Will's Fireman Birthday Party

Hi guys, remember me?  I haven't been around here for a while - life got kind of overwhelming (in a good way) and I have been so busy I felt as though I was incoherent by the end of the day.  Because I was.

We had an amazing visit with my mother-in-law from Alberta, and while she was hanging out with the boys I even managed to get a bit of work in.  I also had to clean, primp, and style every inch of my home for a little something coming up that I am ri-DONC-ulously excited for but can't tell you about yet.  Exhausting.  And I threw a little bash for my 5-year-old (still practicing that phrase) who had requested a fireman theme.

The above photo is of the front screen door, which is why it looks a little funny.  In fact, in one of those hilarious ironies, I spent forever creating the table, food, and decor and then managed to snap just a handful of terrible photos before chaos descended.  I almost considered not even posting about the party because the photos were so bad, but that seemed like a waste, so you'll just have to suffer through them.

Happy Birthday Will!

Today was Will's 4th birthday (I am still in shock that he is that old) and we hosted a drop-in party to celebrate.  It was a day full of good friends and cute kids and SUGAR.  The kids and I made some simple construction paper decorations yesterday and last night I was up until after midnight making this damn cake and cupcakes.  The photos are terrible - I blame the tiredness and hectic pace of the day, but they are awful!  I am kind of disappointed I didn't take more time to capture the day, but I guess it is a testament to how much fun we were having.

William requested a rainbow cake with purple icing, so I thought I would go with the (cheap and easy) rainbow theme for the day!  The crown was his idea - I think someone in his class had a birthday this week, and got a crown and cupcakes.  His wish was my command - how can I deny this face?

The new furniture layout seemed to work out well... ;p

The cake recipe I got here, and I kind of wish I had gone with a simpler recipe, especially as I was starting the boiled outer icing at midnight last night.  It was three coloured layers with three different-coloured layers of icing in between.

Maybe these colours broke my camera?

The finished layers looks disturbingly like a Big Mac...

Yeah - quite the knife, eh?  I wasn't messing around...

In the end the icing layers didn't show up very much, but people seemed to enjoy it none-the-less, especially the little guys!

It was a really wonderful time with some fabulous friends.  The boys were wonderful despite what must have been a pretty overwhelming day.  It's no wonder Will went to bed asking to have another birthday tomorrow!  I think I need the year to recuperate...  :)

Christmas Party Success

So I may have gone a little overboard with the red...but it was fun!  Problem with a small(ish) space like our main floor is that a little goes a long way - and I slathered it on.  The insane thing is that this is the biggest house/apartment we have ever lived in, and yet I only used about a third of the decorations in the boxes.  Yes, husband, we have too much stuff.

My apologies for the photo quality.  The Hubster and I have very different ways of approaching, well, LIFE, but especially parties.  I love the thrill of the day of, with the list of things to get and do, the puttering around, the frantic application of make-up as the doorbell rings.  He hates last minute preparations, finicky finessing of decorations, and my lackadaisical sense of time management.  So when I started taking photos while there was still food to be set out, the popping veins in his forehead and apoplectic sputtering told me I should probably put the camera down and start skewering some bocconcini balls...  hence the crappy photos.

Of course I couldn't let the house be the only thing to get the holiday red treatment...so I got me some festive nail polish too.

The party was tons of fun, with the bestest of our friends in attendance, including our guest of honour from Kelowna (Chris's brother Dave).  Our little angels slept the whole way through without a peep (much to our amazement!).  And the hubster managed to have a good time, as evidenced below.  I am already planning the next one! :)

Christmas Party Countdown - decor

Contrary to popular belief, being addicted to the internet has its downsides - there is so much beautiful inspiration out there, but how do you know what 'look' to choose for your holiday decorating?  Especially when you have to do it in a day?  However, one of the many upsides of internet-obsessing is sites like tumblr and pinterest, and on pinterest I created a folder of Holiday Inspiration.  After randomly saving things I was drawn to when I came across them, I went through my folder this evening to try to come up with some sort of direction for the house.  It's funny that they actually all kind of tie together - I seem to like pretty traditional white, green, and red - especially the red! - natural touches, and evergreens.  So I guess I know where I'm headed - time to get out the boxes and crank the holiday tunes!

One of the wonderful things about these sites is that you can drag a button onto your bookmark bar, and when you are on a site with an image you want to 'clip', you just hit that button and select the image.  Pinterest keep all the sourcing info and when you click on it in your folder it takes you to the original page.  So all sourcing info for these photos is over on pinterest!

Christmas Party Countdown

Man this time of year is nutty!  It is the craziest of all for me at work, and of course Christmas with family on either side of the country is always a bit of a zoo.  And for some reason I decided that this year it would be a good idea to reinstate out annual Christmas party (which has been on hold since the birth of our first little guy).  The party is this weekend, and I have something after work every day leading up to it, and have had my folks visiting last weekend until this morning.  Brilliant planning Lisa.  However, I stumbled upon this great article from the New York Times Minimalist blog: 101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less.  Sign me up!  I'll let you know if any of them work! Anyone else have a great and easy appetizer to share?