Amy will be 2 in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!!

I can not believe she's two already - omigoodness! I suppose that means we need another ;)

Okay - back to the topic of discussion:

AMY'S YO GABBA GABBA 2ND BIRTHDAY BASH!

Of course, the ideas have been rolling in. Here is a glimpse of what is to come............

iced-sugar cookies with Amy's "DJ Lance" hat....

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i'm not sure if i'll actually do these,

but the straight lines and matching colors make me feel good ;)

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mmm :) beautiful flowers in pretty glass jars. easy-peasy :)

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love it! we'll probably do these as a group project!

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not sure of the proper name here, but the "tissue paper-puff balls" make me very excited!

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::sighhh:: :-)

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and, YES!, Amy will have THIS cake! ...made by me!

(these characters will be my first real attempt at sculpting edible figures - I'm PUMPED!!!)

And, the most exciting part of all.... do you remember the photos of inspiration from Amy's 1st birthday party?!?!?!? Well, those pictures were taken by Le Poppy Design - who is the owner of the MOST AMAZING ETSY SHOP OF ALL TIME! I am happy to announce that Amy will have her VERY OWN Le Poppy custom designs at her party!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are coming this week, and I CAN NOT contain my excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND - remember that adorable cake?!?! All of her party products will match THAT CAKE! aaaahhhhhh :-) :-) :-) :-)

Happy 1st Birthday, Amy Leigh!

Amy in her fantastic party outfit. Her tutu was a facebook win from this Etsy seller. Of course, going along with the theme (and because I like shiny things..) I added pink and orange flowers to the front topped with rhinestones. You can't really see them. I'll post a better picture soon. She also had a poufy, shiny headband (shocker!), but it was off before I took the picture.



Check her out! Guess where her oufit is from....Hawaii!!!! Addison has an incredible Great-Aunt who spoils her with fancy clothes. This bathing suit and grass skirt were brought back for Addison from a cruise to Hawaii last summer. It certainly came in handy for this party. And, a "bathing suit bow" was obviously necessary ;)




Life really doesn't get much better - I am totally in love with this little family of mine!!!!





Oh, and that giant, colorful wall you see towards the back, right side of the picture is this. You can't have a "Luau-themed" party without a massive "palm-tree waterslide," can you?!?!?! Well, it was a HUGE hit...as you may have assumed. AND, we did not have to pay full price because the owner of the company is actually a full-time teacher and is the NICEST GUY EVER. I totally recommend him to those looking for any type of large inflatable party fun!!

Candy that matches Amy's party colors..... ;)

There were a few other decorated jars of matching candy. Of course I forgot to include those photos, and I did not have the energy to get them into the right order. Sorry ;)

Bam!!!! There it is! The 8-batters-worth-of-cake "Luau cake!" By far, this is my favorite of the cool cakes I've made. And, it was the easiest!!! It was SO easy to make. Slightly time consuming, but very easy!

And, it's all edible!



Personally, I'd rather have a chocolate bar or a bowl of ice cream over cake and icing, BUT, this cupcake tower is pretty persuasive! (The "tower" actually consists of the cake pans I baked the big cake in. I wrapped in matching paper.)

And, I warned you since the 4th of July...whats a cupcake without a matching cupcake-topper?!?!?!

Chocolate goodness. Filled with chocolate pudding and whipped cream.

And these, I definitely enjoy. Also - I got the idea for the filling from this blog post.

The cake and icing are what Amy's "smash cake" was made of.

**tee-hee...I snuck a healthy dessert on that table and no one even knew!! Shhh!!**

If only I didn't always rely on my iPhone to take pictures and would actually take pictures with a camera that has a flash. If only...

Okay, not sure what happened with the pictures here...sorry ;)

On a far more important note....how much gosh-darn joy does this birthday banner bring to YOUR life?!?!?!?! Because I could look at it all day. It's still hanging on my mirror....

Get ready for this.....these hydrangeas are from our flower bed!!!! They are my FAVORITE. And they exist right outside my front door :) :) :)

Well, these are no surprise because I've been thinking about them since my very first "Amy's Birthday Party" post...

CD's in straight lines. My heart skips a beat. Yes, I know that the columns are not equally spaced. I'm less than thrilled that I didn't realize that when I took the picture, but I doubt anyone else noticed...**bc I doubt anyone else is as crazy as this girl ;) (And, yes, I rearranged them throughout the day as people took them.) Duh!

By the way...Bob made the cd's. What a cute Daddy!!! ;) These little girls are so lucky!

Gigantic hibiscus chocolate lollipops. That took several days to make.

Pretty Amy in her festive high chair....

I mentioned earlier that I made her a "healthy birthday cake." Do you see what's in her hand?? A chocolate cupcake that she swiped from the table because her silly Mommy sat her too close... Eh, what are you going to do?!? It was pretty hysterical and definitely made for great home video footage. And check out her face....she totally knew what she was doing!! And loved every second of it!!!!!!!

I would say that Amy's party was exactly how I hoped it'd be. Lots of her loved ones came, all bellies were full of food and sweets, and the children had a fantastic time. I know that I get very involved with detail, causing myself and my husband lots of extra pressure and stress, and many people ask "why?"

I think I do it for two reasons:

1. I love detail

2. Even though Amy has no idea we just had a party for her, I know that I did the bestyy]]t I possibly could for her. She'll see these pictures one day, and maybe she'll be incredibly grateful; maybe she won't. Either way, I am happy to do it for her.

Her birthday was also the 1 year mark of the greatest year of my life. No other year even compares to the time I've spent being home with them this year. I am incredibly grateful to have been a "stay-at-home" Mommy for them this year.

Happy Birthday, Baby Amy! I love you!

Photo Credit..

A few weeks ago, I posted a few pictures that I L.O.V.E to look at for birthday party inspiration, but I did not give any resources for those photos. I still do not remember where I found the others, but I definitely found these photos while browsing this fantastic blog.

PS. I'm still just as in love with this dessert table as I was the day I first posted about Amy's party.

And, just to clarify, everything does look yummy, but I'm not in love with it because I want to eat it all. I'm in love because of the thought that was obviously put into it. I appreciate SO MUCH taking a little extra effort to make everything look PERFECT. Ah! It's already July....I have SO much to do :-)

Birthday Parties

It turns out that I have an overwhelming obsession with planning parties. I had a feeling this would be the case when I was obsessed with planning my wedding, but then it kinda went away after we got married. We bought a house, and had a few parties...no intense urge to make EVERYTHING match and be perfect. Then came my daughter's 1st birthday, and there it was....I did everything in my power to create, for her, the PERFECT 1st birthday party..much like Tori Spelling does for her children's parties minus the thousands of dollars and catered gourmet appetizers! Well, her 2nd birthday party is on Saturday, and the obsession is BACK! I started gathering ideas and making notes in June. (Is that weird?!?!) Well, time went by, babies were born...you know how it goes. Now the pressure is ON to get allllll of my ideas actually created!

The theme this year is Dora. I printed a ton "coloring book images" of Dora, Boots, Backpack, etc about the size of playing cards. I had her color them (mostly without any help at all so they look great....she's very good at staying in the lines! aww.) So tonight I cut out each card, layered it on brightly colored cardstock and strung them all together to make a banner. Cheesy or cute? I guess I'll find out Saturday. I also made name tags for each child's party bag layered on the same cardstock with a picture of Dora and Boots. My very artistic brother-in-law made a toddler-size Dora, Boots, and Swiper. Dora will have a message bubble that says something about grabbing the party bags before Swiper does.

There are other things that I'm planning. I'll post pictures after. It's just a gosh-darn wonder, though, why I do this to myself. The stress and anxiety I feel right now about making the party perfect is a bit exhausting. Why not just buy the stuff at Party City and call it a day? ..save myself the stress. I'm not sure. I gather that most people won't even care or notice these things. My daughter certainly will not. That's not true. I'm pretty sure she will freak out when she sees a Dora that is the size of her sitting on our fire place ledge!! Aside from that, she won't notice a thing. I will probably still always do it, though. Maybe I could make it my job. THEN, I could become rich and actually have Tori Spelling-style birthday parties. How amazing would that be?!?!