Having a Ball Mason Jar Party

Meet my Granny. Isn't she precious? 

I won't show you the video of us singing happy birthday to her and she decided to start singing to her self.

 I clearly inherited much of my weirdness from her!

Here is the basic rundown of her birthday party. 

It was simple, girly and classic. 

It was also thrown together in record time. The room we were promised from her apartment complex had a scheduled singing before the party that ran an hour over! Since we were just starting to set up 15 minutes before the party started, things didn't look quite neat and orderly as we planned but she was a happy camper and that's what matters. 

(also most pictures kind of stink since I was super rushed to get them)

We used white serving pates, with some wooden and black metal serving pieces.

Basic white table clothes were used along with lavender accent fabric and multicolored wild flowers to bring color to the tables. 

The menu selections centered around her favorite foods. 

We chose her favorite color, lavender as the main accent color and punctuated it with light light light turquoise and pale pink. 

We served sweet tea, lemonade and water and drank out of an array of mason jars. She gave me most of her old canning jars so it seemed fitting that we use those. The kids drank from little jelly jars ans the adults used pint jars. 

The flowers were in quart and half gallon jars.

 My cousin tracked down cute paper straws and matching hard candy sticks. 

I made a cute little sign that clearly stated the theme of the party and paired it with my Mom's ruffle cake.

 We had a photobooth as well. I planned on including it in this post but the website I use to make collages and do some edits is not cooperating at all. I'll share those Monday and I should have the blank menus and invites available to download by Tuesday! 

I'll be sharing the recipe for the pepper jelly that I made and used at this party and the marshmallow frosting that went on those cupcakes and mini lemon pies in the next couple of weeks.

Mustache Bash {Liam turned 1}

Its been almost three weeks since we celebrated Liam's first birthday. We had a "small" dinner with Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, which is small for most families, it was 16 for us and that isn't everyone. To make things easier we did a pasta bar. We put out three types of pasta, three types of sauces, two toppings, salad fixings and homemade bread with a dipping oil for dinner and we had two desserts, cupcakes and chocolate pavlova. I made a couple of cute menus to go along with and called it a day. Easy right?

My menus looked like:

I grabbed a couple of snap shots of the food with my parent's camera since mine was dead and we were saving it for shot of the birthday boy and his "smash" cupcake. I'll try to update the post when I get those from them. But for now all I have is dessert shots. We didn't really decorate beyond that, we just used white serving dishes and mason jars. In fact any decor we used was just left out from our Family Cookout two weeks prior. Good timing huh? 

Vanilla Confetti Cupcakes with Swiss Buttercream and Chocolate mustaches. I bought my mold at Bake It Pretty. 

Chocolate Pavlova with whipped cream and strawberries. 

I know my husband took some pictures and/or a video with the camera with barely a charge but they have disappeared into oblivion. I've searched the entire computer and they are gone and I wiped the memory stick after I uploaded them. I don't know what I was thinking?!!? The one time I try to be efficient it backfires. Oh well, we have out pics from our phones

and the shots I put on Instagram and the pictures my sister put on there as well. 

Welcome To The Circus... A Baby Shower.

I am close to my aunt, Stephanie. She is my Dad's much younger sister and has always been a role model for me. When I was a kid she was my fashion icon now I am an adult I work to be the kind of wife and mother she is. So when she called me still stunned from the news that she was in fact pregnant, unexpectedly, I immediately started planning the shower. I called in my mom #2 Mitzi, my Nana Raylene, my sister Holly, and of course the big sister Michaela.  I looked through blogs and party planning sites for the perfect theme. I had a mustache and bow tie theme, a bubble theme and a couple of other themes but none really worked. Then I stumbled on a circus themed birthday party and I realized that it was perfect for her big, silly busy family. I knew if anyone would find humor in a circus theme she would and she did and loved the idea. I started by picking my color palette. I used primary colors, red, yellow and blue. I usually have some strange color combination in mind for my parties but this one screamed for traditional kids colors. Then I decided that Since we were welcoming baby into this circus of characters that I would give every one their very own act and a dessert to go along with it.

So I started with my uncle, Alex, if anyone can calm chaos of 4, soon to be 5, kids and cope with and encourage their tons of activities and can be heard over everyone it would be him. So he was the Ringleader.

Next I moved on to Steph, she is always on the go taking the kids from one activity to another or hosting events for the church or helping anyone in need. She always has so many balls in the air, naturally she is the Juggler.

The oldest is Carlye and I am pretty sure that this child has no fear and you probably shouldn't dare her do anything because she will do it. So I thought that the Tightrope Walker was the perfect act for her.

The next one is Elijah and he is super athletic, adorable and confident. The Strong Man seemed to be the perfect roll for him.

The next to youngest is Michaela. She always know what everyone is up to and has opinions on many topics so naturally The Fortune Teller was her act. She totally agreed and LOVED it.

Last but not least is Micah. He is a ball of energy who can literally climb walls. We think he is actually a mini ninja. The Acrobat a given for him.

These are the signs that Michaela, Holly and I made with my Cricut using the Carousel Cartridge.

The night before the shower we decided that little baby Zeke should have one too so we made him the Amazing Growing Boy.

We also made a few of the circus themed posters...

Now for the customized desserts...

The Ringleader's Big Top Cupcakes. 

Mini Mocha Cupcakes with A Chocolate Ganache

 Mini Key Lime Cupcake with a White Chocolate Buttercream

The Juggler's Truffle Balls

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

 The Tightrope Walker's Sky High Lemon Trifle with a Twizzler Rope

The Strong Man's Mustache Lollipop

The Fortune Teller's Magical Fluffy Stuff

Nana's Strawberry Fluff is a family favorite and was a must have.

The Acrobat's Twisted and Flipped Snack Mix

animal crackers, white chocolate covered pretzels and blueberry kettle corn.

The Growing Boy's Red Hot Fudge

Pineapple Lemonade

Baby Boy Blue Punch

This is what it looks like before the ice cream melts.

And this is after. Although the picture makes it look slightly green it is actually a very pretty baby blue.

We went pretty simple for decorations. I used the Cricut to cut out letters for the banner and Mitzi cut out pennant shapes. Michaela and Holly and I made flowers out of tissue paper and we used streamer to create a tent affect on the ceilings and the doors. We've only been in the house for about 2 months so the hubby hasn't gotten to hanging anything on the walls so I had a blank canvas to work with.

I wish some of the pictures were better but I people were arriving and it was cloudy out so a good shot was not in the cards for some things. I really loved this shower and had so much fun doing it. I really could not have done it without Holly Mitzi and Michaela! I will do another post for the recipes later on. oh and just for fun...

Looking back at Caleb's 1st Birthday Party

I have had the intention of starting this blog for over a year now. So I've been planning this post for quite some time now. Considering Caleb's birthday is in September it's been a while. But I was super proud of how his birthday turned out and really wanted to blog about it. 

Since before he was born he was called Monkey. I have no clue where it came from but it seemed to fit him and his demeanor perfectly.  We opted to highlight this fact and have Monkey themed Zoo party. We rented the party room at the zoo, which came pre-decorated and was actually pretty cute. 

All the tables had animal print tablecloths, there was a felt birthday banner and the room was filled with aquariums of snakes and lizards (that came out to play later) so I had very little to do decor wise. Honestly I could have made cupcakes and been done but I just can't help myself. I used my Cricut to make invitations, a banner and cupcake toppers.

The guestbook was chipboard letters that spelled out Caleb. I painted them a color to match his room and had every one sign them. They are super cute on his wall and when he has out grown them they can be put away in his keepsake box. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of them but we love them.

 We had tons of mini to-go boxes  left over from the favors at our wedding. So I batted my eyelashes at my Mother-in-law and asked for two trail mixes and Chex mix so that everyone could help themselves to snack to carry around the zoo. We probably should have asked permission for that one, but sometimes asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission. She made the cutest M&M coated caramel apples too.

Lee's grandmother or MomMom, as Caleb calls her, made the most adorable chocolate monkey lollipops.

My mom and I made the cupcakes. We had three flavors, Banana Chocolate Chunk with Chocolate Buttercream topped with M&Ms, Birthday Cake with Vanilla Buttercream topped with primary color quins or nonpareils  and Lime Coconut with a Lime Buttercream topped with coconut.

 And all of his grandparents came early to help us get set up.There is no way we could have done all of this without our family. They are always such a blessing to us.

After we did the cake the lizards and snakes came out for anyone who wanted to hold them. Now, at this point, I promptly moved to the other side of the room and handed my child off to his Uncle Ronnie ,who has grown up with snakes as pets. Most of the kids loved it and most of the adults evacuated the area.

Since we booked through the zoo we had a guided tour. Our tour guide was great with the kids and kept the adults attention too. 

It is a R.O.U.S. (tee hee)

Caleb enjoying the zoo with his daddy

Catching a ride

Love love love this shot. He wanted to pet the kitty so badly.

Big Caleb, Little Caleb and of course Cuddles

The hubs loved the Star Trek quote!

I cannot believe it is almost time for his 2nd birthday! We have already picked a theme and and color palette. I'm about to start the invitations and decorations soon. Time really does pass so quickly now that I'm trying to squeeze every moment out of watching him grow up.