Oh TWO-dles

It's so hard to believe my sweet girl is already TWO! She is so full of life, so smart, so sassy and oh so girly (with a little tomboy mixed in.) 

We love everything about our

Audrey Kate! 

We celebrated with a small gathering of friends and family at our house yesterday in Classic Minnie Mouse fashion....

I love paper invitations, but decided to give Paperless Post a whirl to be more economical and to be honest, I loved the ease of not having to mail out invitations and I loved how guests could RSVP and send messages easily. 

I pretty much made everything with things we had and a few things I picked up last week after Christmas. 

We had 'Minnie' snacks...

and sweet cupcakes...

playtime with our best friends...

birthday presents...

and sweet treats!

The dress Audrey is wearing used to be a a skirt of mine that I could no longer squeeze into. I asked a friend, who made Audrey's first birthday dress, if she could upcycle the skirt into a dress for Audrey and this is what she came up with. When it arrived in the mail, I immediately knew I wanted it to be her birthday party dress and it made me think Classic Minnie Mouse, so the pinning began.  

HERE is my pinterest inspiration party. 

The polka dotted fabric was leftover from the photo booth we had at Ben's first birthday party. 

I made the paper fans out of butcher block paper, cupcake liners and buttons. 

(I hung them over our dinning room pictures by hot gluing a piece of  a thin box to the back, placed a small hole in the box and hooked them on small On Command hooks.)

The garland was also made from cupcake liners.

The Minnie Mouse treats are double stuff Oreo cookies, mini Oreo cookies and melted chocolate. 

I made the cupcakes and used fruit-by-the-foot for the red bow and mini Oreo cookies for the ears.
(if you make these, make sure to add the bows and ears the day of the party. I noticed on our leftover cupcakes that the decorations are soggy.)  

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we Surprised the kids with a trip to Bryson City to ride the Polar Express. 

They had no clue until about 30 mins after we arrived at the Train Station

 We live a little over an hour away and we left with plenty of time to get there and time for the kids to nap in the car. 

They were still asleep when we got there, so Danny went in and got our tickets, including the Golden Tickets for the kids. 

When they finally realized what we were doing, they couldn't wait to board the train! 

 

After a trip to the "North Pole and a visit from Santa Clause, we headed home with 3 very excited children (who had no intentions of going to sleep.)

Danny read Twas the Night Before Christmas, which he does every Christmas Eve, the kids sprinkled reindeer food and set out cookies and water for Santa.

the Magical Reindeer food was Cindy Lou who approved.

Bryson City on Dwellable

Owen's School Christmas Party

Polar Express

I volunteered to help organize Owen's class holiday party this year. I wasn't real sure what all to do or how to go about pulling it together, but with a little help from some FB friends and pinterest, Owen's class was able to have a simple and fun party. 

I emailed his teacher about 20  ideas for decorations and activities and she picked the simplest 5 activities and asked for no decorations. 

We had 5 centers...

1. Cookie decorating with gingerbread cookies from West End Bakery.

2. Make and decorate a train

3. Polar Express Bingo

4. Zingo

5. Snowball race 

 One other mom and I put together a treat bag with reindeer food and a peg game for each kid.

We had about 20 minutes to set up while the class has PE....

They were excited to see their class transformed!

 Afterwards, Mrs.Jones read the Polar Express to the class and then I joined Owen for lunch before heading home. 

and just like that....

She is 2!

Gingerbread Houses

I think the kids like eating the candies and icing more so than the decorating, which is probably why both houses are missing some embellishments :-) 

Keep our babies safe!

My kindergartner and one of his best friends walked out of school today holding hands and talking about who knows what, as I trailed behind. So thankful for this moment today! 

the difference 1 year makes