Sophia's Sweet Shoppe

This sweet girl turned two! We had a party full of sweets to celebrate.

The invitations looked like cute pieces of candy (and cost a fortune to mail, just fyi :)).

Inside each package are 5 circles with a cute poem that included all of the info for the party.

Our little sweet shop with lots of varieties of purple and pink candies, cookies, and sweets.

Here are a few close-ups of the goods... I loved this picture Ryan got of her "sneaking" just one more candy. All of the guests left with a baggy of sweets. Yum!

We had lots of fun guests, although our numbers are dwindling with several family members moving away. We were happy to have Laura and her cuties, Ryan's grandparents (and their cute dog Dusty), my mom and Mike, Mike's mom Dorothy and his sister Becky, my sister Erin and her boys, and my sister Steph and her girls (not pictured). We were also excited to have Sophia's "Other Mother" Raylyn come... she is my sweet, cute friend that Sophia adores. She calls her "mommy" and runs to her for comfort and loves whenever she is around. It might make me feel bad if I didn't love Raylyn so much myself :).

We opened presents (I love the look of delight on her face in the bottom right corner) and she exclaimed, "Oh, wow!" several times which hilarious. We ate fancy cupcakes and raspberry sherbet and sugar cookies. Olivia and Coleman had decorated the driveway with chalk drawings of sweets and candy.  We gave the kids a few little favors (sidewalk chalk and mini play dough containers) that were wrapped to look like candy. We had lots of decorations that I saved from our YW activity last month, so the house looked very festive and full of sweet things. Most of all, we loved being with so many people that love Soph!

On Sophia's actual birthday we opened a few more presents... and I loved that she didn't care very much about her new toy or clothes or movie, but she was thrilled to pop those packing bubbles.

She is such a joy in our family! She is saying so many words and communicating in other ways. She has so much love for Olivia and Coleman and isn't shy about showing it. She loves to give hugs and kisses and belly bounces. She is learning to say prayers (and especially likes to be thankful for this "DAY"). She loves to twirl around and dance and run and she gets so excited for any chance to go outside. We love this girl!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Cute kiddos in their green t-shirts--said t-shirts delivered as per usual by the leprechauns who also left a box of Lucky Charms and green milk. Sophia was not feeling the St. Patrick's Day love...

...until Ryan took the camera and worked his magic.

Hope your St. Patrick's Day was great!

Honors Recital Spring 2012

Olivia competed in another Piano Festival this month and was invited to play at the Honors Recital.

She played Little Prelude by Bach


She also played Dance Masquerade by Timothy Brown


Ryan's grandparents were able to come...

And my mom came as well...

We are so grateful for all of the support that Liv gets from her family (near and far) and for her wonderful piano teacher.

Most of all, we love that Olivia loves to play the piano. She works hard and makes the most of her talents!

Baby Boy Shower Ideas

There are a few new baby boys expected in our neighborhood, so I helped with a couple of fun showers.

The first was for my friend who is having twin boys! We had a cute OWL theme.

I have loved making these party banners. The orange and blue and green looked so cute together! My talented friend made the adorable knit owl hat that I stuck on my new wreath (made in the same fashion as the Christmas tree and the red heart I posted about... those two projects really stemmed from a beautiful white wreath I saw on a blog awhile back... it all finally came full circle when I made the original white wreath).  We served a variety of treats and snacks.

My favorite treat of the night were these sweet owl cookies. I used a cake mix cookie recipe (and added a bit of extra flour so they would roll out a little easier) and a tulip cookie cutter. We frosted them with an Andes mint (put on right after they come out of the oven and spread around when melted) and then some chocolate butter cream frosting for the eyes along with two white chocolate melting discs, another dollop of blue frosting, and some mini chocolate chips. The noses were orange M&Ms cut in half. Aren't they adorable?

A few weeks later there was another shower... this time with a cute sock monkey theme. I helped with the invitations and a few of the decorations.

Another party banner...

...and the return of the white wreath, this time with a cute bow and a sock monkey at the base. The hostesses of this shower served monkey bread and banana parfaits, which were delicious!

I keep joking that I am going to open a party planning business, which I would entirely love, except for the business part of it :). 

Let Him Eat Cake

Happy birthday to Ryan!!! Today was all about cake (isn't that what birthdays are all about?)...

Waffles for breakfast (which if we are honest are really just cake with yummy buttermilk syrup or strawberries and cream on top... and some of ours were even double chocolate waffles)...

We went to lunch and I took some cupcakes to his work buddies...

...and he came home to his very own cake. Pure deliciousness (to him at least!).

We also went to our cute niece and cousin's birthday celebration and had yummy cake push pops and ice cream with her family...

...so this beauty might have to be eaten another day :).

Despite all the talk of cake, Ryan's birthday is really about celebrating what a wonderful guy he is. I am so lucky to have him as my partner in this adventure of life. He is an amazing dad, a hard worker, and a kind and generous person who makes our lives so much better.

Happy birthday, Ryan!

**What kind of cake do you like for your birthday?