A Fresh Beat Band Birthday - Invites

Whew! Say that 5 times fast!

Friends, it's time to go bananas. If you recognize that line, then I know you must have kids...or a lot of free time. As I've mentioned before, my daughter is obsessed with the Fresh Beat Band, so of course they will be the theme of her upcoming 2nd birthday. Unfortunately since the show is still so new (it's currently in its second season), there aren't any commercial party supplies being sold yet. I've found a couple different sites like this one with moms like me who have improvised their own Fresh Beat Band birthdays and their suggestions have been helpful, but ultimately I've come to realize that I'm on my own.

Over the next 3 weeks, I'm going to be doing my best to come up with ideas for the most stylin, hip hop and poppin' Fresh Beat Birthday. Brace yourselves. Will my (almost) 2-year-old remember this? No. Will I take lots of pictures of the theming to remind her of all the time and effort I put into creating a birthday centered around her favorite show? You bet.

First thing's first- birthday invitations! Like I said, there aren't any Fresh Beat Band birthday products out there (except a few odds and ends on eBay) so I had to get down and dirty with Photoshop. I found an image I liked online and then used Photoshop to clean everything up and add in some catch phrases from the show. I'm not a graphic designer, so it's still a little pixellated, but that's probably just my perfectionist side coming out.

Here's the front of the card (Image courtesy of Nick Jr.)...

 ...and this is the back.

Not too shabby huh? I'm pretty proud of my Photoshopping skills. I think I've graduated beyond "complete hopeless amateur" in the past year. And whatever I can't do, I just go to Picknik.com for the rest. If you haven't been there, stop right now and go. It's an amazing site for those of us who don't understand the complexities of Photoshop. Plus, they have fun stickers and frames you can add to your pictures. AND it's free for the basic version! I used Picnik for the pictures in this post to colorize and brighten them.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll get to some decorations tonight!

Welcome to the world!

Ok ok, I know it's been 3 months since I last wrote but here's the thing: I think I may have forgotten what it's like to have a small baby in the house.

Any free time that I now have I either spend 1) taking care of a toddler and a newborn 2) doing chores or running errands (because apparently I love torturing myself on top of being sleep deprived) or 3) going to bed at 8 p.m. to make up for #1 and #2.

Now that we have the whining out of the way, Connor is finally here!


Pat and I were worried about how Haley would handle it since she's had the run of the house for the past 2 years. Maybe we should have been worried for Connor instead. For the past 7 1/2 weeks, we've had to physically peel Haley off of him. She's always trying to kiss him or pet him like he's a small, bald schnauzer. During the first week Connor was born, Haley had a cold. Because of the constant kissing and touching, Connor immediately caught her cold. It's really pitiful to see a newborn trying to manage a cold because the poor guy is so helpless, he can't keep his own pacifier in his mouth, much less blow his nose. That is when we discovered the bulb syringe. Magic I tell you.

Anyway like I said, I kind of forgot how things are when you have a newborn. I mean, there's just so much What to Expect When You're Expecting can cover I suppose. I think they should put out a similar book and call it What You Weren't Expecting: The Crap Those Other Guys Don't Tell You. In there, there would be chapters like:

1. Projectile Poo: How many feet baby poop can shoot at 2 a.m. when you're trying to change the kid in the dark
2. Spit Up: Your baby can aim pretty much anywhere
3. Wave Goodbye to Adult Conversation: How adding a "y" at the end childproofs any word
4. Sing Along: There's a song for even the most menial task
5. Feeding Time: Preparing to become a 24-hour diner
6. Bath Time: More like a war zone but with rubber duckies

That's the kind of book new moms need. We all know the basics like the baby needs to eat, sleep, and be changed, but no one ever tells you how to get baby poop out of your favorite shirt. I think there's a market for this.

I'm going back to work Monday, so it should be interesting to see how I manage this whole "lack of sleep" thing in addition to managing 2 kids and normal life again. My husband has been great helping out with Haley this whole time but come Monday, he knows he's going to have to start helping me take care of Connor on his whiny nights when he refuses to sleep anywhere except next to me. Now if I could only get him to lactate, we'd be all set.

Black Apple dolls

Recently, I realized that it had been way too long since I had made something, and my need to craft came back with a vengeance (as you will see over the next few days :) After browsing through the awesome (and easy!) crafts on Martha Stewart's website, I found this adorable pattern to make a Black Apple Doll, and knew that I had to try it. It was kind of perfect timing since a friend of mine had a daughter who was turning 4 today, so it was pretty much a sign that it was meant to be :) After I finished the first doll, I had to make a second for another friend with a little girl who will be turning 4 in 3 months. Now, I'm kind of addicted to this project and will probably end up making a whole family for Haley and Baby #2 in the next few weeks.

For someone who has only ever made maybe 2 stuffies, this project was really easy, AND I didn't have to buy anything extra. I already had a bunch of loose fabric and scraps sitting around. and the only other thing I needed was stuffing and acrylic paint for the face (which I already had as well.)


I think she came out really well for my first try! The head is a little square on one side where I had to whipstitch the head closed after I stuffed the doll, but besides that, I'm really happy with her. I half expected the first doll to turn into some kind of lumpy monstrosity, but seriously this project was so easy and it's great for gifts. And, I just love the little smirk and rosy cheeks on her face :) This is also a really great project to personalize. I added the flower in her hair and a little pocket on her dress. If I was feeling more adventurous, I would have tried to make her some jewelry or little boots, but I didn't want to ruin a good thing.

Now I have to see if I can wait 3 months to give my other friend's daughter her doll....ugh, I don't know if I can wait, I'm terrible with surprises!

Fairies, Flowers, and Food, oh my!

As those of you who have been reading my blog know, I have been busy planning my little girl's 1st birthday in Pittsburgh. Even though she just turned 1 and won't remember anything we did for her, we still went all out and planned everything with a "fairy/garden" theme (thanks to lots of help from family!)

My sister-in-law and mother-in-law decorated the living room and kitchen with lights, flowers, and fairies everywhere. Even the fan had fairies hanging from it, so turning it on was not an option unless you wanted to chance having a kamikaze fairy fly into your eye.

For the food, we had lots of skewered fruit with fruit dip, veggies, meatballs, mini egg rolls, pigs in a blanket, and chips and dip among other deliciousness. I tried my hand at food art by attempting to make little bouquets out of the cauliflower and broccoli and putting them in flower pots. For only feeding 18 people, we made a TON of food. Unfortunately, we had to drive back to Tennessee the next day so we couldn't stuff our faces a second time.

And then of course, there were the cupcakes. If you remember, I had been planning to make toadstool cupcakes (think Toad of Mario Brothers fame) with homemade buttercream frosting and red fondant as the dots on the toadstool. My husband and I ran 2 trial runs and finally got the recipe right on the second try so I felt pretty prepared.

I bought a pack of basic colored fondant (red included) and went about my cupcake making, only to find that the makers of the fondant included 2 yellow packs of fondant instead of one red and one yellow! I had to think fast since going back to Michaels wasn't an option, so I made cupcakes with flowers on top using all of the fondant colors instead. I still wish I could have made the toadstools, but they still turned out good, so I'm told. I never did get to eat one now that I think about it, but with all the trial cupcakes I've been making, I'm all cupcaked out anyway :)

Haley made out like a bandit when it came to gifts.It looked like Christmas all over again. She was so cute though, she would help me rip the paper off of her packages and then smile and clap after we got them open. She got tons of cute clothes, a kitchen set and playfood, Little People playhouse, bath toys, and a handmade stuffed monster from her Aunt Shannon that she absolutely adores.

We put all of her new toys in her playroom when we got home the next night, and I wonder what we ever did without it. She has so many toys that we couldn't fit them all in her room, so I'm sure they'd find a home in the living room like they were before. I'm glad that she now has a room to herself that is dedicated completely to making a fun mess.

When it came time for Haley to sit down in her high chair for her giant birthday cupcake, it seemed all so surreal. Just over a year ago, I had been sitting at home going about my everyday life and thinking about how I would be having a baby in (what I thought would be) 4 1/2 weeks. That night, I was in the hospital giving birth to my little 6 lb. 2 oz. Haley. Now, she's much bigger and acting more like a toddler and less like a baby every day. She says 6 words, walks with assistance, and gets into just about everything. I guess I need to get used to the word "toddler."

Or not :)

Happy birthday

Happy 1st birthday to the most beautiful, perfect baby girl on the face of this earth. Here's to many many more!

Birthday take 2!

Ok, so I think we finally got it right this time!

If you remember the recent cupcake disaster of 2010, then you'll know that things could only get better from there. I knew that a mediocre cupcake wouldn't do. This is a first birthday people, the official anniversary of her escape from the womb! I had one goal: to make the perfect giant birthday cupcake. And I didn't care how many boxes of cake mix had to die before I got it right.

Since the first cupcake was a disaster, I had to change my game plan. And that meant changing the cake mix. If I were feeling more adventurous, I would try to make the actual cake batter myself. But, it being Haley's 1st birthday and all, I would rather the pressure of making the cupcake taste perfect fall into the hands of the Pillsbury Doughboy rather than on me. After all, the guy has been making cake way longer than I have.

For the trial run, I tried Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. The cake came out pretty mediocre. The texture was crumbly and the flavor wasn't anything special. After surveying my baked good options, I decided to give Betty Crocker a try to see if that one turned out any better. I also made a different icing since the first one, which was a homemade cream cheese frosting, had an overpowering powdered sugar flavor. This time around, I went for a homemade buttercream which I had tried once before with success.

Everything turned out perfect! The cake actually came out of the mold easily and held its shape instead of falling out in pieces it did last time. The taste was 100% better too; it was crisp and brown on top and moist and delicious in the center. It also rose so well that I had to shave the top and bottom pieces down so I could stack them (my favorite part because Patrick and I got to eat the extra pieces.) What can I say? We took one for the team. The frosting was great too, it was creamy and not overpoweringly sugary like the last one. Oh, and no more red food dye. I don't want my child dyed red after she stuffs her face.

I think I'm ready to do this first birthday thing! Well, in a manner of speaking. I'm ready to make the cupcake, I'm still not ready for my little Haley bug to grow up :(

Welcome to Haley's house!

I love surprises, but not when I'm the one trying to keep the surprise a secret.

Haley's 1st birthday is coming up on March 3rd, so Pat and I went to Toys R Us yesterday to pick something out for her. We knew we wanted to get her something that would grow with her, so we decided to get her a playset. I have lots of great memories about the little plastic kitchens and play food that I played with growing up, but Haley's a little too young for that just yet.

We found this really cute little house playset that has everything a 1-year old could want. It has a ball drop, light switch they can turn on or off, interactive clock and radio, mailbox that opens with little plastic postcards inside, I mean this thing is AWESOME. I know, most of you are probably thinking, "wow, Jen needs to get out more, she's completely forgotten what things qualify as 'cool'" but seriously, Patrick, Haley and I spent last night and most of this morning playing with that little house and having the best time.


Since we moved in, we have been planning to make Haley a playroom, and since our buddy who was living with us recently moved out, we moved the guest room upstairs and made the old guest room into her own little space. Even though her birthday is 17 days away, I just couldn't wait to give it to her and see how much she loved it. Now, Haley has her own space to do whatever she wants without Patrick or I telling her no every 2 minutes. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Happy (almost) birthday big girl!

The birthday trial run

Haley's birthday is coming up in 3 weeks. Not just any birthday though, her FIRST birthday. I may be new at the whole "first birthday" thing, but I know it's a big deal. First birthdays (in my opinion) are not really for the little people celebrating them. They're for the parents; and if we're really being honest, they're for the mom's. Don't get me wrong, my husband is thrilled about celebrating our little girl's 1st birthday, but he would like just as much to do with the planning process as he would like having a tooth pulled.



MarthaStewart.com

 Since my husband was no help at all, I enlisted the help of my (much more enthusiastic) sister-in-law, Shannon. After throwing ideas around, we decided to make her party a "fairy/garden" theme complete with fairy outfit and flower cupcakes inspired by Martha Stewart. As you may already know, on first birthdays many American parents give their newly-minted 1-year old their own cake and let them dive face first into a sugar overdose. I fully support this tradition, but if my daughter is going to be covered in frosting that I'll be peeling off of her scalp for 2 weeks after, the cake has to be good.

I saw a commercial on TV for a giant cupcake mold. I didn't want to be fool because my cake wasn't cool, so I decided to buy the giant mold and make Haley her very own huge toadstool cupcake - you know, the cute little mushrooms with the red top and white spots? Before the official debut though, I knew I should probably do a trial run to make sure everything came out looking like the picture...and man, I'm glad I did.



MarthaStewart.com

 After making the cupcake, the cupcake did NOT come out of the mold easily like the commercial claims. The top of the cupcake was pretty much small bits of cake held together with frosting. Since it was a trial run, I decided not to put the white spots on the cupcake since I was going to quality over looks. After frosting the cupcake though, I realized the amount of red dye that goes into giving the toadstool its signature red color. And then I thought about how much of that red-dyed frosting would be all over my daughter as she did a faceplant into her birthday cupcake. With that thought in mind, I think I'm going to go for white frosting and red dots instead, more like Martha Stewart's toadstool cupcake, but giant. And without a worm. And hopefully better looking on my next trial run :)