2nd Birthday Party Planning

Carder's 2nd Birthday party is this coming weekend.  Although his 1st Birthday party turned out just fine, there was a part of me that felt like I has "skimped" on his party because I didn't make a lot of things myself.  Although I know it makes no difference to him, I wanted his 2nd Birthday to have more effort on my part.

So, a few weeks ago, I began planning and creating.  Thanks to Pin.terest, I had more ideas than I had time.

I started out with the invites.  I used to make our own Christmas Cards each year, so making party invitations was a lot of fun.  I did do something a little bit different this time and I printed certain parts of the invitation rather than hand stamping/writing it all.  Other parts were added as embellishments by hand - like the ribbon and the foam ball stickers.  They were delivered to recipients in pretty clear envelopes that look really cool in real life but make picture taking tricky due to the glare.* 

 

My next inspiration was for a cupcake stand.  I decided pretty quickly what I wanted the top of the stand to look like and I think it turned out great.

 

The cupcake stand itself wasn't as much of a slam dunk.  I found a few tutorials and examples online and it looked pretty easy.  I couldn't find premade cardboard cake rounds without having to buy them in bulk, so I decided to make them myself. Derek brought home some boxes and I set to work.  Getting perfectly round cardboard circles was not quite as easy as I had thought it would be.  After covering them with wrapping paper and edging them with ribbon, they didn't look quite like I thought they would, but they would do.  The spacers became my problem.  Nothing I tried made seemed sturdy enough.  Since putting cupcakes on an unsteady stand seemed like a recipe for cupcake disaster, I scrapped that plan and went with a new one.  I am currently in the process of making another one out of boxes.  Since there will be no flimsy risers involved, I think this one will work.

 

I also made picks to stick in the top of the cupcakes with the same foam stickers I used for the invitations.

 

I made a personalized birthday banner (thanks to my friend Xio who could flip letters upside down with her newer computer and software!!!)

 

I found a giant bubble wand and a couple more smaller ones.  I made some Super Bubble solution to use at the party to blow big bubbles.

 

Next were the gift bags - inside are homemade bubbles (from the Super Bubble Recipe), play dough, funny glasses, foam ball stickers, temporary tattoos, and some fruit snacks.

 

I have also made thank you notes too!

 

Still on the to do list are chocolate covered Oreo pops (that will look like baseballs and basketballs) and finishing up the cupcake stand. 

 

And of course the food...This is where I have opted to take the easy route on a few things and buy a fruit tray and a veggie tray and I ordered my cupcakes (baking isn't my strongest suit).

 

Hopefully these last couple of days will be productive and Carder will have a wonderful 2nd Birthday!

 

 *Should you decide that you would like to mail things in clear envelopes, I think I got them here.  But you can Goggle Clear Envelopes and find other suppliers.  They come in many shapes and sizes and are a great way to showcase your hand made cards.  Just be forewarned that the USPS charges more to mail them because they can't be machined.

 



Inaugural Camping Trip

A few weeks ago, we bought a camper.  It is a tiny little thing - a used 13' Scamp - but it has a 2 burner stove, a sink, a heater, and beds.  If we find that we LOVE camping, we can always upgrade to something bigger in a few years.  But for now, our little Scamp will work just fine.

We spent a couple of weekends cleaning it up and making some minor repairs.  We have been visiting yard sales and have been trying to get it stocked up.  And we were waiting for warmer weather.

This past weekend (Memorial Day 2013), we headed out for our first overnight camping trip.  Although it was a holiday weekend, we planned to only stay one night - we felt like we needed to work out the kinks of what we packed that we didn't need and what else we needed to pack.  This was a good idea because there were a few things that we need to add to our stock and a few other things we need to remember to pack the next time (books for Carder for bedtime).  I am sure we will learn a few more tricks as the summer progresses and we camp some more.

We headed to nearby Eastport MI and camped at Barnes Park.  The next day they had a Petosky Stone Festival at the park as well.  Carder did pretty well - although he wanted nothing to do with sleeping in his "bunk bed" or in his sleeping bag from Grandad and Granmama.  He also wanted to pet EVERY. DOG. AT. THE. CAMPGROUND.

But he was cute as he ate S'mores for the first time (and then settled on just the chocolate or bites of marshmallows).  He did pretty well with the fire and kept his distance.  The hardest thing was trying to keep him entertained while we cleaned up the dishes and we have a plan for the next time.

Also, next time I need to take more pictures.  :)

Hey Mommy!  Are you eating my donut?

Week in Review

We have had a stretch of nice weather here in Michigan over the last week.  (Thank GOD because we had snow falling just a couple of weeks ago and I am SO over winter!) 

Although there have been a couple of cooler days mixed in, we have been taking advantage of the warmth.  We have spent a good bit of time in the yard both on days home and also in the evenings after work.  We have been regulars at the local parks and have been biking the last 2 Sunday afternoons.

We put in our "redneck sprinkler system" where we zip-tie garden hoses to our chain link fence and even added a timer this year so that we don't have to turn them on and off!  Spring maintenance was done on the yard and Derek gave the yard our first mowing of the season.  Carder saw the mower and had to run inside to get his mower so that he could help Daddy mow the grass.  He actually got upset this weekend when Derek started the mower while he was getting ready to go down for a nap because he wanted to go outside and help.

 

This was just a regular weeknight getting ready for bathtime, but I loved the way Carder was looking up at his Daddy.

 

 

 

On Sunday, we went out shopping after Church and bought Carder's birthday gift from us.  He will get plenty of gifts for his birthday and is too young to know the difference right now, but we wanted him to have an outdoor basketball goal.  His indoor one (the one we bought him at Christmas thinking it would last a while) is as tall as it will go and he he keeps asking for it to be higher.  We ended up buying a youth goal that will raise up to about 6 1/2 feet.  Right now it is at 4' 9".  He isn't making a ton of shots, but he hits the rim on a regular basis.  And he is loving it.  We have had a few meltdowns because he isn't scoring as often as he would like, but that will get better with time.  And he seems pretty determined because he keeps trying.  We have had to literally tear him away from his "outside basketball goal".  Here he is shooting some hoops as we were outside on Monday afternoon.  I think his form is pretty good for not even being 2 yet.



 

 

 

 

We also bought him a couple of big balls.  Yesterday he spent a good 10 minutes running around and jumping on the ball and then flipping over onto the grass.  He had such a blast doing this.



 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last few days, we have discovered that bugs actually exist outside the pages of the books we read.  Yesterday we spent quite a bit of time looking for and looking at bugs.  I taught him to stay away from the flying bugs with yellow and black stripes.  He was facinated with a large ant that I let crawl on my hand - although he had no interest in letting it crawl on him.  And we spent at least 15 minutes watching these tiny little ants in the crack of our sidewalk...he was facinated.

 

23 Months

Dear Carder,

You are growing up so fast.  You are almost 36” tall now (taller than the kitchen counter!!!).  You might be a tiny bit heavier (about 26.5 Pounds), but you are still one skinny little boy!  Your Daddy and I regularly compare you to a Spider Monkey when you are running around in only your diaper or naked because you really are all arms and legs.  You are all over the board in the size of clothes you are wearing – pants are a 2T and have been for a while due to the length – but if they aren’t an adjustable waist I have to add one in or they will literally fall off of you.  In shorts, you are still in the 18 month ones from last summer – and some of those are still too big in the waist.  Shirts you are wearing either a 2T or a 3T as both seem to fit you, but I have a feeling that come fall you will be in all 3T shirts because the sleeves on a 2T are often a bit short for you.  You still have a couple 2T pajamas that fit you, but you are also wearing some 3T pajamas as well.  And anything with footies that was 2T was put away weeks ago.  I can’t believe that my sweet little preemie baby isn’t even 2 yet and is already outgrowing some 2T clothing!  Your shoe size seems to be around a 7 ½ right now.

And although I just wrote a whole paragraph about your size, I am more amazed at your developmental growth lately.  Every day you surprise me with the things you say and do. 

Your vocabulary is getting so big and you are saying words I had no idea you knew.  You are identifying some of your letters (E and R), you know quite a few colors (red, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink, purple, brown, white), and you are learning to count and your numbers (you have 1 & 2 down pat and are working towards the others).  You know your first and last name.  You also know both Daddy and my first and last names.  You know the names of our neighbors and their animals.  You know you will be 2 on your birthday.

You speak in broken sentences – sometimes up to 6 or 7 words strung together – and most of the time there are a subject and a verb.  You are identifying things and describing them by the number of them, what they are doing, what their function is, and the color they are.  We have whole conversations about what you see around you.  This week I have heard “Trash Truck Alley Up Carder Dirty Diapers” multiple times as you were telling me that the trash truck had been in the alley picking up your dirty diapers.  In addition, you are no longer content with a response of “uh huh” when you point something out to us – we have to repeat what you said so that you know we understood you.  This can be frustrating if we don’t know what you are trying to say – but you will often find an association to help us figure out what you are trying to say (“crying” was “wa wa wa” and “slide” was “wheeee!”).  

If you think I am not paying close enough attention to you, you will place your hands on both sides of my face to make sure I am looking directly at you. 

Your favorite songs right now include “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep”.

You still love to read, but your favorite book changes from week to week.  Some recent favorites were “LMNO Peas”, “I Love Trucks”, and “Go Dogs. Go”.

Your favorite toy in the world is a ball and you LOVE to “shoot hoops”.  You cheer for yourself when you make it (and often say “Yay Carder, 2 points” or “score”) and you will say “almost” and “so close” when you miss.   Other favorite toys right now include trucks/tractors, your blocks, puzzles, and your farm.  And roughhousing.  And anything that involves being outside.

At swimming lessons this past month, you started requesting to swim by yourself with your puddle jumper and you kick your legs so hard to get from one place to another.

Technology comes second nature to you and you are whiz at the iPad.  You can open it up and find your games by scrolling through the screens.  You also know how to open your games and get them started on your own.  You will also hand me the iPad and request to talk to one set of your grandparents or the other on FaceTime.  And you know how to end the call as well.

Your favorite food is still any type of fruit (blackberries and melons this week).  You still love still things like hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato fries, waffles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cereal.  You are beginning to get more adventurous in your food choices and have begun requesting to taste things on our plates and then eating more.  A recent discovery is that you love tomatoes with fresh mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  And chips dipped in salsa.  You have also started calling your drinks "coffee" because that is what mommy and daddy drink.

Sleep still isn’t stellar, but you have 4 teeth breaking through and swelling indicating that your 2 year molars are trying to come in as well.  We have made progress in this department though as you now lie in your crib each night to go to sleep.  I am still in the room but we are making progress and the bedtime routine is getting shorter so I think it is a win.

I love you, my little man.

Mommy

Mother's Day 2013

When I picked Carder up from daycare on Thursday, there was a sweet butterfly made from his footprints waiting for me. 

 

Then on Friday, Derek came in with a card and some flowers from Carder for Mother's Day.  I had requested a "nice picture of Carder and I together where I don't look fat" as a gift.  Derek took this with his iPhone when he brought the flowers in.  Although it is a cute picture, it wasn't quite what I had in mind.

 

Unfortunately, it will have to do.  By Saturday, Derek was sick.  He did his best to try to stay upbeat and available as a parent so that I didn't spend the entire weekend catering to both he and Carder.  But the picture I requested never made it into existence.

 

Mother's Day itself was low key.  We got what we needed to done and just hung around the house and spent time together.  It was a nice day.  And I am so thankful that my little munchkin made me a Mom!

 

 

 

Also, Carder sent cards to his Grandma's.  I really liked the fact that this card had a place for him to color so that they would have some of his artwork to go with the card.  I let him color in the mornings while I fixed his breakfast.  I was totally shocked to find a picture where rather than scribbles that randomly covered the page, there were attempts to color individual items.   My little boy is growing up so fast!