Curious George Second Birthday.

The little one enjoyed a fun Curious George themed birthday party a week or so ago. She loves Curious George  so she was pretty excited when she found out her party was about the “hoo hoo haa haa, Goge.” I got a lot of ideas from Pinterest and pbs.com actually had a whole bunch of printables and ideas for the party too {link is here.} I printed some coloring pages, George cut-out masks, and DIY party hats from the PBS site for the kids at the party to play with/take home.

Here’s a bunch of pics from the day…

We served Hundley’s hot dogs, Chef Pisghetti’s mac and cheese, Farmer Renkin’s veggie salsa {recipe here}, popcorn, Curious George gushers, Twizzlers, The Man In The Yellow Hat lemonade, red velvet cupcakes, and George’s banana split bar {with homemade ice cream…thanks, Mom!}

 

 

 

 

She had all her favorite people there…

And she kept sneaking Twizzlers. I made a pillow case dress for her using some Curious George fabric I found from – of all places – Wal-Mart. {If you want to make a similar dress, just Google pillow case dress; there are tons of tutorials online.} Ironically, I thought she would love the dress, but she actually hated it. I may or may not have had to bribe her with a Twizzler to get her to let me put it on her. So odd!

The pic below about sums up her attitude about the dress. Grrr.

 

I had a little extra fabric, and the pup was much more willing to wear it as a bandana than the little one was to wear her dress. Go figure.

 

Her buddies showed up dressed perfectly themed with the party!   

 

I managed to sneak in one quick photo with my two-year-old. Love her.

Even though the invites said gifts weren’t necessary, she received loads of lovely things from her friends and family…

 

 

As a side note, my best friend & I are both due with baby boys just 11 days apart. This will be her 3rd boy, so she’s the expert I’ll call as I try to navigate the unchartered territory! 

 

The little one was on her new “cell phone” the whole time everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. Go figure. She’s two and already using the phone too much! Silly girl.

I love that I have a similar picture of her on her Daddy’s lap with her birthday cupcake one year ago at her Cute as a Button party. Gosh, how quickly time flies!

She seemed to enjoy her party…mainly the people who were there. Below is our 91 year old neighbor, Miss Ruth. The little one and Miss Ruth have a very special bond. They both look for each other outside all the time. The little one yells “Miss Roof!!” from inside our house, and I know that simply means she spotted the very active neighbor doing yard work again. It’s a necessary follow-up to put our shoes on and head over to her house to say hi. Miss Ruth loves the little one dearly; you can just see the joy on her face the moment she gets a hug from my girl. I’m telling you, these two have something very special going on.

It makes me so happy that the little one’s favorite part of the party was the people there. It’s a beautiful thing watching her get so happy to see her family and friends. She is so loved, and so loves others too.

 

Happy birthday to my sweet little monkey! :)

Fourth.

We enjoyed our Fourth of July with lots of food and family. And of course, cute red, white, blue, stars & stripes outfits. :)

Girl loves having a chair her size…

Got some cousin time. The little one’s expression is super silly in this photo, and Cate isn’t looking at the camera, but this is about the best we could get!

These two are so beautiful. So thankful they’re in our lives!

I made my favorite fresh pepper salsa. {Apparently this is my go-to July 4th dish!}

We ate steaks bigger than our plates at my parents’ house & enjoyed tons more food at Eugene’s grandparents’ house.

We’re so thankful for our country, for freedom, for our family.

Cute as a button & so much fun.

I broke the rules and threw the little one a rather large birthday part. “They” say that the first birthday party should be low-key and include only a few people; however, we were finishing most of our house renovations – mainly our kitchen – and we haven’t had anyone over since we moved in {since the house was always torn apart for some DIY project.} Luckily, the little one has been to many, many family functions with Eugene’s family that involved lots of people, so she was comfortable with a crowd.

I went with a “cute as a button” theme. Seemed appropriate since the little one loves pointing at her button light, and I liked the colorful theme. Her invitation said: “Cute as a button & so much fun, the little one {but it said her real name} is turning one!”

I used a great sugar cookie recipe I found on Pinterest to make these button cookies. I used a mason jar to cut the large circle, a baby food jar for the inner circle indent, and a drinking straw for the button holes. I’ll definitely use the cookie recipe again; they held their shape perfectly and tasted good too!

I printed buttons on computer paper and taped them to toothpicks for the funfetti cupcakes…

I made caramel kiss, M&M, and pretzel button candies. Tasted great, but looked a little messy since I picked caramel kisses rather than the normal kiss.

I made the “1” sign using a leftover piece of wood, spray-painted pink. I drew on a “1” and hot glued buttons. Eugene’s grandma Dottie donated tons of buttons to the birthday party cause. {She has an incredible stock of craft/sewing supplies!}

Another Pinterest idea – ice cubes made using a muffin tin with slices of lime…

More printed signs/labels I made using Publisher.

My favorite detail of the party was the garland. I used scrap fabric pieces and baker’s twine to make the top garland. I hot glued buttons to colored paperclips to hold the monthly chalk-board photos, and I used Dollar Tree plates to make the large buttons.

It was neat to see her growth from month one to twelve displayed at her party.

I also sewed her a button-themed dress. Well, it was a dress when I made it a month ago, but the little one must have had a growth spurt because by the time of her party it was too short for a dress! I’ll have to post a separate blog on how I made it some other time.

I realize I’m super biased, but I really think she’s totally cute as a button. :)

She got some quality time with family & friends. Here’s the little one with her Great Grandma Goldie. {So much sweetness in one picture!}

She played with her cousin, Cate, and friends Griff & Brooks…

She thought it was hilarious to hear Eugene’s family sing their usual butchered version of “Happy Birthday!”

And she enjoyed her banana muffin birthday cupcake…

It was a fabulous time, and I’m so thankful for all my family & friends who helped and attended to celebrate the little one’s first year of life. {Wondrous thing overload!}

Taking down the photos was a little emotional for me {in a happy, humbled, overwhelmed with gratitude kind-of way.} I won’t lie, I may have shed a tear remembering how little she was and how much she has grown. God has blessed us incredibly.