ruby's first birthday party {lots of pictures}

wow. our baby girl turned one on thursday.

i have been looking back through photos of her first year and remembering what a surprise it was to find out we were having a girl. 
on her birthday i read through her birth story and am so thankful once again for God's graciousness in bringing her safely to us.

we celebrated her birthday with a very pink backyard party.

of course we needed some pink snacks for our girly girl.
strawberry wafer cookies & pink marshmallows on the gift table are a fun treat that guests could help themselves to.

i put all those baby food jars to good use as birthday favors.
i spray painted the lids ballet slipper pink, decorated them with ribbon & hot glue, and filled them with red and pink starbursts.

i used the pompom garland that i learned to make at the handmade craft day. 
i think it will find a place at every party she has from now on . . . and will probably hang in her room until then. :)

as a back drop for her high chair, i hung torn strips of fabric, some new and some vintage.

i love the torn fabric garland so much so i quickly made another little one for the front of the table . . . about five minutes before guests arrived. 

we grilled out so we had another couple of tables for all the not as pretty food stuffs. 

i draped pink fabric {cheap from hobby lobby} over all of the tables. 

i printed out one picture from each of her one month photo shoots and hung them with little clothespins on pink yarn above the food table.
i thought it turned out really sweet. :)

i needed something cute to put the plastic cutlery in so i dug around in the recycle bin to find a tin can to use.
yes, i washed it. ;)
i thought that would be better than jars in case a child accidentally knocked it over.
i only had one can so i dumped out another can of perfectly fine canned goods.
i figured the 67 cents i spent on it was worth it for a cute display. :)

kid drinks went in a big plastic bin {with ice in the bottom}.
i found the tub in the walmart garden center on clearance, fyi.

for a keepsake from her first birthday {and hopefully many birthdays to come if i can remember ;)} i had a journal out for guest to write a message for our girl.

it was so great to have all of our friends and family who have loved us and ruby so well here to celebrate her life with us.

ruby got lots of grandaddy and grandmama cuddle time during the party.

ruby started getting tired so she was not really in the mood to be put in a high chair when it was time for cake.

thankfully everyone singing happy birthday perked her up and she started smiling and looking around at everyone. :)

sweet girl, who has no teeth, prefers baby food to anything else, and has never eaten sweets, was pretty dainty with her first ever cake.

she actually never got into the cake at all.
she ate some of the icing and spread it in her hair, but that was about it.
she was over it pretty quickly . . . sister doesn't know what she's missing.

while ruby dealt with icing, everyone else had the best ever cupcakes made by my awesome friend jenny.
she is the cupcake whisperer.

even though ruby was most definitely ready for bed, we pushed through and helped her open a few presents.
okay, i opened and she played with a wet wipe.

it was such a sweet night that went way too fast.

happy first ever birthday little ruby girl. :)

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a simple anniversary celebration

happy thursday, friends.
this week is just trucking right along.
it helps that we had a holiday on monday. ;)

remember when i showed you that simple little doily garland i made for an anniversary celebration?

i thought i'd show you a few more pics from that night.

we are on a very tight budget due to putting away every penny for a future house down payment.
therefore, i wanted to try to make the celebration thoughtful and fun while not spending very much money.
honestly, i enjoy that kind of challenge.

all of their dating and honeymoon photos were in one of those old peel & stick page albums.
it was browning and worse for the wear so i took all of the photos out and put them in a new, archival quailty album.
it was a simple, kakhi linen book from target.
i had one of their engagement photos enlarged to 5X7 and then framed so it could be a gift and party decoration all in one. ;)

i made this little stand by gluing a dollar tree candle stick to a dollar tree platter.
the nuts and mints were a nod to their wedding reception.
i think it turned out pretty sweet and anniversary-ish. ;)

we had chicken tacos with all the fixings for dinner and then finished the night with cake and a chocolate fountain {borrowed from a sweet friend}.

it was a great night full of eating, talking, & reminiscing.

and now i want to buy 15 more platters and candle sticks to make loads of cake stands. :)



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quick and simple paper doily garland

last weekend we hosted a little 25th anniversary celebration for my dad & stepmom.

i wanted to give our mantle a little anniversary sweetness so i picked up this pack of paper doilies in the baking section at Hob Lob.
and obviously used my 40% off coupon.
obviously.

i think it's a 24 pack and i paid a little over a dollar.
cheap and easy.
yes, please.

this took like 5-10 minutes total.
i just found some white string i had on hand, folded the individual doilies over the string, & stapled to secure.

so easy, but so cute, i say.

i also took down the other things that were on the sides of the mantle and just piled up some of my collected milk glass.
isn't milk glass the best?
that's probably one of the only things that i collect.
besides dust.
i collect plenty of that.

i'm loving it here in the living room right now.
it's so bright and happy.
i think i will eventually relocate it to ruby's room.
it is pretty girly.

i love how it turned out and i love that it was such a quick project.

there are so many fun uses for this little doily bunting . . . baby showers, wedding showers, girly birthday party, wedding tables, photo props . . . shall i go on? :)

right about now i am kicking myself for giving away all those old {non-paper} doilies i used to have.
dang hindsight.


happy doilying! :)



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party for a seven year old

we had finley's birthday party after school on friday.
it was low key.
in our yard.
just a bunch of little boys playing.
perfect.

i actually wanted to have the party at the park but finley really, really wanted to have it in our yard.
he wanted his friends to come over and jump on the trampoline and ride bikes with him.
so that's what we did.
i am really starting to become a big fan of the at home parties.
especially when they are outside.
they are relaxed and fun and not over-stimulating like party places.
and we have had our share of those.

there were probably 13 kids on the trampoline at once.
they were having so much fun.
they jumped and played and ran around and ate snacks.
it was one of my favorite parties, i think.

i set out snacks on the table and the kids could help themselves as they pleased.
i made batches of chocolate and white cupcakes with blue buttercream frosting.

the weather was perfect.
another bonus was that ruby was able to sleep in her bed through the whole event.
no need to disturb the princess. ;)

for goody bags, i bagged up big pieces of sidewalk chalk into blue party bags.
easy, cheap & fun.
the perfect combo. :)

present opening time is always super exciting.
the kids are so cute all gathered around to see what the birthday boy received.

it was a sweet time with sweet, little friends, celebrating our boy.  :)




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