Little's Birthday!!!

Well, little's "little" 2nd birthday has come and gone and we had a wonderful time. We are so fortunate to have family that makes the trip to Boston for these special events. Little loved celebrating surrounded by those who love her so much. After all of my planning, I loved watching everything coming together. In my opinion, that's always the best part of party planning in my opinion!
A special thank you to Natalie from the pretty paperie for the amazing printables
Here are some pictures from the big day... I must warn you though that my camera's memory card filled up midway through the party, so I'm waiting for better pictures from others.

The invitation, the little business card sized invites came with a mini magnifying glass to introduce the little theme and the color scheme (hot pink, orange & pale pink) to all our little guests

We set up a "how big or little are you?" art project. Parents were given the materials to trace their children onto paper. Kids could then color themselves in and hang it up on a wall next to tape measures. It was fun to see all the kids' scribbles!

The table. We served sliders with condiments and toppings such as cheese cut out into tiny hearts with cookie cutters, mac and cheese in mini cups, shot glasses of homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese, mini fruit kabobs of cantaloupe and raspberries, fresh baked cookies, cotton candy, and mini cupcakes! The adults had a more sophisticated slider station, mugs of tomato soup, sparkling tangerine and pink lemonade beverages, and mini cans of diet coke! The backdrop to the table was made using a vintage folding ruler with homemade streamers of miniature paper circles hung with clear thread.
Mini grilled cheese and tomato soup

Pink lemonade in miniature glass bottles

Mac and cheese
Mini cotton candy
mini chocolate chip cookies

Start 'em young

I just had so much fun with little that I had to share. One of the ideas that I had for her upcoming "little" party was to have the kids do that tried and true activity of tracing yourself, and cutting it out. To tie it into the theme, I decided to also have the little guests color themselves and stick up their masterpieces beside a ruler to see how "big" or how "little" they are. In preparation, I decided to do little's and Louis' (our dog!). I also hope to get my husband to do one.... we'll see how that turns out ;)


I've posted the results, but I have to say that getting little involved in her party, even at such a young age, was amazing! We had so much fun coloring and talking about her upcoming special day. I think Louis had fun too!

On my mind

Although I do not want this blog to be a place for me to vent, I really feel like writing tonight, and here's what's on my mind: Ever since beginning my internship in September, I have found solace in knowing that eventually I would "get in the groove", "hit my stride" and life would no longer feel so hectic. In past years, this has always happened rather quickly. This afternoon, I had the sobering realization that I am feeling like an amateur juggler with about 100 balls in the air. And that it's November. Where's my stride? About 5 minutes later, my chiropractor (read: genius) remarked that I was unusually tight and tense and that I appeared to be "carrying a lot of tension" in my shoulders. I began to face the fact that my stride is still a long way off and may be on hiatus for this academic year. As much as I've been resisting it, life may just be this way for a while. Little's birthday party is less than 2 weeks away, I am trying so hard to excel at work, hand in thoughtfully written papers at school, keep our household afloat and manage to meet all my thesis deadlines. And most importantly, to be a good mother to little.
As the chiropractor re-adjusted my spine, I began to readjust my outlook. I began to remember that one has to savor the little moments, while doing their best during the others. Despite all my stress, I chose to pursue this degree, and I'm actually quite passionate and excited about it. I love being a mother, even when I am chasing a little naked baby who doesn't want to get in the bath. I am also well aware that life can throw challenges at you that far exceed my own in terms of worry, exhaustion, pain and hardship. I came home tonight exhausted, stressed and feeling a little defeated by my to-do list. But I also came home grateful. I sat on the floor and cooked a make-believe dinner out of fabric food with Little as my real dinner sat raw in a frying pan on the stove. It was the highlight of my day.

Been a while...

Alright, so maybe I wasn't as ready as I thought to devote a ton of time to this fledgling blog of mine. However, I am going to give this another shot. Little is now approaching two years old and the theme for her birthday (a "little" party, what else?) reminded me of the very little contributions that I have made to the little bittle. So, here I go again. It's been a crazy year and a half. Little is discovering more and more of our wonderful world everyday and me and the hubs just can't get enough of watching her. She's finally talking and becoming such an adorable little girl! I've been busy too.... I went back to work/school to finish my degree and have been plugging away at an internship and a thesis while trying to get a handle on the transition to working mom. While it definitely gets easier, it is by no means easy, and I will always feel a little guilty and miss her a whole lot when I'm at work. I know that I'm "setting a good example" and "making a career for myself", but it's still tough to miss out on the everyday moments. We've been blessed to have found some wonderful people in our lives to help look after little in my and the hubs' absence which makes us feel even better.
Despite all the craziness, little's second birthday is fast approaching and I am soooo excited about this party. I've been planning for months and I hope that her "little party" will turn out to be everything that I want it to be. Here's a sneak peek at the invites, which went out yesterday.