Happy 4th of July!

Or... Happy July as Lydia has been saying. Either way, I hope you enjoyed yourselves. We had several cookouts to attend on both Saturday and on Sunday. I like major holiday being on Sunday because it felt like we went ahead and celebrated it twice! I decided Lydia needed pig tails to celebrate properly. Here are a few pictures of her hanging out on the lawn mower. It seemed very "American" to me!

The Girl and the Bed

So, a few weeks ago Lydia was sick, so she slept in our bed instead of in her crib. Then we went to the beach, so she slept in a twin trundle instead of her crib. Then my mom was in town, so she slept in her guest bed instead of her crib. The result, she now asks to sleep in a big bed instead of her crib. I knew this day was coming, but I had visions of moving all the furniture out of my guest room/craft room, painting the walls, buying furniture and bedding, and then transitioning her from nursery to her own big girl room. Instead, it has been a gradual and incomplete transition. First, I lowered the bed. This isn't just any bed. Family legend holds that it was found in the family farm house when my grandmother married my grandfather and moved in. At some point it made it's way to my family's household and eventually became mine. I think my brother had it first and I can't remember why I got it. Either way, it is a very old bed. It is also a very high bed, or at least it was. Because the rails are so high, I was able to place the box spring and mattress directly on the floor and they fit perfectly under the frame. So Lydia gets a big girl bed. I don't have to buy a bed or try to store this one in the attic. Because it is on the floor, I don't have to worry about her falling out of bed.

Now, because none of the furniture is changed, the challenge is making it her room and somehow different from my craft/guest room. We have a few more modifications to work out around the house so we don't want to spend any money on new bedding or furniture right now. Fortunately, I had several quilts in my possession to choose from. I settled on using this beautiful pink and red cross-stitch quilt that my mom made for me a few years ago. I had maroon drapes and accents in the room already so it matched but definitely gave the room a younger feel. It also looks good with the Alice in Wonderland quilt that my mom gave Lydia for her birthday. I have that quilt resting over the foot board. I used a few scrap pieces from that quilt fabric to cover a small pillow so that ties it together even more. Then I added a few of her dolls, toys, books, and pictures and it is really starting to make the room look like it belongs to a little girl. Now I just need to move out all of my junk!

Finally, check out the furry pink pig slippers I found the other day. She wanted to sleep in them!

The Photo Booth

My dad was kind enough to agree to man the photo booth at Lydia's Mad Hatter Tea Party. We set up one corner of the room with a back drop (made out of the other Indian sari that I found at the thrift store). I added a plant and the cut out of Alice that I traced and painted. There were also some props laying nearby. We offered to e-mail the pictures out to anyone who left us an e-mail address, so if you had a picture taken and i haven't sent you the image yet, let me know!

PJ poses with Alice before the party.

Aunt Betty, I didn't have your e-mail, but I know you read the blog, so here is your picture.

I couldn't resist creating one pair of Tweedle Dee twins. Hopefully Zoe doesn't mind!

Conner shares Lydia's birthday. His mom and I were college roommates more than 10 years ago. There were 4 of us in the dorm and we all ended up pregnant with our first babies at the same time. It was a great reason to re-connect and compare notes.

Finally, here is Lydia with her Nana and her Pop Pop.

The Birthday Girl at her Tea Party

Food and Decorations at Lydia's Tea Party

I knew we would have fun at the party, but I was really stressed about all the food and decorations coming together. I could make lots of things ahead of time, but I couldn't actually hang anything in the parish hall until the day of the party. Most of the food needed to wait until the day of the party as well so that it would be fresh. Thankfully I am surrounded by friends and family who support my crazy ideas by joining in and helping out.

Here are some pictures of the decorations and food that my team created for Lydia's Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. PJ got out his carving tools to turn a watermelon into a giant hat and it tasted as good as it looked. These were 40 pound watermelons that we bought on the way home from the beach. They had just been picked and I couldn't believe how good they were a week later.

The white rabbit I bought for Easter and the Alice teapot I finished making just a few days before the party both peak out from behind the arrangements of vegetables in tea cups. These were actually pretty easy to create. I just put some lettuce in the cup and then it held all the veggies in place. The flowers are radish roses and peppers that were cut out with a cookie cutter. I drilled a little hole in the center of the pepper flower with a knife and stuck in a baby carrot to make a center.
We also made cupcakes in tea cups, but I managed to not get a picture of that.

We had several areas where crazy signs were pointing multiple different directions.

Several tables had activities to keep the kids busy. On the coloring table I used tea cups to hold the crayons. The sign was held up with a fork!

Another activity table, this one had an Alice in Wonderland pop up book, my leather bound copy of the Lewis Carol classic edition, and Lydia's scrap books from the past two years. You can also see another fork holding up a sign. I hadn't planned that, but at the last minute, I needed something to hold it up and the fork just worked.

We had 6 tables and each had a centerpiece made of a few tea cups that were stacked and then the top one was filled with taffy. I let the taffy spill onto the tables and then scattered playing cards around. The cups were all thrift store finds and most cost less than a dollar! I found 12 plastic ones that had a great shape but were an ugly mustard color. They all got spray painted white and then decorated with various designs. The top cup in this stack is one that I painted.

Here is Aunt Betty at the buffet table. We had several small sandwiches, cupcakes, cookies, and fruit. All the food was put together by my sister and my friend Andrea. (Thanks again guys!) The table cloth is actually one part of the two long painted Indian saris that i found at a thrift store. The other piece was the backdrop to our photo booth. I love the bright colors they added to the party.

Finally, another last minute touch. These letters used to hang over Lydia's changing table. I saw them in a drawer when I was leaving the house to decorate for the party and I threw them in my bag not knowing what I would do with them. I am SO glad I had them. I loved that Lydia's name was floating in the air with the lanterns and butterflies at her party.

Lydia's Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland, Tea for 2 Party!

Much like the title for this post, and for Lydia's party, there was a lot going on and there is a lot to show you. Let's start with the Mad Hatter part. We set up a "hat shop" and let everyone pick out a hat to borrow for the party. Everyone seemed to have fun with the idea. While I am really happy with how well the party turned out, and I will be excited to show you, I am the most excited about seeing family and friends having a silly and fun time at the tea party. Thank you to all the friends who helped set up and clean up and cook and watch Lydia so that this could all come together. Enjoy the pictures!

Signs, signs, everwhere signs!

I have been photo shopping my rear end off lately. I like to give myself little "assignments"

to force myself to learn the program better. While at the beach, I couldn't work on many of the final touches for Lydia's birthday party, but I could create documents to print when I got home. I have this idea of a crazy collection of signs at the party. I think somewhere in Alice in Wonderland, there are wacky signs pointing in all directions. (not sure if its in the book or the movie, but I like the visual image) Also, I want to have some signs for the activities that will be available, so no one will be confused. Here is a sampling of what I have been making. Enjoy!