tissue paper flowers

When I was in elementary school, I was in awe over the older girls who lived next door. Whatever they had in their possession was golden to me. Kristina, who was five years older, would even throw her junk out of her upstairs window to those of us waiting for her treasures on the driveway below. Yes, leaping into the air with arms outstretched, we were competing for jumbo Geauga Lake pencils, heart shaped rhinestone pins, View-Master reels, scratch and sniff stickers and anything else that Kristina had deemed for the trash. One day, Kristina dangled a giant fuchsia and red tissue paper flower stuck on a wooden dowel rod out of her bedroom window. It was beautiful and exotic to me as she yelled that it was from Mexico. I leapt and reached farther than ever to nab that loot. Since then, I've had an affinity to tissue paper flowers. They were at my baby shower along with tissue paper butterflies (thanks to my mother in law). I've seen them in the shop windows of Anthropologie and Room Service. I had to have them for my baby girl's first birthday party.

I found out how to make them on Disney's Family Fun website here which gives detailed instructions as well as a link to a video. I followed their instructions and included crepe paper streamers. However, the flowers were a bit top heavy on the bamboo stakes so I abandoned the idea of having a tissue paper garden and opted to hang them by our light fixtures instead.

The flowers for the birthday party were a success. The girls happily took them home to decorate their rooms.

Kate's first birthday party

The day has come! My little baby is turning one on Wednesday. This year really flew. I've spent the last week preparing for her party. I live for this stuff. It's a crazy balance between sheer joy and exhaustion that I put myself through before a party. I go crazy all week making decorations, baking and cooking while placing high expectations upon myself. I can't just make chocolate chip cookies, they have to be shortbread cookies sandwiched with jam. No chocolate cupcakes, they must be tiramisu cupcakes. I LOVE doing this. I even made my first pastry cream for these adorable pastries that I saw in "Baking with Julia" which look like fried eggs. We are having brunch so we had to have these pastries.

The party was more than just desserts. My mothers helped out by making ribbon sandwiches and salad in parmesan cups. The bounce house was set up (an early Christmas present from my mother in law- yay!). Poor Kate was overwhelmed by all of the attention and didn't find it amusing to smash cake all over. She found refuge in the bounce house and laughed until naptime.

Here's how it all turned out:

the mini social

I'm registered on many sample sale websites such as Hautelook, Gilt Groupe, Ideeli, the fairest, and Beyond the Rack. They all have sales of designer clothing, accessories, and cosmetics for up to 75% off the retail price. Each sale is timed and lasts only a couple of days. Most will occasionally have a children's sale but are focused more on women. By the way, Hautelook and Gilt are my favorite due to the selection and savings. Many of the brands seem to cycle through the sites. For example Hunter boots, Seven jeans, Tarte cosmetics and Michael Kors have all made the rounds. Great deals that I've recently taken advantage of are See Kai Run shoes for babies and toddlers and Nest, both through Hautelook.

I discovered The Mini Social Today after reading the Daily Candy email. It is child-centered. I am so excited about it since I usually go to these sites to buy for Sean and Kate. Now there's one just for them.

sew, a needle pulling thread

I finally learned how to sew! My mom gave me a sewing machine two years ago for Christmas but work and babies kept it in the box. I just couldn't take it anymore. I took a class in late July at Stitch Cleveland in Lakewood from Heidi Massingill who was helpful and patient and fabulous. The space is basically a studio or workshop with large tables, fabrics, sewing machines and everything you could possibly need for a project. Just walking through their door is motivational. I think I giddily smiled during the entire 2 hour Sewing Machine Basics class. I immediately came home and grabbed a cloth diaper to sew up a flannel burp cloth. Can't say I produced the straightest lines but I was excited.

My goal is to make sweet little bloomers and dresses for my daughter and cozy pjs for my son. Being able to hem and mend works for me too. My favorite patterns right now come from Amy Butler (who has the most fantastic fabrics) and Lotta Jansdotter. Amy Butler's Barcelona skirt will be my first major project using a pattern. I'm hoping that Stitch will offer a class. By the way, Amy Butler's studio is in Granville, outside of Columbus.

Lotta Jansdotter's book "Simple Sewing for Baby" is a practical beginner book. The patterns are not quite "simple" to me yet but they can be done with practice. I made horse rattles for all of the new babies in our family. Each one provided a learning experience. With the first horse, I sewed the ribbon ears facing toward the inside rather than the outside and made the nose too pointy. Some improvement on the second but the curves were still too angular. The rest were OK with some ribbon ears spaced apart and some pretty close together. All were stuffed with polyfill and a jingle bell. I had seven horses (giraffes?) staring at me, waiting to be finished. I knew I had to hand sew the ends. I took the second one, squished it under the foot of the sewing machine and hoped for the best. Not a good idea. Laziness. Got out the needle and thread and finished them off.

foodie face

How cute is this? My sister gave this plate to my son and we all love it. It reminds me of the Wooly Willy that my mom would buy for me at Medic Drugstore when I stayed home sick from school. My sister found Fred's FoodFace plate in Peoria but I have seen it at Shoparooni on Waterloo (shop local). I know that FoodFace helps the green beans go down much easier.

let's go to the zoo

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo makes it easy to visit for just a few hours or an entire day when you get a family membership. After 4 trips to the zoo, the membership has paid for itself. Plus, you are contributing to the zoo. Of course if you live in Cuyahoga County, you can just go on Mondays and get in for free. Anyway, we spent a few hours today in the Australian Adventure. We rode the Boomerang Line train and strolled the Wallaby Walkabout. I was hoping for a kangaroo or wallaby to leap in our path but they didn't seem to be on the move, at least not off of the grass. This section of the zoo was comfortable for toddlers- shade, playground, petting farm, maze, train, interactive stations- all in an 8 acre circle. The koalas in Gum Leaf Hideout were so close to us that we could practically touch them. Look in the hollow log for the spiny Echidna, one of the two monotremes. The other egg-laying mammal is the duck-billed platypus. We got a double feature as we watched the construction of the new Elephant house and my son pointed out the diggers, cement mixer, backhoe loader...

Rosby's for raspberries

We ventured to the west side to pick our own raspberries at Rosby Berry Farm. Picking raspberries, or any berry, always makes me feel calm. The berries were plentiful and easy to reach. We picked two quarts in less than a half an hour. The ripe berries practically fell off of the stems and into my children's hands which was quite satisfying to them. Peeking at row after row of raspberry bushes made me feel like we were out in the country...until the trains came whistling by. This was highly entertaining to my son who LOVES trains. The weather was pleasant. The kids were happy. The berries tasted delicious.

To top off the day, we stopped at Honey Hut on State Rd. (only about 5 minutes away) for fresh banana, strawberry, and chocolate peanut butter ice cream before heading home.