
Saturday was Birdy’s birthday party with my family. Mom, Dad, Aunt Cynj, Aunt Jen and thier kiddos were all able to come and play at our playground and have a party. It was so much fun for the cousins to get together and play with each other in a space big enough for them to all run in.
The menu included yummy chicken salad sandwiches, grapes, veggies and dip, awesome potato salad from Aunt Cynj and chips and salsa made by Grandpa (well, the salsa, not the chips).
My favorite part were the birthday cupcakes. They turned out waaay cute if I do say so myself:

They were chocolate-chocolate chip cake with peanutbutter fluff frosting– super yummy. I also used regular canned chocolate frosting to get the half-and-half color effect. I got the idea from a great book I ordered called “Hello Cupcake“. It has tons of easy and super-cute cupcake ideas and instructions- I highly recommend it.
Anyway- back to the party. The weather was great. The wind picked up, but it just made it easier to fly kites!

The kids also had lots of fun swinging, sliding and playing on the playground:


Then we all went to our house for pup-cakes and presents! Birdy chose to eat her pup-cake like her cousin Gracie- “Look Ma, no hands!”

Birdy got a cute princess plate, cup and bowl set and some wildlife cards from the Maughan cousins, the Wren cousins gave her a baby parrot that makes noises and that also has a bottle. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a big Dora house that she and EJ have literally spent hours playing with- mostly peacefully. Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt gave her the perfect “noisy toy” a star that has Dora characters that talk. It is loud. And very popular.

A good time was had by all. Now she is a big two-year-old girl! Here is one more for Aunt Kate:

March 25, 2009. Tags: birdy, birthday, cupcake decorating; cousins. Uncategorized. .

All the Monkeys at the zoo but non-cooperating Birdy
Every year since she turned 1, we have had a “family” party for Princess at the zoo. We get together with Aunts, Uncles, Grandma, Grandpa and cousins. Every year the gang of cousins gets bigger (10 this year!) and it gets more fun as they get older. Oh yeah, it also always rains. Every year as it is cold, overcast and threatening to rain “if we’d done this last week it would have been perfect”.
So this year, I decided to be smart. Princess has a lot of neighborhood friends that she has been playing with all summer while at Babysitter’s house and I wanted to have them over for her first real “friend” party. So we decided to schedule the zoo party for the week before her real birthday. I think you know where this is going (mostly because most of my few readers were there!):

Cousin S playing in the rain
It held off raining until we were just getting in our train ride before leaving, so that is something I guess. We had a lot of fun at the party. And, as they say, a photo is worth a thousand words, so here are some (with words to tell you the story of Princess’ zoo party:
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Cousin S playing in the rain
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All the Monkeys at the zoo but non-cooperating Birdy
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B helps Princess open presents
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Yum- Lunch Time!
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Helping pull the wagon
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We discovered that Birdy HATES this thing…
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“Show me your tiger faces!”
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Watching for the tiger
October 22, 2008. Tags: birthday, Princess, Zoo. Uncategorized. .
I’m so excited about the new book-a-riffic riches that I have to blog about it. My sister Kate gave me an Amazon gift card for my b-day (super-thanks!) and I just ordered 5 new books. This combines my two favorite things- books and getting stuff in the mail. Seriously, I’ll pay for the shipping so I don’t have to go to a store but I also LOVE getting packages.
I’m mostly proud that they aren’t all fluffy chick lit (I felt the need to go more intellectual after the brain-melting that was the Twlight series). Here is the list:
Beneath a Marble Sky
Water for Elephants: A Novel (at Mom’s recommendation- we’ll talk)
The Splendor of Silence: A Novel
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Anybody Out There? (the only real chick lit- Marian Keyes is one of my favorites)
The best news is that I still have money left over (most were $.01 – $1.00 used). So any suggestions?
August 28, 2008. Tags: birthday, books. Uncategorized. .