Baby Cakes

Debbie didn't want a shower so we just went out to dinner I made little baby cakes as thank you's. 

You buy a package of chocolate wafer's (I got them at Safeway) then you use some whipping cream and spread them between the wafer's to make the mini cakes, I did four. You refrigerate them over night so the wafers become soft like cake I put a little more whipping cream on top and added mini chocolate chips. 

I have had my eye on these baby lit books for awhile and was so excited to get them for baby Louise

I had so much fun looking through them I want to buy them for myself.

Debs Freckles

Saturday I met Debbie and her kids at Joe's Farm Grill for breakfast and to start her birthday off right. Joseph thought it was hilarious to feed me, I was actually stuffed but he just kept feeding me.

After I took the kids so Debbie could celebrate her birthday by spending the day all by herself! 
I told the kids we were going to a park but not one with a playground one where we could be scientist and have an adventure.

 We observed ducks

Dug for dinosaur bones

We also went exploring to see what birds we could find. We crossed paths with a group of adults with binoculars and walking sticks, you should have seen them whip into action when William pointed out a humming bird. 

Then we headed back to Debbie's house to get ready for the surprise birthday party. My mom came in to help me get ready. We cleaned, I made cheese trays while she got the fruit and veggies ready. We had to wait for Debbie to meet up with Russ to be sure she wouldn't stop at home. 

Russ wanted to roast Debbie because she had enjoyed their friend Kayleen's so much a few weeks earlier. I made some decorations for the party.
I am going to be honest I was kind of at a loss of how to decorate for Debbie's party because she is who I go to to help me with being creative. Here you can see the the banner and cross stitch hoops I made. When I went to the scrapbook store to use their die cut machine to cut the letters out guess who was there also using the die cut machine. Yes Debbie! Thank goodness for Melissa who was with me I was able to use her son Gavin's birthday as an excuse.

I have always loved Debbie's freckles I remember there was a little boy who we loved to babysit and he asked his mom "why does Debbie have sparkles on her face?" At a cousins wedding all the little cousins were running around when one ran up to her and said "you have so many angel kisses" and ran off just as fast. 

A Face Without Freckles is Like a Night Without Stars.

I used a book page from a used and warped copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince then using permanent marker outlined the block letters, moon & stars then colored the negative space. I then sewed the book page onto black material using my sewing machine. After I put it on the embroidery hoop and hand stitched the white stars onto the black and a few black stars onto the book page. 

 I was really happy with the chapter I used it was called Birthday Surprise, hopefully you can see it. I then just hot glued the extra material down on the back. I have no idea if that is what you are suppose to do, I don't like to read instructions.

Big thank you to Jenny was nice enough to make this adorable little cake along with cupcakes (I had two that night).
Another big thank you needs to go out to my brothers Brett & Eric for helping out in the kitchen. Also Russ's parents who helped keep Gracie and Joseph busy while I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Debbie was thoroughly embarrassed by it all and I hope it wasn't too bad and I hope she had fun in spite of it all. And as away of apology to Debbie I am going to even the field here by posting a picture my friend Lindsey showed in her video she made for Debbie in which she not only shared embarrassing photos of Debbie of Russ & I as well.

For those who don't know I served a mission for my church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Funny enough I served in Utah and in my first area there was a lady who worked at the Target photo center and she told us we could come in and she would take our pictures for cheep. The pictures were only ever a joke and I had completely forgotten about them till Lindsey held it up, Lindsey you would have loved the reaction it got. And yes Chelsea I am going to look and see if I still have a copy for you. Also the Book of Mormon I am reading was one they had on hand for a prop.

Potter Party

A year ago I gave William the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone and can I just say my plan worked out brilliantly!
This year William invited a few close friends to his Harry Potter birthday party. There was way to much awesomeness for me to document so I will just share a few pictures. Keep an eye out at Debbie's blog for a full report.

The Quidditch Pitch

This is just Debbie's pomegranate tree, it made me happy so I took a picture. 

I saw this lady made a Marauders Map of her house for a party & William is obsessed with maps so I stole her design and made one for the kids. My hand hurt the next day, it was a lot of writing, but totally worth it.

Here is Professor Snape & Professor Joe teaching Potions.

The surprise of the night was when William got the Elder Wand he was literally speechless, finally a little dazed William said "it's good." 

My favorite part of the party was when I was pretending to be Professor McGonagall I was speaking with a British accent (I know it should have been Scottish but it was impromptu) then for the rest of the night when he was thinking about it William also spoke with a British accent. It melted my UK loving heart!

Here is Gracie playing with the potions kit I gave to William for his birthday.

Joseph loved it as well. I bought the box at Hobby Lobby and painted it myself & found all the bottles, jar & little caldron at thrift stores. Yes I did know the kids would want to drink out of them don't worry I washed them. 

Pretend Party Planner

After Chelsea got engaged I called my sister Debbie and told her I would be throwing a bridal shower for Chelsea so if she (the real party planner) could just watch out for ideas. The next morning she had sent me a folder with several pictures of ideas. One of the pictures was a random picture of a girl holding a purse with the British flag. I began to wish I could some how think of a way to fit London & Paris into the theme since we loved our trip so much. Then it hit me... I See London I See France Let's Get Chelsea Some Underpants!

I called Debbie she loved it as well we talked about ideas & soon we had pretty much planned what we wanted to do.

The invitation

The red phone box were pins that the girls could take off & wear to the shower. We also asked them to bring the moustaches with them.

Inside we asked the girls to bring some underwear that they thought described them so we could have Chelsea guess who brought which pair. Which we were going to hang using a clothes line & clothes pins. I stamped words on the pins like I Heart Paris, I Heart London, Cheers & Oh La La. Here is a picture from Debbie's baby shower so you can see.

Next up was the food, Debbie had these cute take out boxes that we used. Inside we had baguettes with pesto, mozzarella, tomato & lettuce which is what I ate while in Paris. Then we added crisp which is the name the Brits use for what we call chips.

For desert we found someone who liked to bake and hired them to make blue macarons. Then I made red velvet cup cakes since I know Chelsea likes them & it fit with the color scheme of red & blue. I also made the pendant flags with the French & British flags in the picture above.

Debbie already had the little pendant flags you see that we hung from the tree's from another party she did & the Chinese lanterns.

Then we made our own home made photo booths. We just got cardboard boxes & painted Big Ben with the London Eye & the Eiffel Tower on the other. (Something I should have learned but didn't when painting the Eiffel Tower is start from the top.)

When on our trip in Edinburgh we walked by this window display, I loved it and wanted to make my own version & stick the word phrases for the photo booth.

& voila!

We were now ready to dress up to take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower & Big Ben!
Oh La La indeed

Cheeky

It may seem like a lot to put together but really we has so much time we just did a little here & there. I had a lot of fun brainstorming & making stuff with Debbie. And really the shower could not have been lovelier so happy to have good friends & my great family who helped me.

Tea Party

"We drank tea again yesterday with the Tilsons, and met the Smiths. I find all these little parties very pleasant." ~ Jane Austen (letter to Cassandra)

We celebrated Alison's birthday and the fact that she has recently acquired a love of Jane Austen by having a little Tea Party with most of the girls.



Elizabeth Bennett paper doll I found online she comes with hats, jackets & dresses worn in the movie.
Ashley & Alison
Me

My mom, sister in law Angie, me, sister Debbie, sister in law Ashley & sister in law Alison

Debbie and I had planned on saying things like "Alison would you like to take a turn about the room with me, you will find it so refreshing" or "Angie would you favor us on the piano forte?" or "Ashley that shirt is so becoming on you" and of course with an English accent but got caught up with just normal discussion. We think we are going to have to do it again.