Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sweet Silhouettes

I took Eva and Stella to the Cameron Village Christmas celebration a few weeks ago and had a wonderful evening with the girls! CV does a fantastic job with this event and has everything including visits with Santa + Mrs. Claus, balloon twisting, free popcorn, cookies and cider, sledding, a life-sized Candyland game and more!

While we were waiting for our turn to see Santa, I was admiring silhouette artist, Lena Bengtson, studying her subjects' faces and intricately cutting tiny pieces of paper to look like the children. I was so amazed and impressed, I just had to get one of the girls...after our visit with Santa, of course!

Eva's Silhouette 2010

Stella's Silouhette 2010

Silhouettes by Lena Bengtson, posted with permission.

As this is a very popular local event, we ran into plenty of friends, which made it fun. Eva had a blast sledding, while Stella decided to stay back and just cheer for Eva instead ;) They both loved all the free tasty treats, especially the popcorn. Lastly, after working up the nerve to talk to Santa, Stella told him that she would like cotton candy for Christmas and Eva requested a stuffed Lotso Bear, from Toy Story 3. What a great night!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Stella's 3rd birthday!

What a great birthday for little Stella! She had a great time celebrating her ballet-themed party with all of her friends! Eva, Bodie, Hanne, Janie, Molly, Carmen, Anderson, Lane, Rachel, Annabel, Katie and Clara were all there to help celebrate.

A few shots of the scene...

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party scene

party table

party table

Todd's cake - one word - fantastic! He did the entire thing himself and used gum paste for the first time. The cake was chocolate with a mint chocolate filling (per Stelly's request). It was beautiful and delicious!

cake!

This next picture is of Mrs. Oakley. She is a wonderful woman who does story time at Quail Ridge books. Stella absolutely loves her, her stories and her awesome crafts! Both Stella and I were thrilled when Mrs. Oakley agreed to read a Miss Lina's Ballerinas and do a craft with her party guests. She brought adorable ballet slippers that the kid's painted with watercolor and laced with pink ribbon!

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story time craft

finished craft

Stella wasn't sure about everyone singing to her. She was really focused on the candles!

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birthday cake blowout!

After cake, we had a surprise visit from a sweet sugar plum fairy ballerina. The kids (and adults) watched as she performed the Sugar Plum Fairy dance from the Nutcracker. After the performance, she showed the girls a few ballet moves!

ballerina

ballet instruction

Stella was so into her new toys that her friends brought for her, she really didn't want any pictures taken of her after the party :) She had a blast, especially with her new My Little Pony house and her new book from Mrs. Oakley. She told me that her absolute favorite part of the party was the pink smashmallows aka marshmallows!

Friday, November 05, 2010

Halloween 2010!

The babies:

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Stella Tiger

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We had a halloween party + parent mixer for Eva's Kindergarten class. There are 24 kids in the class and most live in the neighborhood, so I wanted to get to know the kids and the parents! Only about 1/2 of the class made it, so it wasn't too crazy, but we sure had fun!

Most of the invites were done using evite (I ran out of time!), but Eva and I managed to make a few real invitations for the kids that don't have email access!

Bat Invite

Bat Invite

The Party scene:

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Some party food:

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Mickey made these bugs!

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Witches' fingers...stole this idea from my dear friend Mary!

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One of Eva's classmate's moms brought these!

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Goodies:

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As you probably all know, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I tried to make fun, interesting (yet, still healthy) food for the kids all month. Here are a few pictures of the food (that actually turned out!), the kids, and random decor from the month! I especially like the way the party scene looked at night!

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Dinner

Dinner

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Guacamole Serpent

Guacamole Serpent

Guacamole Serpent

Mummy Dog

Angry Sides

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Boo!

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After trick-or-treating (notice the ring of chocolate around her mouth where the white face paint used to be!):

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At the neighborhood party:

Hangin' Out

Stella Tiger

Stella Tiger

Hangin' Out

Lastly, a few from our friends' Mary + Christian's party (same Mary who did the orange and black witches' fingers!)

Halloween Snack

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Caramel Apple - Yum!

Loot bag

Loot!