a mickey mouse clubhouse party

I've been planning a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed birthday party for Little H for months.  He has been a huge fan of the show since, well, since he was just a few months old.  We decided to keep it small with just our family.  I was a little bummed that we had to cancel it and turned out to be an even smaller gathering on his actual birthday.  But the important part was that we were able to celebrate his day of birth.  Here are some pictures from his party.

I used this recipe to make his smash cake.  And for the bunting, I used fancy straws and washi tape from Target.  I also wrote his name in Disney fonts.  #intoit.  And I'm in love with this milk glass cake stand.

I made party favors Toodles' mouseketools for our special guests.  I filled the bags with stuff from the dollar section at Target.  That place is dangerous!

I made simple labels for all the items on our spread.  The menu included Pluto's Pizza, Daisy's Dip, Minnie's Frilly Fries and Mickey shaped chicken nuggets.  

I bought these ginormous balloons at Party City.  They're so much fun, I think I'm going to do this every year for everyone's birthdays.  Here is H getting ready to eat breakfast early that morning.  And look at that wave!  What a good sport!

As for the smash cake.  I have been waiting for this moment for a year, and my little boy just pushed the cake away and didn't want to have anything to do with it.  Not going to lie, my feelings were hurt.  I was thinking, "who is this child?"  We did have Round 2 this weekend in Houston with Paul's family and it made up for the first one.  He smashed that cake all over his hands, face and the floor!

Poor guy.  He had such a long, eventful day.  But I think he had fun.  I sure did!  Maybe next year he'll be more aware that all of this was for him. 

We love our little man!

see ya later, alligator

This past Saturday, my sister and my Mom threw me a baby shower.  Since we are currently living under the same roof, it was hard to keep anything a surprise.  So I ended up helping with the decorations.  They were my sister's ideas, I just went with the flow. 

The pretty backdrop was made by my sister with the help of my brother's gf.  I'm thinking of hanging it somewhere in the future nursery.  Maybe turn it into a mobile for above the crib and/or changing pad?

My very talented friend Stephanne made me a blue velvet cake with cream cheese icing and marshmallow fondant.  Not sure if you can see it on the picture below, but it's blue inside.  As always, it was super delicious!

For the centerpieces, my sister made cake pops (which also served as party favors) and stuck them on a roll of diapers.  For you NHL fans (especially those from Vancouver), don't the cake pops have sort of a Canucks feel to them??  She also used some leftover blue and green ribbons from our wedding two years ago.  Funny how much life has changed since then!

My sister-in-law made this beautiful diaper cake.  My Mom loves it so much that she wrapped it in a plastic bag to preserve it for as long as possible (until we run out of diapers of course)!

We received our very first funko pop from my friends who are avid collectors.  Kermit the Frog is going to look so awesome in the baby's nursery!

Karina and I were so sad we forgot to take a picture together during the actual shower, so we did a re-enactment later that night.  Not the same =(

Me at 36 weeks.

This banner will be going in the baby's nursery above his crib.  We're not quite ready to share the baby's name yet on this little blog so I had to do a bit of editing.  And I'm thinking we'll hang the diaper wreath outside our door in the hospital when baby arrives.

We had way too much food, drinks, and a pretty intense game of scramble.  Hopefully everyone had just as much fun as we did.  We're so thankful for those who have traveled near and far to celebrate with us.  Your love and support is very much appreciated!

Ok little man, we're ready for you!

a surprise success

I'm the worst at planning parties, so throwing my sister a surprise going away dinner party was definitely a challenge.  With the help of my friend Stephanne and Karina's bf Maury, it turned out to be a success! 

I made reservations at Whiskey Cake for about 20-25 people.  Maury stalled by taking Karina out shopping at Francesca's and got her hair "did" at Drybar.  When she walked in, we were so ready to yell out, "SURPRISE!" only to see her completely walk right passed us to go straight to the restroom.  We said her name, and that was when she finally realized all these people who were there for her. 

Crying = SUCCESS!

Stephanne made this awesome cookies and cream cake with buttercream and marshmallow fondant.  It was delicious, as always!

As giveaways, we collected empty prescription bottles, I made labels with Karina's contact information, and stuffed them with candy.  These were a lot of fun to make!

Stephanne found these rubber duckies from Oriental Trading. My sister has been obsessed with rubber duckies for as long as I can remember.

She got this awesome quilt from Maury's family.  She's been asking me to make her a quilt of all her old t-shirts, so this will buy me some time!  It had pictures of her and Maury and his nieces and nephews, whom she's grown to love.  

 Paul and I got her a Keurig maker.  I was so excited when I saw this yellow one at Kohl's and HAD to get it for her!  Hopefully this will help during her long, sleepless nights at med school.

Although this isn't goodbye just yet, we'll certainly miss you Teen!  We're so proud of you!

PS.  Thanks again Stephanne, Maury, and for everyone who came and made this night possible!