Party Favors

I just remembered I took pictures of the party favors we gave out at KW's party and thought I'd share them in case anyone's looking for an idea.  You have to have access to an embroidery machine to make these, but I know so many of you reading this have that already so maybe it'll be helpful to someone! 

The pattern I used is the Crayon Roll from  Planet Applique and it's all done in the hoop.  It's super easy to do after you've figured out the steps.  My mom and I worked through a couple together and then, because she's a total ROCK STAR, she made the rest of them while I was at work.  Thanks, Mom!!

Here are pics of the finished products.  I used the three fabrics that I had purchased for the party so they tied in with the color scheme.   On the inside of the roll, I used the same two fabrics but switched their order for the boys and girls.  Adding the names isn't technically a step in the pattern, but it's really easy to add it in along the way.  I used coral thread for the girls' names and blue for the boys'.

The pattern stitches lines to make individual pockets for the crayons. 

After the crayons are in, you just roll 'em up and tie a cute bow!  I used the floral-ish fabric for the girls but stuck with the blue for the boys so they wouldn't be too girly.   

At our party, we asked guests to bring a donation to Heifer International in lieu of gifts.  (We thought Heifer went along with the "petting zoo" theme and we certainly didn't need loads of new toys!)  So I included a Heifer coloring book with each of the crayon rolls.   

I think these little rolls are perfect for moms to throw in their purse when on the go.  They'd be great to pull out at a restaurant or during church, and it's nice to have a non-candy option for a party favor.  Hope someone else tackles them, and I hope all of our guests are enjoying theirs! 

Petting Zoo Party

Let me preface this post by saying that for the first, oh I dunno, 8 months of Katie Wynn's life, I swore up and down to the hubs that we would not, I repeat, we would NOT, be throwing a huge birthday party for her first birthday.  What's the point, anyway?  All these Pinterest moms go ridiculously overboard for a party that their child doesn't even understand, and definitely won't remember in the future.  Instead, I had said, we'd have a Saturday night cookout with whoever wanted to come over, drink some alcohol, and celebrate surviving the first year together.  We'd probably even put her to bed early so we could really enjoy it.  Ha! 

But then, last May, we attended another friend's first birthday party where there was a tiny petting zoo and Katie-bug just loooooved petting all the animals.  So I casually asked the girl running the petting zoo how much she charged and when she gave me a way-cheaper-than-I-would-have-guessed amount, my wheels started turning. 

And you know what happens when my wheels start turning. ..

I went ridiculously overboard. 

Katie Wynn had no idea it was all for her, and she will likely not remember it all, but I had an absolute BLAST. 

And that's what's really important here, right? :) 

By far the best thing I did for this party was to hire someone else to come take pictures.  Kasey took pictures of KW last June and was so great to work with that I asked if she'd be interested in snapping photos throughout the party.  She did a great job and got some fun shots but the best part was that I got to enjoy the party too.  I didn't fret over snapping pictures of every detail or stress over missing anything (and I certainly wasn't sad about not having my giant camera hanging around my neck).  I was able to actually visit with our guests, eat a plate of food, and enjoy my precious girl's big day.  

I can't tell you how many times I've already flipped through all of Kasey's shots.  I just love them all!  It's going to be hard to narrow them down for this post, so prepare yourself for lots of pictures.  And, it probably goes without saying at this point, but just in case, all photo credits go to Kasey McAlpin Photography. 

As with every other party recap, I'll start with the details.  I just love planning parties.  :)  I found three coordinating fabrics early on that I used as my jumping off point for everything else.  There was no real "theme" except these colors (an aqua-ish blue and a coral-ish pink).  I lucked into finding a whole bunch of stuff in these exact colors in the clearance aisle at Michael's.  

Everything was set up in our side yard by the driveway.  We drug over all of our patio furniture from around the house and pulled out every other seat we had to give our guests comfy places to sit and mingle.  My dad and Matt built an awesome adult-sized lemonade stand (under my direction, of course) that we used as our concession stand (special shout-out to our moms for running the concession stand!) and served all of the food from it.  The food was all easy peasy - hot dogs, chips, carrots and dip, fruit cups, cupcakes, and water ice.  I had zero desire to try to get fancy with food, and I thought keeping it simple was better for a kid's party anyway, not to mention it all tasted great!

My decorations were all pretty cute (if I do say so myself), but the real stars of the party were the animals!  We had a pony, a goat, two bunny rabbits, and two chickens.

The pony's name was Alexis which immediately reminded me of one of my all-time favorite rap lyrics, "She couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexis."  Name that song.  Anyone?

The goat was a huge hit!  She (he?) didn't have a name yet so I named her Spotty Dotty, like the lady bug from Fuzzy Bee and Friends.

Actually, scratch that.  The REAL stars of the party were all the precious kids that came to pet and feed the animals.

Let's not forget the pony rides!  All the kids seemed to love riding the pony; I don't think there were any tears from anyone.  Success! 

I had a few hay bales set up for pictures, too. 

It's not a first birthday party without a smash cake, right?  I really thought Katie Wynn would dive in and make a huge mess, but she was really pretty neat about it!  She just had a few bites that she picked out with her two little fingers, and that was about it. 

Since I still have a TON of pictures left to choose from, here are some of my favorite snapshots from the rest of the party! 

71 pictures in one post...that might be a new record! 

As you can see, the party was an absolute blast!  I wish we could do it again next weekend.  :)

Repurposed Door

This is a quick project we did for our family friend, Leslie.  Actually, it took us about a full year to get it done for her, only because we drug our feet getting started on it.  Once we got started, we were done in a week! 

A year or so ago, Leslie got a new front door for her house.  And since her late husband had designed the stained glass window in her old door, she didn't just want to throw it out with the trash.  With the new door installed, the old door immediately made it's way to our wood shop with the intentions of somehow becoming a table.  Dad removed all the hardware and cut the door in half...and that's where we stalled.  (And I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the door before we got started.) 

The door was solid so it was incredibly heavy.  We couldn't come up with a table design that didn't add a bunch of bulk to it and make it even heavier.  That's why we kept pushing this project to the side. 

Last summer, Leslie had a new carport and screened patio built at her house.  It was her idea to just turn the door into something that could hang in the breezeway.  Done!  That was an idea we could work with.  :) 

After years spent out in the elements, the wood was looking a bit...dehydrated.  The stain glass was still in really good condition, but the wood needed to be spruced up a little bit.  Also notice in the top two pictures above how the edges were not very pretty.  Our plan was to trim the half-door out in new wood to give it a more finished look.  

After I sanded the wood all over, Mom and I got to work giving it a new coat of stain.  It instantly brightened up the color! 

Dad and Matt cut the trim boards down to size.  We used simple 1x3 boards and pieces of quarter-round trim to finish it off.  Since they were new white pine, we had to stain them to match the door so they would blend in.  (Sorry, no pictures...I stopped taking them at this point!) 

Before taking it over to Leslie's house, we put some of the original hardware back on the door and added hooks and chain to the top so it could hang.  We love the way it turned out and hope that she does too!  Doesn't it look great hanging in her carport breezeway? 

Here are a couple close-ups of the newly added trim.  I think we did a pretty good job of staining them to match.  (Stain experts we are not!)  Putting these boards around the outside really made it look more finished. 

Probably my very favorite part of this repurposed door is the original door knocker that we put back on.  Love that it has their last name engraved on it!

Now I wish I had an old stained-glass door of my own so I could make one for my house too!  Don't be so quick to throw away your old stuff...never know what you could turn it into.  :) 

Weekend Wrap-Up

We've been having a lot of "best" weekends lately.  This past one was no exception.  The weather fantastic and we really enjoyed being outside! 

Thursday

Since I don't work on Fridays, my weekends always start on Thursday evenings.  You will never hear me complain about this.  :)  This particular Thursday evening started just like most evenings do...with Katie Wynn pulling my cookbooks off the shelf.  I really can't count how many times I've picked these up.

Dinner that night was spaghetti.  This was Katie Wynn's first time to have it.  I stripped her down, put some on her tray, and really prepared myself for the huge mess she was about to make.  What really happened, though, is that she didn't want to touch it at all.  Nope.  No messy hands for my girl.  Instead, she insisted that her daddy feed it to her with a fork.  And she did not understand how it could be "all gone" at the end of dinner.

Friday

Mid-morning on Friday, I put Katie bug into her crib for a nap.  I listened while she played awhile before going silent.  When I went in to check on her and make sure she was asleep, this is how I found her.  At least I think she's in there somewhere.  

We had big plans for a zoo trip that day.  My mom had both Bren and Parker (both age 5) with her so we figured it would be a good outing for everyone.  We had SUCH a good time!  Those two five-year-olds are a hoot to listen to when they're just talking to each other.  Excuse the tons of pictures I took of them - these are mostly for their parents to see! 

We had water ice for a treat.  Can you tell what color Bren's was??

KW had cherry red lips thanks to her Mimi feeding her some bites.

They begged to get in the fountains at the end of our visit, so we finally gave in and told them they could get their FEET wet.  Don't you know they were completely soaked by the time we left?!  Katie Wynn was not feeling it...I wonder if the loud fountain reminded her of the loud ocean??  After such a fun afternoon, she crashed hard on the car ride home! 

Saturday

I think I mentioned in my last post that, in addition to pulling cookbooks off my shelf, KW is also a big fan of emptying my bathroom cabinets.  Every morning, while I'm trying to get ready, she helps herself to whatever's in my drawers and throws them out everywhere.  This past Saturday it was the leftover nursing pads from back when she was first born. 

The Fighting Irish had an early afternoon game on Saturday so I dressed Katie Wynn in her Notre Dame gear.  She spent some time that morning playing in her chair and getting ready to yell "Go Irish!"

Since the weather was SO incredibly nice outside, we loaded up and went to the Farmer's Market.  I know most people at the market are there to buy fresh vegetables and other food, but my favorite part is getting to pet the puppies!  We really wanted to take this long-haired dachshund mix home with us. 

After the ND game (and a sad loss), we had to switch to Razorback gear so we could call the Hogs!  Sadly, they weren't able to pull out the W either. 

After dinner, Katie Wynn entertained herself with her cars.  Crashing cars isn't just for boys, you know. 

Sunday

Sunday was pretty uneventful.  It started with a skeleton in my closet and ended with crazy hair in the bathtub!  

Now, tell me about your weekend.  Was it good? 

One Year

I just got back the photos from Katie Wynn's first birthday party and they are so precious!! I can't wait to show them to you all, but there are tons so I've gotta go through them all.  Be expecting that post soon.

I know there have been a lot of posts centered on our Katie bug lately.  I apologize for those of you that aren't here to read about her 24/7, but she pretty much is our 24/7 these days.  I do have a few project-related posts coming soon, but I really wanted to jot down a few things about our girl at this age so that I don't forget.   

• We haven't had our official 1 year checkup yet, but I'm hoping she weighs 20 pounds (was 19.9lbs about 2 weeks ago) and I'm guessing she's around 28 inches tall.  I'll update this after the appointment.
• KW has two bottom teeth and the front two on top have finally broken through the gums.  They are taking their sweet time dropping down though. 
• She wears size 3 diapers, size 12M clothes, and we're currently transitioning to a size 4 shoe. 
• Technically, Katie Wynn can say lots of words, she just may not really know that she's saying them.  She consistently says "Mama" and "Uh-oh."  I would probably say "uh-oh" was her first word.
• KW took her first step around 11 months but didn't start really walking all over the place until about 1 week before her first birthday. 
• Her "tricks" include waving bye-bye, clapping, giving kisses, and blowing bubbles in the bath.
• She loves all things dog: dog toys, dog food, dog water bowls, and pulling the dog's hair!  This is why she's going to be a puppy dog for Halloween.  :) 
• Generally, she is still an excellent sleeper.  We are currently in the middle of a sleep regression where she is waking up twice every night, but I'm hoping it's just a phase.  She still sleeps in her Zipadee-Zip every night. 
• Our girl still loves to eat!  We have started introducing a lot more finger foods, and some things she loves and others she does not!  Current faves are bananas, meat, macaroni and cheese, and string cheese.  She LOVES the sweet tea her Mimi gives her and also really enjoys bites of any dessert - ice cream, water ice, cake, whatever.
• We are working on transitioning to cow's milk.  She hated it at first but we are now mixing it with formula and that's going well.  We hope to be formula-free within the next week.  KW is using a sippy cup some as well.  Hopefully the bottles can go away with the formula! 
• Katie Wynn is most talkative in the mornings.  When we hang out in bed, she jibber-jabbers away.  She also loves bath time and being outside.
• Her favorite hobby is pulling cookbooks off the shelf and emptying the cabinets in our bathroom.  She does both of these every. single. day. 
• Katie bug favors men over women.  Her Papa was her clear favorite last weekend and every Sunday, she flirts with the men but won't have anything to do with the women.   
• She is such a joy to be around!  She is in a good mood most of the time, though we sometimes call 5:00-6:00pm her witching hour.  She keeps us smiling and makes us laugh every single day.  I can't imagine our lives without her!