Gotta love planning a kids birthday party!

I am truly excited about planning Carter's 2nd Birthday party! My one girlfriend Sam and I keep saying that we had so much fun planning our weddings, and now our children's birthday parties, that we could make a living by becoming a party planner. But there's always the down side of working non-stop and being away on the weekends. But it doesn't stop me from going all out for family functions!


With the exception of thier 1st birthday's, which I still kept their interests in mind but was excited to find an 'I dig being 1' and 'Lil Slugger turns 1' themes, I got to choose the themes myself. Now I've been letting my boys choose thier own theme and give them specific ones to pick from. This way I know they won't choose a princess theme just because it has the picutre of a horse on it, it's usually gender neutral or from characters they might recognize from TV.


Carter obviously watches what Gavin does, a year apart doesn't quite matter with TV programs, so I couldn't re-use Wonder Pets that Gavin chose for his 3rd birthday. So I copy and pasted several screen images from an online party website onto a blank word document page, plopped Carter on my lap and let him point to the one he wanted. He saw the farm animals theme and smiled, scanned past Pooh and Tigger, past Elmo, and ended up pointing right to Curious George and in his best 20 month old way he says 'e-e, ooh-ooh!' They've only seen Curious George once or twice since January of this year but when it was on boy did Carter crack up like there was no tomorrow at the noises George made when he "spoke." As soon as his eyes lite up and pointed to that picture I knew we had a winner! And I also knew how much fun this was going to be (for me)!



Just a tease of what's to come for those of you who are attending later this month:

*Can't wait to try out an awesome banana cake recipe I came across

*Great park nearby with enough room for everyone

*Oh, and did I mention this park has a minature train... you can RIDE! Thus I have to use this as one of the party favors:

Best photo session with my boys ever!

I have to spread the word if you live in Maryland and would like a great family or child photographer! We had the best session last week with Jen Snyder Photography! I went to high school with Jen and caught up with her a few times when we attended Towson University. So I can attest to her love of photography and am so proud of her that she now has her own business!

http://www.jensnyderphotography.com/index2.php#/home/

I can't say enough of the laid back approach she used to capture the boys playing outside and being themselves; not just being in a stuffy studio, sitting on the red dot and saying 'cheese.' I cannot wait to share them with friends and family for Mother's Day!

What made them extra special for me is that Gavin had grass stains on his pants from playing and the bow of my dress came untied as we played and tickled each other outside, just how I want to remember us in this point of our lives! I look forward to hanging these memories on the wall to remind me of this moment in time with my two little guys!

Great job Jen and can't wait to get a family photo done in the future!

Jellybean bracelets

In the spirit of Easter I came across this idea and had to share. How easy too! I remember candy bracelets as kids but never thought of jellybeans! Looks like I might have to test this idea out on a few neighborhood kiddos!

http://www.gourmetmomonthego.com/2010/03/retro-jelly-bean-bracelets.html

Why Making Healthful Foods Cheaper Isn't Enough

Stumbled onto this article from a friend today and thought I'd share.

"sin tax" — charging more for unhealthful foods — I definatly need that to sway my decision making when grocery shopping!!!


Why Making Healthful Foods Cheaper Isn't Enough

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124610428&sc=nl&cc=nh-20100315

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If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn. ~Andrew Mason


I still can't believe my little guy is now making the transition to preschool! He is truly growing like a weed!



Getting him prepped the night before school, he was very excited about wearing his 1st backpack



The morning of, still pretty excited!


Of course little brother can't wait until it's his turn too!!!



We arrived so early the teachers were just arriving themselves :) At least it gave him time to get his barrings before I left him there!

He did an awesome job, tears at first but after finding a tractor and tow truck to play with he was in little boy heaven! I stayed out in the hall for 5 minutes to make sure all was well and then Carter and I left. I really felt like I was leaving a piece of my soul in the school and was really overwhelmed sitting in the parking lot! But I did get 1-on-1 time with Carter that I haven't been able to get so that was nice for the both of us! It made it all better when we went to pick him up and Gavin had the biggest smile, but I think I was just as glad to see him!

Here's to the fun of learning and making new friends!

Flowers and Fireworks

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment."...Georgia O'Keefe, New York Post (1946)




Just recently I came across a St. Patrick's Day container from 2 yrs ago that swore I'd use one day to hold flowers. So just this week I was able to afford some fresh cut flowers to adorn our home. Paying so much for these tiny creations that last but only a week or so... these are the times of winter I really miss my garden!

But as I marveled at their beauty I couldn't help but remember how I always associated flowers and trees as living fireworks.


When ever I saw trees by themselves I always pictured them rising up from the ground and bursting with color, especially in the Autumn months, that's a truly magical time for a tree! Driving down the road with rows of trees in full bloom of dazzling colors, it's just like a fireworks show, but you can enjoy it longer.

Flowers also have that same tendency...



The stem rising up from the earth to then explode with numerous colors and designs, it's always fascinated me so I had to post about it and share in the 'explosions' of the bouquet I have on display.









These golden fireworks are always my favorite at any event, they always remind me of weeping willows!





Hope you enjoyed the show! And may you enjoy your own little fireworks show each time you admire the flowers and trees!