Birthday Bash

After throwing a big family party at our house last year for Becker's 1st birthday I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the whole thing again this year. It's a lot of work you know! I knew I didn't want to have it at our small house if we did have a party and after lots of back and forth, I decided that yes we would do a party and it would be at a petting zoo. The petting zoo is the obvious choice for this little animal lover. The party planning got rolling and several trips to various stores and online orders later, the party was coming together. The petting zoo itself has a lot of ambiance so the barnyard theme was pretty easy to flow with. Gingham table cloths, mason jars for drinks, bandanas and pails for the kids, a barn pinata filled with plastic animals, play-doh and crayons. It all came together really well and Becker, his friends and extended family had a blast at the party. Who doesn't love lots of cuddly guinea pigs and goats to feed, a train and a pony ride?

We had some great feedback on the decor so I thought I'd post it here. First off each child got a pail with a bandana, quarter for goat food and tickets for a basket of animal veggies as well as tickets to ride the ponies and the train. The pails would later be used to collect items from the pinata. Here are the pails all set up:

Since these are 2 year olds, I knew I had to provide toddler friendly drinks. I am not big on box drinks and all those "kid" things.  Becker drinks water 99% of the time. Since water is our household's main beverage, I bought a few cases of mini waters from good old Trader Joe's and replaced their labels with colored duct tape. Easy peasy, party ready.

We also decided to offer lemonade and iced tea to our party guests.  Mason jars are all the rage for parties and the barnyard theme was begging for some jars with little name tags for the drinks. Not only is it eco friendly, but it's totally cute. Something about drinking from a mason jar is just fun. I bought pint sized jars for adults and smaller, 8 ounce jars for the kids. We found some great paper straws on Etsy here.  Mark drilled holes the size of the straws into the tops of the smaller jars to make spill proof cups for the kiddos. *Tip: Place each center circle for the lids on the same jar when drilling so you only have to clean metal shavings out of one jar.  I used a chopstick to smooth out the edges after the holes were drilled.  Also leave lids on all of the jars until the party starts so the insides stay clean.* They turned out really cute and the kids liked their personalized glasses.

Larger jars for the adults, straws and markers to write names.

The birthday boy himself drinking water from our homemade mason jar straw cups

The party was from 9-12 so we went with light, kid friendly food. Fruit salad, pasta salad, hummus & pita chips along with metal pails of Annie's Snack mix, and dried fruit and nuts lining the center of the tables.  I wrapped up the silverware in napkins and tied each bundle with twine and found a cute chicken wire basket to display them in at World Market. The little wooden farm is from Melissa & Doug.  Becker received it as a gift for Christmas and since it happened to fit our theme perfectly, I set it aside until now. 

Becker requested cupcakes for his birthday party. When researching cupcake recipes I debated between a quinoa cupcake and "The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake"......Can you guess which I chose? Special vanilla paste was ordered and I chose these cupcake toppers from Etsy to adorn the homemade goodness. I needed triple the recipe so instead of risking messing the whole thing up by tripling it, I made the whole recipe three times. This took the better part of the day before the party with Becker's help. I spiraled the frosting with a ziplock bag the night before and added the cupcake toppers once we set up at the venue.
 

Mark really wanted to have a pinata. I was a little iffy on this one as we were at a petting zoo and I didn't want to send the wrong message of having the kids whack a paper animal just moments after petting and feeding one. Perfection: I found a barn pinata with pull ribbons. Instead of smacking the pinata, each child pulls a ribbon and one of the ribbons opens the bottom of the pinata, releasing the goods. I filled the pinata with items from Target; mini play dough tubs, markers, crayons, plastic barn animals, stickers and organic fruit leather.  The final string was really hard to pull so everyone had at least one turn, even when the boys pulled a handful of the ribbons.

The boys taking turns pulling a ribbon.

  

I think they enjoyed it!

Happy Birthday Baby! We all had a blast celebrating YOU!

TWO!

Dear Becker,

When you turned one, you were a baby, and now as you turn two, you are a little boy.  I look at you and cannot believe how much you have changed in the past twelve months and all that you have accomplished.  This year you learned to walk! Those first few steps are still a thrilling memory in my mind.  We cheered you on with all our might, but also tried to conceal our excitement so as not to jar your concentration.  Once you started walking, it seemed like a matter of days before you were running. Fast.  You have not stopped running since.  You run everywhere.  You mastered using a fork and spoon this year and expanded your palette to include mustard salmon and quinoa salad.  You have been a very willing eater, some days eating more than Daddy or myself.  You built up a pretty impressive vocabulary this year starting with Dada, Bobo and finally Mama.  It was hard to wait to hear you say my name.  Once you picked up a few more words, your first phrase was "Bobo Come!" And then you added "now" to most word combinations.  Now we can have quite the conversation and you amaze me daily using words in context that I did not know you knew.  I love that you can tell me when your teeth hurt or you are hungry.  You can tell me about things that happened in the past and how they made you feel.  I've watched you refine language sometimes before I was even able to get the blooper on tape.  The time you said, "finger pits" instead of finger tips and how you say, "double double X,Y,Z!"  When you try to take your temperature with the forehead thermometer you always tell us your temperature is "forty-two feet".  We have no idea where you got that one!  You are kind, loving and willing to share.  You never went through separation anxiety, always comfortable in the care of someone who loves you.  You always offer to share, even cookies that you rarely get to eat.  That always amazes me as you have no fear that there is not enough or won't be more.  You love to help and want to help with everything from laundry to vacuuming and cooking.  Doing housework with you has become fun and I am so happy that you enjoy the little things that are just part of being in a family.  You love animals and watching your excitement and gentle kindness with them is a beautiful thing to behold.  When you caught that "bun bun" in Rio Linda you fell in love instantly and whenever you see the photo you whisper, "oh bun bun" so longingly and sweet.  You talk about your animal encounters with such enthusiasm and love.  This is why we planned to have your second birthday party at a petting zoo.  It's just so fitting for you right now.  You share your toys with ease, never grabbing, allowing your friends free range to all of your favorites.  I did not teach you that, it just came naturally to you and I am in awe.  You must have gotten it from Daddy because I am still not great at sharing.  I am so proud of the person you are becoming, and so excited to see what the coming year brings.  I hope I took enough photos (probably too many) and videos.  I never want to forget the sound of your voice at this age.  How you say, "family hug!" when you see me hug Daddy and you rush over calling "Bodi come in family hug" to join us.  You lay your head on my shoulder and quietly say "family."  That's what it's all about kiddo, and you are wiser than your two short years.

I love you always,

Mommy

Lucky Rainbow

We saw the most beautiful rainbow while driving in the afternoon rain yesterday.  The sun was out and the rain was coming down and then there it was, the brightest rainbow I'd ever seen.  Not only was it that, but there was a faint second rainbow as well.  Hello double rainbow!  We were able to see it for quite a while as we drove and Becker loved the bright colors painting the sky in front of him.  At times we could see the entire thing, where it touched down on both sides.  Thankfully Mark was driving because I was giddy bouncing back and forth in the back seat, trying to get photos out the back windows like a rainbow paparazzi.  We were too close to get the whole thing in one shot.  At one point we were actually the touchdown point.  Right in our car.  It felt like something special.  A rainbow is one of those whimsical, magical things and there it was arched out in front of us and then landing on us.  Boom! (ok there was no sound)  We were the pot of gold.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that was a good omen.  Seriously, how often does that happen? 

We had been on our way to a friend's house when we saw it and when we left it was dark out.  Becker wanted to see the rainbow.  It had been there when we arrived and now it was gone.  How do you explain a rainbow to a not quite 2 year old?  You can't see it when it's dark, and it won't be back tomorrow like the sun.  It's just something special you get to see for a few minutes.

So here it is in 3 pieces straight out of the iphone.  Both touch downs and the middle. 
It's pretty awesome.

My favorite nice and big:

Our Month with Pickle

We had a lot of fun with Pickle this month.  Becker enjoyed finding him every day and telling him "good morning" and "good night."  One afternoon in the car Becker said, "Pickle go back with Santa, Becker open presents." and I knew he understood the concept as explained in the book.  We told Becker that Santa said he could give Pickle and good-bye hug and kiss and this was the one time it was alright to touch him.  On Christmas Eve we said our good-byes to Pickle before Becker went to bed.  In the week after Christmas Becker has mentioned that Pickle is at the North Pole with Santa and will be back next year.  Here is a collage of our month with Pickle. 

Holiday Craftiness

I often get the crafting bug and see so many little things I'd like to do.  The bug is especially common around holidays.  I've gotten better lately about actually gathering the supplies and taking the time to do the crafts and I truly enjoy this "me" time.  I get a good dose of happiness when inspecting a finished project and the "I did it myself!" pride from toddler hood just doesn't fade.  Becoming a Mommy has opened lots of avenues for creativity and I have to thank Pinterest for inspiring me.  I love doing little projects, but coming up with them myself is another story.  I have enjoyed starting with one person's idea and making it my own.  I've made sensory and fine motor "toys" for Becker by recycling items around the house.  I made birthday decorations, holiday gifts and special keepsakes.

I wouldn't say I could tackle building a shelf out of crates or sewing a quiet book just yet (both things I'd love to be able to do), but I'm into a certain level of DIY.  The paint and hot glue gun level as opposed to the drill and sewing machine level.  My projects have to be fairly quick to complete because let's be honest, time is not something I have a whole lot of just laying around waiting to be filled.  I also do not have space for an ongoing project to remain ongoing, so I take on the smaller set of projects that can be completed in one or two evenings.

Mistletoe:

Ever since we got married I wanted to hang mistletoe at Christmas.  There was something about getting kissed under the mistletoe from all of those songs and stories that I just wanted NEEDED.  Seven years in and I never found any.  This year I saw a post on Pinterest and knew it would solve my mistletoe dilemma.  Felt mistletoe I can use year after year!  And it's super cute.  I used this lovely tutorial and made four mistletoes in one evening.  One for us, and three to give as gifts.  Score!  I love how it turned out and now I get to experience getting kissed under the mistletoe every day.  Becker thinks it's fun.

Salt Dough Ornaments:
Some crafts end up being "we" time and that totally rocks.  Last year we made these glitter hand print ornaments to give everyone as gifts.  They turned out great and I wanted to find another craft we could do together this year. 

2011: 10 month Becker hand.

Becker can participate so much more this year so there are more options.  Pinterest inspired me once again and I decided I had to make these salt dough hand prints to preserve Becker's hand print before it gets any bigger.  The recipe said it made 12 hand prints so I thought it was the perfect activity to prepare for our turn to host playgroup.  The four kiddos each made 2 hand prints as that was the extent of their interest with the pumpkin muffins and wood trucks beckoning from the other room.  I had a lot of dough left over so I rolled it out and used some heart and circle cookie cutters to make ornaments during Becker's nap.

Growing up, we had a whole shirt box of painted salt dough ornaments the three of us had made in preschool. These were the ornaments we could touch and hang ourselves.  Everything I hung on our tree at his level is not breakable, but I thought it would be fun for him to make some ornaments himself.  I was going to wait a few days and tackle the painting when I had a whole afternoon to devote to it, but as luck would have it an opportunity presented itself when I got home from work the next day.  Becker was interested in the bowl of baked "cookies" and I asked him if he wanted to paint them.  He gave an enthusiastic "yes!" so I taped some newspaper to the counter, grabbed my art box of acrylic paints from college and let him go to town.



This is probably his third time using paint brushes and he liked the sponge brush best.  He also enjoyed using his hands and fingers to paint as well as spreading paint with a toothpick sword.  I had expected to need to do this in two or three separate sittings because there were several ornaments to paint, but his interest stuck and he painted all of the ornaments.  He went back and added paint to some after they were done and wanted his hands or the brushes washed a few times to start fresh.  I loved watching his focused, artistic side come out during this activity.  He didn't even need a bath afterwards!  Just a good handwashing.



While he was sleeping I sealed the ornaments with Modge Podge and added silver ribbon.  We put a few on our tree and decided the rest will make perfect gift adornments for grandparents and family members.  I am really happy with the new additions to our tree.

Pickle on the Shelf

This is our first year with the Elf.  If you are not familiar with this tradition, check it out here.  I heard about the tradition a few years before Becker was on our radar and instantly wanted to add it to our holiday fun.  Our elf came to us via my sister and just thinking about starting the tradition got me so excited I couldn't sleep the week after Thanksgiving. Creative hiding places swirled in my head after scouring Pinterest and Instagram for ideas.  This year will be our easiest year so I can't throw out all of the punches quite yet.  I do realize that I have just set myself up for many, many years of coming up with creative hiding places and fresh ideas, but it's also pretty fun as parents and we are enjoying the game as well.  The good thing about this year being our first is that Becker won't mind if the elf forgets to find a new hiding place and we don't have to explain the nuances too much.  Keeping him out of reach is pretty easy with a two-and-a-half foot kiddo, and keeping him in plain sight for us is still a bit of a hunting game for Becker.

Before Thanksgiving we told Becker an elf would be coming to visit us when we got our Christmas tree.  We read the book and Becker picked the name "Pickle" for his elf.  We have no idea where he got the name, but it stuck and each time we read the book leading up to the arrival of the elf, Becker reaffirmed his name choice.

Can you find Pickle?

Mark decided Pickle would arrive somewhere in or on the tree.  I bought Becker some new holiday jammies for Pickle to bring him as the first Christmas present.  On December 1st we set out to choose our Christmas tree so Pickle could come that night.  We got Becker all excited again and read the book and talked about how the elf would becoming that night.  He was into it!  The morning was another story though.

Sometimes Becker wakes up like me and pops out of bed ready to take on the day, and sometimes he lags and takes a while to really wake up, more like Daddy.  He certainly has both of our traits!  On the slow days he can't decide if he wants to get up or not and rolls around in his crib whining about how he wants to stay in the crib.  It's just harder for him to get going on those days and he doesn't want me to leave once I've entered the room.  Sometimes reading a few books gets him ready to greet the day, other times it's the prospect of his banana waiting downstairs.  This one day when I was hoping he would fly out of bed and run downstairs was one of those slow days.  He did not want to come out, he did not care that the elf had come.  He did not want to look for him.  He did not want Bodi in his room.  So I waited.  It seemed like a long time, but finally he was ready to greet the day and find the elf.  He walked down the stairs peering below at the lit up tree.  "Christmas lights!" he exclaimed.  I loved watching him discover the decorations we had put up while he slept.  Once he got downstairs he forgot about the elf and was way more interested in the sheep from the nativity scene.  "Baa baa black sheep" he called out pointing to them.  I gave him all four sheep and he sat in front of the tree playing with them.

Soon enough he was ready to look for the elf in the tree.  This first time required lots of hints, but once I held him up high, he found Pickle at the top.


His big, proud smile as he pointed to the top was priceless.  Pickle was holding a note and had brought Christmas books, an ornament and a present for Becker.  The jammies were a real hit because they had penguins on them.  He wanted to put them on right away.

On the morning of day 2 I told Becker that Pickle was hiding in a new spot.  He was catching on to this game and ready to go look for him.  I asked him where he thought Pickle might be today and he said "tree."  When he came downstairs and started looking.  He does a very exaggerated, full body "look" when he is searching for Pickle.  It's priceless and did not take long for him to find him on top of the tv, smiling down at us.  Becker said he was on top of the "picture."  I love that he has no idea what a tv is.

On day 3 Pickle had made muffins for playgroup and Becker saw them on the table as he walked down the stairs.  He said, "Cupcakes! Thank you Pickle!"  I'd say he's having fun with it.

I'll post a collage of all of Pickle's hiding places after Christmas. 

Halloween Fun

The week of Halloween was upon us faster than I could imagine and we were busy doing a festive activity each night in celebration.

First up was pumpkin carving.  Last year we didn't carve a pumpkin as life with a new baby left little time for such things and he was too young to care either way.  Our pumpkin sat on our porch through Thanksgiving in it's un-carved glory.  This year Becker wanted to bring home a pumpkin as soon as Trader Joe's busted out their display in September.  Becker chose a nice big "fairytale pumpkin" for the front porch early in the month along with a gourd for the table.  On a subsequent TJ's trip (we are there at least 3 times a week it seems), he chose his carving pumpkin.  When the night came to carve the pumpkin I remembered my childhood days of carving in our underwear with a newspaper covered table because it was always such a mess.  I covered the table, stripped Becks down to his diaper and we set to work.  For being the boy who loves mud and dirt of all kinds, he surprised me by not wanting to touch the "goop" on the inside!  This kid will bend over and take a mouthful of gravel if the opportunity strikes, but orange stringy stuff inside a pumpkin?  No way.  He was very interested in watching the whole process, but touching it was just not going to happen.  He did briefly put a spoon inside the hole, but then quickly changed his mind and said "Mama help."  He sat content on my lap watching as I picked out all of the pumpkin seeds from the goop for us to bake.  Maybe next year he will surprise me and paint himself orange in the stringy goo?

The following night was pumpkin shaped cookie baking.  Becker helped me make the dough the day before and we let it chill in the refrigerator.  Daddy is our expert roller for cookies and pizza dough so we definitely needed him to be home for this project.  Becker helped roll the dough and snagged a bite for himself with a little grin.  His normal "cookie" would be a graham cracker so I am sure the realness of this cookie dough was a bit of a shock.  He was focused on the tasks and thrilled with the end result.  He even got to share a finished cookie with Mommy & Daddy.  He always surprises me with how willing he is to share, never afraid that there isn't enough or won't be more, even when in this case, there won't.

And the finale of the week was Halloween.  Becker has been making animal sounds since well before he could talk and his pig snort is our favorite.  When his costume arrived in the mail we tried it on and he wasn't too happy with the head piece, but loved the idea of "being a pig."  I did not expect him to wear the hood and was thinking of using some bronzer on his face to make it look dirty like a little piggy.  By the time Halloween sprung upon us, Becker was more than excited to wear the whole costume, headpiece and all.  He loved his tail and his little hooves.  I bought him a small metal pail to round out the outfit and Daddy and I dressed as farmers.  We talked about wearing the costume throughout the day and Becker would ask, "pig costume on?" at various points.  We talked about how we would go knock on doors and show neighbors his costume and that they would give him food you don't eat.  He said "trick-or-treat food!" all day.  When Daddy came home we got everyone dressed in costumes and set out down the street.  Some very thoughtful people handed out mini bags of pretzels meaning Becker could have one of the "treats" when he got home.  He was a trooper and walked all the way up the street checking out the other kids and decorations.  A couple of people commented on his tiny pail because it filled up pretty quick.  I laughed as they didn't realize that was completely intentional and I told them they didn't actually have to give him anything, we were just doing it for fun.  We headed home by 6pm and Becker was in bed just a tad past his normal bedtime.  He really enjoyed dressing up getting all of the attention in his costume.

Practicing Trick-or-Treat at home

And my favorite photo of him with his pumpkin.

Little Buddy and his Pumpkin before Trick-or-Treating