Allie's 1st birthday party- the details- part 1

Part One- Decorations

I cannot believe my baby girl is ONE year old!! And this is my last 1st birthday party- at least to plan for my own children. Bittersweet. I thought Jake was going to be the last, but God had other plans. So I had to do the big party since I did with all the others. I chose Strawberry Shortcake for the theme because I've always wanted to do one. Maggie wanted to be included, so we did a joint party- though it was more about 1- Maggie wants a sleepover for her actual birthday, so the celebration will continue for her, no worries. Anyway, I had a lot of fun getting this Strawberry Shortcake party together and I think my beautiful girls loved it too!!

My dream for SS was food and decor for each character. Of course dreams are bigger than reality so I had to scale things down a bit. Still got something for each character, had plenty of food, a dessert table and decor to boot. It was still a big to do for my girls.


The invitation
Always fun for me to create! Not necessarily a decoration, but I wanted to include it. This template was somewhat "easy" to come up with once I decided to literally look to Strawberry Shortcake for inspiration. Pink polka dots from her skirt and green & white stripes from her leggings. I usually do photo cards, but wanted card stock so I could have a back this time. I wanted to include instructions for the birthday time capsule (I did this for each kid's 1st birthday) and also gift ideas. I considered putting "no gifts please" on the invite, but knew grandparents and such would want to give regardless, so I also added some gift ideas. I love how it turned out.

Balloons, fireplace & centerpieces
It would not be a party of mine without balloons! I picked polka dots, 1's, 5's, a Strawberry Shortcake pack, the big #1 and strawberries. I really wanted these strawberry hanging lanterns from Oriental Trading, but spent more at Party City than I thought I would and had to forego that expense. SO I grabbed a pack of red polka dot balloons and added my own leaves- wah lah, strawberries! I used my window as a fireplace decoration again and added strawberries I cut with my Cricut, plus an autographed picture of Strawberry herself, framed, and Maggie's doll, all flanked by balloons, of course.

These centerpieces were really easy to put together. I found the printables on a blog a couple years ago and downloaded the files. I just print everything, cut it out and glued the box together. Then added the circles to sticks with tape and set them in the box with tissue paper. 

Banners, door sign & hanging decor

Allie's photo banner- one picture for each month. Birthday banner made with pink polka dot & green/white stripe paper to coordinate with the invite

The large #1 had a leak in it. Party City tried to rig it, but the air wouldn't hold, they couldn't replace it since I ordered it online. I was really disappointed

Time Capsule, Favors & Water Bottle Labels

 I've done a time capsule for all of my kid's 1st birthday parties, so had to do this for Allie as well. People can bring notes, memorabilia, anything to add for the kids to open when they're 18. They've each had an animal to sign as well- the boys had a dog and Maggie had a bear, so I got that for Allie too. Then I found these cute 1st birthday butter mints at Party City in the party colors.

Found these labels on the Strawberry Shortcake website so I just had to print them out an attach to a baggie. I also added a sticker on back to thank guests for coming. Each bag was filled with strawberry twizzlers. I wanted strawberry jam as favors, but wasn't able to make that happen.

 I love water bottle labels, they add such a cute touch and are really easy to do. This time I made circles, cut them out and attached to card stock cut to size. 

Decorations are one of my favorite parts of my kid's birthday parties, I really enjoy putting everything together and seeing what I can come up within a certain budget and sometimes with items I already have on hand (like the strawberry doll & window. ) Hope you enjoyed!

Baby Reveal

Earlier this year my cousin, Rachel, called to tell me she was expecting and due only a few weeks after me. A couple months later we decided to do a joint gender reveal party. I wasn't planning to have one for this baby because we already had one for Jake. But she really wanted to do this together and we won't ever have the chance again, etc. So I agreed.

One of the main reasons I was pretty hesitant about it was because I was going to have to keep my baby's gender a secret for about 6 weeks. I'm about 3 weeks further along than her and I found out at 18 where she didn't until 20. Plus, I was in Canada for the first 4 weeks, so we could not have planned it much sooner. Still, I conceded because this would be our only chance. 

So we decided to have the party at brunch time with a Ties or Tutus theme in blue/grey for boy and purple/yellow for girl. Jake's reveal was cupcakes with a blue filling so I wanted to do something different and had many ideas. I finally settled on one the day before the party! Look below to see. 

 My reveal- votes for boys (blue ties) and girls (yellow tutus). I chose a pinata for the reveal and apparently chose one without the pull strings so I told will he could open it. But once he started, all the kids wanted to join in, eventually resulting in the contents being broken...

Above, we're ripping open the pinata to pull out the sugar, spice & everything nice. The sugar mess took away from the dramatic reveal a little bit, but I think everyone got it. Once we cleaned it all up, Daniel and I took some pics. :)

Rachel's reveal- boy then girl guesses with a cupcake reveal.

Our aunt Rose made us gifts with her guesses and she was right!

then I had the kiddos pose with the sugar, spice and everything nice :)

Yes, that is a bag of skittles, but we didn't know what else to use and they are quite nice

Ornaments and Decor

We took our annual trip to the mall for our family ornament and did homemade ornaments again. This year, we tried salt dough ornaments and really enjoyed decorating them. One may think you can have too many homemade (or otherwise) ornaments on your tree, but we're pretty likely to do these again so we will eventually overload the tree. But then the kids will grow up, move out and I'll send them with all their ornaments for their own little tree. Let's not think about that though.

that's a banana, not an ornament

Daniel only decorated one ornament. But he did so meticulously

As for the rest of the decor, I just love it. I realize decorations is not what the season is about nor does Christ care about how much tinsel I hang in my house. But I just can't help it, Christmas decorations have always been one of my favorites. I would like to have more homemade items, but I'll probably have to start in July if I ever really want that to happen.

 this clock "sings" a Christmas song every hour...I've come to enjoy this 

announcement and will likely miss it when Christmas is over

We have some other things out and about, but these are the highlights, I think. I hope you enjoyed setting out your seasonal decor this year!

Baby Jake- 7 months & Nursery Reveal

Wait, what? Uhm, isn't the nursery reveal like 8 months late, you say? Eh, technically, but what can a girl do? I could blame it on the move, but without the move Jake wouldn't have his own room and therefore no reveal. It didn't make sense to re-do Will & Jake's joint room as a nursery and I couldn't find a superhero/nursery combination I was happy with. So we all agreed to use Will's frog & duck baby theme until Jake got a little older or we moved into a new house giving them separate rooms (we discussed moving within the B'ham area before we knew about the TN move). Also, Jake's room has been finished for a couple months now, I just haven't been able to post about it. I'm making up for it now, 'cause this is a really long one, so sit tight!

Jakie-poo, before we talk about your room, I want to talk about you! So here's some things we've learned about our 7 month old baby boy:

• You really got this sitting thing down! You fall over every once in awhile but often you catch yourself when you start to teeter totter
• You've graduated from the Bumbo to the highchair
• You have not cut a tooth yet, but in addition to chewing on your lip, fingers/hands and anything you can get hold of, you're chewing on your tongue. Surely all this chewing is going to pay off soon and get you a brand new tooth!
• You can be quiet and observe your surroundings or talk with just a tiny little baby voice. But there's times when you just have something to say and pretty much scream it at us. It's so cute!
• You're still in 3-6 months clothes and size 2 diapers
• You love to bounce even when you're not in your bouncy. Seriously, you'll just sit on the floor or in the highchair, our laps, wherever and just bounce, bounce, bounce up and down and back and forth!
• We put you in a swing for the first time (at the park) and you really like it :)
• It sounds like you're trying to say ma-ma
• You are such a grabber! You grab anything you can reach and bring it straight to your mouth

Jake, you have the sweetest little laugh and are still such a cuddly little boy. I love watching you grow and your budding personality come through. It's also precious how much you love your siblings. You just smile, talk and laugh and them and your little eyes track them around the room. Will & Maggie both love talking to you and giving you kisses. Melt a mama's heart!! 

The Nursery
When I started planning for baby 3, I knew I wanted to make the bedding myself. I've never done it before and this way #3, now Jake, would have a 'first'. Will was our first child, Maggie our first girl and now Jake is the first to have homemade bedding by mommy. I did search for fabric to coordinate with a superhero room, but as I said, just wasn't finding anything I liked. One of the fabrics I did love was unavailable by the time we moved and I went fabric shopping. So we hung all Will's baby stuff in Jake's room because I wanted him to have something. I wasn't happy that it wasn't his 'own thing' but hand-me-downs are better than empty room.

Before

Then one day I went to JoAnn for something completely different and found exactly what I wanted. Bright and fun, but still baby boy and went with the colors already in the room. I like the green walls and had no intentions of painting. I left the curtains up because they're tailor-made and go fine with the new bedding even though they don't match. I found a tutorial here for the bedding and though it took me some time, it was easier than I thought it would be. And I just love that my baby boy has his own custom-made bedding. It's not perfect, but made with lots of love from mommy. :) 

walking into Jake's nursery

Along with the bumpers and crib skirt, I made the blanket draped over the glider. 

I made the letters and piggy bank before Jake's arrival.We bought a bookcase and Daniel assembled it...I wanted a place to set photos, decorations and books, of course. The blue frame above the bookcase was a gift from my parents when Jake was born. I found the other 3 frames from Goodwill for $1 each and spray painted white. I also found the lamp base from Goodwill for $3- it was brass so I spray painted it blue.

I bought the lamp shade from Hobby Lobby and added fabric to it. The other little items (cup that says little prince and two ceramic boxes for first tooth and first curl) on top of the bookcase were gifts from my Aunt & Uncle when Jake was born. 

Aside from the letters, I wanted to incorporate a fun, homemade element with Jake's birth information, like Maggie's, but different. I came up with this (below), designed and cut with my Cricut on vinyl. Because it's only 12x12, I needed something else and I love the idea of ABC flashcards...I first saw this several years ago when Daniel's cousin, Jennifer, kept a blog about her twin boys. It always stuck in my head as a cute idea. I found already made cards online (free), printed them on my home printer and attached to the string by mini clothes pins- left from Jake's gender reveal party. (I knew they'd come in handy!)

The shelf used to hang in the entry way of our B'ham house (for a short time anyway). I was glad to find a use for this since I just barely completed that project before having to take it down last year. The LOVE didn't work with the rest of the colors in the room so I covered the hooks with scrapbook paper and embellishments to match Jake's letters. I like that the shelf coordinates with the white bookcase- they both bring some brightness into the room. I probably would've bought white furniture if I had a girl first, but Daniel  didn't really like it for a boy. I purchased the J from JoAnn's and covered it with the same fabric as the lamp shade- I got this idea from my neighbor. The other items atop the shelf are hand-me-downs from Will's room. 

This accordion album was one of the final homemade touches and was also made 

to match Jake's letters. I talk more about making this here.  

I really like how my baby Jake's nursery came together and enjoyed adding all the little homemade touches to his room. Crafting is even more fun when it's for my babies. :) I still have one more project I want to complete but I couldn't hold off writing about this any longer. And who knows if I'll ever actually get around to it. I love you Jake!