Little Nugget Turns One

I'm slowly sharing about the five things I discovered while away from my blog the last 3 months.  So far, I've written about how paint transformed our home, that I am now a fan of garage sales, and the books I read over the last few months.

What I am most excited to share is that my little nugget (Haven Joy) turned one! 

How does this fact coincide with learning?  Well, I must say that her party was VASTLY different than the first birthday party that I threw Selah.  If you have never read about the disaster that was her first birthday you can do so here, but suffice it to say - I tried to be SUPER mom and failed miserably. 

With Selah I spent months scouring Pinterest and I did my best to show the world that I was a success as a new mom.  In essence, Selah's party became an exercise in trying to show off my mothering prowess and it was not until I burned the food, found my pinterest crafts falling apart, and had the disposal back up that I finally gave up and remembered that the day was not about me at all.  It was a day to celebrate the bundle of joy who had completely wrecked my life (in all the good ways).

With this lesson stilled seared in my brain, I determined to keep Haven's soiree low key (also, I kind of forgot that her birthday was coming until we were less than 2 weeks out- sorry, second child).  So, what I learned while I was away is that you can still have a great (even cutesy/Pinterest worthy) party without the undue stress that I find far too many mothers placing upon themselves.

Here is what we did to celebrate little nugget's special day:

Simple Table Decor focusing on the Little Nugget

 I decided to have a cook-out and decorate with a picnic motif.  Why?  Because I had most of the decorations and because we were in fact just doing a simply family cook-out to celebrate.  I honestly spent less than $20 on decorations & some fun things for the bigger cousins to do.  The Dollar Store was my best friend - I purchased all paper goods, the plastic table cloth that I used as a runner, and picnic gear!

I decided to purchase bubbles for the bigger cousins to play with and the girls had fun blowing and chasing the bubbles around the yard.

 I didn't worry about any other type of entertainment - we just laid out quilts, let the children squeal as they chased one another in the yard, and chatted over juicy burgers and hot dogs - simple.  I'm learning that I like simple.

The only thing that I did spend time on was the cake.  I had just watch The Pioneer Woman make the most delicious looking cake on her show (can you say Nutella, Chocolate and Strawberries), and I determined that I must give it a try.  I have to confess that I was PROUD of myself when I finished this beauty.

However, by the time the party started the whipped cream has partially melted so my creation was less than stellar...but that's okay!

I also learned that I'm quite expressive when celebrating my little nugget.

And by "expressive" I mean frightening

And then the main event occurred.  We stripped down the baby and let her have some cake.

It was a special evening, a night filled with laughter, great food, the toothy grin of our sweet Haven girl.  Happy Birthday Haven Joy!

Need Some Inspiration for Back to School? Try a Party!

Loved the colorful decor!

I've always loved Kathleen Kelley in "You've Got Mail" when she talks about the joy of freshly sharpened pencils and the smell of fall in the air!

I don't know about you, but I'm realizing that fall is in deed in the air and with that comes back to school!  Josh's family has a long line of teachers and so back to school season has special meaning.

In order to get the kids excited about jumping back into school mode, Josh's aunt Clarice planned our first ever back to school party!  She had heard how much Selah loves a good party and Selah counted down the hours to this really fun shindig!

If you are looking for a way to get your kids excited about school as they wave good-bye to slow summer days then you should look into throwing your own back to school party!  Here is what ours looked like:

First, go to your local school supply store and create decorations like Aunt Clarice - she had a garland made out of flash cards, apples and name cards at every one's plate!  And each kid had their own special bin filled with markers, colored pencils, composition books and more!

Not only did she have thoughtful decor and gifts, she also planned out fun activities for our party!  First off, we had some school riddles to solve.  Josh read out the riddle and the kids did a great job of getting the right answers!  One example was, "Why was the math book so sad?"  The answer "It has a lot of problems!"  I found out kids LOVE these silly questions!

Josh reading the questions

Levi is first to answer the question: "How does the bumble bee get to school?" The answer: "He rides the BUZZ!"

Selah tried answering a couple of the riddles too!

 After our fun time of solving riddles, Uncle Dwight read The Kissing Hand to everyone.  Selah liked the pictures and I loved them having the opportunity to hear this precious story.

Oh, and then we sat down to some delicious treats!  Brownies, peach crisp, ice cream and colorful straws made this a party Selah will never forget!

Can you tell that this is a happy kid?

Here is Aunt Clarice serving up sweet watermelon!

I loved the attention to detail!

 And then the kids played - here is Selah and Levi diving into their colored pencils and puzzle books!  After this special day I think everyone is ready to get back to school!

Thank you Aunt Clarice!

Coloring with cousin Levi

How Selah's Yo Gabba Gabba Party was ACTUALLY easy this year!

Just like I swore I'd never be "One of Those Moms" I also thought I'd never do a theme birthday party - especially with a cartoon as the theme that is a little kooky.  BUT my sweet Selah absolutely loves Yo Gabba Gabba, and I hate to admit it, but these strange creatures have grown on me too.

After perusing Pinterest and online sites like Hostess with the Mostess, I decided that I could handle a Yo Gabba Gabba party so long as the theme was implied and my house wasn't lined with cartoon faces.  So, I decided to take a rainbow theme & then apply Yo Gabba nods sparingly - here is what our little family party looked like!

The Food:
We had our party at 10:00am on a Saturday morning as I've found that works well with little ones and then the rest of the day is free.  So, I made pancakes as the main portion of breakfast and also had a few other treats.

I made fruit skewers that resembled the rainbow - very easy & I felt like I was at least offering something half-way healthy!

Of course, the healthiness of this attempt was thwarted by the fact that I also offered donut pops.  As you can imagine, these were MUCH more popular that the fruit.

For the adults I also made Yogurt Parfaits (I liked the play-on words with Yo Gabba)...and I also made these because Selah would rather have yogurt than donuts most any day - I like to think she gets this from me...although that's probably not true (I was popping those donut holes in abundance before everyone arrived) - ha!

Simple Vanilla yogurt with berries and granola!

The Decor:
I was VERY low key this year and decided to focus on one special piece of decorations.  I made 4 pictures that look like Selah is walking around in Gabba Land.  Nick Jr. had the cartoon backgrounds for free and then I also printed off pictures of each character.  I then found full body shots of Selah that I thought would work well and cut her out!  I put them together with some tape & framed each one - and tada, we had Selah portraits in Gabba Land! 

Here are just two of our pictures (I love the one of her picking grass out of her toes)!

What I loved the most about these is that Selah helped me make them and was absolutely excited to show everyone that she was either walking with Muno or sitting with Foofa!  I then just placed the pictures around our house & called decorations done!

Party Fun Ideas:
I've learned that with a room full of 2-5 year olds it's best if there is a plan of fun.  So, when Selah's cousins first arrived they made rainbow Yo Gabba necklaces...Well, their parents made the necklaces, but the kids loved wearing them & then eating them, of course!

Everyone is pitching in to make necklaces (I used Fruit Loops & string - simple)!

Miss Molly modeling her necklace...although hers was more of a choker...

The Birthday Girl getting her necklace put on by Gigi.

After making necklaces and eating some yummy food it was time to have a Yo Gabba Gabba dance party.  Thankfully, my husband is always ready for a good dance party, so he put on some music and before we knew it the girls were dancing their little hearts out!

I think they are doing the chicken or something...but as you can tell they were busting a move!

And I wish I had captured it all - Ava started to do the Sprinkler...Madi tried to break dance...and my dad (AKA - Papa)...well, take a look for yourself...

 

He had some of his own moves to show off

   After the dance party we opened gifts and wrapped everything up with some Yo Gabba coloring pages!  It was a fun morning that didn't include any mishaps like Selah's 1st Birthday Party!

Opening gifts!

Showing Gigi & Mema her new Foofa doll!

And with that...I'm finished with birthday fun (I promise)!

We Announce If We are Having a He or a She!

On Tuesday morning we went in for a Dr.'s appointment and ultra-sound with the hopes that we would get to find out if we are having a little boy or girl.  At first, our little nugget was sitting perfectly still with legs crossed as if to protect this great secret...

But then, our little bundle got to moving and the Dr. said she was 95% certain of the sex.

So, what was left to do but have a little party with our family and friends!

I've never been to a gender reveal party, but I'm always game for a good party and this seemed like a worthy event.  Probably there was an added level of excitement because my parents have 3 daughters and 6 granddaughter - there is not a boy to be found in our brood & there is always a burning question in the minds and on the lips of those who know us as to when a boy might make his entrance.

We've had COUNTLESS people say that they KNOW we are having a boy, so there was an added level of anticipation for this reveal.

I decided to ramp up the team boy vs. team girl aspect by asking people to vote for which sex they thought we were having, and some even wore blue or pink based on their predictions.

Leslie and Ava cast their vote for a boy

And after voting they took either a mustache or pair of lips to show their spirit!  As you can tell...we had quite a few more voting for the boy than girl.  Afterall, as one friend commented - what are the odds of having 7 girls in a row?  Surely it was time for a boy...

So, mustaches abounded this evening

Eric & Kimberly both went for the boy vote

A house divided - Lisa took a pair of lips while Roy took a mustache!

Heather, Elizabeth (our friend from Thailand), and Terri all wearing their blue & showing off a mustache!

Even Selah chose a mustache

The oldest of our girls - sweet Taylor!

We also had a station where people could share name suggestions with us...and oh the names we received!  I couldn't pronounce most of the suggestions, and there also seemed to be a large contingent of Hunger Game fans because we had some suggestions based on the characters of the book.  Probably the best suggestion was Evan which was made by my 5-year old niece (I think this is her current crush).

Kimberly & Heather cast quite a few suggestions for names!

Here I am reading the name suggestions - wasn't too sure of names like...Avitar (thanks, Jay Phelps)

So after eating and much laughter it was time for the big reveal!  We decided to simply wrap a onesie for Selah to open for everyone to see - would that onesie be blue or pink?

Opening...What will it be?

Oh my goodness, it's pink!

The mustaches are in SHOCK!  But I am HAPPY!

Josh is happy too - and my mom will kill me for this picture, but I absolutely love it because this is her true laughter face - I love that we were all so happy and enjoying this moment - the Girl Streak is ALIVE!

All that was left was a bit of proof, so I showed off the ultrasound pics and we celebrated bringing one more vibrant, sweet, beautiful, and strong girl into the world!

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us!  I'm so very excited to welcome a new girl to our family - I feel like the Lord is doing huge things with women right now and it is a privilege to raise two beautiful girls who can change their world and mirror His beauty!  Here's to GIRLS!