I can’t believe another year has flown by!  Munchkin is about to turn 3!  His upcoming birthday reminded me that I haven’t even shared his 2nd birthday party, yet!  Oops!  I did share his Hole In One 1st Birthday party, and it was a huge success!  There were so many things I loved about his first party, such as the menu and the thank you notes.  But, our goal this party was to have a little less prep.  We knew early on that we wanted to have his party at the park – this kid LOVES to be outdoors!  (This meant not having to keep the house spotless while trying to prep for the party!) We threw around some ideas based on his favorite things, but we decided on a Curious George theme.  I checked around Pinterest and got some really cute ideas!  I wish I could have used all of my ideas, but I’ll just have to save them for another party. . .

Let’s start with the invitation!  I used Silhouette Studio to design these.  I LOVE how they turned out!  I downloaded a free image of Curious George with balloons.  This became our color scheme.  I also downloaded the Curious George font: Wrexham.  One of my favorite (and challenging) parts of designing invitations is font pairing.  There are some great ideas on Pinterest for this as well, but there is a never ending supply of font options.  Overwhelming, to say the least.  I just used Arial to go with the Wrexham.  It’s simple, and I chose all lowercase letters, which I thought was fitting for George.  

Curious Colton Turns 2!  Let’s Go Bananas!  This was the entrance to the park pavilion.  I used a chalkboard I already had and wrote some fun facts about 2-year-old Colton in the birthday party theme colors.  It got a little smudged on the ride from our house to the park, but I don’t think anyone minded 😉  I also made some George tissue poms.  Let me tell you, I went all over Atlanta looking for brown tissue paper.  I ended up at Hobby Lobby.  Next time, I think I’ll start there for party supplies.  That place literally has everything.  Tissue poms are surprisingly easy to make, and there are instructions all over the internet.  If you’re looking for one in particular, I used this tutorial.  I found the George face on PBS.org.  

We used Munchkin’s wagon to hold presents!  And, best part, we just rolled the wagon home after the party since our house is walking-distance to the park. 

We bought Munchkin a treasury of Curious George stories and asked his guests to sign it.  I didn’t get a close up of the sign, but it says “Someday when I’m older, I’ll be curious about who was here to celebrate with me!  Please take a minute to sign your name or leave a little message for our special and so very Curious Colton!”

The park pavilion includes a picnic table that we used for eating lunch and for crafts for the kiddos.  I printed out the same George face from PBS.org that I used for the tissue pom; these are actually meant to be a mask craft for the kids to make.  Hubby was so helpful and cut out a bunch of these so that all the kids had to do was fit the elastic to make their very own George mask.  We also printed coloring pages that the kiddos, especially the younger ones, could color.  Our last craft was decorating birthday hats!  Here is my niece modeling her finished product:

Isn’t she the cutest?!  (You can also see the birthday banner in the background; I couldn’t get a very good picture of this either.)

The park we chose has a lot of green space – perfect for letting kids run around!  I saw a cute station idea on Pinterest and decided the park would lend itself well to this set up.  We brought over the water table that Hubby built Munchkin for his first birthday.  We set up some balloons and beach balls to mimic Curious George Goes to the Beach.  We also set out the book just in case any of the kids wanted to read, but none of the kids slowed down long enough to read a story, and instead, the book was merely caught in the water crossfire.  We ended up moving it over to the pavilion to be part of the decor 😉  For the other station, we set up a tee with a ball and bat for Curious George at the Baseball Game.  All the kids loved the activities, but they didn’t pay a bit of attention to the book vignette.  Oh well!  Now, Munchkin has a few George stories for his personal collection 😉

We set out a couple other George stories that we already owned for a little bit more decor.  We also set out the favors for decor and for easy grabbing as families were leaving.  When choosing favors, I wanted to find something that the kids could enjoy that parents wouldn’t resent having to keep up with or that would just end up in the trash can by the end of the day.  I found Curious George coloring books at Party City.  I paired the coloring books with party favor crayon packs (for less than $1 a piece).  Hubby painstakingly tied each bundle with a little tag that said, “Thanks for going bananas with me!” (I thought I had a close up of the party favor bundles, but I can’t seem to find it!)  I think they turned out great, were inexpensive, and I’ve had several moms tell me their kids still love to color in that particular coloring book.  Winner!

The spread!  Hubby had the great idea to smoke a pork butt on the Big Green Egg.  He cooked it overnight so that it was ready to go at Party Time.  We shredded the pork for sandwiches.  I made my favorite BBQ Sauce to go with it:  Neely’s BBQ sauce (this is the same BBQ sauce we used for Colton’s Hole in One Birthday Menu – that’s how much I love it!)  We also served pinwheel sandwiches (Thanks to Costco!), a veggie tray, fruit skewers, and my mom’s recent party favorite – mac and cheese muffins!  The mac and cheese muffins are seriously a crowd pleaser, and so much easier to serve (and eat) than a huge casserole.  We also threw some banana chips in a glass bowl for a special treat!  For drinks, we served water, juice boxes, La Croix, beer and wine spritzers.  No one is going to go thirsty on our watch!

I’m so thankful my sister is a baker!  She offered to make cupcakes for the party (do you remember the awesome cake and cupcakes she made for Colton’s Hole in One Birthday?!)  She came up with the monkey cupcakes after doing some online research, and how adorable are they?!  On the cake table, I also borrowed my niece’s mini radio flyer wagon, stuck in a stuffed George and storybook.  I also made photo balloons of Colton’s 2nd year; they turned out pretty cute!

And, here’s the birthday boy in his monkey outfit made by his Mémé!  

Happy Birthday, Curious Colton!

Well, we’re not throwing it too far back this week.  But, this is honestly the first that I’ve sat down to the computer to download pictures from Trick-or-Treating!  Whew!  The night flew by.  I mentioned that we were down at my sister’s this year.  This has actually become quite the tradition that started with my niece’s first Halloween.  (She was a sweet pea!) Now, my sister graciously invites the whole family over for dinner and trick-or-treating.  Since this year it was on a Friday, we turned it into an all-night event!

Check out the cute invitation she sent! 

Halloween Invitation

My [small] contribution was this cheese ball; I’ll share the recipe soon!

Pumpkin Cheese Ball

My sister also made this delicious pumpkin dip.

Pumpkin Dip

And, no gathering at my sister’s house is complete without. . .CUPCAKES!  Y’all remember she made Munchkin’s Birthday Cake and Cupcakes, right?  She is a seriously talented baker!

Halloween Cupcakes

Another Halloween tradition:  Ghosts (or Ghostes, as my niece and nephew say; how cute are kids’ phrases?!)

Ghosts

One Pinterest Fail I will share with you:  Black Widow cocktails.  Have y’all seen these?  They are made with black vodka, which apparently is non-existent.  My sister and I both tried to track some down and couldn’t.  We tried to improvise by coloring some vodka ourselves, but it turned out blue, and the drink itself was nothing spectacular.  Boo to that!

Pinocchio loved Trick-or-Treating this year!  My mom made his costume.  (She actually made all 3 of the grandkids’ costumes!)  Didn’t she do an awesome job?!!

Halloween is always pure chaos, so somehow we managed to miss getting pictures with all the grandparents.  I think there’s a picture of at least Hubby and me with Munchkin floating around!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

In honor of Throwback Thursday, here’s a look at the Sip & See my sister hosted for Colton back in February.

She made the invitations herself!

Welcome!

To go with the ABC-theme, my sister and mom chose the cutest decorations, which were actually all gifts for Colton to take home.  Shown here is a Play and Learn ABC board book and Eric Carle’s ABC Game.  Colton loves this ABC book!  It has touch-and-feel pages, and he loves to pat the bunny.  He will entertain himself for hours – ok, not really, but definitely minutes!  (You can also catch a glimpse of his birth announcement clipped to the lamp.)

Delicious Food

My mom, sister, and I all love to cook, so it’s no surprise that the food was delicious!  Lots of fun dips and, of course, petits fours!

Table Decorations

My mom is always so creative with tablescapes.  (WordPress just underlined tablescapes – is that not a word?  Did anyone else use to watch Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee on the Food Network?  Pretty sure she coined the word!)  While Mom does love a beautiful tablecloth, and always finds the best deals at Williams-Sonoma, her other favorite table linen is fabric.  By the yard.  Thank the seamstress in her for that tip!  Then, after the event, she’ll turn it into one of her many creations.  Talk about bang for your buck!

Colton is obsessed with these Dr. Seuss Building Blocks.  We pull them out just about every day.  He hasn’t quite caught onto the stacking concept, but he loves to knock them over, drum on them, and put cars or balls in them.  We also play with the Skip Hop Alphabet Zoo House Blocks all the time.  Aside from knocking over towers, Colton’s favorite block activity is to clap two blocks together, preferably while listening to some Luke Bryan.  😀

Champagne & Raspberries

Does champagne ever need an explanation?  😉 Check out the striped straws!  We took home our very own alphabet magnets: the quintessential childhood toy.  Also pictured is Peter Rabbit’s ABC.  Super cute book!

Alphabet Craft

My sister set out a complete alphabet of wooden letters along with paints and paint brushes.  The guests were asked to decorate a letter for Colton.  My sister and mom are adding magnets to the back to go along with a magnet board that they’re making.  I can’t wait to share the finished project once it’s hung in the toy corner!

These three always entertain each other!

Thanks for my party, Aunt Brooke!

This is one loved little guy!

Thanks for making my birthday a Hole in ONE!

This may be my favorite part of Colton’s Hole in ONE party: the thank you notes! I saw this card and thought it would be the perfect way to thank our friends and family for sharing his special day. I love a good handmade craft!

Colton and I love finger painting projects!  I painted his foot with green tempera paint (washable!) using just a paper towel and made about four footprints on a piece of copy paper.  (This technique results in a much more even footprint as opposed to dipping his foot in paint, which always ends up with globs in all the wrong places.)  I figured that out of four, one was bound to be a keeper.  I scanned the footprints into iPhoto, and then chose the best one.  Now, washable tempera paints are great since I don’t have to worry about paint stains on my clothes, but I find that the colors are a little weak.  The “green” is not a true kelly green.  So, I manipulated the color just a bit to get a decent green using iPhoto.

Then, I created a note card using my Silhouette Studio.  I used this tutorial to make the standard card outline. I imported my footprint image onto the note card.  I printed the card on card stock and then cut them out.  I then used the same cupcake flag template I used for Colton’s cupcakes and banner, only smaller, but I deleted the cut marks for the toothpick.  I used a brown sharpie to draw a hole and a flag post onto the green.  Then, I glued the flag cutout onto the post.

Now that I’m getting the hang of the Silhouette, craft projects like this are going a lot faster.  I was able to design, print, cut, and glue about a dozen cards all during Colton’s afternoon nap.  (Have I mentioned how thankful I am that our little Munchkin is now a pretty good napper?! That topic alone probably deserves its own post.  Or 20! 😯 )

I think they turned out pretty cute!

I. cannot. believe. it!  Our sweet baby boy just turned one.  Where has the year gone?  While it seems impossible that the time has passed so quickly, it is easy to see how much he has grown and changed.  He really is turning into a little boy!  And, a mighty cute one at that, although I’ll admit to some mommy bias.  Newborns are precious with all of their newness, but they don’t DO much – except eat, sleep and poop.  It is so fun to watch a little personality emerge in a little human.  It’s also incredible to think that I (with the help of his Daddy 😉 ) created this life.  Babies really are miracles in their own right.  So, while I continue to reminisce about the day (after the LONG night) that he came into our lives, let me share some pictures from his 1st Birthday; It sure was a Hole in ONE!

We live in Georgia (Home of the Masters), and Hubby loves to golf.  I came across the golf theme (on Pinterest, of course!), loved the play on words, and thought it was very appropriate for our little man.  Hope Munchkin ends up liking to play because his daddy will be dragging him along to the course under the guise of father/son time whether he likes it or not!

Birdies and Eagles are fun, but Colton’s 1st Birthday is sure to be a Hole in ONE!

Back View

I used this invitation as my layout inspiration and then created my own using my (relatively) new silhouette machine.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a picture of Colton standing with a golf club since he is barely standing on his own.  Then, I came across this invitation and came up with a great idea for a photo shoot. First, I made him a little John John to coordinate with the invitation.  Then, Colton and I headed to the park loaded with some golf balls.  The golf balls I used for the photo shoot were actually a Sip & See gift (Thanks, Uncle Bob, for Colton’s first golf balls)!

I am very new to the Silhouette machine.  I received it as a Christmas gift from my MIL, but I didn’t get the nerve to sit down to use it until the 4th of July.  (I’ll have to do a separate post on my Independence Day crafts!)  This project required a lot of research on my part.  I was able to download a putting green design and a tee and ball design from the Silhouette Online Store.  I  was researching “print and cut” tutorials when I stumbled upon this video, which featured a double-sided card.  New idea!  I had so many great pictures from our photo shoot that I would have liked to use.  How about putting a few “extras” on the back?  Of course, my brilliant idea also created a lot more work.  The end result wasn’t perfect (Note the white space), and I’d like to experiment with some other techniques on my next project, but I think it came out pretty well for a first-timer.  Since I designed, printed, and cut the invitations myself, I decided to craft coordinating envelopes out of scrapbook paper using this tutorial. I think they look great shown all together.  (I always wish you could see the whole package when sending out coordinating stationery.  I have a couple sets of note cards that are different shapes and colors that look so cute as a package but really aren’t that exciting individually.)

Book and Guest Book Table

I checked out some golf-themed children’s books from our local branch of the Atlanta library. I LOVE the library, especially being able to put books on hold. I can search the library’s catalog online and request the copy be sent to my local branch. If the books are not currently checked out, it usually only takes a day or two.

Guest Book

I originally had the idea to combine all of Colton’s monthly photos into a book to display at his birthday party and ask guests to sign.  I had grand plans to take his 12-month photos on his actual birthday (more difficult than it seems and didn’t always happen in the early months!), collect his 12-month-pediatrician-visit stats, combine all of my monthly notes to him, and throw all of this together in time to be printed for his birthday party 3 days later. Thursday before his Saturday party, I was trying to figure out the cheapest and fastest option.  However, most of the online photo coupons are not good in stores.  After realizing the time (and money) that this “little” project was going to take, I decided to shelve it for a Christmas present instead.  Plus, I think it will be a better keepsake just coming from Mommy without other notes competing.  Hopefully, I’ll remember to start it up again more than 2 days before Christmas!  😀

I had previously come up with the book idea.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to display them, but I figured I could use them somehow for decor.  I also liked the idea of giving Colton his own party favor – a golf book to add to his library.  I did have the forethought to order one from Amazon.  After I nixed the photo book idea, I was thinking of other ways to incorporate a guest book.  I had seen a time capsule idea but had decided against adding that to his invitation.  Then, I remembered back to my travel-themed baby shower (Oh, I should definitely write a post on that!).  My hostesses had all of my guests sign a copy of Oh, The Places You’ll Go.  It made a wonderful keepsake that Hubby and I still enjoy looking at and reading to Munchkin.  Another Pinterest search came up with this idea and this one.  I combined them, along with some tweaking of my own.  I think it turned out great!

Guest Book Sign

“Wait! Stop here if you please, And write a very special note to me.  Share a birthday wish or sign your name, So I will always remember you came.  Write your note on any page.  This is something I’ll treasure at every age!”

Mommy and Daddy on our 1 year birthdays

Who do you think Colton resembles most?!  This was actually a last-minute addition.  I was flipping through iPhoto looking for pictures to print for a closet project and came upon our wedding slideshow section.  I found several birthday photos of Hubby and thought this one might be his 1 year.  I asked my MIL for confirmation, which turned into a back and forth of more Hubby birthday photos 🙂 , and we concluded that this must be his 1st birthday.  I then asked my mom for a 1-year-old picture.  She sent me the picture that must have followed this one in sequence – me with a yogurt-covered hand in my mouth – but the quality wasn’t great, and I already had this one.  I decided to print them both out and display them somehow.  I thought I would put them on the cake table, but after it was set up, I decided it would be too distracting.  I had just thrown away a dead fern on a side table in the dining room and that ended up being the perfect spot – right next to the cake table!

Birthday Banner

The banner includes each month from his monthly photo sessions.  I had printed so many pictures from his first year and ran out of time to do something creative with them.  I ended up just spreading them around some empty tables.  We’re in the process of doing some redecorating (otherwise known as childproofing!) and have some end tables that still need some work.  Not to mention that it’s been a year since we rearranged our living room, and we JUST hung photos above the couch this week!

Photos,

Photos,

Photos,

and more photos!

Party Favors

Party favors are tough, y’all! Obviously, it’s fun for the kiddos to take something home with them, but it is tough to find things that aren’t just junk but that don’t cost a fortune.  We had the potential of 12 kids, so you have to multiply any cute ideas times 12.  It adds up fast!  I think these turned out pretty cute, AND they didn’t break the bank.  Here’s what we ended up giving away:

Green plastic bucket (to hold all the goodies) – Dollar Tree: 2 for $1

Golf ball cups – Oriental Trading: 12 for $12

Bubbles – Dollar Tree: 3 for $1

Slinky – Dollar Tree: 2 for $1

Pinwheel – Dollar Tree: $1

Total for each favor: under $4 after tax

*I would not recommend these bubbles. I grabbed them because they were the right colors, and they were cheap, but the wands are terrible.  Instead of one big circle, the wand has several circles, so the bubbles are really small and really difficult to create.

I bought all the green pinwheels they had.  There were probably close to 20.  We used the others for decoration, including one for the flag on our putting green!

Southern Beverage Station

To go along with our golf theme, I focused the menu around the Masters.  We made Sweet Tea (I’ll have to share the secret ingredient I stumbled upon) and served Lemonade.  I chose not to make my own lemonade.  The thought of squeezing enough lemons to fill a drink dispenser did not sound like an efficient use of my time.  Hubby bought Simply Lemonade, and he even sliced lemons to add to it. (Yes, he thinks of everything!) We recommended Arnold Palmers ( 1/2 Sweet Tea + 1/2 Lemonade).  And, for the adults, John Dalys (Arnold Palmer + VODKA)!

Golf-themed Beverages

The Southern Spread

For our Masters-themed food, we served pimento cheese sandwiches, BBQ chicken sandwiches, potato chips, green bean and corn salad, and fruit salad (green grapes, kiwi, and blueberry to go with our blue and green color scheme).

My sister graciously made Colton’s smash cake and the cupcakes (anyone who knows me knows that I DO NOT BAKE!)  She found the ideas for the cake and cupcakes on Pinterest.  We decided not to put the sand traps on the cupcakes.  She used her own recipes, though.  Colton had a chocolate cake, and we had chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.  I made the flags using my Silhouette and cupcake flag design from the online store. The design had special cutouts for inserting toothpicks.  I used a dimension of 1.5″ x 1″.  I also made a larger flag for the smash cake, and then spread out extras on the cake table, along with golf balls and tees (thanks to my sister’s suggestion!).  My sister was worried about the weight of a golf ball on the cake, so I picked up a packet of plastic practice balls at Wal-Mart.  I believe the package of 12 cost $2.

Cake Closeup

Birthday Boy listening to us sing “Happy Birthday!”

Cousins

Frosting, you say?

This is pretty cool!

One happy (and messy) birthday boy!

We love this little munchkin!

Really digging in!

The aftermath!

Silly cousins with slinkies

Abigail couldn’t wait to have her picture taken with Baby Colton!

Sweet cousins

Family Photo Op

Family Photo Op

Colton on his putting green

This was Hubby’s contribution to the party decor – Home Depot’s finest astroturf!  He even cut out a hole, inserted some PVC pipe, and stuck in a pinwheel flag.  I also found these inflatable golf balls from Oriental Trading.  They came in a pack of 12 for $10.  We are still playing with them!  And, I found the red and green golf clubs at the Dollar Tree.  They were packaged with purple plastic golf balls.  We had 3 sets for the kids to play with, and we had some yellow foam practice balls.  I’m not sure how much the kiddos actually played with them, but I know they did have a blast running around outside.

Colton’s John John

I managed to throw together my second-ever John John.  I made the John John for his invitation picture using my embroidery machine and my mom’s Johnny pattern.  I wanted to make a golf-themed John John for his party.  I found this adorable applique pattern from Applique Ahoy on Etsy.  This was my first applique, and while I did learn some lessons that I’ll have to apply on my next project, it did turn out pretty well.  Thanks to the great instructions included with the design!  I also found a tutorial for the Johnny pattern that really helped simplify the construction.  Much easier than the instructions included with the pattern.  My mom did have to sew on the buttons as soon as she got to the house to help set up for the party, but don’t look too closely because I didn’t have the button holes centered!

Happy 1st Birthday!

I think our birthday boy had a blast at his Hole-in-ONE Party!

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