Party Deets From a Ladybug Picnic!

I thought I’d share a little bit about Nataile’s 1^st birthday party with you!  I think that was about the time I dropped off the face of the earth….

We hosted her party in January at our home.  Both my parents as well as Matt’s, along with my brother, sister, and her husband all came to celebrate.  Natalie invited several of her playdate friends as well as a few of Mommy’s.  As an aside, I will never invite this many people again.

First up, my beautiful, year old, baby girl. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I cannot take credit for this fabulous outfit.  I did nothing.  Well, I ordered the shirt.  Oh, and the leggings.  But that’s it.  My MIL made everything else.  I know, right?  So stinkin’ cute.

Next up…décor!

I should preface this by saying that I am not a crafty person.  I’m more of a wannabe.  So what’s a wannabe to do when her baby girl is turning one?  Outsource.  Insert my sister.  She made this adorable banner for Natalie that is, in all honesty, still hanging on our mantle.  It also became the most fussed over decoration before the party with practically my entire family assisting in its hanging.  The end results was nothing short of perfection.

 

 

I put Natalie's monthly pictures in terra cotta pots with fake grass to fit the ladybug picnic theme.  Those, too, are still on our mantle.  Matt and I sometime go over and try to pick out our favorite.  It changes every time :)

I stepped out of my comfort zone and whipped up some topiaries all by myself.  They were my “big” project for the party :)  Whoa.  I know.  Step back.

 

 

   

I printed this little image to serve as our guest book during the party so Natalie could have a keepsake of who came to her very first birthday.

Okay.  Let’s get to the good stuff.  The dessert table.  Now I may not be crafty, but I am a cake decorator.  This little table was my baby!  Truffles, cookies, cupcakes, candy, pretzels, marshmallows, cake…oh my.  Clearly I went a tad overboard.  But I was so happy with how it turned out and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  And I did make those labels myself…sort of crafty, right?

 

 

 

 

And here’s my sweet baby enjoying her first bite of cake.  Unfortunately, this moment did not go as perfectly as I had envisioned.  She’s smiling here, but seconds before she was screaming about being burned by the candle.  Yep.  You read that correctly.  The one thing you don’t want to happen to your child happened.  Ah the memories.

 

 

It was so much work...but so much fun.  Natalie had a great time with her friends and family and only had to leave 10 minutes early for a nap.  Pretty great, I'd say :)  I had crazy amounts of help from my family with the food and decorations and I could not have pulled it off without them.  Tis why I won't be doing anything like this ever again.  First birthday are a one time thing :)

Love you sweet girl!

All photos courtesy of Zoobee Photography

Halloween Fun!

Our weekend was pretty busy...but very productive and lots of fun! And it started with Chick-fil-a for dinner on Friday. What could be better? Obviously not the spinach lasagna we were supposed to have for leftovers. But when Matt only at one bite of the meal on Thursday, I knew it wasn't happening. But I digress.

Saturday I started the morning off at the gym! I know...crazy. But the beginning of my week was a little questionable food wise so I felt the need to make up for it. We did our regular grocery shopping and also got a new mattress, pillows, and sheets for our new guest bed that is arriving today! Holy crap beds are expensive people! Who knew? Oh yeah. My husband. That's why we've waited so long to upgrade.

FYI: Mattresses are huge and they do not fit into the back seat of Taurus's, just so you know. After some help from a man in the Costco parking lot who just happened to have a piece of plywood in his van...we were able to get it into my trunk without too much trouble. Although we drove home with 3/4th's of it sticking out of my car...it worked. Mystery man = lifesaver.

Then we carved our pumpkin! I had the great idea of using a permanent marker to trace around where we would cut the top off because I couldn't see the pencil...and then realized that we would be putting the top right back on. Idiot. So now we have a huge black circle on the top of our pumpkin...and I can't even blame Matt. Er. But it turned out cute anyway!












And finally, my outside fall decor is complete!









We spent Halloween evening at a friend's house passing out their candy for them since we never get any kids. It was a really fun evening and ended with a free one of these:

source

Seriously delicious and yum!

Sunday I hit up the gym again and headed home to get some more stuff done in preparation for my parent's visit later this month. We hung a few pictures, put up some blinds, built a piece of furniture that my parents gave us for Christmas like two years ago (couldn't have it sitting there unopened when they came to visit!), and rearranged our guest room in preparation for the new bed! Then I got to nap and made a super yummy dinner I got from Brown Eyed Girl and her Beau: Cheesy Chicken Corn Soup! Amazing! Overall, the weekend was really nice but just flew by. I could seriously use four days...couldn't you??

Fall Decorations

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent some of the day on Saturday decorating our house for fall. I had so much fun digging into those boxes of decorations! I'm one of those crazies who goes out the day after and buys up everything on sale, so there are always new decorations to use each year! This year I even found some cake decorating tools I thought I lost in one of the boxes! How they got there, no idea. But it was like Christmas!


Anyways, here are a few pictures of the fall and Halloween pieces I used. Enjoy your little glimpse into our home :) Maybe someday I'll share more...perhaps when my parents come to visit next month because then I know it will be clean!

This little guy lights up!



Ah, the massive TV. This was purchased before my arrival...but I have to admit...it's awesome. I have no idea what is on TV though. It was during a commercial of the Brown's game.



A little closer look...

The hanging scarecrows are by far my favorite piece in the house. I've been wanting to change my flower arrangement but that vase it super hard to match.

Table decorations...

This hangs over the table! Don't worry, we don't really eat there that often. Scary though, huh!?! You can also see the scarecrow on the wall which says "Harvest Time."




This is the arrangement in our dining room...which houses this coffee table because we don't currently own a dining room table. Love it!



This guy shakes, his eyes turn beet red, and he makes some really creepy noises. Very cool!

These are the window clings on our front door.

Outside decor...

Further away...

So there you have it! My house is finally done! I'd really love to get some hay stacks or something else to put on the porch, but I'll get my pumpkins soon and it will look much better!

Hope y'all have a great day! The CEO of secret global aerospace company is coming to our site today to present us with some award so it is a mad house around here. Hopefully the day flies! Think I could talk her into getting me out of this dump? Hm. Probably not the best time to bring that up? Ha!