Sophia's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Sophia's 3rd birthday with an Olivia the Pig themed party at our house on Saturday.  We invited close family and friends to be with us and Sophia was SO excited about her special day.

The invitation:

Olivia's favorite color is red, so I incorporated as much of that color into the decorations as possible.  I accented with some pink, which is a close second for Olivia's preferred colors.  It helped that I had several red pieces left over from her sock monkey party a year ago and Valentine's Day was so close to our day of celebration.

Two days before the party, Sophia helped me in the kitchen making RED strawberry and raspberry jello-covered popcorn.  So easy and so fun.

She also helped me to make the gift bags for our young guests, which I am always certain to include my kids in on the goodies.  Lots of gluing and lots of stuffing of the bags.

This time, I did most of my decorating the day before while the kids were napping.  In the past, I have waited until the morning of the event (because my little ones were prone to getting into everything if it was set-up too early), but this way, I didn't feel quite as rushed.

I incorporated some of the books that we already had from the girls' closet and accented with some signs that I had printed off and framed.

There were a lot of the pictures from Sophia's photo shoot framed and displayed on the tables.  There were so many cute ones (my girl is not lacking for personality) and I couldn't bring myself to narrow down the selection. 

My mom had the red/white plastic popcorn tubs which were perfect for the red-coated popcorn.

There were also various types of red candy scattered about for the guests (mostly Sophia -- she couldn't help herself!) to enjoy.

The plate/cup/napkin/utensil area, waiting for guests to load their plates with spaghetti and meatballs, salad and garlic breadsticks.

I couldn't resist these balloons that I found online.  Steve took the girls on the morning of the party and got them filled with helium.

Sophia counted each one that there was just enough for each young guest to have one at the party!

The dessert table:

I made and frosted the cupcakes the afternoon before the party.  Sophia had requested a strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream, and I was happy to oblige.  For a little variance, I made vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting and strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  I tinted some of the vanilla frosting red and piped it out of a bag together with the plain vanilla to give a two-toned look.  It turned out pretty well.

I had to go to "Plan C" on the cake.  My original idea did not pan out as well as I had hoped, so I went to another option.  After working pretty hard on it (and my hands were tinted red), Sophia scraped the frosting off one side of the cake later that afternoon.  I was devastated.  While she was sitting in time-out, with tears squirting out of her eyes, I asked her why she ruined the cake.  With muffled sobs, she managed to tell me, "it's just that ... I just ... I just love frosting so much ..." 

I know, baby doll.  I know.

So, after dinner the night before I party, I managed to make some more frosting and come up with a different plan (aka "Plan C").  Not my best work, but Sophia loved it.  And that is all that really matters.

I also dipped some jumbo marshmallows in red candy coating and covered them with sprinkles.  Sophia loves marshmallows so much that she would eat them every day if I would let her. 

Waiting for the guests to arrive:

The birthday girl:

Posing with Momma before the party (Jack was still napping):

Aunt Minnie came prepared to paint faces!

Checking out Aunt Minnie's handiwork in the mirror:

 

 

 

Grammy and the birthday girl:

 



Opening presents:

So happy with her necklace and rain boots:

Sophia loved every last little gift!

Waiting for everyone to sing happy birthday to her!

 Loving every last bite of frosting ...

 

It was a day filled with fun and memories.  And, my momma heart swelled as I tucked one tired little girl into bed that night.  I kissed her cheek and reminded her (again) just how special her actual birth date was to me, three years ago.  She was the best gift that I received for my 31st birthday that year.  Born the day before my birthday, I spent my special day in the hospital with her, cuddling her little body and wondering what she would grow up to be like.  I know now and I am so happy ...

Jack and the Pool Balls

When Samantha was about Jack's same age, we set her up on Steve's dad's pool table and let her play with the pool balls for a little bit of entertainment.  To this day, Stan has some of those pictures framed and hanging on the wall near his pool table.  The other night, we let Jack test them out himself on Steve's pool table.

 

My little man is getting really good at posing for me.  It's like he just sees the camera and knows what to do now. 

 



All those colors ...

And now to try and get one ...  I don't think that he realized how heavy they really were.

It didn't seem to matter. 

And then straight to the mouth.  Like everything.

Jack's first pool lesson.  He's got a lot of learning to do in order to be as good as his daddy and grandpa at that game!

Jack is Nine Months Old

Jack is nine months old today.  Just three more months and he will be a year old!  It hardly seems possible.  That means that I need to start thinking about his first birthday party ... I have an idea in mind (of course!); we shall see.

I will have Jack's stats in a couple of weeks.  With Sophia's 3 year old check-up so close to Jack's 9 month check-up, I purposely scheduled them on the same day, back-to-back.  I needed to wait until Sophia was officially 3, so our appointment is scheduled for the first week in March.

Jack has cut three teeth now, and those have made for a very grumpy baby.  His sleeping patterns became skewed this last month and I started to worry that he was reverting back to his newborn habits.  A few middle of the night soothing sessions later, and I am happy to report that he is back to normal now.  He goes to bed around 7:30 pm and has been waking up around 6:30-7 am (as opposed to 4:30 am-5:30 am).  Whew!

Jack has moved on from pureed foods now.  While I try to mix in a few here and there, to reduce my small stock that I have left in the freezer, he has made it perfectly clear that he prefers something with a little more texture.  And he isn't subtle about it either.  He is now eating Cheerios (it's amazing how his little gums tolerate them -- he loves them!), pasta, cooked vegetables, cut-up meat (chicken, pork, beef -- whatever we are eating), and lots of fruits.  I have not introduced any yogurt yet until I get the "ok" from the doctor.  I don't want to start large doses of dairy until he is ready because he is used to breast milk exclusively.

As you can see, he has now graduated to having a "bowl" of snacks on the floor.  The girls think that it is hilarious ...

Jack doesn't seem to mind the cold one bit; and thank goodness because we have had one down-right cold and long winter season this year.  Jack has proven on more than one occasion that he can "hang with the big dogs" outside. 

Jack's first sled ride!  It's safe to say that he enjoyed it and it was the first of many to come ...

Jack constantly has a toy in each hand.  He goes back and forth between them, stopping intermittently to sample them with his tongue.  Everything goes in his mouth -- everything.  I'm not one of those mothers that worries too much about it because it exposes him to a lot of things and somehow seems to keep him from actually getting sick.

Speaking of toys ... The girls helped me move all of Jack's toys out of the dining room one night so that I could do a deep-clean of the room.  The chairs needed to be moved and the floor demanded a major vacuuming job.  Jack was in heaven in the kitchen as the girls continued to pile his toys all around him!  The look on his face says it all.

We are continuing to give Jack a bath every other day.  It seems to help his sensitive skin -- especially in the winter.  The other night, he looked so cute in the shark hooded towel that he got for Christmas, but you can see that his short time in the bath had irritated his skin a little bit. 

 

 

Jack is so aware of his surroundings lately.  He responds to his name when he is called and he understands when we are teasing him.  He will do a little snicker or a snort and then sometimes he will break out into a laugh.  He doesn't miss a single thing. 

 

I love this picture because it seems to speak for itself.  Jack was listening so intently to what Steve was telling him.  Obviously he didn't really understand, but he was trying.  So cute.

 



Keep growing, little man!

Valentine's Day 2014

Samantha did not have school on Valentine's Day this year because the holiday fell on President's Day Weekend.  This made me quite happy because it meant that I could spend the whole day with the kids with no other plans to interrupt our celebrating!

 

The girls actually woke up before Jack and came downstairs to find that their daddy had left each of them (and me) a special card and with some candy. 

 

Note the dress that Samantha is wearing ... Steve sewed it (with my sewing machine!) for her while I was at work this last week and she loves it so much that came downstairs wearing it that morning.  She would never take it off if she had a choice.

 

Samantha could not get over the size of her card.  It was huge!

Poor Sophia.  Her card was just as big and she wanted to pose with hers as well.  Upside down.

Sam read her card all by herself.  I was pretty impressed.

I surprised the girls with pancakes that morning.  But just your ordinary pancakes -- we had heart-shaped ones on Valentine's Day plates.  (Steve's mom bought the plates for me last year on clearance after Valentine's Day.  I saved them and felt happy knowing that she was with us in spirit this year).

After breakfast, the kids got dressed and posed for their obligatory holiday pictures.  Of course.

Jack's First Valentine's Day.  He's my little heart throb for sure.  (Thanks to Grammy for the bib!).

It's not easy getting all three to pose at the same time.  I will take what I can get lately.

This picture is just thrown in for good measure.  Even if it is a holiday, we still have "normal" things to do; like unloading the dishwasher.  I have such good little helpers.

The girls took some time to sort through all of the Valentines from Samantha's friends at school.  They worked as a team and divided the Valentine cards into one pile and the candy into the other.  There was some intense concentration taking place.

While Jack was taking his morning nap, the girls and I made cookies.  They really enjoy doing this, but the part that is even more fun for them is when I let them play with the left-over dough.  While I am baking the cookies, they stay entertained for quite some time, rolling the dough, shaping it and then starting all over.  (For some reason, I couldn't seem to find any of my Valentine cookie cutters so we had to improvise with snowmen and teddy bears.  Oh, and Sophia insisted on a butterfly too).

Last but not least, I promised the girls yet another surprise for lunch.  Sam thought that maybe we would have a picnic outside.  Um, well, 'tis not the season for that here in Michigan right now, but she realized that this far surpassed that idea anyway.  We made a heart-shaped pizza with heart-shaped pepperonis on it!  I couldn't believe how excited they got over it!

Enjoying their lunch.

Even this little heart throb got to have some pizza as a reward for his patience. 

It was definitely a good day, and I know that my babies all knew just how much their momma loves them ... not just on this Valentine's Day, but every day of the year!