Teddy Bear Picnic

I cannot believe that Caroline will turn 1 on Sunday. Where has the year gone? As typical in our family, she will actually have 2 birthday parties, one for friends and one for family. It may be crazy to plan 2 parties but if I had only 1 it would be way too big. I enjoy having a family party by itself so that the grandparents actually get to spend time with the birthday girl.

Our friend party was last Saturday. We did the party with a friend whose daughter, Laurie Jane turns 2 this month. We have a lot of the same friends so it worked well.

Our theme was a Teddy Bear Picnic. Here is the cute invitation designed by ProffitProductions on etsy. She was super fast and very cheap.

Laurie Jane and Caroline are excited about the party. Well, Caroline does not like to show much excitement for the camera but she could tell something big was going on.

We decorated using red and white as well as blue and white tablecloths and lots of teddy bears.

We had wagons with ribbon on the front porch for guests to put the girl' presents.

The guests brought their own lunch. We had some snacks as well.

The cake was actually made up of 14 cupcakes using the Wilton Puzzle Cake set. Luckily the teddy bear was the example on the box. I thought it turned out really cute. Because we had more guests than cupcakes in that teddy bear cake, I also made individual teddy bear cupcakes. Their nose and ears are mini vanilla wafers, their eyes are chocolate chips and their nose is black icing.

We had red favor bags and I found some cute red and white name tags at a teacher store. The favors had a bag of teddy grahams, gummy bears, stickers and a notepad. I was going to burn CD's full of kids songs with bears in them but the week of the party my computer crashed and I lost all of my itunes library.

Since the party was for a one and two year old, there were lots of adults and kids of all ages so we did not have any games or activities. The kids played with all of the toys and because the weather was in the upper 90's we also had swimming.

When it was time for cake, Caroline wore her special 1st birthday hat that I made. When I made it, I did not realize how big it was or how top heavy it would be. I saw a lot of cute hats on etsy as well but was not going to pay $25 for the one I wanted. So, I kind of copied it.

We did smash cake photos 2 weeks ago so Caroline already knew that cupcakes are yummy. She was not shy in eating hers.

After most of the guests left and we had cleaned up most of the mess we let the girls open their presents. Caroline was not as sure about what to do. She liked the paper of course and after opening one present she just wanted to play with it.

It was a wonderful party and we all had a fun time. This weekend we will have her family party with a lady bug theme.

If you stopped by from Kelly's Korner, thanks for reading about my Teddy Bear Picnic.

Now what?!?!

It appears that I have exceeded my upload quota for blogger. There is a limit to how many photos you can have on a Picasa Web album which links to a blog and I have hit that limit. That means I can no longer post photos to the blog the way I have been doing it.

So, for all of my blogging friends out there HELP! Do any of you load photos any other ways? I know you can use the HTML and link to a flikr account or some other account but that seems like a lot of steps. I will try to delete photos from my Picasa Web album but last time I checked I could not figure out a way to do it. I guess another possible way around it would be to post using another google account and therefore another Picasa Web Album.

This just really stinks because I was about to try to post Caroline's birthday party pictures but now I am giving up for the night.

Happy Blogoversary

Today celebrates my 2nd Blogoversary of this blog (see the button on the sidebar?). I actually have been blogging even longer but started at another address. I have really enjoyed having a place to journal about and record what is going on, especially in the lives of our kids. In 2 years I have posted 633 entries so there has been a lot of documenting.

I have already printed out one blog book using blurb.com and plan to someday take the time to do more so that I have a hard copy of these memories.

With all of these memories I would be very upset if I lost my blog like a friend did so there are 3 things I have done to record the information. First, every entry is emailed to me and I archive and save them. Second, I subscribe to my own blog on google reader. Third, I periodically download my blog onto my hard drive via the blurb.com software that is free. Of course I recently crashed my hard drive so I need to do that again soon. I thought I would share this so that you also think of how you can protect your blog.

And, since I hate to post without a photo, I leave you with 2 pictures of the girls. They love to sit together even if it means being squished in Katherine's chair. Most of the time it works just fine but they will soon outgrow this arrangement.

Early Birthday

Caroline's birthday is this coming Sunday but she has already received 2 of her big gifts. We bought a wagon and started using it for the 4th of July weekend. Grammy and grandad bought a water and sand table and sent it early so we could enjoy it this summer. It is a hit. Both girls really enjoy it. The only problem with a water and sand table is that it quickly ends up being a mud table. Luckily there is a drain so we can let it dry out between uses. I think I am really going to like it because they can play without getting their entire body covered in sand.

I love seeing the girls playing side by side.

And, of course Caroline got caught eating some of the sand. It did not seem to bother her at all.

Community Helpers

I found this post in my archives but never posted it so I thought I would now. Just an example of Katherine's conversations as an almost 3 year old. It was written January 21.

This month at school Katherine is learning about community helpers. They are having different people come and speak to them about what they do. Today they had a marine come. Here is our conversation.

Me: Katherine, did you have someone special come to your school today?
K: yes, a meeen. (Marine)
What was he wearing?
K: a uform
Me: what color was it?
K: black
Me: Did he wear a hat?
K: No, he had a white hat on the bench. One kid put it on and it fit. Some kids clapped and others laughed that they were clapping.
Me: What else do you remember about the marine?
K: He was big, big, big. (apparently he was 6'8")

Then I asked her what else she did at school and if she sang any songs. Usually she can't remember but today she sang her song about "Red".

Sung to frere jaques/ where is thumbkin
r-e-d red
r-e-d red
I spell red
I spell red
fire trucks are red
stop signs are red too
r-e-d
r-e-d

Parades

I love the 4th of July and how even in a big city you get a small town feel. We started the day by going to the "big" parade that was by the high school. We were running late and missed the kids parade but made it in time for the "big" floats. Most of the floats were sponsored by the elementary schools, cheerleaders and neighborhood organizations.

Katherine had never been to a parade like this but she quickly learned that many of the floats thrown - CANDY!

Both kids were very patriotic in their red, white and blue waving the American flag.

We all thought the "hot dog" was pretty funny. Apparently the kids parade also had a dog division.

After the parade there was a carnival. It gave us the perfect opportunity to use our new wagon that was an early birthday present for Caroline. It was a hit.

Katherine also went on a pony ride. She was really excited about the idea but a little scared when she was on the pony. She wanted me to hold on tight.

We came home for about half an hour to cool off as it was about 100 degrees. Then we went to our neighborhood parade and picnic. This event is one of my favorite things about our neighborhood. For over 30 years there is a parade and picnic in front of the same house. The kids all decorate their wagons, tricycles and strollers and go around the block following a fire engine. After the parade we all sit and enjoy a great spread of food pot luck style. There were probably over 100 neighbors there.

Kaboom!

Friday night we met up with our good friends Jen and Richard and Janna and Wade plus all the kids to watch fireworks. Wade's office is close and within view of one of the bigger fireworks shows in town. We were among the first to arrive at the parking garage and we had a lot of time to hang out and have fun before the fireworks started.

We all brought snacks and drinks as well as ice cream and brownies.

There was an airshow overhead. I grew up going to airshows with my brother so I enjoyed it but it was really pretty small.

There was more time to fill so we took the kids on wagon rides through the parking lot.

I brought side walk chalk so I traced Katherine and then she drew clothes and a face.

Jen brought glow stick bracelets for the kids. Caroline thought it was a great teether.

The fireworks finally were on. We had a "jambox" tuned into the station that was broadcasting the patriotic music for the fireworks show. There was a hotel obstructing some of the show but overall it was a pretty good view and we did not have to fight the crowds at the festival. I

t took us over an hour to get home though due to the horrible traffic. Caroline fell asleep at 10:30 and Katherine at 11. Amazingly, they both woke up before 7.

She's famous

Look who is featured on the Totally Tots blog. Isn't she a cutie. I can't believe she will be one in less than 2 weeks.

Fangs

Caroline has 4 teeth on the bottom and 2 on the top. The odd thing is that the top 2 teeth are not the center teeth that usually come in first but the two teeth outside of those. So, when she smiles she has fangs. They are really hard to capture on film but I had to keep trying. Luckily her center two teeth are close to coming in so before long she will not have fangs.