3 months later...

Instead of posting each idea on it's own I am going to jumble it all up for you.  Life is busy.  There you go that is all there is to it.  Honestly, that is my sole reason for not posting a thing for the last 3 months despite all the chaos to tell.

-April-

Wine Tour only for the BFF

Mimosas in the morning in the limo, yes thank you

Fun fact about me: I despise wine so it was Ciroc and juice for me, good times for all

-May-

Preparing for the upcoming horseshow

Mother's Day Baseball game

Summertime fun at the Mad Hatter Party

-June-

Happy Birthday to me

The cake was made my dearest, The Man and JuJuBee

Birthday trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Go Shooka, go Shooka!

T-Ball season starts

Lil' Miss turns 2

I should really work on my detailed stories but for now enjoy how quickly I through together the last 3 months.  My full time commitment is raising my girls and managing my home.  But my passion beyond my children has consumed my extra time as a film producer.  Sorry to my faithful followers for being forgotten.

Fourth Birthday Party

A couple months before, Julianna and I browsed the internet for different party themes.  She was convinced she wanted to have a party at the house and I tried to sway her to anywhere but the our house.  I guess its easy when you are the little one enjoying life not stressing about cleaning the entire house.

The day belongs to her so we came to a compromise for a house party with a small guest list.  Julianna wanted a sleepover, again another compromise, "Pretend Sleepover".  I found a great inspiration blog post of a mom for her also daughter's fourth birthday party, tinyoranges.com. Julianna liked the site so much too you will find many similarities in our parties.

Invitations

After Julianna's last party invites went via email through Evite, I figured I could do better given the small guest list.  Now how to do it, photo cards seem the latest craze; and why not they are cute and customizable.  I search Costco Photo Center, Shutterfly, Snapfish, nothing wooed me.  I have a habit being very frugal at times and coupled with my attitude of why pay for something I can do on my mine lead me to fully designing my own photo cards on Photoshop Elements. I was able to further save money by printing on home photo printer.

Kids at table engaged in craft project

Based on the suggestion from TinyOranges.com, kid friendly seating, I found All-Star Rents and rented a single 6-foot long children's table along with 12 children's chairs.  They offer a $5 off coupon on your first rental when you sign up for their newsletter.  I found a set of 8 multi-colored paper lanterns for $7 on Amazon.com. Since Julianna wanted to paint lanterns I ordered 3 sets to use for decor and craft.  We hung 8 of the lanterns from ceiling with fishing line and used the remainder for the craft project.

Pizza

Homemade pizza dough was prepared and everyone was able to decorate their personal pizza. The kids loved it! In small bowls I put the spaghetti sauce for pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, chopped turkey bacon, sliced orange bell pepper, pepperoni, chopped spinach, and sliced olives.  And you can guess the most popular was cheese.  

Birthday Cake

Idea straight from TinyOranges blog, I loved the cupcakes and mini cake idea.  Well going with Julianna's favorite color purple, I asked Courtney, of cupcakesandwineblog.com, to create the cupcakes. She even flavored the frosting strawberry :) (I secretly adore her and her talents).  Nugget Market made the chocolate cake and continuing the polka dot them on the frosting.

We ended the evening with Dora the Explorer: Birthday episode with the kids snuggled in their sleeping bags on the floor.  It lasted maybe 5 minutes.  But it all turned out fantastic. The 3-hour party wrapped up by 8pm and my kids were off to bed just in time.

Goody Bags

Our parting gift was a box of soy chocolate milk, homemade blueberry muffin, and two NurtiGrain bars.  Some kids were surprised there was no candy, but seriously kids its bedtime.

I was meticulous in planning every detail days before so during the party I was cool and calm.  I had a minute-to-minute schedule of activities, adult helpers assigned tasks, and realistic mindset that nothing goes as planned.  

Kids don't really care if the cake frosting matches the tablecloth and it helps keeping it in mind that they are there to have a good time.  Luckily, that attitude is helpful in keeping the costs down ;)

I received no compensation from any of the mentioned companies or blogs and all opinions expressed are solely mine. I do, however, recommend the companies based on my experience.

Hello 30's

My birthday has come, and now I have to admit I am 30 years old. What in the world happen to my youth? Why did time move so fast? I still remember the conversation I had with my mom when I was 8 years old that she was going to be "old" soon as her 30thbirthday was fast approaching.

Now my time has come and I am "old" just as my 8-year old self believed.

Despite all my fears and apprehension regarding my new decade, I have promised myself that 30's would be just as fabulous and adventurous as my 20's. In my 20's I attended school in North Carolina, traveled the western hemishpere, graduated from college, given two of the best daughters, and lived every moment celebrating the good times and great health. Now 30's you have a lot to live up to.

Happy Birthday to me!

Toddler-hood to Preschooler

As of Saturday, my baby girl is now a preschooler. We celebrated Julianna's 3rd birthday at Art Beast Studio with family and close friends. The kids were painting, molding moon sand, making ornaments, and running. We ate delicious custom cupcakes from Courtney. Overall, the day was a beautiful success.

Now I've realized, although its just another year, she is growing up and not slowing down. My mind races as I imagine the upcoming milestones ie. kindergarden, high school, prom, graduation, college, grandkids; does life ever pause, wait I wasn't ready for it to happen so fast. I just want to hold her tight and protect her forever.

So I have heard it a million times to cherish the days of when they are young "cause they grow up so fast." Every day is special but so are the milestones. I have never wanted to hold my children back selfishly; independence, strength, and adventure I foster in my kids in hopes they become admirable, happy, productive members of society. Julianna first crawled at 6 months. There was no magic to it I got down on the floor with her to cheer her on, her courage was astonishing to me. I wasn't disappointed I couldn't carry her around everywhere or that I would have to chase her. In fact I was elated, Julianna trusted me to always be by her side, herself and her strength, and her world around her.

So this new desire to hold her close is silly of me since I've always been the woman by her side to support her and encourage her curiosity of it all. I know I'll always be her best friend, I just happen to remember her first smile.