Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas... from our family to yours!

Beep! Beep! Beep! Jack's 3rd Birthday

 We read Little Blue Truck & Little Blue Truck Leads the Way at least four times a week, so it was a no-brainer when it came to picking a theme for Jack's 3rd birthday.

Apparently, it's quite a popular theme right now-- the invite in my etsy shop has sold 222 copies so far. Crazy!

So, we decided to have a farm fresh breakfast!

I love brunch food-- there are so many things that can be made the night before & popped in the oven in the morning. So we had two egg souffles (one with turkey sausage, one without), baked pumpkin french toast, donuts, muffins & fruit...

 

With juice, milk and coffee.

Decorations doubled as gifts for Jack.

How is he THREE already?

When I was going through my pictures, I realized that I hadn't put the cupcake toppers on the muffins when I snapped this picture-- there was fruit in the boxes on the bottom (bananas, strawberries, blueberries & grapes), blueberry & strawberry muffins in the middle and mini donuts in the bags in the top.

A huge thank you to my dad, who built me the metal stand! I've been drooling over the Pottery Barn Galvanized Metal Tiered Stand for almost a year, but refused to spend $70 on it. I saw a DIY tutorial on Pinterest and asked him to help me make it. I love it!

 

After we ate, I had a few crafts for the kids to make-- they assembled foam blue truck ornaments and painted their own trucks. The painting project was a hit!

But I think my favorite part of the party was the Little Blue Truck photo prop my friend Beth painted for me. Jack was mesmerized by it, and the kids had fun with it! We'll hang it on the wall in Jack's room now that the party is over.

The little smile makes me melt!

Happy Birthday to my sweetest surprise. I love you so much!

_____________________

 

Sources:
Invite, Banner, Toppers: Me
Gingham Table Cloth, 1940's Model Truck, Animal Balloons, Wooden Trucks, Little Blue Truck Books: Amazon
Farm Animals, Wooden Crate, Plates, Napkins & Striped Boxes: Target
Striped Bags & Polka Dot Balloons: Party City
Glass "Dairy" Milk Bottles: Michaels
Paint, Aprons, Gable Boxes, Chipboard Letters and Numbers & Vases: Hobby Lobby

Camp Out! Liam's 4th Birthday

It's been nearly a year since the last time I blogged-- the silence has not been intentional, rather, the natural consequence of what happens when a married mama with a part time job becomes a single, full time working mom with two jobs. So much to say, but not enough hours in the day. Eventually, I'll get around to writing a post that recaps our year, but for today, we have a little man's birthday to celebrate!

Liam is 4!!!!

 

 I had a hard time committing to a theme this year... first he requested a firetruck party just like Jack's party last year. We thought about a construction theme. Then, I got my heart set on a camping party.

I saw an invite that I fell in love with on Pinterest and recreated it myself, making a few small changes:

 Then took elements from a lot of different parties that I loved and put them together.

Liam was SUPER excited about helping make the flames for his cake (crushed/melted Lifesavers):

And he loved making his own Trail Mix:

 

We had tree cookies and compass cookies--

Me: "Liam, do you know what a compass is?"

L: "They're how you find your way home to your mommy."

And favor boxes with compasses, flashlights, personalized canteens and s'mores kits:

Even more s'mores to snack on:

Little Campers:

Blowing out his candles:

And my favorite part-- the outdoor movie. I borrowed a projector from work and we watched Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (the one where he goes to camp) while the kids ate hot dogs in their tents.

This is the moment I never want to forget:

Happy Birthday, sweet boy.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Sources:
Invitations/Signs/Labels/T-shirts: Me
Lanterns/White frames: IKEA
Trees/Favor Boxes/ Burlap/ Buckets/Scrapbook Paper for Letters: Hobby Lobby
Canteens/Camping Signs/Flashlights/Compasses: Oriental Trading
Push Pops/Stand: Ebay
Tents: Burlap from Hobby Lobby, Wood from Lowe's
Fake Campfire/Lantern String Lights: Amazon
Table Cloth: Riley Blake Wood Grain fabric

Here come the cards!

SQUEEEEE!!

It's one of my favorite times of the year-- when Christmas cards start rolling in and I get to see the sweet faces of all of my friends' families. Since I'm not on Facebook, I LIVE for Christmas card season.

I lined up our photo shoot with our favorite photographer over the summer & a few weeks ago, we went to an urban park here in Birmingham to get some really fun shots. Now, is the fun part-- picking our cards! 

Most years I design & print my own, but this year, being a busy single working mama, I decided to enlist the help of Tiny Prints. We ordered Save the Dates from them as well as Birth Announcements, and we've always been thrilled.

Their designs this year are SO CUTE. When I made my initial favorites list, I had over 30 designs picked out. Looking through our best shots, I'm starting to narrow it down... Here are a few of my favs!

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What about you? Do you have a favorite?

To see the rest of Tiny Prints' holiday card collection, click here!
 
Psssssst, blog friends! I've moved since last year!
If I'm on your list and you need my new address, please shoot me an email!!

Sound the Alarm! Jack's 2nd Birthday.

This party almost didn't happen.

I'm back at work full time (more on that another day) and working single mommy doesn't have quite as much time to pull these things together as I used to. Jack loves firetrucks, and after a few attempts to get in touch with our local fire station with no luck, I had decided that we'd just celebrate Jack's birthday with a family dinner.

Then, a week ago today, the fire station called me back-- so I scrambled to pull something together in less than a week. And you know what? It was just as fun as the parties that I spend months planning. A few less details than I would have pulled off with more time... but he doesn't care about that. Give him a donut and a firetruck and he's happy.

So, our party was brunch & a tour of our local fire department--

There were burning buildings.

Fire hydrants bursting with cinnamon & orange rolls & donuts.

Wagons full of fruit.

And firetrucks, of course.

The setup.

 

The mamas had Bloody Marys. (And an egg & cheese souffle.)

 

We stuck two candles in a chocolate donut for Jack to blow out.

We gave our friends some fun party favors.

And mama even managed to grab a pic with the birthday boy.

We headed off for our tour of the fire station-- here's our crew!

He was one happy birthday boy!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweet Jack! I love you SO much!