Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Ladies Birthday Week

Talk about taking a little blog break. Even for me this was a long one. We've had a busy couple of months and I'm afraid that after receiving some pretty bad health news on my part, they are about to get even busier.
I know it's now April but I figured I would share a little about the girls birthdays. Cadence turned one on Valentines day and Addison turned two that Friday. I decided to celebrate their birthdays together to help save money and to prevent our family from having to attend two different events. Of course for our family that means several different functions, but boy did we have a blast. We as in our little family of four and a few others, celebrated each girl on their actual birthday. We started off with Cadence at home. I made her spaghetti, corn, and we had cake. The girl loved her cake. It was hilarious how into her cake she got. Absolutely precious!
That Friday for Addison we decided to take the girls to Chuck E Cheese for the very first time. My step-mom Rhonda, mother-in-law Sue, and Daniel's aunt and uncle and their great-granddaughter helped us celebrate. The girls had a blast and were all over the place. They especially loved the carousel. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself either. I was golden up until the last half hour or so when the Crohns pain started in. We got Addison lots of craft items for her birthday. Lots of stickers, paper, her very first pair of scissors, and an outfit to match the one we bought her sister. Cadence received a few new outfits as well as her very first piggy bank. We went overboard for Christmas with them so we've tried to scale back some with gifts on other holidays or birthdays.
That Saturday I threw the big party while we were still living at my Mom's. Our theme was a circus theme and everything was so cute. I think everyone truly enjoyed themselves and it was nice having so many people to help celebrate our little girls. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. My daughters are very loved and for that I am very grateful. I don't think you can really see in the pictures but I had shirts made for both girls. I also had a hair bow made for each of them but Cadence's never made it on, and Addie's didn't stay on for long. Their shirts had one big balloon on the front with their age embroidered on it. Underneath the balloon was their name. They were so cute.
I tried to keep the menu simple and cheap and also circus themed so we stuck with hotdogs, chips, potato salad, and baked beans. Daniel even popped a trash bag full of fresh popcorn for the occasion. I think the popcorn was a huge hit. I bought paper popcorn sacks like what you would get at the circus so we used those and I also used them for the favor bags that we passed out to all of the kids. I filled them full of candy and circus tattoos. The kids all really loved the tattoos. Instead of buying a cake and cupcakes, I decided to make cupcakes. I used a box mix for the actual cupcakes and got a recipe for cream cheese frosting online. The cupcake was awesome, the frosting...not so much. I used blue and red food coloring for the icing and they were really pretty, but the icing was horrible folks. Most everyone scraped it off. I waited until right before the party started to ice the cupcakes so they would be fresh so even though I knew it was horrible...I didn't have time to run out and buy frosting nor did I have the materials to start over. Oh well.
They got lots of lovely presents. Cadence got her build-a-bear from her Mamaw Blankenship and Addie got her first fishing pole. They also received books, a kite, lots of clothes, and few other things.
Having divorced parents who can't be in the same room with one another also means that you have to throw separate parties. The following weekend we had a party at my step-dad and his girlfriends Kathy's. We used the same theme and also included my sister Megan's, uncle Andy's, and grandpa Power's birthdays into our little shindig. Kathy cooked most all of the food and she also ordered all of the cakes. Is the girls cake not the most adorable thing you have ever seen? The menu at this party was lunch meat sandwiches, baked beans, meatballs, salad, fruit, the family mac and cheese, and lots of little appetizers. It was a really good party and I always enjoy spending time with that side of my family. Once again my health issues kicked in towards the end but I managed. We had spent the night with them the night before since the party started at noon and neither of the girls slept. I think my lack of sleep played a big part in my Crohns acting up.
Anyway, that was their birthday week in a nutshell and I think it was big success. Now to determine what next years theme will be??

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