Bradford Road Designs: Parties

Monday, May 27, 2013

Emmalise is One!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Emmalise!!

With each baby I feel like the years fly by even faster than with the child before! I still feel like we just had Claire's 1st Birthday, and now here we are, 14 1/2 months later, and Emmalise is already One!

We celebrated our sweet little Emmy with some family and a couple close friends! I wanted to keep it small because it is so overwhelming for little ones when there are so many people. Claire slept through most of her 1st birthday party and I think it was just because she was overwhelmed with all the people and the fuss! So this time I tried to keep it small. Plus we have literally been hosting parties over here non-stop since February, so we are all pretty partied out! But of course we still wanted to celebrate her precious life and her first year!

She is such a little sweetheart. She is so tiny, its hard to believe she is walking all around now! The crawling days are officially gone, which is good for her little knees (our carpet is not soft), but it presents a whole new set of "dangers" ie: two very energetic, somewhat oblivious older siblings that run past a still unstable little Emmy. Still, it's so amazing that one day she was cruising and crawling, only taking a few steps here and there; and the next day, she is just walking!

She is talking a little bit- saying, "mama, dada, Jack," and she loves mimicking animal sounds! She loves animals. We went to the zoo a couple weeks ago and she was so excited every time she'd spot an animal! She also loves spotting birds or airplanes flying by in the backyard and she throws her little arm up as high as she can and usually makes a bird noise :-)

She has four teeth and is loving eating everything that we eat. She also methodically tosses her food onto the floor to let me know she is all done. Sometimes I think she just figures that way she'll be able to come back for a snack in a bit if she gets hungry!

Just like our other two babies, she automatically starts dancing if she hears any kind of music. It's so cool to see how they all feel the music and really love it. She does the same little bounce that Claire did when she learned to walk. Too cute! And Claire really wants Emmy to dance with her, but she hasn't quite figured out that if she holds Emmy's hands and swings, Emmy will follow, but it'll be a face plant on the floor instead of dancing. And she of course is so eager to be apart of anything Jack and Claire are doing. She loves them both so much and they are so sweet to her and love her too. Jack really feels a sense of being her "big" brother, and he tenderly kisses her and says, "Hi there little Emmy." Ive even heard him whisper to her, "Do you know how much I love you!" Melts my heart. Claire loves her too and has lately been telling her, "You're my Beeesssst Friend!!" This morning they were walking around the house together, both pushing their babies in their strollers. I know they really are going to be best friends. Thank you Lord for such sweet, sweet children. My heart overflows!!

For her party I decided to basically repeat the "Vintage Baby" party I did for Claire's 1st birthday because I loved it (and already had all the decor :-) I also threw a baby shower for my cousin-in-law two weeks before, so I got to use the table decor and a few new things I made for that as well!

For the dessert table I used my handmade fabric flag banner, the letter "E" that I wrapped in yarn and decorated with the felt flowers that I made, and spray painted the wooden frame pink!

I used the high chair tutu that I made for Claire, but I added the "One" banner to it.

These were such a hit! They are "Pink Lemonade Cheesecakes" topped with homemade whipped cream and a fresh raspberry! It was almost 100 degrees, so I was nervous about the desserts melting, but they were fine! I was so glad!

I used my great grandmother's cheesecake recipe that I always make (see the cheery cheesecake below) but I altered the recipe a bit to include fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, and the sour cream layer even had a little lemon curd in it! It turned out really tasty! A new family favorite!

This is one of my favorite details, the "Emmalise" banner with pictures of her from newborn, each month until one year! See some of those pics here!

Cherry Cheesecake with hand-stamped "Emmalise" bunting.

Hoop Art with her name and birthday!

I made these cupcake toppers thinking I was going to make cupcakes but then decided on the cheesecakes, so I just made some Ghirardelli brownies to stick them in!

I made sugar cookies and decorated to look like circus pink and white cookies (although I made them pink and yellow). I also decorated little onsies with "1"s and "E"s. I made the cake stands last year for Claire's party!

Handmade Piñata

Pink Lemonade Drink Station

Daddy's little Girl!

Mommy and Emmy!

"E" is for Emmalise!

She was so cute after we sang "Happy Birthday" she wasn't sure about the cheesecake....

....then she LOVED it!!!

Our family.

4 Generations!

Grandma and Grandpa!

The Girls!

The Uncles!

Our little walker! {Wearing Mama's Romper- Claire wore it for her first birthday too!}

Giggles with Grandpa!

More party people! We love our Coco and our cuzzies!

Opening presents, and kisses for her new soft friend!

All day she was trying to get into the sand...I finally gave up trying to keep her "clean"!

My two sweet girls!

We had such a fun time celebrating our baby! Emmy is such a little joy and we are tremendously blessed to have this precious baby in our family! What an incredible gift from the Lord. We thank Him everyday for His perfect plan for us and for giving her to us. I love her to pieces, and could not imagine our family without her!!

Happy 1st Birthday Emmalise! We Love You!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Into the Woods with my Mountain Man!

So it was my hubby's birthday last month. It was a big one. We wont discuss the number- it doesn't matter, but lets just say I wanted to celebrate it because really- when do we ever throw adult birthday parties? Never. So I decided it was a great reason to celebrate my guy and show him I adore him and his mountainy wilderness-ness.

I was trying to think of a theme that would sort of capture Sean and the things he loves and is passionate about and still be fun to decorate and design; and I saw a similar themed party on Hostess with the Mostess and I loved it. It was totally Sean- wilderness, camping and hunting- but done with a little modern twist (ok-that aspect was a little more me than him). I love the plaid with the blue, white and yellow. The wood and deer elements were fun too. I painted the two deer silhouettes for the backdrop and made the deer head too! I was pretty excited about how it turned out, because I literally thought it was going to be a disaster; free handing with the box cutter, but somehow it worked! I made apple tree cupcakes and "worms in the mud" brownies and there were "Blue Moon" York candy pieces. From the white chocolate owl pops, to the acorns and my favorites- the hedgehogs, the dessert table was a hit. But before we devoured the desserts we had Hamburgers and hot dogs, "Field Greens" salad, "Fresh Picked Berries", and baked beans.

"Grazing Station" before

and after...

The Watering Hole:

I created custom lables for Seans favorite beer which read, "Braford Mountian Brew" and "Wild Fox White" for the white wine, and "Bear Zinfindel" for the red wine. I loved these labels and it was also fun because Sean's gift from me was a whole brewing system so he can experiment with brewing himself! And he already has his own lable :-)

I made a little photo banner with pictures of Sean's childhood. There were pictures of him fishing, camping and playing in the woods with his parents. So cute and everyone loved seeing him as a little guy. He was adorable; and clearly, the woods and camping were a big part of his childhood.

Here are just a few...

Wasn't he adorable!!

The Dessert Table:

One of my favorite details. I heart hedgehogs.

I had a couple little activities for the kids; they went "hunting" for camouflage eggs- which ending up being pretty tricky to find! Then they took their best shot with the bow and arrow. It was really fun.