A Ruffled First Birthday

Confession: this one year birthday party planning started at three months. And it revolved around the dress. Doesn't it always? Since everything surrounding a baby girl is pink, I had planned on having her party in purple, but the dress changed all that. I was shopping with my MIL and exchanging a baby gift that was too small at a department store when I saw it. And I fell in love and knew that this was going to be my baby girl's first birthday party dress. And it is quite the party dress! But it only came in pink, so the purple color scheme flew out the window. Come to think of it , the same thing happened to my wedding colors. But I digress. Pinterest and I became good friends as I planned out little one's party. My party board has quite the collection of girly party ideas next to the Lego and Star Wars party ideas for the boys. :)

The inspiration for the whole thing, THE dress

My husband went along with all my crazy schemes, tolerating the endless ruffles, "check this out!" as I shoved my iPhone with yet another Pinterest find in his face, and near obsession with this party. He kept reminding me, probably trying to keep me from going further overboard, that Tinker would have no memories of this day and it was more for me and for the pictures. You bet it was! I've always wanted to throw a fancy decorated party and this was the perfect chance. And yes, after all that I've been through in the last year and a half, you better believe I was celebrating her first birthday!!! I have prayed for many years to add a girl to our wonderful family. God answered our prayers, but we had quite the difficult time last year. So I took this as a time to celebrate God's faithfulness, my darling little daughter, and the amazing group of family and friends who have been through this journey with us and supported us. We wouldn't be where we are without them.

photo wall 

The photo wall was pretty easy. I alternated pink and white crepe paper streamers and secured them at the top with tape. I didn't even bother coming back later after the photos were paper-clipped on to tape the bottom and they did just fine.  This was on a back wall though. If it were a high-traffic area like a door or hallway I would use tulle or ribbon instead of crepe paper for sturdiness and tape both sides. I then grabbed tissue paper pom pons at random and taped them. You could mount them onto card stock to but I thought they were cute without it and I liked the pink crepe paper peeking through. My idea photo came from this pink and green polka dot party, photo 3 of 20. I think the hardest part of this was narrowing the picture choices. This shutter bug momma likes to take pictures. :)

Party central

High chair with ruffled tutu 

I absolutely adored the princess throne high-chair idea. Tutu on the chair to dress it up? Brilliant! I also threw a disposable pink table cloth over the chair. A baby eating is always a messy proposition and there's enough to clean up after a party without taking the time to get icing out of the nooks and crannies of a high chair. And it added to the atmosphere! My cousin had made Tinker a tutu for Christmas using tulle and pink polka dot ribbon. I love it and was so excited to be able to use it for her party. Plus it was one less thing that I had to make. 

Party and smash cakes. Ruffled, of course!

What's a party without a cake? I searched and searched to find the exact cake that I wanted. After discussions with my MIL and my friend Meggan, two extraordinary cake decorators, I ruled out anything with fondant or horizontal ruffles. Vertical were definitely easier. What's surprising is how easy this was! It looks hard. the bottom layer was a white cake and the top was strawberry. The smash cake is strawberry. I used two of those enormous muffin tins to make the smash cake and merely cut the tops off. Both were iced 100% with buttercream.

Gift table

Rolls of ribbon from the dollar store meant that I didn't have to be stingy with how much was used. I asked my mother-in-law to hang them are varying lengths. The results were darling. For the draped tablecloth(photo 6) I used a light pink one for underneath and the pink damask on top. I played with the gathers until I found a look I liked and poked a hole with scissors before tying a bow with the ribbon. Simple, yet it looks like draping on a princess dress. 

Food and drink tables

Pom pom centerpiece

Pom poms are one of the easiest things to make. I bought several packs from the dollar store plus raided my Christmas/birthday wrapping box in the basement. One bag of them was made during family movie night. The process, however, was taking a while because tissue paper is like a child magnet. So I took everything to work and asked the occupation therapists if they wanted the project. My delighted residents knocked out three more bag fuels by the end of the day. One resident told me how they always used to make these with their Mexican grandmother for family parties. She hadn't made them in years and had so much fun! I had multiple patients demanding pictures of the party after that. :) We had large, medium, and small. My biggest lesson was to have at least 6" of ribbon when they are tied as otherwise they were difficult to tape to various walls. Retying one more ribbon was just one more step that could've been avoided.  The tutorial for the pom poms explains pretty well. You can also make different kinds of flowers and sizes.

 

I placed various sizes in glass vases that I already owned. We had enough for one on each table and one on the drink table. I think I like the square vases better.

I love how it all looked together

Dainty little bites

My three precious ones

Royalty must hold court

Love this girl

One of her favorite gifts

Playing in the tissue paper from her gifts

Playing

Adorable

Making the rosette-covered "1"

The inspiration photo for the rosette-covered "1" is gorgeous. It made me think, I can do this! It seriously only took about an hour, including setting up my station and watching the video several times. Obviously, the first couple took a while. I stopped doing more than just a perfunctory fluff after about 5. Hot glue was my friend. I also just hot-glued a pink and white polka dot ribbon tot he back to hang it up.  The instruction video on Youtube is simple and thorough.

So grateful to everyone who helped us have the perfect party for our little darling and for coming out to celebrate life with us. Thankful for those who have helped us through this last year and continue to be the village for my little family. Even if we didn't have the ruffles and the frills, we are blessed beyond measure.

Midwestern Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie with Husk vegetables. An easy, hearty winter meal for the family.

I LOVE my Husk sweet corn. Really love it. Not exaggerating.  I keep looking for more recipes that include corn just so I can use more of it. This time it was the middle of winter and I was a little tired of soup but I still wanted to eat a comfort food. Healthier comfort food, that is. This is another great recipe made from what I had on hand. I ended up doubling the recipe and intended to freeze the rest. It never quite made it to the freezer as everybody ate it for lunch and supper for a couple of days without complaint. It was that good. This recipes is adapted from Gordon Ramsey's. See him cook it on this youtube video. It took maybe 25 mites prep time, which wasn't horrible. It's always hard for me to get an accurate count because the kids are running in and out, somebody has a homework question, the phone rings... You all know the drill. The most time-consuming part of the recipe is cooking the meat and making the mashed potatoes. The recipe as directed serves 6.

Ready to use. I forgot to thaw ahead of time. Just took a little while longer.

Ingredients:

Nonstick spray

2 lbs lean ground beef (I used ground deer meat)

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 cups onions, peeled and finely chopped

2 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped

1 small sprig fresh rosemary (a little goes a long way)

1 bag Husk sweet corn, thawed

1 bag Husk peas, thawed

1 bag Husk green beans, thawed

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons tomato puree

2 tablespoons flour

7 ounces red wine

2 1/2 ounces Worcestershire sauce

1 liter chicken stock

2 lbs boiled potatoes

4 tablespoons butter

5 ounces milk

2 egg yolks

salt to taste

Parmesan cheese

1. In large skillet, brown the meat with the salt and pepper. Drain any fat that has cooked out. With the deer meat it is so lean that I never have this problem. Meanwhile add the potatoes to a large stockpot and begin to boil.
2. Next saute the onion and garlic with the thyme until the onion is translucent. Then add the meat, tomato puree, and sprinkle in the flour. Cook 2-3 minutes to cook the flour.
3. Add both red wine and worcestershire sauce and cook until half of the liquid has been reduced. Then add the chicken stock. Bring back to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the mixture is thick. Keep on low and add in Husk vegetables. They are already blanched so just need to be warmed, not cooked.
4. Mash the potatoes and add in butter, milk, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spray non-stick spray in pan if you have a tendency to get things stuck like I do. Layer meat in first, then cover with potatoes. The recipe calls for Parmesan, but I forgot to pick it up at the store so I used some shredded cheddar in the fridge that needed to be finished off. I think the Parmesan would've been better, but you still can't go wrong with sharp cheddar!
6. Cook for 18-20 minutes to brown the potatoes.
7. Serve. Watch your normally picky eaters ask for seconds. Smile. Make a mental note to make more the next time so you'll have enough leftovers for another meal.
   

   

   Yum! Get a load of that delicious corn, peas, and green beans!

   
   

Not a Mini Night

Normally on this night of the year I would have been in bed hours ago. Four am comes too quickly for this night owl. Instead, for the second year in a row I will be staying home the first Saturday in May. I thought about it today a bit. But I was too busy working to truly pay attention. I thought I was ok.
But tonight Its late and I risked logging onto Facebook. Stupid Facebook. Like a sock in the stomach, the first thing I saw was a friend's smiling face as she held up her bib number where she had picked it up from the race expo. And it sank it that I wouldn't be running with my friends and 35,000 other people again this year. Once more I would miss seeing how the city of Indianapolis stops in its tracks to support the runners of the 500 Festival Mini Marathon. It really is one of the most wonderful tortuous events ever.
I miss it. I miss the crowds, the bands, the excitement. The feeling of immense satisfaction after crossing the finish line. Going out for a hamburger afterwards to celebrate and the unison groans that accompany the attempts to stand as we try to leave. I miss the months of preparing. The early mornings and late nights pounding the pavement with my dog. Logging another run and realizing that I've increased my distance or tempo. There's a nagging feeling that I won't ever get it back. Last year as I lay holding my newborn daughter and preparing for an imminent surgery, I thought for sure that a year of recovery would be ample time. But I still can't run. And I don't know if I ever will if I'm completely honest. I'm working hard. Exercising. Doing my therapy.
Some days it hurts emotionally more than others. I'm happy for my friends. Praying that they all have a safe and fun time tomorrow. I want to see more smiling faces tomorrow on Facebook. But please forgive me my little bit of jealousy. It's just a mini thing.