Cookies and Cocoa Shower

This past weekend, my mom threw the most darling bridal shower for my cousin's fiancé. We wanted to keep it simple, so in lieu of a full menu of food, we served hot chocolate, coffee, and lots of desserts! I really have to give all of the credit to my mom for this one, she is such an amazing decorator and has great style. I have always been amazed at her ability to make everything she touches look absolutely perfect.

I hand drew this sign, which is a recycled item from Lincoln's first birthday party. It is just a birch slab that I purchased at Hobby Lobby, and then painted with black chalk paint. One of the best DIY projects ever; we have gotten so much use out of it already!

My mom had a lot of toppings for building your own hot chocolate. White chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, candy canes, and marshmallows! Everyone had so much fun loading up on toppings.

The two tier stand is from Sam's Club, and was filled with utentils, plates, and lots of coffee mugs.

For the hot chocolate, it was just a large tub of regular hot chocolate mix, added to boiling water in a pot on the stove. Once it was heated, it was added to a hot beverage dispenser.

The rest of the shower was simple and sweet; white cupcakes with shimmer sprinkles, homemade cookies brought by the aunts, cake pops, and for a little bit to hold people over some meatballs and a cheese and cracker tray. It was simple, but turned out so great and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. And BONUS-cleanup was so simple and easy, we basically just loaded twenty coffee mugs and a few trays into the dishwasher and called it good!

I couldn't resist adding in my letterboard, too. This is one of my absolute favorite bible verses, and was a perfect touch to add to the room.

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Lincoln's Wild One First Birthday

This past weekend, we had so much fun celebrating Lincoln's first birthday party with a small party with family. He is a crazy little one who is pretty much unstoppable, so a 'Where The Wild Things Are' theme was absolutely fitting. I had so much fun pulling together everything for this party. One of my favorite themes so far!

I put together this balloon wall using some aluminum wire, and LOTS of scotch and painters tape. The ONE balloon was purchased on Etsy. 

The wood chalkboard and birthday crown were both DIY projects. I love how they turned out!

 

For the cupcakes, I went all out with box mix ;-) The gold wraps are from Hobby Lobby, and the toppers were another DIY make from thick gold felt paper!

I am kind of obsessed with how these 'teepee dirt cups' turned out. They were easy to put together and so cute!

We also had smores on a stick. There we no shortage of sugar at this party!

For the actual meal (because there were things besides sugar, I swear!) we had three different kinds of friend chicken wings, French fries, seven layer salad, and mac and cheese. My husband and brother in law deep fried a LOT of wings, and between that and the homemade sauces it was a constantly moving process so therefore, no food pictures. But trust me when I say, it was all SO good!

The banner for the high chair and the mantle are..wait for it..another DIY! I was so proud of all of the things I was able to make for this party. All of the ribbon is from hobby lobby, and the letter tags were spray painted and then hand drawn with paints we had on hand!

The cake topper was made with gold glitter felt, too!

 

 

 

 

How cute is this picture of Lincoln and my brother!? So sweet.

 Wild One tee from Here We Go Hunter.

This is about the full extent to Lincoln's cake 'mess'. He wanted nothing to do with it! we tried to put his hand in it a few times and he was NOT having it! For being a wild one, he sure isn't wild about being messy ;-)

Just chomping away on his new water bottle.

 

 

 All of my in-laws went in and got Lincoln (and let's be real, Jackson too) this Radio Flyer wagon! We immediately took them for a swing around the yard!

 

We are so grateful for our family that came out to help us celebrate our little man. Now, onto all of the adventures that year ONE will bring!

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Adventure Awaits Baby Shower

This past weekend, I was able to host a baby shower for my sister in law. They are expecting a baby boy in June, and are planning a nursery with a travel theme. We thought sticking to that theme would be a great way to provide some décor that could possibly be transferred over to the nursery, so Adventure Awaits became the theme, and we were so happy with how it turned out!

 Invites from Etsy

The banner was an Etsy find, and was way bigger than we expected it to be! The original plan was to hang it on the mantle, but I kind of fell in love with hanging it from our two story windows! We threw in a ship that my mother in law had, and to be honest I am kind of missing having the extra décor up there!

I used my kiddos easel from Ikea in the entryway as a welcome board. The vintage luggage belongs to the mom-to-be, and the globe was a borrowed item from my parents. We ended up being able to use a lot of items that people already had on hand and it was fun to pull it all together!

We found vintage postcards, and they were used as 'advice' cards for the parents to be. People wrote their note on the back for Jeff and Laura to read later on!

My sister in law made the diaper cake, and I am kind of obsessed with how it turned out. I was wondering what she would manage to pull together with the travel theme, but it was seriously so cute!

The globe is a Target find, isn't it cute!?

These hot air balloons were a DIY. We spray painted some old plant pots, used kabob skewers to hot glue to the paper lanterns, and strung little triangle string that I found at Target around them. We threw in some old teddy bears and had the cutest little pieces.

 These mason jars were another DIY project. We printed off vintage maps on regular printer paper, and used Mod Podge to secure it onto the glass. The hydrangeas are dried stems that my parents never got around to cleaning up from last year, but I loved the rustic look of them.

The shower was at 11am, so we stuck with a brunch theme. Fruit and yogurt parfaits, egg bakes, and lots of muffins and breakfast snacks!

We had a coffee and juice station, too. What is breakfast without some OJ!?

We had powerpoints to help with games, and they were so cute and fun.

Laura and her niece. Before ever meeting my husband, Laura and I were on dance team together, and my husband was very good friends with Laura's older sister. In fact, Mike has gone on trips with their family before we ever knew each other, and before Jeff and Laura dated. Such a small world, and so much connection between all of us and our families!

Two of the four sisters are expecting. For once, I am not one of them ;-)

 I can't wait to meet this little man and snuggle him up!

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