Strike!

The boys were invited to a bowling party this weekend and had a blast! This was only Logan's second time bowling and Ian's first but I think we'll be going again soon (if I can figure out how to handle Bella). It was Cosmic Bowling too which they just thought was neat. Ian actually did very well after his initial try in which he just dropped the ball on the foul line and waited. Haha. He even got a strike in his last frame! Logan did good too but he's too funny when he bowls. He lets it go and throws both arms back. He looks rather bird like. LOL I took a lot of photos but I really didn't like how any of them came out. It was just too dark. I wanted to capture the lighting in there and the *cosmic* feeling but it just didn't translate over. Oh well...I either need to learn my camera better or use the flash more!

Birthday Party Time!

Finally. Today was the day. I was running around like a crazy person this morning. I had to decorate the cake and smash cake, run to the store to have the balloons blown up, go to Publix and get the drinks and ice and stop in Walgreens to pick up the photos for the favors since our printer didn't have the right ink last night. I got home and people were just getting here so I got started a wee bit late. I'm so glad I got all the baking done and the frosting made yesterday.

Everything went well though. Bella looked cute as a button in her birthday dress. We had a simple spread- make your own sandwiches and chips and dip. That's it. I bought 2 loaves of whole wheat bread and dh didn't think people would like it. I went ahead and grabbed a loaf of white at the store this morning. Guess what went first? Yep, the wheat. Now I have to run to Costco again to get more for our family! I made fresh onion and ranch dips too. Yum! I barely got any they went so fast. Note to self- buy more food for the next birthday party!



I got a ton of compliments on my desserts. I made a vanilla Giant Cupcake with fresh strawberry frosting for the general party goers and a mini one for Bella's smash cake. I also made Bakerella's cupcake pops in chocolate. Time consuming they were but so worth it! They came out so cute!

Giant cupcake- REAL strawberry frosting. The cupcake liner is actually some vellum paper.

See all the bits of strawberry in there? Yum!





Bella's appetite has been off the last two days. She barely ate anything yesterday and only had a banana today and a few tiny bites of other stuff. Needless to say she didn't do a lot of smashing or eating her smash cake. Oh well. We had pics from her actual birthday of her enjoying a cupcake. I made her cupcake smash cake from scratch. It's this recipe from Martha Stewart. The frosting is from that recipe as well. It was good! For her high chair decor I bought a simple chocolate brown towel to cover the usual navy blue cover and made her a pink tutu. She looks so tiny still in her chair.




This give you a better idea of just how big the *mini* giant cupcake is.


My niece enjoying a cupcake pop.


I love this photo of her. I think it will go up on our wall.


One of MY favorite gifts of the day. My dear sweet friend Julie knitted Bella some cupcakes!! How sweet are they?!




Bella seemed very taken with her Tinkerbell card. That's my girl! ;) I love Tink!


Pulling Minnie Mouse (not a gift) out of her new stroller/walker.


Of course you know babies, they'd much rather play with the wrapping paper and packaging than the actual toy!


Her balloons. Did you know Party City will blow them up for you for a nominal fee? It was cheaper than buying a helium tank myself!


The party favors. The pictures and holders were for each family to take home and the goodie bags for each kid. There were 3 *flavors* of photo holder although only 2 are pictured (chocolate is missing). Goodie bags had Hershey Kisses (pink from Valentines), a cupcake bookmark, cupcake birthday stickers and a Krazy Straw.


Her party was a huge success. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Bella missed her afternoon nap so she was exhausted tonight. I still can't believe it's been a year since she was born. Time seems to go by so quickly. Thank you to all my friends and family who came today. Love you all!!

Party Planning part 2

I am slowly getting there. The balloons, adult favors and goody bags are all ordered and have been shipped. The dress will be finished this weekend and shipped.

Now I just need to get the balloons so I can buy the right color plates to match and find stuff to fill the goody bags with. All I have right now are pink Hershey kisses and Krazy Straws. I wanted cupcake themed stuff but I'm having a tough time with that. Oriental Trading has some cute stuff but shipping is crazy.

I think I've decided on cake flavors and if I can pull it all off in the next few weeks, all cakes/cupcakes will be homemade. We'll see how much I can accomplish with one clingy 11mo old and a 3 yr old who always wants my attention plus school pickups/drop offs and tumbling classes and a dh who is only home 1 day a week lately. Wish me luck!

More party stuff to come...

Party Planning Mode

***Update: Dh has nixed outfits #6 & 7 so vote for one of the first 5.


It's in full force now! Bella's 1st birthday is coming up quick! I'm having a Cupcake theme with plenty of pink of course. ;) I bought a giant Wilton 3D cupcake pan today and also the miniature version (which is still rather big) for her smash cake. I'm thinking of making the cake from scratch. We'll see about that!

I'm going to get cupcake balloons with coordinating regular balloons, a 1st birthday cupcake dress and I'm planning on decorating her highchair as well. Not sure the specifics on that since I don't sew though. I really want to cover her seat cover in pink but it doesn't look easy. Maybe a pink towel is just the way to go. I also think I'll make a pink tutu to dress her highchair up. I'll just go with plain colored plates/cups/etc more than likely. It's cheaper that way. Although these are really cute!!

Here are a few of the dresses I'm looking at for her (in no particular order) and of course she'll have a coordinating cupcake bow/clip for her hair. I'll have to find one of those after I pick a dress! Go vote for one or more of the dresses over <----there!

Dress #1
Dress #2
Dress #3 (much like #2- same seller)
Dress #4
Dress #5 (Has now been sold out BUT she's going to see if she has enough fabric for another)
Dress #6
Dress #7 (to be worn with a tutu of my making)

I've already bought her 1st gift from us. It's this adorable tea set from Fisher Price. Having a girl is going to get expensive! LOL There's so much I want to buy for her- tea sets and doll carriages, doll houses (not Barbie, a *real* one) and lots of cute felt foods. Baby dolls and accessories and of course all the dress up clothes eventually. Come on lotto! ;)

Cookies!! Nom, nom, nom

I pictured Cookie Monster as I typed my title. LOL

I had cookie exchange tonight but even before that I was making goodies all day. I made 60+ mint thins, 60+ peanut butter thins, and a pan of Magic Cookie Bars this afternoon. About 5pm, I threw some pizza in the oven in case the boys were hungry when they got home from Abuela's house and after they got home and I finally got Bella to bed I took off for my cookie exchange party. It was a lot of fun. I brought home 7 dz different cookies plus a few leftovers from the tasting portion. We played a game called Foodie Fight. It was a trivia game but it all related to food in some sense. We may have to get it for a future MNI. Thank you Andrea for a great night!!

New pets?

Nah! But I don't mind holding them or touching them. We went to a friend's birthday party today and this was the entertainment!






Like my new fashion accessory? There were several snakes, a bearded dragon, tarantula, alligator and a frog. The kids all had a blast. Ian wouldn't go near any of them though. There were only a few things that Logan wouldn't touch like the spider for one! I haven't held a boa like that since I was a kid. I want to say it was at Busch Gardens years ago. This one was named Carlos I think and weighed about 35lbs.

Busy day with a 100% chance of tears

I have nothing else to talk about tonight so I'll just tell you about my busy day. Got up this morning and went to get a Mary Kay makeover for my friend Julie who just became a consultant. I left there, came home to feed Bella again and to pick up Logan for a birthday party for one of his preschool friends (same friend in tumbling with him).

Of course it rained just before we left but it stopped just before the party started thankfully. It didn't matter though, the kids were doing a water slide and were going to get wet anyway. There were plenty of tears yet again today. Logan hurt himself at least 3x at the party. When we got there, he stepped on the inside doorway of the car, slipped and scraped his leg pretty bad. He also scratched himself while we were there and got hit by a water balloon which led to more tears. He dropped his chips on the floor and despite the fact that we all said it's okay, we'll get you more, he still cried. sigh... Then, I told him they were starting the pinata. He decided to play on the slide instead and by the time he got to the pinata, he was last in line to hit it and didn't get to as it broke open. Since he didn't get to hit it, he didn't want the candy. When he decided he wanted the candy, it was mostly gone so all he got was 2 pieces. The hostess took pity on him though and gave him some little party packs of playdoh she had.

I just don't know what to do with all these emotions of his. I feel like I have THE most emotional child on the planet.

I did get to catch up with some of the moms from preschool which was nice and talked to the hostess about my tumbling situation with Logan. She even offered to call this coach and talk to him. LOL I told her not to though. Hopefully I'll get to speak to him next week plus I found out he doesn't usually teach the little ones. Good!

Soooo if you've made it that far. We came home and apparently Bella had been crying for over an hour. She was sleeping when I left and she had been fed so I didn't take her with me. Now why dh didn't call me to come home or at least come get her, I just don't know. I was only 10min away. Got home, fed her again and dh offered to take us all out to dinner (his boss gave him $$ to do just that!). We went over to the new Tres Amigos Cantina (formerly Don Pablos) and it was pretty good. Came home again, fed Bella and put her down to sleep. Now dh is getting the boys ready for bed and soon, very soon, I'll have peace and quiet and a chance to relax. Phew!