I get.) So, I was still a little late getting started on Kay’s… but I did start much earlier than I have before. It began with an idea to do a “Fancy Nancy” theme...

…but as I began to look at ideas and go for fancy planning, the theme suddenly changed.

Before I continue, I have to give credit where credit is due. A HUGE source of ideas, tutorials and inspiration came from my new online obsession Pinterest.

I can’t even begin to describe the amount of creative passion that site has inspired, (as well as my new push to more natural foods and products, organization for my home and in so many more areas!) With this new virtual pinboard, I went from Fancy Nancy to fancy tea party.

The ideas started whirling and I knew that I was going to have too much fun creating a special day for my princess. With help from my incredible and crafty friend Crystal, we started tackling the to-do list of stuff for Kaylana’s party. My goal was to make as much homemade as I possibly could for her party. It began with visions of...

Color Schemes

Invitations
These were incredibly time consuming but still very fun to make. First I will show you the "pocket envelope" we made for the invitations.

We punched the lace edge on a folded piece of shimmery pink paper (it took 6 punches per card) and then sewed (yes, with a sewing machine) the sides closed creating a perfect pocket for the tea bag shaped invitation. Then we cut out circles, distressed them with Tim Holtz's special ink, wrapped a piece of ribbon around and glued the circle and ribbon to the pocket envelope.

For this part, I modeled mine after the ones that inspired me, then made them my own. Playing with colors, fonts and graphics, I finally came up with a design I liked. There are two sets of invitations because we planned a two-part party. First was the little girls' tea party, then it went into a "fancy"-ish casual BBQ hangout. (I know that sounds contradictory but it came out perfect for our style of entertaining.)

These little details were hand-stamped squares that were tied to the tea bags. I think these took the longest out of all the invitation steps. I used 6 different metallic ink colors with 12 stamp designs, being very careful not to duplicate a single one wanting them to be unique!

All-in-all we made about 50 invitations!

Tissue Rosette Kissing Ball
I'm spoiling a secret, but this is only half finished. Where we hung it up at the party, you couldn't tell! I had run out of supplies trying to finish it one night (of course after stores were closed)... and after that there wasn't time to complete it and get all the other details done. Sure worked out nicely anyway.

I'll be finishing it and hanging it in Kaylana's room as decoration. :)

Party Hats I actually used these as part of the favors, which were filled with butterfly stickers, princess stickers and chalk (for the chalkboards of course). I did try to make my own chalk for the favors, but only about half of the first batch came out and were ready in time... so, I broke down and bought some knowing there wasn't time to make enough for the nearly 20 children that were possibly going to be there. (Ah well, you win some... you lose some. Lol.)

I loved the paper collection that I found to use for the decorations. You will find that they were used on the party hats, the paper chain, the flower buttons-use not disclosed yet- and other small details. Of course the paper was from K&Company, their stuff is just perfect for this kinda thing. A similar pack of that brand was used for the invitations too.

Tissue Paper Poms
They were everywhere!
(Thanks to Crystal who took that project on to free me up to do other party stuff.)

Doily Cookies Yes, I really did roll a doily onto the dough, and then I used a flower cookie cutter to create very fun and fancy cookies. The recipe ended up tasting very similar to a shortbread cookie, and oh man, were they YUMMY!

Shortbread Buttons Sadly you will have to imagine these or squint at one of the pictures of the table because I managed to not get a shot of these cute creations.

Stuffed Mushrooms I know that not everyone is a fan of these... but you have to know these were no ordinary stuffed mushrooms. They were Spinach Artichoke Parmesan Dip stuffed mushrooms! SO good.


Easy Homemade Ice Cream (without a machine) I made vanilla, and no... I did not take a picture of my tupperware contained ice cream. ;)

... and the pièce de résistance... (my first cake from scratch and my first decorated cake too! Maybe not pro, but still a proud moment for me to have accomplished it for my daughter's special day.)

Rose Cake (this is officially one of my new favorite blogs!)
...and the cupcakes to match (even though they weren't from scratch).


The hearts were part of a beautiful "arrangement" my mom put together. They were also one of the favors the girls got to go home with. The bows were a borrowed item that were from my sister-in-laws wedding (the sparkly tulle was from her wedding as well). And this is the paper chain I made from that same paper as the party hats... I really love the way it turned out, very vintage.


The other details for the day only added to the ambiance and fun. It was so much fun to plan and present this party for Kaylana. I enjoyed the process, and I was the least stressed I've ever been for an event. (Maybe I have finally turned the corner and can enjoy putting events on with better preparation... one can hope. Haha.)

The inside table setup.

The outdoor table setup.
(When we moved outside due to the number of people at her party.
What social butterflies we must be!)

I was (and still am) grateful for the sunshine that day and the ability to be in the backyard as well as the house. Prayers were answered for sure!

Chalkboards I did with Homemade Chalkboard Paint(not quite sure how they turned out, but they were cute anyway...)

The excitement of opening her gifts. :)

(And a rare picture of me... *sigh* I'd much rather be the photographer than the subject.)

The aftermath!... of presents.

The BEST part of it all (yes, I can pick my favorite of the day out of all that good stuff)... the amazing family, friends and neighbors that came to celebrate with us!

We had so many people that blessed us by coming, I can't even tell you how many people came and went that day... it was a FULL house though! And our hearts were full of the love and joy they brought. :)

A stolen moment with "Bramma" (my mother-in-love).

Kaylana with a couple of "her girls". I am going to frame this and hang it on her wall. SO cute!!!

For these next ones I will be revealing their purpose soon (though you may be able to guess) ... but here is a sneak peak of the ideas as a teaser. ;)

Button Flowers

Doily Envelopes

That's all for now... Hope to be back soon! :)