Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Last weekend we had the kids monkey themed birthday party.  O.M.G. it turned out GREAT :)  You can see the invitations here, and as I stated in this post, I had been planning this party for quite some time.  I had a bit of trouble finding things that weren't exclusively pink or blue so I either made or special ordered pretty much all of the decorations. 

I got these ADORABLE potted centerpieces and cupcake picks from this store. 

 

I made these...

 

and these...

 

and this.

I'll be putting up DIY's for all of the things I made in the coming weeks. 

I ordered personalized shirts for each of the kids from this store...they turned out great (you'll see them in pics below).

Our food was typical...chicken, salad, macaroni salad, rolls, baked beans, green bean casserole, etc... But the desert was where I had lots of fun--we had: Mini Monkey Breads (i had to put mine into cupcake papers after they came out of the oven to keep them from falling apart), Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites, PB Banana Bites, and Homemade Banana Pudding...and cupcakes...'cause kids gotta have cake :)

This was the first year Beckham had a request for something fun at his birthday party...he want a jumpie at his birthday.  This was a toughy...I had to tell him that since he has a winter birthday we couldn't have a jumpie outside, but that we could have something else at his party...eeeek...but what?!?!?!  My mom had seen a balloon twister (or artist?!?) at a restaurant and she thought he was doing some awesome stuff and grabbed his card.  I contacted him, found out the prices were pretty reasonable and booked him...Beckham was thrilled!  The kids had a blast with him, and even the adults thought it was fun!  I'm pretty sure he may become a party staple for us :)  You can find Joe w/ Balloonerrific Creations here!

Here are a few of my faves from the party :)

The kids had a fantastic birthday!  They had so much fun playing with all their cousins and friends, and we had so much fun getting to see and visit with everyone :)  Of course, they were completely spoiled and got LOADS of great gifts!  Once again it's been made quite clear that we have the most amazing friends and family!

E

P.S. I've already started planning next years party...here's a hint: Chirp-Chirp, Tweet-Tweet! (I know...it's like a sickness!)

Beckham is 4!

Today is my little man's birthday.  I swear, I have no idea how this happenned, it doesn't even seem possible that it's been 4 whole years!  He has already opened presents and cannot put down his new Innotab...hopefully, we'll get to keep our phones to ourselves now, LOL :)

I'll put pics up here a little later in the week!

Happy Monday (no weigh in this week!), have a great day!

Kendall is 1!

Last Tuesday my baby girl turned 1 year old!  I can hardly believe how quickly the past year has gone by.



Kendall's 1st Picture



Our beautiful girl, 7days old.

I took the day off for her birthday and we went to lunch with my Oma :)

In the evening we had a little cake with the in-laws and she got to open up her presents from Momma, Dada, and Brother :)



I'm 1!

Hanging out in her new chair...Beckham may have been squeezing a little too tight!

Monkey slippers!

 (If you're ever looking for a great gift for a young child...check out these chairs from Pottery Barn Kids.  They start out at around $100 w/ free monogram and shipping.  Beckham got one for his first bday and still uses it, 3 yrs later, on a daily basis, it's terrific.  We bought one for our very good friends sons first bday and it was a real hit :) So, naturally we had to get one for our Cutie Girl!)

We had a fun day!  Can't wait for the kids birthday party this weekend!

My Little Monkey's Invitations!

Invitations have been designed, printed, and mailed out! 

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, here they are!

I am SO, SO, pleased with how they turned out...I ordered them from this Etsy shop.

More party details to come :)

My Little Monkeys

I'm currently planning the kids birthday party...and I'm getting SO excited :)  We are doing a purple & green monkey theme...and I ordered them SUPER cute hats off of etsy at this store to use for pictures on the invitations.  They came in the mail yestereday...seriously, I don't think it gets any cuter!



My Kendall girl isn't as fond of hats as her brother



Beckham LOVING his new hat















 

I came across some really cute birthday invitation wording (Monkey See Monkey Do--It's a Party for TWO!...pretty sure it was meant for twins, but it still works for me) while I was pregnant with Kendall and ever since I've been eagerly waiting to use it.  Since this is Kendall's first birthday, this is also my first time trying to do a birthday party that's a little more gender neutral...and it's not so easy.  Everything "monkey" that I've come across has either been PINK or BLUE (I'm not fond of either color when it comes to kids stuff...it just seems so expected)...or sock monkey, but I'm not crazy about that design, so most of the stuff I'm either making myself OR had specially made on etsy.  As I get the rest of the things done/delivered I'll be sure to post them on here.

Annnnnnnnnnnd, if you have any gender neutral/themed bday party ideas, I'd love to hear them!

E

Happy Valentine's Day

This is Beckham's first year giving out Valentine's, so I knew I wanted to do something a little different and special.  I love finding easy projects that he can help with and was super excited when I stumbled upon this on pinterest, as soon as I saw it, I knew I could easily put my own spin on this little project!

The sitter tries to keep things relatively healthy (plus, who wants to take care of 6-3/4yr olds on a sugar high?!?!?), so I didn't want to send candy, I thought this was perfect...and Beckham could help :)

Here's what we did, SO simple and inexpensive (we made 18 crayon cakes)--

Supplies:

Silcone Baking Sheet ($3 @ Wal-Mart)

3 boxes of crayons ($1ea @ Five Below)

Mini chinese take-out boxes (pk of 6 $1.97 @ Wal-Mart)

First we peeled the paper off of the crayons and broke them in half (sometimes in thirds). 

Then we put 10(ish) crayon pieces in each heart. 

I baked them for about 12 minutes in a 350degree oven and then let them cool for 30 minutes.



This is what they looked like straight from the oven

Popped them out of the baking sheet and Voila!


He was VERY proud of his creations :)

I printed up a simple tag to attach to each take-out box and they were ready to go. 

 





Beckham is SO excited to hand them out today :)

Hope everyone has a lovely V-Day!

Erica