Tag: party

Categories
Babies Family/Travel Food

First Birthday Celebration

Happy 1st birthday to Zach & Lucy today! Due to a stomach bug that’s attacked Lucy, posts are delayed this week. I’m taking us back to Saturday when we had the pleasure that afternoon to gather with close friends at our house to celebrate Zach & Lucy.

DSC_0029

Due to {unrelated to us} sicknesses & life’s busyness, our small party was smaller than expected, but Lucy & Zach didn’t mind. They loved the cuddles, attention, decorations & friends.

I went with a monkey theme & kept things fairly simple. Invites, cupcake decorations & food tents were ordered off etsy & printed by Walmart & by my Dad. We found monkey boy & girl balloons at Party City & monkey paper goods at Walmart.

monkey party decor

For food, I had help last weekend with my parents & Friday night from my aunt & friend Kelly. Mom & I baked mini banana bread loaves for adult goodie bags {kids also received monkey stickers & bubbles}.

Kelly & I made ‘monkey tails’ aka pretzel rods dipped in milk chocolate & green sprinkles. Sue used my mom’s idea of ‘monkey caps’ – toothpick sized kabobs of tomato, basil & mozzarella which I drizzled with balsamic glaze minutes before guests arrived. Friday night, we also created a mix of kiddo puffs, melts & Cheerios for the littles.

monkey food

I made my favorite banana pudding in cups for easy serving & enjoying. I picked up a tropical trail mix at Walmart. I sat out ‘monkey crunches’ {chips, carrots & tomatoes with ranch dip} too. And we had my {& now Zach’s beloved} Gigi’s cupcakes for dessert. I ordered mini cupcakes for us & two regular ones for Lucy & Zach.

monkey food 2

So I expected Lucy to love her cupcake because she loves fruit & sweet pouches. I wasn’t sure about Zach. Y’all! They drove in before we even had time to sing or think of putting in the ‘1’ candle. Zach made a mess! It was awesome. Lucy took a little encouragement from me but she ended up liking it too.

lucy cupcake

Zach birthday cake
After cleaning up Lucy & giving Zach a quick bath & outfit changes, it was time to bring out their gift from us {a coupe that their friend Reagan also enjoyed}.

Zach & Lucy birthday party giftsThen we opened gifts from our sweet friends. Lucy & Zach received wiggly giggly balls, birthday books & boon snack/bowls. The books are our current favorites on rotation!

Two babies means cause for two celebrations! Up this weekend is the family birthday/baptism beach weekend party!

Categories
Babies Motherhood

On the verge of One

How is it April?! How is it that I have to answer 10.5 months when people ask how old Lucy & Zach are?! How is it that I’m on the verge of having to start calling them ‘toddlers’ versus ‘babies’?!

Where has this year gone?

I find myself spending more time than I care to admit re-reading my posts from last April and last May. They’re full of hope & joy & bittersweetness. It seems like so long ago & yet not long ago at all that my old life ended & really, my life began.

I’m so thankful {again} for my lil place online & that I had the forethought to type out my thoughts on my pregnancy, bed rest & birth experiences. So many details I’ll never forget, so many have been lost to pregnancy- then mommy-brain.

I’m both in denial & almost ready for my two babies to turn one. To check off that we not only survived but thrived through our first year together.

Yet I still haven’t really planned their first birthday party{s}. There are dates set though. First the weekend before their big day we’re going to get together with some close friends. Theme, food, party accessories are all TBD {where is a cleaning service & Suzanne when I need her?!}. The Sunday before their birthday we’re having one year photos made. I can’t wait to have photos of them at this age & to see how they do trying birthday cake!

The day of, we have their 12 month doctor visit & I’m considering taking the rest of the day off to just hug on them {but daycare does their own lil party on birthdays & I don’t want them to miss out}.

The weekend after their birthday is Memorial Day weekend. Yay for always having a beach bound holiday to celebrate on! {I planned that. Ok, more like Zach planned that}. We are having a big family get together at OIB to both celebrate their first year & also to have them baptized that Sunday morning on the beach by the minister who married us. It’s going to be a special family weekend.

My musing over O.N.E. aren’t over just yet. Still six weeks to go. I’m holding tight to each.

Categories
Everything Else Food Travel

B & Kevin’s Couples Shower

Beth {who ended up sick & unable to attend}, Kelly, Kim & I {& technically our spouses} gave our good friend B & her hubby-to-be an uptown Charlotte shower Saturday night.

The hostesses & the bride-to-be

We went with a luau themed drinks & dessert party.

All set up & ready for the guests!

For the drinks part served: Diana’s punch aka spiked Hawaiian punch, red & white wine, sodas & water, & had a 1/4 keg of Miller lite.

Cookies, Brownies, Dessert Sliders & Lemon Squares

Our desserts included: chocolate chip cookie bites, brownie bites, strawberries, pineapples, marshmallows, pretzels & melted milk chocolate in a chafing dish for dipping all the above.

Melted chocolate goodness for all!

We also had lemon squares with blueberries & raspberries, dessert sliders & vanilla cupcakes.

G cupcakes!

We decorated the cupcakes with mini umbrellas, hung Chinese lanterns, had wreaths made of the umbrellas & had bright flowers throughout. Oh & gave the happy couples lais!

They were a trip opening gifts~ taking their time & being so sweet!

The happy couple & the pitcher I gave them.

Laughing & joking & being so happy to have all their favorite people together in one place.

Party group!

Based on this crowd & party, I know the Apr wedding is going to be a blast!

B’s bridesmaids
Categories
Food

Baby Shower Punch

I mentioned in the VA Babies Shower post that I’d snagged the recipe to the delicious punch they served.

It was so good that I agreed when they offered us to take home the rest of it in a pitcher & while the rest of my family enjoyed cocktails that evening, I drank the heck out of the punch!

Ingredients
2 32 oz bottles of apple juice, chilled

2 12 oz cans from cranberry juice concentrate

2 c & 1 tbsp orange juice

3 liters ginger ale

Directions
In large punch bowl, combine apple, cranberry & orange juices. Stir until dissolved/combined then slowly pour in the ginger ale.

The original recipe Mom’s friend Jan gave me said to cut up an apple and float the slices on top. Instead, they sliced oranges and floated those on top. The oranges were really delicious later too {think eating the fruit from pj punch from college days minus the liquor}.

Jan also has a note that says if you wanted to make it alcoholic, the use champagne instead of ginger ale! That would be great for bridal shower or if you wanted to make two for a baby shower.

Categories
Family/Travel Pregnancy

Home Babies Shower

Two weekends ago now, I traveled up to VA for a shower for the babies thrown by some of my mom’s closest friends. Really all these women we’ve known for 20+ years & they’ve been like my 2nd/3rd/4th mothers growing up. Some of their daughters were also able to come too to celebrate the babies. And the bump got a little lovin’ too.

Hostesses & I, beautiful food & punch

The joint effort from the hostesses meant a fabulous food spread: curry chicken salad & rolls, veggie & chicken wraps, Carolina caviar & scoops, fruit, Nancy’s famous deviled eggs, cookies, bon-bons & the best lemons squares I’ve ever tasted. Along with a great punch {who’s recipe I snagged to share with y’all}.

Fun family friends

My mom & her friends love games. Since I am my mother’s daughter, I too think games are pretty fun. The guests played bingo while I opened gifts, they did a baby word scramble, & a pass a gift left or right game that I’d never seen but was super fun.

Speaking of gifts, the babies were once again super spoiled! Lots of necessary items given by the ladies who are already grandmas {matching outfits, hooded towels, baby wash & lotion, sunscreen & books} & fun things too {Wuba Nubs, mini Sophie teethers, the stroller hook, shopping cart covers & Santa outfits!}. And I made quite the faces as I opened gifts again this time too {I swore I was going to work on that}!

Gifts galore for the babies!

The gifts with the funniest response from the group: the photos on the breast feeding supplies from my Nana {the twins brestfriend} & my Mom {hands free pumping bra}. Mom also found our second crib set on clearance at her Target, so she snatched it up. Yay for having all the crib stuff! Thank you so much family & family friends! I can’t wait to take the babies up to VA to meet them.

Now comes the fun part, setting up the nursery & organizing our den turned babies central. Hopefully that’ll be finished within the next month so I can help decorate {before I’m too big, tired, or on bed rest}. I’ll be sure to take & share photos of that too of course.