Seussy Birthday Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Miles' birthday in Seussy fashion!  I have always been a fan of Dr Seuss, and Miles seems to like the sing-songy feel of his books so it was a no brainer when I was trying to decide on a theme for his party.  I created invitations, food tags, planned a menu and made lots and lots of to do lists.  It all went off without a hitch!  We held it at the Rec Center in the crater of an extinct volcano - seriously...how cool is Italy?!

Here is the invite.  I used an old graphic I found YEARS ago (and saved...thank you hoarding gene) and added some clip-art.  I read a bunch of Seuss invitations online, borrowed bit and pieces, used a few lines from some of Dr Seuss' books, made up a bunch of my own and tada...Miles' invitation:

Here is his cake...we had Cakes by Mel make it for us.  Her husband works with Nathan...and we knew them from back in Chicago.  She made the cake and I ordered the finger puppets from Amazon to put on the cake for decoration.  The cake turned out amazing and was WICKED yummy to boot!  I was glad to have a little leftover!

 

I scoured Pinterest for months trying to find all the cute Seussy food I could...and I used some of it and came up with some on my own.  I made all the tags for the food...I think they turned out pretty good!  We had two food tables.  

Table 1: 

Truffula trees (cotton candy...which I have no pics of because it kept disappearing...*ahem* Nathan...)

Hop on Pop-corn

Pink Ink Yink Drink

Bottles of water

Snow from Mt Crumpit (snow cones)

I found these popcorn boxes on Amazon and the free printables HERE. 
I happened to have a paper punch the EXACT size to cut these out for the boxes...how lucky was that?!

Pink Ink Yink Drink.  This was DELICIOUS!! 
Pink lemonade, gingerale, white cranberry strawberry juice and ice.  Yum, yummy!!

Water & Snow from Mt Crumpit. 

Food table 2:

Green Eggs & Ham Sliders

Lorax Mustaches (white chocolate)

Yertle the Turtles

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Goldfish

Poodle Noodles

Green Eggs & Ham Sliders
The sliders were just deli rolls with a slice of ham and a slice of swiss.  Super easy.

I found this graphic HERE...I thought it was perfect to stick in the green eggs.
The eggs were delish!!  Yolks, garlic, Miracle Whip, mustard, celery salt and a pinch of rooster sauce.  And green food coloring of course.   

Lorax Mustaches.
These were orange flavored white chocolate piped into mustache molds I found on Amazon. 

Yertle the Turtles...also known as CRACK.  Seriously.  And super easy too.  Pretzels topped with mini rolos, melt in oven for a few minutes, gently smash a pecan half ontop...how easy is that?!?

Goldfish...simple.  They were supposed to be accompanied by some gummy fish...but they didn't get here in time.  :( The ONE time Amazon fails me...

Poodle Noodles.
Normal pasta salad...I just cooked the pasta in two batches and dyed them orange and pink by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water as it boiled. 

This is the banner I made to hang up:

Miles didn't really want anything to do with opening presents...even the crinkly paper.  Well...until he 'opened' the present we gave him (a mini piano) and saw the keyboard printed on the box and started banging his hands on it.  I think he misses our piano...so do I. :(

After presents came cake...I was really hoping he'd like it better than he did at his photo shoot earlier in the week.  No such luck.  He REALLY does NOT like stuff on his hands.  

Blowing out the candle!

The Cat in the Hat's hat from the top of his cake was the smash cake.

Daddy had to help him smash it...and Miles wasn't so excited about that. 

It was a fantastic day spent with wonderful friends...and Miles was spoiled with hugs, kisses and gifts.  Yay for Miles and yay for birthday parties!!

Happy Birthday Miles!

Dear Miles,

I know it's cliche to say...but honestly when have I ever shied away from cliches, so I'm just going to say it...I can't believe it's been a year since you joined our family!  You are my little sunshine smiley bug.  I look forward to every morning because I know you'll greet me with a big cheesy grin as soon as I open your bedroom door.  That is a pretty major accomplishment...I hate mornings...just ask daddy.  You are such a joy to be around, and you have such a bright, cheerful disposition that everyone notices as soon as they meet you.  I hope you always keep this friendly attitude.  You are very curious and you like to watch mommy and daddy do everything, I hope I can do everything  possible to feed your hunger for knowledge.  You are such a kind little brother to Winston, he really likes you much better now that you don't try and poke him in the eyes.  :) 

Life is so much sweeter with you in it, I feel so very blessed to call you my son. 

Love you lots,

Mommy

30 sure was a good one

On the eve of my birthday last year I got quite emotional.  I was no where near where I thought I would be when I hit my landmark birthday.  I felt like a failure.  I had no degree, no children, no career...it was tough.  Especially watching friends from high school each turning 30 and being surrounded by children or working at fabulous jobs...it seemed to make me all the more melancholy.   I lamented on Facebook and my friend Jamie told me that turning 30 was awesome for her.  Turns out, turning 30 was pretty awesome for me too.  This year was amazing.  No, more than amazing...perfect.  Sure I got sick, and we had that whole Georgia mess...but we also got Miles, were able to spend almost TWO MONTHS with family, found out we're moving to Italy, Nathan got promoted...and that's just the big stuff. 

Now I sit here on the eve of my 31st birthday and I am so grateful for the year I've had.  I've also learned a few things...can I share them with you? 

Never try and plan your life out -

you'll just stress yourself out and

miss the little things along the way. 

 

Even in the depths of sorrow

there are still beautiful things in life

...they are just harder to find.  

Keep looking. 

 

Hold on to hope.

When things get tough just remember

it is always darkest before the dawn.

A random act of kindness is the 

best mood booster out there.

I guarantee it.   

 

The size of your jeans should not

determine how you feel about yourself.

You are beautiful.

Thank you to all my family, friends, blog buddies and online adoption peeps who have helped make this year so perfect for us.  Here's hoping this year is just as great!

And the worst part was...

...it only lasted 24 hours!

I hope eveyone had a very merry Christmas...I did :) I have to openly admit that I was a bit spoiled, which I am not going to complain for ONE second about...

I got the KitchenAid Waffle Baker I wanted - and we made them for dinner last night and it is SOOO wicked cool. It was nice to make 2 at once...so when Nathan and I eat them, they are both still hot. I need to try a different recipie though - the one I used was ok, but not as good as a Belgian Waffle could be. Mom & Dad also gave me a beautiful iron cookbook stand and a 'Cooking for 2' cookbook. Thanks guys!

Nathan got me the Nike +.... which is the cool little sensor that snaps in the sole of your shoe and then communicated with your nano to track how long and how fast you've run, as well as calories burned, etc. I didn't expect it at all but I am so excited to use it! I needed to get new running shoes that were compatible with the Nike + iPod stuff, which was ok because it was about time for new running shoes anyway. I decided that I am going to try and run a marathon in May...not sure if I'll be all the way up to 26 miles...but I want to set the goal and if I can only do a 5K I'll still be happy. I used to run A LOT in Jr High and High School - I need to get back into the habit...it will help me lose some weight and relieve some stress too :)

Nathan's brother and his wife and kids gave me a book that seems to sum up my life as of late:

What do ya think?? I haven't started it, but when I do (hopefully tonight) I'll let you know.

I also got spoiled for my B'Day. Nathan got me a TOM BRADY JERSEY!!! Which is super exciting...now I can support my team in BODY and SPIRIT. I also got some $$ which I used to get my new Nike running shoes and a nice running jacket. When we went down to Nathan's brother's house for Christmas dinner they also made a big deal out of my B'Day which made me feel so good :) They gave me a pretty heart bolero necklace, sang Happy Birthday and Gina made an incredible German Chocolate Cake (which lacked some walnuts in the frosting thanks to Timothy...hehe). I also got a dark chocolate layer cake at my parent's place Christmas night for the Big Day.

And Nathan was not left wanting either...he got a new mic for his sound stuff, some awesome vintage shirts, a svelte Frank Sintra-esk hat, new batteries for his pocket watches, funky Jazz slippers and a fun game.

It got me thinking...

For those of you who weren't around last year...I posted something about my birthday and someone left quite a rude comment...that person still checks my blog every once-in-a-while. I know this thanks to the freaky little tracking thing I have :) I have been thinking a lot about that person and their comment the last week or so.

I have also been reading some other people's blogs who share the Christmas Birthday with me and I am finding an overwhelming amount of us who feel slighted... So if you don't want to hear my venting...close the web browser now and go back to making your holiday cookies or wrapping presents or whatever, but please don't read on and get pissy and leave a nasty comment...I don't have the patience for you this year. :)

You know how some restaurants, stores, etc will send out postcards that say 'Come in on your Birthday and we'll give you a free _____' ?? I never get to use those - I tried once in Rhode Island...on the 26th, but because it wasn't my actual birthday I didn't get it...which sucks because they weren't even OPEN on my birthday... I do have to say that some places will accomodate us, but not all...their excuse? "If we did it on a different day for you we'd have to do it ona different day for everyone..." Um, ya, because JimBob whose birthday is on May 2nd and chooses not to go out is totally different from me who CANNOT go out on my b-day. :(

My old boss started a policy that you get your birthday off with pay - I asked her about my brithday, if I could take the 24th or the 26th and she said 'No'...her excuse was that if your birthday falls on a weekend you don't get to take it off...and I should be happy because I always get the day off... So ya, once again, NOT THE SAME THING... I am happy to get Christmas off, but I just want the same treatment everyone else gets...grrr

I know this is dumb, but I would like to have a birthday party every once-in-a-while...a nice, sit-down dinner - NO PRESENTS - but fun and food and games and whatnot...but that will never happen, because December is the WORST month to try and plan a get-together because everyone else is so busy. And I could do it in May or January, but then it isn't my birthday.

Just once I would like to know what it feels like to have a REAL birthday...one that is not overshadowed with tinsel and lights and Ho Ho Ho...