Uninvited Guest @ The McBride's

  We've had a visitor! A few nights in a row, Kevin chased this little baby possum off of our deck. Not really knowing whether he might be a threat to our pups, especially new little Rigby, we didn't want to take any chances!

We learned online that:

  - Possums aren't dangerous unless you try to grab them

  - Possums have fleas! That is the biggest threat they pose to pets.

  He must have really liked our place  - despite all of the dog smells I guess - because, it finally took Kevin and Brian poking him with a stick (not hard! Just herding a little) out the side deck gate and out of the front yard. He was last seen going into the neighbor's yard across the street (not the cool neighbors, the mean lady neighbor - she's the one that last year yelled at Kevin for raking leaves "The Stupid Way" - and her garage was open, so hopefully he went in there)

 He's *kind of cute because he's a baby I guess. But kind of not cute too.

Can You Tell Me How To Get...How To Get To Owen's Birthday Party!

  We recently celebrated our nephew Owen's 2nd Birthday - and my sister-in-law, Anna, spared no detail when getting the Sesame Street theme *just right! Owen LOVES Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street crew - who knew their heads tasted so good? Anna's side business, Birdie & B's Sweets, really impressed us with cupcakes and cake pops!

   Party goers had a chance to play at the playground before the festivities were underway:

Owen & Brooke taking turns peeking for Uncle Kevin's photos

And then it was time for games and play dough!

The kids played with homemade play dough and Ernie's ducky game.

Yum!!

Anna asked me to make cute little Sesame Street signs for food labels (We found about 20 people doing similar stuff on Etsy for inspiration) + for fun = I printed Oscar and Elmo characters on card stock and taped them to color coordinating chip-clips to peek out of bowls

Anna really outdid herself with Owen's own personal cake and tasty cupcakes for all.

and as if the cupcakes weren't enough, Owen's favorite characters made an appearance as cake pops too!
Birdie & B's Sweets sure were busy!
 Big Bird + Cookie Monster were vanilla, and Elmo + Oscar were chocolate. Oh man, that Big Bird head was so tasty...

Anna knows how to treat us non-chocolate eaters: These Salted Carmel Cupcakes were hands down the BEST cupcakes we've ever had.

Anna painted buckets and filled them with lots of goodies as party favors

Presents!

We found this great Elmo book tote at Target that fit the party theme perfectly!

+ just for fun, I made these Sesame Street signs to show guests to the party.
I printed out the signs I designed, reinforced them with a second layer of card stock, taped them to wooden yard stakes and added some matching curling ribbons to blow in the breeze.

The weather turned out perfectly and we had a lot of fun! Happy Birthday Owen!
+ be sure to come see what goodies Birdie & B's Sweets has cooked up for Finch's Holiday Time Boutique this December!