Baby Love ... A Baby Shower in Honor of My Sis-In-Law

Baby Love

My sister in law is having a baby girl, and I am over the moon excited. She has a sweet, adorable little boy also. I was thrilled that she now lives close enough that I was able to throw her a proper baby shower this time around. Her husband is in the military and is currently overseas, so this was a great opportunity to love on her and help her get ready for baby girl.

One of her good friends and I worked together on the shower. She created an absolutely precious photo booth area with great "baby-themed" props.

We had so much fun posing with the props, and it was a great way to be sure we got photos of all of the guests so she would have lots of pictures for a scrapbook.

OMG - These.Bloomers.Were.Precious. We had a diaper raffle that each of the guests had the opportunity to participate in. If a guest brought in a package of diapers, they were entered into a raffle for a prize. I had these bloomers monogrammed and put them on display by the raffle. Aren't they too cute? You can order them at https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1125457133

What a great way to stock up on diapers! With her having two in diapers, hopefully these will be a huge help.

We played a few games at the shower as well. Guess how many pieces of candy are in the bottle and "Don't Say Baby" (aka the clothespin game).

Let's talk food! We had the food set up "Buffet-style." Hanging in the front of the table was a clothesline where I pinned bibs and a burp cloth that I had monogrammed (pictured below). I also made my very first diaper cake that sat in the center of the buffet.

A local friend monogrammed this pretty burp cloth for my new niece!

Diaper Cake!

Instead of a traditional baby shower cake, we had an ice cream sundae bar! I created labels for each of the toppings by attaching paper clips to the bowls that had circles attached to the top with the name of each topping. 

This baby girl is already so loved! My sis-in-law had an abundance of goodies to open. I love how this butterfly banner turned out! You can order it here: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1123546216 from LoonysDaintyCrafts on Etsy.

I can't wait to hold you Addison! Congratulations Lisa and Derek! We love you!

A Co-Birthday Party for my Boys - Star Wars & Toy Story

A Co-Birthday Party for my Boys - Star Wars & Toy Story

This March we went on an amazing family vacation to Disney World (basically our family's favorite place ever). We were there on Ethan's six birthday, so when it came time to have a birthday party, we knew we needed to keep it small and keep it simple. Since both of my boys have March birthdays, we decided to combine their parties. We invited family over for dinner, rented a bounce house over for my kids, nieces, and nephews to play in, and grabbed some games from Party City. We also had Sno Cones again, just like we had at Hannah's birthday. The Sno Cones are always a hit!

Joshua was turning three and said he wanted to have a "Toy Story" themed party. We had the kitchen set up with Toy Story themed decor and I made green alien goody bags for him to hand out to his cousins.

Ethan wanted a Star Wars themed party, so we decorated the dining room with Star Wars decor from Party City and I created Star Wars themed tags to attach to bubble wands (aka light sabers).

The menu consisted of hot dogs, homemade potato salad, chips with spinach & artichoke dip, and lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

The kids loved jumping in the bounce house, and "Papa" (my Dad) even got in there with them!

Don was in charge of making the Sno Cones. Our neighbors have a jumpy house, Sno Cone machine, and Popcorn Machine business, so it's very convenient to rent things!

Happy 6th Birthday Ethan! We love you!

Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua! Can't believe how fast our baby is growing up. We love you!

A Fall Festival Themed Birthday Party

A Fall Festival Themed Birthday Party

My first born has a fall birthday, and for her 8th birthday we decided to host a fall festival themed party, complete with costumes and pumpkin painting. We rented a jumpy house for the kids to play in, made homemade pizzas, enjoyed cupcakes and Sno Cones. 

We put a small sign out on the front porch to greet her guests, but the festivities were in the backyard.

Each guest painted a pumpkin that they got to bring home.

We had a small fall themed photo prop area where the kids took fun pictures together showing off their costumes.

The kids loved having Sno Cones!

 Goody Bags!

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!

An Elmo Birthday Party

An Elmo Birthday Party

We celebrated Joshua's second birthday "Elmo style." We had all of our family over to enjoy dinner, and the kids played together. I had a great time putting the decor together for this party... There is no shortage of Pinterest ideas for an Elmo party!

I ordered this adorable custom Elmo tee-shirt on Etsy. You can check it out here: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1012810349.

 This picture greeted guests as they entered the door.... "Welcome to Joshua's 2nd Birthday... Brought to you by the Letter "J" and the Number 2!"

I hung red paper lanterns from the ceiling. It was super easy to turn these into Elmo faces... Just cut out eyes, a nose, and a mouth and attached them to the lantern! These added a fun touch to the party!

We added a lot of color to the party by adding balloons, banners, tablecloths, and Elmo toys.

How fun is this?! Just like the paper lanterns, I made the drink pitcher an Elmo face as well. The spout came out of his mouth, and my kids thought this was hilarious... They said they were drinking "Elmo spit." Ummm, gross. But they loved it. We used Hawaiian Punch as the beverage.

Another delicious cake courtesy of my friend Sara! Joshua loved it! The little dots around the cake were gumballs. How fun!

The kids played "Pin the Nose on Elmo." Y'all, this was not my most artistic game. I think Elmo looks more like a red version of Garfield here. However, the kids thought it was fun and that's all that really matters.

Goody bags! I love how simple these were. Sometimes goody bags end up costing a small fortune, but keeping with the Elmo theme, I kept the bags simple, filling them only with a bag of goldfish and a box of crayons. (In the theme song for Elmo's World on Sesame Street, the song says, "Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayons too..." I decorated small red gift bags with Elmo's Eyes and Nose too.

Joshua loved his Elmo party!

Now this is evidence of a good party! All worn out after a fun evening of party festivities, Joshua and his cousin curled up on the stairs and fell asleep. Happy Birthday Joshua!