Fiona’s Second Birthday Party

So we made it to and through Fiona’s second birthday. And the party was a smashing success despite conceiving of it only a little more than a month beforehand. All of our efforts and plans payed off as 20 something of our closest friends and family came to celebrate with us.

For me the party planning consists of theme planning, food planning, and project completion. Because duh, you partly have the party  to complete that project you’d be ashamed of not having completed since the last time they were here. In this case, the project was Fiona’s bedroom which I’d struggled with for some time. But the week before the party, I was hustling to finish up all the little details and photographing the room during a snow storm. See the room redecoration post here.

Mark and I made the lasagna together. His request was not my forte. So I fussed over the meat sauce for two days. He said he was looking for that taste of hot Italian sausage. So I said you can go get some but you need to put the lasagne together.

We were a sight in the kitchen fussing over proportions of this and that. But let me tell you, it was scrumptious lasagna. And we used the no boil noodles much to everyone’s surprise. Because they boil in the sauce so why wouldn’t you. Yum me.

 

Also made the homemade egg rolls because they’re just easy. And vegetarian.

The invitations were made from a blown up ¾ profile picture of Fiona which I then used clear frosted acetate to simply trace over the basic lines of her face. Then I scanned it on the copier and put it through a Photoshop type program so that I could have it colorized.

 

Then I put it back through a photo program and printed it on photo paper. I really love the simplicity and sweetness of it.

As for the decorations, I wanted to keep it simple.

So I used the same picture and took it to a copy place and for $4, I had it blown up to maybe 20” x 30”.

 

And continuing the theme of pops of hot pink from the bedroom, I made little tissue cheerleading pom poms.

 

They were supposed to be tassels but they were fuller than I’d thought they’d be. Tutorial coming soon.

The birthday party flowers are an annual treat I give to myself. I was rather stunned this year when Patty, the owner of Patty’s Petals here in downtown Denton, Maryland where I order my flowers from, charged me their wholesale price. She knows I’ve worked with flowers and said she wanted to see what I’d do with them.

 

I got dark pink ranunculus, light pink spray roses, white Shasta daisies, pink freesia, purple stock,

and yellow Solidago plus some tree-fern and a tiny handful of pussy willow.

And the cake. Oh the cake was stupendous.

Courtesy of my new neighbor Steve Konapelski the accomplished pastry chef ,

I asked for plain with pink, he laughed at me, and he got that vintage vibe going which is so lovely.

 

He lent me the hobnail milk glass cake stand and I had the sweet vintage table-cloth. Perfect.

 

And that Birthday girl, she loved her a birthday party.

It was warm outside for the first time since forever so I let her run around in her bare feet as she prefers. She was so sweet in the Minnie Mouse dress. She never napped but took a time out on the couch with Elmo and then kept going.

 

She loved being sung to and she loved the cake’s decorations most of all.

Her cousin Emma was the best guest.

She was right in there opening presents…

…and blowing out the candles…and running around with the balloons. They were so very sweet together.

They are our miracle girls with the same middle names.

It was a lovely day for a lovely little girl. And I remarked to my husband that really, all those people were here because they love us and our children. That is kinda humbling and I’m happy to be part of a community that shows up for my kids. And for me through my kids. Love to all of you.