Planning the party

So, I might be weird for saying this but I have been looking foreword to planning my child's birthday party since I was in college. I love planning events, and I love themes even more. I think I get the love of themes from my mom who has a new "reading room" theme every year for her classroom.

I was thinking about saving all my party ideas for the party and then doing a big blog about everything...but I am just too excited to wait. Being creative is a big part of me, but I feel like I have taken the last 2 years off from it because I was sick when I was pregnant and then I had a colicky baby when I was home.

Here are a few things I have done for Jay's first birthday party so far.
I bought a set of digital clip art from Etsy for $3.25 and am using the monsters as a theme for my party. The monsters are adorable...you can find them here.

Here was my first project: Pin the eye on the monster:)

Here are the eyes. I hope to have kids decorate their "eye" with markers or crayons, then play the game with their special eye.

I used Photoshop to take the eye off the monster and paste it in an 8.5x11 document and then reproduce for printing (on card stock). I took the poster to a copy place and got all my invitations, the poster and the 2 copies of eyes for $7.

I also finished the invitations. I used a picture of Jay wearing a monster hat that my friend Chelsea took. See her blogs HERE and HERE. Then I used my monsters from Etsy and added party hats, balloons and strings using the artwork and brushes in Photoshop Elements. I also downloaded a few fonts from fontfreak.com
I blurred a few of the details using liquify in Photoshop.

Like it?

SAHM

Being a stay at home mom (SAHM)for the summer (for the past 4 days)...has been interesting. Jay has been very clingy but I'm not sure if he has an ear infection, if he is teething again, or if he is just so excited I'm around he wants to be near me all the time. (note: he does not want to be held, he just wants to touch me)

I have LOVED the moments racing him back and forth in the little tykes car, we had a blast playing outside every day (except Tuesday), and he loves taking walks and runs in the stroller which has been great for me too.
Besides entertaining him, I have sorted through a lot of clothes I had packed away in the basement. Yipee my pre-pregnancy clothes fit...but I still am not liking the pudge above my belly button.

I have also been planning Jay's 1st birthday party. It is so fun to get to be creative again!! We are doing a MONSTER BASH party, and I have SOOO many ideas I think I am going to have to limit myself.

Also, last week my sister had a baby!!! Welcome little Livia. She is adorable (in the pictures I have seen) and I can't wait to meet her. Go HERE for pictures.

Just for fun here are some pictures from the week. This is a Curious George outfit my mom found at a garage sale. I would consider Jay a curious little man, and he sleeps with a curious george stuffed animal, so it works:)

My sister made the "rock on" shirt, and the collared shirt is hand-me down from her boys. Too bad I threw it in the wash with a red shirt so it turned pink, then I bleached it and it faded the green. Oh well, it is still cute.

Rainy Tuesday

It rained pretty much all day, so I got a lot of cleaning done. Jay hung out with me.
He did find the window and stare out it longingly...

Although whenever I give him a really big smile he gives me this cheesy grin.


After a while he resorted to sorting my socks:

And when the vacuum started attacking him he didn't really enjoy it.
It is amazing what we can do in a day being at home.

What Jay is scared of...

it's NOT Mommy leaving him with a babysitter or at the nursery (actually he can't wait to get away and play with toys and kids).
He is scared of: electric toothbrushes, loud whistling, and talking oven mitts.:)

New discoveries

Jay still isn't walking-although he is cruising along next to everything and crawling faster than we can jump (usually to shut the bathroom door so he doesn't "explore" the toilet).

His current favorites include opening and closing things, hitting things, pushing things (especially pushing buttons), ripping things up, and getting into places where he shouldn't be:)
He still loves peek-a-boo, singing (other people singing), eating crackers, and baths.

He LOVES other kids and he never cries when I bring him to the nursery or the babysitter, mostly (I think) because there are other kids there to look at and play with. He is not a big sharer of toys yet, and doesn't listen when Alysa (the babysitters 3 year old daughter) tells him to stop hitting her toys, but he would rather smile at kids than push them over.
I thought this outfit looked so handsome on him.



Just today he discovered the toilet paper roll dispenser.

One more day of school left! I can't wait to blog more this summer.

Summer...clothes

I was so excited last week because I finally got to put summer clothes on Jay.
Shirt- garage sale, shorts- $1.00 super clearance at Kohls, actually the monkey was $2.50 at Kohls too.

Shirt $2.00 with a bunch of coupons at Kohls, shorts- $1.50 clearance at Kohls, crocs .50 at goodwill 1/2 price day

Shirt- baby gift, shorts $1.00 clearance at Kohls

Shirt- (same one as the last picture), Pants- hand-me-down from my sister's kids

Onesie- baby gift, jeans- from my mom from a garage sale, shoes- .50 garage sale

Not too bad:) If you want to see other deals I got lately check out my other blog:
http://beingdutchgetsyoumuch.blogspot.com/

Graduation

John graduated with his bachelors from UNC this weekend. It was a long... but awesome day and the weather could not have been better!
Here are some pictures:





Jay cheered for daddy...kind of:)

We had such a great time. Jay actually did really well.

A HUGE thanks goes to John's parents who made everything about this day possible. I also appreciated all the help his mom gave me for the grad party afterwords.

CUTE!

My friend Chelsea took pictures of Jay a while back.
I LOVE them!
It is especially amazing that she got so many great pictures...because he was super squirmy, he never stayed in one place for more than a second, he bonked his head when he fell over (my fault) and was crying for part of it, and he pooped in the middle of taking pictures:) Still- look at how great they turned out.
Oh, and besides taking the pictures...she made the hat too!
(I lowered the quality of pictures for faster uploading)











If anyone is interested in her photography work or having her take their pictures you can contact her through: chelseasattic.blogspot.com