Birthday Party for Two Special One Year Olds!

Addi and Brielle have a unique story. One of my friends, who I've known for six years now (we taught together and we go to the same church) was due six days after me. However, she went six days early and had Addi on my due date and I went six days late and had Brielle on her due date. What a story to share, huh? (I joke that I was mad at Erin that day.) That story will forever bond our families together. We only found it natural to share a birthday party, especially since we have the same friends.

It ended up being a lot of fun. It was pretty low-key and I think the two birthday girls had a blast. (They were both wore out afterwards so I'll take that as a good sign.)

Birthday Girls!

We blew up balloons because those are always a success at any party.

Addi's favorite food is cheese and Brielle's favorite food is crackers of any sort (ca-ca-ca) so we had to have cheese and crackers on the menu!

Erin made this DIVINE apple, pecan cheese cake (pictured bottom right)... I need to get the recipe! Yum!

Brielle's nursery is decked out in Minnie Mouse, so I couldn't resist making these adorable cupcakes. Brielle and Addi seemed to love them...

Look at that chipmunk!

Paper and all...

Addi dug right in...

Trying to share with mommy! I had chocolate cake ALL over my phone! Haha.

They played for a while before we opened presents (we were waiting for the guys to join us during half time of the Nebraska game.)

Brielle didn't seem to understand or care that much about digging in and seeing what was inside. Once it was out, however, she loved it.

Kyle and I noticed that wherever we go she makes a beeline for anything with wheels and goes around the room pushing it. That's immediately what she did when she opened her pink convertible!

By the end of the afternoon both girls had had enough....

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to! Cry if I want to! Cry if I want to!"

All in all, Erin and I were glad we decided to plan a party together. The girls had fun and ate a lot of cupcakes, cheese and crackers. Aaaaand the boys were happy because Nebraska won. ;)

Both of us can't believe how fast this year has gone and I'm sure that next year at this time we'll be saying the same thing. These two girls are an amazing blessing. I love them both.

Stevi's Little Cupcake {Baby Shower}

I feel honored that I was able to throw a shower for a former student. She was part of my first 8th grade class and is now all grown up and entering the world of motherhood. She chose a cupcake theme for her little Oaklie's nursery and I followed suit in preparing for her shower. Her color scheme was inspired by an adorable cupcake blanket made by her grandma: teal, pink and brown. I couldn't believe how many ideas revolve around a cupcake party. I hope Stevi enjoyed her cupcake party.

I used Punchbowl to send out virtual invites (which were ADORABLE).

Punchbowl invites.

Homemade "snail mail" invites. I owe Terri (Stevi's grandma) and Stevi a big thank you for helping me put these together!

Approximately 30 people showed up, which was good considering we had over 100 cupcakes on our overflowing cupcake and ice cream bar. (Terri amazed me by making 94 cupcakes before 10 am on Saturday morning! I was impressed. It took me all night to make 30 more... .


Before food...



After food.

All the goodies to top off your cupcake.

There were pink lemonade cupcakes, confetti cupcakes, strawberry, vanilla, and strawberry too!

Psssst.... I'll tell you a little secret... the cupcake stands were just wrapped boxes and vases topped with plates. But. THEY. WERE. SWEET.

The cupcake kabobs made of sugar wafers, marshmallows, rice krispies, and mini cupcakes.

There were even bright pink gift bags and I encouraged ladies to take home as many as they so desired! I didn't have many left over, thank goodness.

The decor was perfect because I didn't do a lot of it. :) I struggled with the caulk that was supposed to serve as fake frosting on these cute mason jar cupcakes, so I had to call a friend. Mine turned into one of those "failed Pinterest ideas".

My first attempt...

It was terrible. Thinking it was just because of my inexperience with a caulking gun, I scraped it off and tried again...

At this point I was hysterically laughing. I'm not sure if it was because it was so funny, or because I was losing it.

I tried smoothing it out and adding sparkles, sparkles fix everything, right? Wrong!

I was told it looks like a santa hat.

I had to call a friend. Her's turned out adorable. THANK YOU LORI!

They were filled with personalized "It's a Girl!" M&M's. They were a perfect center piece and excellent favors to take home.

The banner hanging on the fireplace says, "Sprinkled with Love" and although it's hard to read and see on the picture, the doiles made it so cute.

The guest table was adorned with the cupcake liner flowers, a "Daddy's Cupcake" onsie, and the cupcake frames I made her to take home for her nursery.

The guest book was simply writing addresses on an envelope. That way Stevi wasn't playing a guessing game with who brought her what. There were many women from our church that blessed Stevi with gifts even though they didn't know her. I have an amazing church family! I hope Stevi felt welcome in it!

The frames I made her.

On the left is a vase full of cupcake liners and the guests were encouraged to guess the number for the prize. Ironically, the mommy-to-be guessed the number EXACTLY.
The cupcake banner that didn't turn out how I had planned. I was super bummed because I originally wanted to hang this from the food table, however, when we pulled the yarn through the poof balls, they began falling apart. So we displayed them seperately. I went ahead and gave them to Stevi, but it was the one piece I was most excited about giving her and super bummed about the outcome. Oh well. There are more important things than decor, like our church family and devotions.

Enough about the fufu decor and food. Although it's what gave the first impression of a shower, it's not what made it successful. First of all, I mentioned before how amazing my church family is, but I have to brag on these people for a bit. Immediately after church everyone gets together and sets up tables, chairs, table cloths, table runners, &etc. What should take me an hour or so, literally takes me 20 minutes or less. During the shower, the women forgo filling their plate to help serve punch, fill ice cream bowls, and make sure the frosting stayed full. After the shower, women were wiping tables, putting tables and chairs away, doing the dishes, and packing the boxes for me. I have yet to wash a dish I DIRTIED. Every time I throw a shower I'm amazed at this group of people and their willingness to serve others, which is exactly what Christianity is all about. Not only that, but the women who never knew Stevi before Sunday filled gift bags with items from her registry out of the kindness of their hearts. They didn't have to, but they gave joyfully knowing that Stevi would walk away prepared for the arrival of her baby.

I feel extremely blessed. I hope Stevi felt that way too.

I also hope the women who attended walked away feeling refreshed after an amazing afternoon playing games, gorging on cupcakes, ooooo-ing and awwwwww-ing over all the cute baby clothes, and hearing a beautiful children's story called, "I Couldn't Love You More" by Jason Ingram. (I always read a children's story. I'm a reading teacher, duh!) It tied right into the devotions where I talked about how the love Stevi feels for her little cupcake is only a fraction of the unconditional, steadfast, unwavering love God has for His children. Even though (like our own children) we screw up on a daily basis, that love never changes. The gospel message is similar to your child being convicted of a crime and the judge looks at you (mom) and says you can take the sentence on behalf of your child. Most mom's wouldn't hesitate because we would give our life for our child. Jesus did that on the cross! We deserve that death and He took it for us! Parents have a glimpse into that kind of love once they have a child of their own and Stevi is beginning to understand that. Stevi has loved that child even before she knew she was expecting! I hope the gospel message came alive for those mommies in that room, who can relate to that kind of love.

Even though we're all liars, gossips, judgmental little cupcakes (Romans 3:23), and deserve an eternity in hell (Romans 6:23), God died for us even though He KNEW WE WERE SINNERS (Romans 5:5), so although we are imperfect humans we are made holy and blameless through Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross. That was our deserved death and He took it on our behalf and can now be in the infinitely holy presence of God. How? "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 That's it.

That is one sweet love story.

And so is the one of Stevi and her little cupcake, Oaklie.

Her sister made her a cute little blanket and painted a cupcake piggy bank for her, both were abolutely adorable. Her little sisters gift was the one earning the most ooooo's and awwwww's especially because it included this adorable poem Mikey included...

I couldn't have done it without the help of Terri, Lori, Kelleigh, the Deb's, Jessica, and the many men and women who stayed after church to help set up. THANK you!

A Mommy & Her "Deere" [Baby Shower]

When I took over the task of throwing baby showers for all the new mommy's in our church I didn't realize the plethora of ideas that came with it. I'm all about party planning, but now, I can whip out a plan or two in just a few minutes thanks to Pinterest, Punchbowl, and the experience I've had thus far. This John Deere shower was no exception.

I always ask the mommy if she's going with a certain theme for the nursery. I haven't had one similar response. There's so many creative women out there! Cassidy's hubby is a farmer and obviously a John Deere fan, so she decorated little Aleeah's room with John Deere. So that's what I did for her shower as well. It all turned out so cute. 

Cassidy and her little "Deere" Aleeah

Colors: Pink, Green, and Yellow

When you walked through the door you saw...



I try to do something new and unique for the guest book. This time I wrote Aleeah a "Deere John Letter" except I wasn't trying to break her heart, here's what I wrote and the guests signed around it:

Deere Aleeah, How precious you are to so many. There's love aplenty. We wish you the best in all you do. We will pray for you in whatever you pursue. Remember to celebrate each day. Don't forget to pray. Give thanks for all your blessings. Let God take all your worries; nothings worth stressing. Delight in God's Word. If you live by it, your focus will not be blurred. In Jesus alone take refuge. His knowledge, His grace, His embrace is HUGE. Love, (all the guests signed it.)

Signed and Framed.

Guest Book table.

I made the little onsie's with puffy paint, here's a close up:

Daddy's "Deere"

"That's how I roll!"

Each table was set up with a table runner (that was John Deere wrapping paper) and vases of wild sunflowers. I made Kyle drive me to a random ditch to pick them and I didn't even make a dent there are so many. They're beautiful.

I love this picture.

Who knew wrapping paper would make such a fantastic table runner?!

The food table was the highlight...

Dirt cake.

Chocolate donuts as "Tractor Tires"

Rice Krispies as "Hay Bales"

Gone Fishin'

Daddy's Corn Dip. (This stuff is highly addicting. I got the recipe from here. She calls it "Irresistible Corn Dip" and she's not kidding. The only thing I added was shredded cheddar cheese. Yum!)

The "John Deere Punch" consisted of sprite, lemonade, pinapple juice and lemon and lime slices.

The set up.

As is tradition when I throw a baby shower, I read a children's story. This time I read the classic, "The Little Red Hen" who finds a grain of corn, but nobody will help her plant it, reap it, take it to the mill, or make the dough. So nobody will help her eat the loaf of bread either. It lead right into the devotions. I told them that I wanted to be careful relating the parable of the sower to "The Little Red Hen" because I doubt the author of "The Little Red Hen" was thinking of the parable of the sower when it was written and I seriously do not think that Jesus had "The Little Red Hen" in mind when he told his story either. But stories and parables have this amazing ability to teach lessons that everyone can understand. Jesus knew parables and stories were a common way of teaching for Jewish Rabbi and "wise men" from the east. In other words, the crowd He was speaking to were familiar with this form of teaching. Jesus told the parable of the sower to the crowd (Matthew 13:3-9) and then explained the meaning to the disciples (Matthew 13:18-23). The seeds are God's Word, the ground is our heart, we can either let it take root, be grounded in it and not be swayed when trials and tribulation come; OR we can hear the word, but let the things of this world become more important; or let sin become what rules our life; or love it at first but when trials and tribulations come we forget it. It's important to not only hear God's Word, but let it take root, study it, live by it, let it change us and mold us into the likeness of God, so that when trials and tribulations do come we are GROUNDED in God's Word, with deep roots, and will not sway. We must (as James says in James 1:22) to "... be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving  yourselves." Just like a Farmer who WORKS hard to produce fruit, or the little red hen who WORKED hard to produce a loaf of bread, we too as Christians need to WORK hard to produce GOOD FRUIT and it starts with God's Word. Do not be like the other farm yard animals who too busy with everything else to want to help and thus missed out on the reward.

The game was guessing baby food "from the farm". There were six different types. The winner received the delightful John Deere cookies (click here to see how I made them).

The labels were taken off and each tub of food was labeled with numbers, there were six: green beans, squash, beef and beef gravy, peas and carrots, and sweet potato and carrots.

The prize.

Mingling, chatting, giggling, and trying to figure out the beef and beef gravy combo (Yuck, everyone guessed it was TUNA!).

Mommy Deere asked specifically for wipes and diapers (smart mom!). So I made her a diaper tractor, click here to see how I did it.

I wish I would've taken a picture (do I say that in every shower I host?!) of the awesome John Deere diaper cake another woman from church made. It was cuuuuute.

She walked away with a ton of stuff. I hope she felt blessed. This shower was originally planned for the month of July, but little Aleeah decided to come a couple months early! Scaring the beejeebes out of mom and dad. Mom spent 5 weeks in solitude with her 4 pound baby, but looking at her now you'd never know. She's a growing, healthy baby girl. Thank the Lord for answered prayers.

Cassidy and Her Little Deere

I have a couple showers coming up, one involving cupcakes and the other giraffe's. I'm super excited about spoiling both of these mommy's as well. The ladies of our church are amazing. The same women attend shower after shower after shower and spoil each mom with a plethora of much needed items. I am forever thankful for them because without the women who are constantly there when these momma's need them, these showers would not be worth my time and effort. Until next time ladies!