Elliot is THREE!

Hello, it's me, I was wondering if after all these months you'd like to read.

Gosh how long has it been?! It feels like ages, but I know it's only been a few months. I guess I lost my mojo, but I am back! I wanted to wait till I got enough content and topics to keep me going for a while so here I am!

Elliot turned three on January twentieth and now that he is a little older and understands (somewhat) the concept of a party, we decided that it was time to throw him a real one. For his first and second birthdays, it was family only and a couple of friends. His third included most of his little friends along with my college and high school friends' kids. It feels so weird to write that last part! Grownup life.

On the actual day, we celebrated with a slice of cake and a number FOUR candle. I'm not sure what was in my head that day that made me buy that instead of a three so we scratched the number candle and went with three small ones. #mamabrain (is that a thing?).

Anyway, I wanted to make this post about what I did to make sure this was a good, fun but simple enough party where I didn't have to be running around. Do you think or believe that actually happened? Somewhat, but I was actually impressed with myself because I actually did buy all of the decorations ahead of time and that helped a bunch.

The first thing I did (many months ago) was to create a board in, you guessed it, Pinterest, to start pinning ideas, colors and a theme. I wanted to be fully prepared for it with a theme and colors. I asked Elliot if he wanted Minions or superheroes and I don't think he hesitated to say he wanted superheroes. I was kind of excited about it because to be honest, I love Despicable Me, but the colors of the minions? Not so much.

I decided that in order to not buy the entire Party City or Amazon on superhero stuff, I would narrow it down to three to four colors. I picked green, yellow, blue and red.

The second thing I did was order invitations about a month in advance (then sent them out about a week and a half before the party, the irony!) from Tiny Prints because they never disappoint with quality and the cutest designs! Then I started buying the decorations slowly.



I also ordered Elliot a personal cake that I could decorate for him. I bought the bunting at Target and printed out the little signs at work (black and white only boo!) then glued them on thicker paper and cut them. Am I the only one so behind on the technology that doesn't own a printer?



My sweetest friend Chanel made these little props for Elliot's picture wall and I was blown away. She said she would do whatever she could to help me and she did! She's the sweetest! One of the things I love about Instagram and blogging is getting to know women like her! Thank you Chanel!!

We taped this table cover/backdrop to the window in our backyard to take pictures using the props.

This man is the sweetest. He's our neighbor, and we consider all of his family our family! If you follow me on Instagram (@shadiabrown) you saw my post about how he dressed up and surprised Elliot! He was over the moon. This was the cherry on top for the party! Completely unexpected and awesome.

The party favors were super simple. I put play doh, bubbles, superhero tattoos, and lollipops in a little brown bag and stickers that I ordered with the invitations and of course this is the only picture I took.

Some of the kids were missing because yeah, you know how it goes when you try to take a picture of all of them at the same time and all of them looking at the camera. Plus the sugar didn't help! Here's one where these four guys and girls stayed still enough for five whole seconds eating cupcakes.

As usual, I was too busy running around before and in the middle of the party to take pictures of all of the setup, but we had a children's table where they decorated their capes and masks. I made the capes out of fabric and spent a few nights cutting them and gluing a yellow circle on the back for their initial then had washable markers and stickers to personalize them and little masks that I
got at Target.

Also, you can't see it but I made Elliot a superhero shirt using iron on fabric that I got at Hobby Lobby.

All I wanted was for Elliot to be happy and all of the kids (and adults) had so much fun! Planning a party is freaking hard and a bit stressful but it is all absolutely worth it in the end. We also had the perfect weather and didn't have to move inside the house! Success! :)

Elliot is TWO!

Gosh I'm so embarrassed to admit that this year's birthday party was so poorly planned! I did the invitations and never got them printed, I told Jack I would start buying party supplies way in advance and there I was last minute ha!

I was happy with the way it turned out regardless! Elliot loved it! We had originally planned to invite a lot of friends but since I never sent out invitations, I texted it to a few friends last minute. It ended up being family and a couple of friends only which was actually really nice. We had a really good time.

I can't believe my boy is a toddler and going into his twos in full force. He is one strong minded boy but he is so loving. He tells us "I lah you mama" "I lah you dada" and our hearts are in puddles instantly.

He can count from one to ten in English and Spanish and knows all of the ABC's. Books are definitely his thing over anything else. He loves for us to read to him and learns what the pages say and recites some of the words back. His favorite characters are Mickey and Goofy but he loves watching Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins too. ;)

He sings Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Hot Dog song and it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He also talks in some sentences and says words I didn't know he knew! I spilled water on his sock a couple of days ago and he tells me "mama, sock wet". Or he tells me "mama, I don't want that", "mama, I wanna play". I love it.

He plays "chucky" with us and chases us around and bites us ha! Thanks to Jack for that one! I love that he plays with his cars and planes and makes the sounds and motions they make. He loves to play "gotchu" and wants us to chase him around while he hides behind the curtains then calls his own name for us to find him. It's so funny.

He still loves bananas and milk, bread and peanut butter, chicken and he can eat edamame like no one's business. He's become a bit of a picky eater but he still eats.

On his actual birthday we gave him a slice of cake and candle. That could have been his party and he would have been happy. He also got calls from family and a video from his cousins singing to him that he still goes back and watches several times a day and now he sings Happy Birthday to himself, including "Happy Birthday dear Elliot". ;)

Let the picture flood begin. Of course, Mickey Mouse was the theme! ;)

His cake was made by my sister in law just like his first birthday cake and it turned out exactly as planned! It tasted so good!

We had burgers and hot dogs of course because hot dog!

Girlfriend needed a manicure but there was no time for that! I got some Mickey Mouse tape at Hobby Lobby and wrapped little flags around the straws.

I made these super simple number twos with a chocolate mold and some free printables I got from Pinterest. I had originally planned on having mickey mouse cookies but that didn't work out so this was plan B!

He was exhausted and fell asleep super early. He had a great time. 

The most important thing for me was that Elliot had fun and he did. He loved having all of his cousins and his friend from daycare there. I'm excited for this year and what's to come!

Birthday Weekend.

It was the hubs birthday on Friday and I planned a little birthday party with a few of our friends. I'll say one thing, we aren't kids anymore. Holy mother of hangovers! I haven't felt like that in a long time. Elliot went to bed super late and decided to make it an early morning party again when he woke up at around seven. I was feeling like a truck ran me over and over for a couple of days even though it was only that one night of a couple of drinks. Jack wasn't feeling as bad so he got up to make me a virgin bloody Mary, he's a life saver.

So let me go back to the beginning. Friday was Jack's official birthday and the day I planned to give him his gifts. I got him a few shirts, the newest Stephen King book and Cards Against Humanity. He loved everything.

We then had to clean the house and yard. Ugh! But we were done pretty quick and got to rest for a bit.

Saturday morning started like this.



With D-Day ahead of us we needed all the energy we could get! We then headed to Starbucks and SAM's to get everything we needed. The Goldfish worked for about three seconds this time before we let him run around the store.



We tried taking naps to be able to stay up past ten, nine for me (ha) but we couldn't! We got up and started prepping. Elliot helped Jack put the beer in the cooler but not before smelling it? He's smelling everything nowadays, it's so cute because Jack does the exact same thing!



We planned for a super simple menu because I just didn't want to worry too much about it. I didn't want to have Jack grilling all day so we went with burgers and hot dogs. He grilled them in bulk once people started arriving so that they would be done quickly and he could come in and party with us. We had some fruit, pasta salad, chips and dip and lots of drinks. :) One of Jack's coworkers brought a box of the best sweet bread! It was so so good.



We had a full house! It was so much fun and Elliot loved it! Once it was getting a little later and the real drinking had begun, our amazing neighbors took Elliot for a few hours so that we could enjoy the party without having to be after him every two seconds. They're the best! We first sang happy birthday and had red velvet cake. Yum!



They brought Elliot back once he was tired (way past his bedtime), I got him in his jammies and he passed out. I whipped the monitor out and took it with me wherever I went. We did two rounds of shots (I can't even think about that right now) and played Cards Against Humanity once things started winding down a bit and a couple of people left.



The aftermath the next morning was insane and we didn't care. All I wanted to do was stay in bed and Elliot loved it because that meant he could add to the list of things to clean up. Thanks kid.

After we started feeling a bit better, we cleaned up and relaxed the entire day. We even had a chance to take Elliot outside to take a walk and eat Popsicles that tasted like Heaven after feeling like shit all day and eating a ton of bad food. 

 It was such a fun night and weekend. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party! Beer was spilled, shots were taken and memories were made. One thing I learned is that we are no longer crazy party people and we for sure felt it this weekend and sleeping super late when you have to get up extra early is not cool anymore. We used to be able to pull that off three days in a row and now, not so much. Now it will take us about two weeks to recover. ;) Hope you had a great weekend!

P.S. I need a pillow NOW.

Party Planning.

Seriously. I am here already. I honestly started planning Elliot's first birthday party when he was born about seven months old. I knew I didn't want a cartoon theme. I just wanted a boyish, cute colors, simple party for him. So, after thinking about it and looking, I decided it would be balloons. Simple and cute. What kid doesn't like balloons? I know Elliot loves them and it drives Jack and I nuts because he digs his nails into them like he's going to pop them but he doesn't. We cringe the entire time waiting for the pop and the balloon making that rubbery noise! I shudder just thinking about it. He sure knows how to get to us.

These are the colors I am using. After trying to decide on them forever, I went with bright, bold colors. I wanted to keep them neutral and do muted colors with a pop but that is MY style. We are talking about a one year old here and so I wanted to make it appropriate. These will be on a lot of the decorations. Also, I braced myself and purchased a circle punch to make my own garland. I found some amazing ones on Etsy but with everything we are buying for Button's party, I have to take it upon myself to see where we can reduce costs. I purchased it at Hobby Lobby with the 40% off coupon and it works great along with some paper in different colors. Now the sewing part is up. We will see how that one goes. I just have to remind myself not to stitch my fingers together and we are good to go.

If you are following me on Pinterest, I have been pinning away since day one on this board. They have the cutest ideas!

We will also have a sweets table and an activities table for the little ones along with some games to keep them entertained. I've never done this before so I'm excited but nervous! I want it to be perfect and I realize I'm going above and beyond expectations from a ONE year old, but hey, it's Elliot's party after all. My firstborn ;) Go big or go home. I'm keeping it simple and small, so it has to be darn good. I hope.

I am also doing a really awesome collaboration with Tiny Prints for this party and I can't wait to share that with you!! Now, back to more party planning!