The "Baby" is One!

I am always shocked by how quickly time goes by when you are busy having fun with kids! It is hard to believe that my "baby" just celebrated his first birthday. I wonder when we will all drop the "baby" from his name, Baby Ira. :) We had such fun at his birthday celebration and I had so much fun planning for it, I just had to share. Mikayo's first birthday was themed after a favorite classic children's story of mine (Where the Wild Things Are) so I thought I would follow the same trend and choose a book for Ira's. I chose one of my all time favorite children's books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The little man loves this book too and brings it to me several times a day to have me read it to him. Here is a collection of photos from the big day:

From top left: 1. Our photo booth was transformed into a fruit toss using imitation apples and pears. It was a big hit with the little ones. 2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake made from a Chocolate Wafer Cookie Log and a giant cake ball for the head. 3. Craft - Coffee filter butterflies. We also had finger print caterpillar bookmark craft, coloring sheets and make your own caterpillar glue craft with pre-cut green and red circles. 4. Butterfly cupcakes with yogurt covered pretzel wings and jelly bean bodies. We also had caterpillar (worm) cupcakes with mocha icing for the grown-ups. 5. Thank you for coming lollipops and jellybean caterpillars (using skinny cellophane bags from Stampin' Up!). Special Cheerio/Baby Puff Butterfly treats for the youngest guests. 6. We had antennae headbands for all our little guests and some butterfly wings to play with as well. 7. invitation with pictures of the little man throughout the year. 8. "ice cream cones" made from Rice Krispie treats in mini cones, chocolate drizzle and an m&m "cherry" on top. These were my first attempt at making Rice Krispie treats and I have to say, they turned out pretty well! 9. Hand painted photo booth (later to become the fruit toss game) 10. Paper plate caterpillar displaying photos of the little man chronologically throughout the year. Guests were given plain paper plates with their invitations and were asked to get creative and decorate their plates green. I loved seeing what everyone came up with. 11. Sign in on themed/decorated scrapbook paper so it can be added straight into his scrapbook and so that we can always remember who was there celebrating with us on this special day. 12. Most of the food came directly from the book, "On Monday he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry" Food is labelled with artwork from the book. We also added caterpillars made from grapes with a strawberry head, and mini cucumbers with baby bell heads. Gummy caterpillars (worms) and gummy butterflies as well as themed plates and napkins from http://www.carlemuseum.org/Shop/Party_Supplies finished the snack table.

Now for one last photo from the day because I just can't resist:

Mommy Time

So, the last while we have been dealing with a sick/feverish little man.  It has been a long few days.  He seems to be back to his old self this morning so hoping (fingers crossed) he stays that way!  It's so hard to have a sick baby and not be able to make it all better.  

Last night I snuck away for a much needed break and left Mr. Sickie with Daddy.  I went to my Stampin' Up group and made 2 great cards.  Thanks Sarah! 

This is a Sucrets box that I decorated for a little Hodgepodge Hardware challenge that we did. The flowers, stamp and paper are all from SU. 

I can't resist sharing at least one shot of the little man so, here's a shot of Mik from last week slurpin' spaghetti noodles.

 

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please Shine Down on Me!

Day 2 of yucky weather here is driving me cRaZy!!  One day to go (according to the forecast) and then we should be looking at nice weather again.  They're still predicting nice weather for Saturday (Mikayo's birthday party) so I am pretty happy about that!

So, what do we do when it's rainy, grey and cold?

Scrapbooking!  :D

This is one of my favorite picture of "the boys".  It makes me laugh every time I look at it!

This is a series from our Booster Juice trip.  The bright yellow layout is not really my taste but I thought I had to go bright to match the cup.  I used Stampin' Up letters for the title.

Yesterday we stayed in our pajamas for most of the day and did some serious playing.  The ring stacker is still a favorite around here!

Here Mikayo also participated in one of his favorite activities - pulling EVERYTHING out of the shelves in the living room!

"Uh Oh!  Busted!!  Luckily I'm cute!"

Today we had a bit of a rough day.  I'm not sure if it was a little stomach bug or if it was teething but the little man was not a happy camper!  :(  He is finally down for another nap so hopefully he wakes up feeling a bit better.  We are heading to a friends place for supper tonight.  I'm looking forward to some nice wine and adult conversation!!

Marathon Mural!

This is from one of the first nice days of spring.  The ground was still wet so we had Mikayo all geared up.  He loved feeling the grass, finding pine cones and eating them.  You'd think he would have realized they were not tasty after the first one but no, every time he came across another pine cone, into his mouth it went!  I still have journalling to do for this page but I went to my Stampin' Up group and managed to get most of it done there.  The paper and the adorable corduroy button are from SU.  Finding time to do the albums is getting harder and harder so I was pretty pleased with myself!!

I had a goal to get Mikayo's bedroom mural finished before his birthday.  5 days and 2 hours to go.  I don't think I'm going to make it but I've since made a goal to try to get even a little done every day.  It's hard when Mik is awake and when he's sleeping, I can't very well get in there either so I've found this extremely challenging!  Today I brought him a pile of toys and hoped he would be distracted enough for me to get a bit done.  Well he preferred climbing on my back to the toys and we had to call it quits when he discovered the dirt in the plant we have in his room.  All I managed to get done were Tzippy's feet!  Oh well!  Yesterday I got his little M for the bedroom door finished though.

Before:                                                                   

 After:

bedroom door: