Monster Bash

My not-so-little baby boy turned one last week.  We decided we would have a big party for him, friends and family alike.  And with our little guy having such a personality, a monster party it became. Enjoy the pictures. I found much enjoyment in all the planning and work that went into it. :)

Favors for Rowan's friends:

 Food and decorations:

Monster cookies and cupcakes for the kiddos to decorate:

Happy first birthday, Rowan!

A Letter to My Son, On His First Birthday

My sweet baby boy turns one tomorrow. One year, 365 days, old.  It’s hard to believe at times it’s already been a year.  I was told by several people to cherish every day. “Time goes by so fast” they would say. Little did I know, it would be so true. I admit, some days were definitely hard to “cherish” but then I’d get a smile or a giggle right before bedtime and I would forget what a rough day we just had.

I clearly remember our time in the hospital before Rowan was born.  It’s like a movie that I can rewind and fast-forward in my head. I hope it always stays so clear. I love those memories.

My doctor gave me about an 80% chance of needing a cesarean, but I wanted to try to have a natural birth if possible.  I was induced around 7p on September 6, 2011.  By 8:30 the next morning my body had done nothing in response and the doctor was ready to head into surgery.  By 9:27 that morning Rowan was born!  Everything happened so fast it still seems unreal to me.  And now here we are, almost a year later. 

September 4, 2012 – A letter to my son, for his first birthday.

What an honor it is to know you, Rowan. To be called to be your mom. There is no sweeter name I have ever known, than “mamama”.  You amaze us everyday. You are so smart!  And I think you know it too.  You can say so many words now, both in speech and sign.

You have a hide-and-go-seek Elmo book that you love. It’s the first thing you grab in your sea of toys everyday. You drag it over, hand it to me and grunt. Then we read it. You grunt again. We read some more. And more and more. I have to admit, I’ve hidden it under the couch once or twice. I can only read that book so many times in a day!

You stand up by the record player every morning waiting for me to turn on our music of the day. It’s usually a Slugs and Bugs album. Sometimes it’s music from mama’s phone. Either way, the second you hear the first notes you grin and start dancing.  I’m not quite sure where you get your cheery morning disposition. Certainly not from your parents!

Here are some of the things you love:

Bowls, spoons, forks, and straws. You love to stir. You’ll even stir with a comb if it’s all you have!

Your baby pool. You stand on your tiptoes and look out mommy and daddy’s bedroom window to see it. You say, “poo, poo, poo” over and over until I respond.

Balls. You love anything in the shape of a circle. It’s all a “ball” to you. You have this huge beach ball in the living room you love to kick and shake around.

Fitting things into other things. You sit there with your tongue sticking out, concentrating on trying to fit your fork in the teeny tiny hole of your cup.

Baths. You love them. You start panting and bouncing up and down when we run the water and try to swing your leg over the tub to get in.

Bubbles. You chase them with your eyes and try to grab them with your hands while sitting in the same spot. They’re round, so of course you call them “balls”.

Our phones. You love to watch YouTube videos of Elmo or Tractor, Tractor and Bears, Bears. You love to grab them and “run” away from us giggling. When we take them back you sign “please” and reach for them again.

You know where your shirt, toes, hands, fingers, diaper and teeth are.  You know where the light and fans are too. You can say ball, bowl, muffin (mah), blanket (bee), mama, dada, pool, see, and what’s that (wassat).

You know how to sign more, please, thank you, sorry, nurse.

You are taking several steps at a time now, but still prefer to crawl.

Daddy and I still stand over your crib at night before we go to sleep. To kiss your cheek, touch your head, whisper goodnight.

You mean so much to us.

We thank God for you everyday.

I read this quote the other day and thought of you, “I carry your heart with me. I carry it in my heart. I am never without it” E.E. Cummings.

Love you lots, Bug.

Mama

Cake of the Month

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish:  A Dr. Seuss cake of the month!

It was a blast to do and not too hard either.

Felt Cookies

I've always wanted to try my hand at felt desserts and finally found a reason to! My sweet little niece turned three last week and she loves to play pretend with food and kitchen things.

I made a circle template and used it to cut out several pieces of felt in dark chocolate and vanilla for the "cookie" and some teal, white and blue for the "frosting". I used embroidery floss to sew the frosting and sprinkles on first. Then I sewed up the cookie with more embroidery floss and left a about a half inch open to stuff with filling and sewed it up.  They were so simple to make and fun too!

{birthday} Cake of the Month

Happy fifth birthday to my little sister!  She said she wanted a "colorful caterpillar cake" and this is what she got -

My mom has always been really good about sending me messages or texts of funny things my sister has said.  Here area few of my favorites:

"I want to be called Max or Emily, and if you don't like those names you can just call me zero."

Mom: "Shaylah, the room looks so pretty doesn't it?"

Shaylah: "Yeah. Well, as a matter of fact, no it really doesn't."

Mom: "Come on Shaylah, time for a bath."

Shaylah, dusting, "I don't think you know how important it is for me to dust right now."

Some fun birthday pictures - 

Pinterest Love - Desserts

For Father's Day I decided to make two recipes we have been drooling over on Pinterest: Easy Mini Lemon Meringue Pies by Tidy Mom and Mini Snickers Caramel Cheesecakes by Six Sisters Stuff.

Snicker Cheesecake

As you can see, they are not the prettiest looking things. They came out of the oven beautiful, but once they started to cool down they began to shrink.  The recipe called for way too many graham cracker crumbs and not enough butter.  There was also enough cheesecake mixture and snickers to make two 6" cakes.  So, you could easily make 24 of these babies.  The taste was DELICIOUS though. Even if they aren't so nice to look look at.


Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

These were SO YUMMY!  I used 8 short bread cookies, the juice from two lemons, plus a little extra bottled lemon juice to make half a cup.  There was enough of everything to make 12 pies instead of the 9 it says on the website.  They were hard to get out of the muffin pans so I used a butter knife to help slide them out.  I cooled them on a cookie rack and then stuck them in the fridge for a few hours.

Have you made any Pinterest desserts you loved? Send them my way!