Pluggy's First Birthday Party

Being the "creative" freak that I am I was determined to make this a DIY birthday party even if our house is 3/4's packed and my stress level is at a breaking point. We had Pluggy's birthday party at Buca di Peppos and being that I love love love orange on my little son I decided to make it a orange and white polka dot party. We decided to have an intimate party at a nice restaurant with family and close friends. My little man looked dapper in his Bow Tie that I made him.

The cupcakes turned out great I bought the cutest covers from Cupcake Concepts.
For the party favor I made little back packs for the children and stuffed them with some fun toys and a coloring activity to keep them busy at the table. The adults received wonderful little gifts with bath salts and soap, which I bought from weddingandspa4u2u . They turned out super cute.
I topped the tables off with circles I punched out of different orange patterns and then strung them together for a table runner. I added some orange and white Jelly Belly's and white flowers. It looked just perfect and I was proud to celebrate my sons first birthday in such a beautiful way.

Special Moments

The greatest moments in life are watching my children experience something magical. I have not been a fan of most things Disney mostly because of the intense marketing pushed on our children and partly because I want my children to create their own ideas of what a princess is and does. But that is for another post. But of course my daughter is Disney obsessed. We went to Disneyland about 6 months ago and since them my daughter has been obsessed. She talks about Disneyland every day. She has collected Minnie Mouse and "all her friends" from the flea market. Every time we go she looks for another stuffed character and bargains with the vender's to buy them. She hasn't seen any of the movies and the Princesses and Minnie and all her friends go on many adventures in our house. In our house we only watch PBS cartoons and I am grateful for the lace of commercials. However, a "Disney on Ice" commercial appeared on PBS and it stopped Stinky in her tracks. When Daddy saw how mesmerised she was and that tickets were only $15 the first day he decided to surprise her and me with tickets.

Stinky was so excited. She counted down the days till it was time to go. When the lights went down and Mickey and Minnie came out there was magic in Stinky's eyes. Her mouth was agape and her eyes were wide. I have to admit it is times like these that make me proud to be a Mommy. There is nothing sweeter than experiencing an amazing memory with your children.

Letting Imagination Be All It Can Be

Stinky has entered into a world of complex thoughts. With such complexity her imagination continues to grow and expand to foster play that is the reaction of such thoughts and ideas. Spaces to act out such play has sprung up all over the house. Her use of objects, materials and science to construct such spaces are so creative. In the excitement over her new level of play my creative juices begin flowing and I start spouting off ideas in sewing forts that go over the table or hang from the wall. My DH stops mid spinning thoughts (yes my mind works very fast) to remind what is important. Let her imagine and create! But I have so many great projects just waiting in the binder of amazing projects I have collected. My husband points to his annoying yet humours rule "He is always right" , (we let him think that) and concede this time he is right.

In an age where there are toys that make noise, toys that will do tricks at the push of a button, TV's with whatever you want to watch saved for your viewing at any time we have forgotten to let out children imagine. This is so important and this is why we have people who create such amazing toys and technology. It is so important to let children take what they have a create using IMAGINATION. So next time Stinky asks me for the towels I just folded and the measuring tape I was using while sewing, I will happily hand to her, look forward to the creation she is producing. And enjoy the time I don't have to sew that hut pattern I have been holding on to with out guilt because after I watching her brain grow as the towel is draped over the chair.

Pluggy Turns One

It is amazing to think how quickly our little people go from baby to child. In one year with the blink of an eye our little baby has turned into a boy full of expression and happiness. I am in love with his personality. He is cuddly, determined, excited, a little silly (with help from his sister who teaches him everything) and brings so much to our family. He is crawling with great speed, walking with great risk and laughing through it all. His laugh is contagious and makes everyone smile. He is signing "more" with great passion using it to tell us all things he has wanted for so long but didn't know how to tell us until now. He is speaking words that surprise us everyday. Today he said "Happy Birthday" (and yes we actually got it on video). He loves to eat and I mean "LOVES" to eat. His favorite foods include bananas, blueberries, cake and muffins. I couldn't be more in love with this handsome little man.

Happy 1st Birthday Pluggy! I love you!