double trouble

whew.
i am so glad december is done.
what with crazy post office work schedules (read 12 hour work days), 2 birthdays shortly after christmas, not to mention christmas itself, it gets a little stressful.

and since the girls share their birthday, i tried extra hard to make sure it was special. for BOTH of them.
although, one of them won't even remember it.

we had a small tea-ish party and celebrated turning 3 and 1.

we had
tea sandwiches
adults: turkey and herb cream cheese
kids: peanut butter and banana
soda in lieu of tea
wanna be caramel popcorn
(the kind that uses the corn puff buttery cheeto things instead of popcorn)
cucumber slices
bite sized granola bars
crackers
and chocolate cake/cupcakes

(recipe and super cute ideas mercilessly lifted from sheena)

i made each of the girls their own mini cake.
and then a half dozen cupcakes and even more mini cupcakes.
i let the kids help frost them and they turned out SO cute.

i also came up with these party crowns, just for the birthday girls.
and bought the party hats for everyone else.
i intended to cover all the party hats with super cute paper and ribbon and stuff, but i totally ran out of time and had to bag it.
as well as the birthday banner i've been planning on making for the past 2 birthdays...
maybe i can get it done for the next one.
i thought i was doing really well with the birthday right after christmas preparations.
but alas, i was not. so, next year i'll hopefully do better.
blah blah blah. yadda yadda.
it was still great and the kids loved it.

and of course we used trick candles.. haha.. i love them.

and layla did the exact same thing jonas did with his first birthday.
taking the no hands approach to the cake.
it was hilarious.
i love that she's licking/biting it.
she barely even got her hands dirty.

OH! and those super cute miniature cake stands that i have the mini cakes on?
my mom gave them to me. i'm totally going to make some for myself. or maybe gifts.
links for tutorials here and here and here.

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going organic

so for christmas this year i planned ahead.

and by ahead i mean like 2 months.
hah!
take that time.

i had mentioned to my dad that i wanted to build a kitchen. from this website.
i asked if he thought i could handle it. what with using tools and all.
so like 2 days later, he calls and tells me he has all this leftover wood and will make all the cuts for me.
i tell him, "oh, no big hurry." "thanks so much!" "but you dont really have to."

so 2 more days later he calls and says he has it all done.
and not just one piece. all THREE of them.
sink. stove. fridge.



so i picked up the wood when we went up for thanksgiving and the garage banishment began.
the kids were no longer allowed to play in the garage.
(ok. that sounds bad. it was only when we were working out. not all the time!)

** i take no credit for the creativity here. i'm really good at following other people's brilliance**

(i love that the steak has a raw and a cooked side)

(the red part is a rubber coaster. looks like the burner is hot. i love it.)

and after a bit of work (like 20 hours or so) wah-la! the kitchen is finished!

(i pulled the floss to make the corn pucker like kernals)

but what is that you say?
where did i get all of that amazing felt food?
i stayed up really late at night (mostly at the post office) and sewed most of it by hand.
i figured since i was going to be at work anyways, i might as well take advantage of my break time.
ok. and some of it i did while watching tv. but really. its super easy.
there are a million different patterns out there.
some for sale. but lots for free. and i mean lots.


and now that it's all done, i feel kind of lost. i dont have a purpose.
what am i going to stay up late at night to do now?
well. ok. honestly. there are like a bazillion things of felt food i could make.
i'm sure i can think of something.

(the cantaloupe rind is magnetic! sheer genius. and the bacon has wire to make it bendy.)

here it is in all it's glory! i figured the 70's color scheme would make it gender neutral.
and the kids absolutely LOVE it. and that makes all the late nights worth it.

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merry merry

holy baloney

(i know that's not how you spell Bologna but it just doesnt look right when you are trying to rhyme. you know?)

december is so crazy.. i've been working like crazy and getting home at 4 am. in the morning! wowzers.. it's hard waking up at 730 after that, but hey. it's only til christmas. i know some gals who do it full time, year round... so i'll call myself lucky.

anywho. there probably wont be much posting around here til after then, but in the meantime, here's our christmas card.. and our well wishes for a merry christmas and an awesome new year.

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