Spring is Here…finally!

  The grass is starting to look green, we've seen our first robin of the year, and *most of the huge, dirty snow mounds, piled up in the Trader Joe's parking lot, have melted away….
  Easter Sunday marked the first day that we wore short sleeves outside and cracked open more that one window to get some fresh air flowing through this place :)

  Jack in his Easter duds…

  Brooke & Owen: On an egg hunt!

"I found Frozen's arm!!" - Owen

Cousins Miles & Preston will be ready for hunting NEXT year!

  ...let's just hope Spring is here to stay…

To Infinity AND BEYOND!!

  Last year our nephew Owen was ALL about Sesame street - Elmo, Cookie, Big Bird, the whole gang {see Owen's Sesame Street B-day Party from last year}. THIS year, you'd better believe that Toy Story is #1. Owen's mom, our sister-in-law, Anna (of Birdie & B's Sweets) was out to make this years party one to remember - and of course,  I was super pleased to help out where I could :)

We fancied up the bottled water with two styles of fun B-day labels - featuring Slinky Dog and an Alien :)
 I Googled "Toy Story Font", but I didn't download it, I just traced out "Owen" to ensure it looked as "authentic" as possible. I recreated the Toy Story clouds and arranged my text, character and text elements on a 3" wide band x about 8-9" (had to measure a bottle). We used a skinny little strip of double-stick adhesive to keep 'em on.

I added Anna's menu items to little Etch-a-Sketch tent-labels that I printed off on card stock
(I fit 5 labels to an 8.5" x 11" page)

What's more Toy Story than pizza from Pizza Planet??! When Owen saw the sign I made to accompany the pizza boxes, he got REALLY excited + can't forget everyone's fav punch (aka 'Alien Juice') with Lime Sherbet...

And the sweets!! Chocolate Snickers and Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes = SO good. (Anna always takes care of the non-chocolate eaters like me and Kevin!) + of course! Birdie & B's Sweets Cake Pops! Vanilla pops "Alien" and "Hamm" were delicious and chocolate pop Mr. Potato Head was SO detailed.

Along with Toy Story coloring sheets and ring toss, the kids kept busy with creating their unique Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads and "The Claw Game"

Cute Toy Story buckets filled with goodies for kid's party favors!

And for just a little added fun, I printed out an extra large Etch-a-Sketch, mounted it on cardboard, and cut out the center to become a frame! It was super fun to snap pics of party guests - although I didn't get ALL of the guests :(

OWEN!! The Birthday Boy himself!  with his new Buzz Lightyear action toy - complete with impressive wingspan and blinky little lights....

Yes. That is Baby McBride featured in the lower-center pic there...

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!

2012 Relay for Life

  Last night was the 2012 Hopkins/Minnetonka Relay For Life event for American Cancer Society - this was my 6th year participating.  Kevin and I raised $1,145.00! Hooray! Thank you to everyone who donated! + there's still time to donate to the cause = here on my fundraising page.
   $500.00 of that total came from the fundraising from the artist and designer participants in Finch's Holiday Time Boutique this past December.
  ...AND!...The weather turned out great!

  Owen and Brooke had a great time!

Nordy from the Minnesota WILD came to hang out. When Brooke saw him she said "Easter Bunny!"

Opening Ceremonies: All of the cancer survivors out on the track. My mom joined the survivors this year - you can see her head in the second row, second in from the far side.

The entire track was lined in luminary bags - here's just a few I decorated in honor of my mom, Bonnie.

I was pretty nervous! I was asked to be the speaker at the Luminary Lighting Ceremony this year to talk about my experience this year with my mom's cancer - update: 3 months after surgery, and she's doing great!
Thanks to Deb & Riley, and Ian, Sara, Noodle & Julian for coming out to show their support!

The bags all lit up!

Still to come: the official team photo of "Angels of Hope"

Spooky Scary! Halloween Recap

OoooooooooooooooOOOoooooooooo! Spooky! Well not SUPER spooky...

  Trick-or-Treaters Count:.... 18. Only 18?! Disappointing. We're used to 80 something in Mpls - we have a lot of leftover candy...
  For the 18 Trick-or-Treaters that DID stop by, here is what they saw:

Owen and Brooke broke out their Halloween finest - the safari theme was NOT coordinated up front - just kind of worked out that way.

and Finch got in on the fun too...

And here was my spooky surprise for Kym! Halloween Nugget Trio!

..they could be lurking ANYWHERE!

Who is scarier? That Ghost Nugget? or the vertical blinds he's hiding behind?

Owen's Big Day!

Happy 1st Birthday to our nephew Owen! Hooray! So glad we could celebrate with the Birthday Boy today at the park :) The weather cooperated and it was a really nice day to be out.

Owen loves his Grandma Bonnie!

...almost as he loves his birthday cake. Anna made this super cute blue/green cake for Owen, and yummy raspberry mousse filled or peanut butter cream filled cupcakes for us! SO good!

We gave Owen his Birthday Crown (Target of course...) and I made him his very own Jimmy Doll!

The party was super fun - and when you get Owen and his cousin Brooke together - silliness ensues...

That Brooke makes the silliest - and cutest - faces...

Owen & Brooke's Baptisms

This weekend was both Owen's (Sat.) and Brooke's (Sun.) Baptisms - followed by a joint lunch reception on Sunday. The honor of Godmother to Brooke has been bestowed upon me, Elisa - I'm super excited! The services were really lovely and babies were so cute.