Six Already?

We celebrated AJ's birthday this month. Timo was away for his actual birthday, so we held his party the following weekend. This year, he was able to invite more kids since he has had more of an opportunity to make friends through the co-op. It was great seeing so many kids come to celebrate with my (not-so) little guy.

AJ wanted a knight-themed party, so we purchased plates, cups, plastic blow-up swords, sheilds, and masks before the party. Then, I decorated some chocolate cupcakes with crowns, sheilds, and swords to match the theme.

I have to take a moment to thank my wonderful hubby for taking the kids out of the house so I could have the uninterrupted time to get these done. They took a lot longer than they probably should have, but my birthday boy was happy with the end results. I tried to put some creativity into the sheilds, placing Lego pieces, a puzzle piece, a car, a swing, a cape, and a slide on the sheilds instead of the usual symbols.

AJ seemed to have a ton of fun playing with his friends at his party. I don't know how much of his sixth birthday he will remember, but you never know what kids will recall. If he can look back with a smile, I will count it as a success.

Baby Shower Time

Last night, some friends and I hosted a baby shower for a very sweet new mom. Danielle, the hostess, and I had talked about throwing the shower months ago, but life got busy. We finally figured that it was now or never. Our move takes place this week, so the timing was a little stressful for me, but I enjoyed myself once I was there.

My job was to help make the cupcakes. We had seen some cute bib cupcakes in a magazine that didn't look too time-consuming, so we decided to go with those. The other ladies put out fruit, sparkling juice, and some cute chocolate-covered mini-marshmallows.

I wasn't feeling the best, so my friend, Katarina, helped me decorate the cupcakes. She was a little timid at first, but she quickly got the hang of the simple decorating we were doing.  I was thankful for the assistance, and she had fun "learning from the master," as she put it.

Some of the cupcakes. We drew pacifiers and ducks on the bibs, and we also used some cute little bear sprinkles.



The chocolate-covered marshmallows.



The beautiful spread

Once we were done, we cleaned up a bit, then went to the other room to hide and surprise the guest of honor. I didn't take any more pictures, but I enjoyed the evening. We played several games, oohed and ahhed over her presents, and consumed entirely too much sugar.

This was my last time to hang out with most of these people, and I will miss them dearly. I am thankful for the friendships we have developed during my time here.