Aiden's Circus Birthday Bash

We celebrated Aiden's 2nd birthday on Sunday with a circus/carnival party at our place. I had such a great time planning the party, baking and decorating that I am almost sad that I don't have a party to plan right now!

The invitation

I set up 4 carnival games in the garage - I was hoping that we could do the carnival on the back patio, but his birthday happened to be during the first big storm of the year, so garage it was! I decorated the inside to look as circus-y as possible. The "tent" was a $20 find at Ikea and I made the little banner with red ric-rac, scrapbook paper and embellishments. I also took an old frame, painted it red and punched out scrapbook paper circles to spell out "Aiden's Circus" in the frame and put it on the tent. I spent a few months collecting reproduction vintage toys for prizes and put them into glass jars.

My mom came down the day before to watch Aiden while I baked. I made a white cake (with a surprise inside!) with vanilla buttercream frosting and white confetti cupcakes with bubblegum frosting for the kiddos. I also made some cookie pops with Aiden's name and 2s on them. There was popcorn and peanuts, too so we would have a little salt with all the sweets. No carnival would be complete without lemonade and fruit punch served in cute little "milk" jugs with red, blue and yellow swirly straws. The little jugs were actually saved starbucks frappuccino containers.

Yummy!

I am not that good at cake decorating, so I kept it simple with white frosting and made the little "Aiden" flag banner out of lollipop sticks, bakers twine and scrapbook paper that matched the banner on the table. I put a thick red and white striped ribbon on the bottom. The little vintage clown was the inspiration for the party. When I found it on Etsy, I immediately recognized it as the same clown that sat on the top of my 2nd birthday cake!

This clown will now be a family tradition :)

The kids had fun custom making lemonade/fruit punch combos!

Of course, the adults get to have fun, too. Bubblegum martinis (vodka, Jones bubblegum soda and a gumball)!

 

I made a second banner to go on the fireplace mantel - the 2 on the banner is actually a puzzle piece.  The bouquet of swirly pops on top also served as party favors :)

Yeah, I haven't taken the banner off the mantel yet ;)

The carnival was fun and gave the kids something to do during the party. I made all the games and the kids won tickets that they traded in for the prizes and candy at the end. There was goldfish toss, duck pond, clown shoot and beanbag toss.

I am not mean enough to give out real goldfish to the kids for the parents to take care of, so I cut goldfish out of scrapbook paper and glued them to the back of clear plastic cups. The prize was a goldfish bouncy ball. They won if they threw a ping pong ball into one of the cups - just like at the fair!

Duck pond was for the little kids. All they had to do was pick out a duck and if it had a star on the bottom they won. Aiden's cousin Sydney liked this game - she ended up taking all the ducks out and putting them in her prize bag, then she collected all the missed ping pong balls from the goldfish toss and put them into the water. Too cute. The little ones gathered around and splashed in the "pond" water. A lot.

Aiden and Lily splashed so much that they soaked their clothes, so we changed them into Aiden's Christmas jammies while their clothes dried.

Playing in Aiden's room while the clothes dried...

The clown shoot game was for the older kids, they liked firing the nerf gun. My mom helped the younger kids once she figured out how to work the gun :) I didn't get any pictures of the bean bag toss, which is too bad, because I painted an awesome clown on a big piece of cardboard and cut out a big mouth for the bean bags to go through!

After the all the kids played all the carnival games we went back inside for cake, cupcakes and ice cream. By this time, Aiden was getting pretty tired. So sitting at his little table to blow out the candles just wasn't going to happen! Too bad, I didn't get my cute birthday cake picture. P.S. I made the cutest tablecloth for this table out of a vintage circus crib sheet! I think I am going to have to re-use this theme in a few years so I can use all this stuff again!

He was not happy about sitting there while everyone watched him

He calmed down when I put him on my lap to listen to everyone sing to him

Maybe next year he will be able to blow out his own candles ;)

Told ya there was a surprise inside the cake!

 Then of course, opening presents...he was much more into it this year than he was last year.

We had helpers :)

Ready to play!

Gathering around to watch the gift opening

Daddy and his little birthday boy!

After everyone left, a few folks stuck around for pizza and drinks. We put on a movie in our bedroom and all the kids climbed on our bed to watch - they were just too darn cute! It was a pretty good, tiring, fun day! Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate!

Ryan, Addison, Lily and Aiden - Eden was around here somewhere, too!

Stay tuned for pictures from the photo wall :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy, laid back, fattening Thanksgiving!

Kickin' back in his Thanksgiving jammies...

A journal entry from 2 years ago

Aiden is 2 years old today.

I still don't believe that it has been 2 years since he was born. He has flipped our world around and changed our lives - in the best way. When I think about those first few days, not knowing what the future would hold, if he would make it home to us or if we would leave the hospital without our son, I can't believe we even held ourselves together - I can't believe we actually made it through all of it. I know that the are are people who think we should be over it, that now that he has been home for almost 2 years that we should move on, People who think that we are "dwelling" on his rough start when we talk about it, or remember it. But, those are the people who never went through what we went through. It was traumatic, but it was his birth - everyone tells the story of their child's birth and the "newborn" days on their child's birthday. Our story was just different.

It changed our lives, but I know one day I won't remember all the details and all the emotions we had. All I will remember is that he was born early, he weighed 1 lb. 13 oz. and he was very sick. Which is why I kept a journal while he was in the NICU and while I was pregnant and on bed rest. I kept track of how I felt and how Aiden was doing every day.

This is the entry from the day he was born.

Date: 11/23/08
Week: 27 1/7
Mom: Placenta abrupted, feeling scared, hopeful and totally in love with her baby
Baby: Very sick, but such a little fighter
Visitors: Nana Robyn, Papa John, Aunt Sara, Auntie Heather

Dear Aiden,
Well, I guess today is your birthday. It's hard to believe that just a few hours ago I was just watching a movie. Now that you're here I just can't believe it. I can't believe how much I love you after just seeing your sweet little struggling face for 5 minutes and getting to touch you - so lightly. Although it made me cry, it was the happiest moment of my life. I just keep repeating in my head "please let Aiden live, please let him get healthy and come home with us". I can see your whole life in front of us and just want you to fight. To make it. Your little lungs are so small and you are struggling. I wish so badly that there was something I could do to help you. I wish I could do it all for you. It is so hard to see you with so many tubes and machines. It breaks my heart that my body could not support you longer. 

Your so fragile right now and you change every hour. You have 2 chest tubes in your right lung, a ventilator is breathing for you and the doctor started you on nitric oxide to help your pulmonary hypertension. You have an IV in your umbilical cord that you get medicine and nutrition through. You have had to have a blood transfusion and they tell us to prepare for more. Your so unstable right now, every time the door opens, I get scared - especially when it is one of your doctors. I just want to wrap my arms around you, comfort you, make it all better and take you home.

I get flashes of you growing up - running around the house as a toddler, going to Kings games with daddy during grade school, driving a car for the first time when you are a teenager. I just want you to get those experiences. Trick or treating, dying Easter eggs, Christmas tree hunting - you deserve a chance to do all those fun things with your mommy and daddy. I love you so much! Daddy loves you so much, I have never seen him so worried before, even though he tries to stay strong for mommy. He wants you to get better so so badly. So does all your family. You will love playing with your cousins and staying overnight with Nana and Papa - not that mommy will ever want to be without you! You have so much to live for, so much to get better for. So keep fighting. Keep hanging in there. I promise that all your struggling now will be so so worth it.

You will have a great, happy life full of love, happiness and family. And food, really good food. I wish that I could take all the pain from you and I feel like I can't do much to make you better. All I can do is send you all my love, all my hope for your future and all my positive thoughts to keep you spirit up. Just know that everyone loves you and is routing for you to be healthy and make it through this difficult time. I love you, Daddy loves you.
Love,
Mommy

P.S. I know that you will have some things to overcome later in life, but we can get through anything if you can get through this. Other struggles will be minor and we can get through it together, I promise :)

This was the first time I saw Aiden, he was about 10 hours old

And this is now :)

Happy 2nd Birthday to my miracle baby. I love you more than you will ever know.

A sneak peek...

I will be very busy in the next week or so. I think someone is playing a trick on me.

My baby is turning two on the 23rd. Two.

TWO!

I feel like he was born, like, a few weeks ago.

Someone MUST be playing a trick on me. It just can't be.

He is still my baby, my little boy. I am not ready for him to be any age that is referred to as "terrible".

Not at all.

Be that as it may...I am busy, busy, busy, planning his birthday party. So, posts this month will be few and far between. You understand. Planning a 2 year old's birthday is hard work. Especially when every birthday celebrates a tiny miracle. I will stop now, before I start crying and just show you a sneak peek of a 2 year old's birthday celebration in the making :)

Planning a kid's party is a blast. I love every minute of it.

Halloween couldn't BEE anymore fun!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. The costumes, the kids, the candy. It is just a fun, laid back holiday. This year we had a bee, a lion and a bunny to take care of. We had a fun Halloween, and they will only get more fun as the kids get older.

Lisa and I got together Saturday night to decorate pumpkins. We decided to take it a little easy this year and glittered most of them and the carved pumpkins Lisa called "throwback" - which was a nice way of saying we didn't have the energy for the detailed fancy carving that we used to do! They all turned out really cute though, and we had a fun time doing it - talking, laughing, eating dum dums and having some wine.

Lisa spent most of the pumpkin adventure with a little baby girl strapped to her and Aiden got glitter ALL over him, the table, the kitchen floor. Good times. 

 

On Sunday we ate Halloween themed food and drinks...

"Blood-tini's" - also known as a pomegranate martini

Spiders nest enchiladas with "webamole" and maggot rice

Spider web cheesecake deliciousness

We decorated the front door...even Chris got into it by setting up a black light and getting some spooky music to play for all the trick or treaters!

 

And then of course we dressed up the kiddos and spent the rest of the night trying to get over how freakin' adorable they looked in their costumes and wondering how our kids got so darn cute. Seriously, I would dress Aiden up in the bee costume EVERYDAY if I could!

The Bee, Jeremy, Bat-mom, the Witch, the Lion, Chris and the Bunny

I was shocked that he actually kept the antennae headband on!

Seriously, his little bee butt was just so adorable!

Chris, Lisa and the dynamic duo!

The night was not complete until Lisa and I took the kids out trick or treating. Not really, we went out for a walk around the block to check out the kids in costume and decorated houses!

Lisa with all the kiddos!

Aiden and Ryan all dressed up to take a walk around the neighborhood

So, that's it! Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween night!

My baby bee

OK...really, now that is - I just needed to put in one more ;)

The Pumpkin Patch

Lisa and I took the kids to Zittel Farms today to get ourselves some pumpkins and get out of the house while it is still sunny. Her mom came along with us and provided a much needed extra set of hands :)

Aiden was so interested in the pumpkins and hay bales that he really wanted nothing to do with getting his picture taken. He is so funny, now that he can hold on to things and walk, it's all he wants to do. He is constantly trying to squirm away from me and get down when I am holding him.

Riding in a little red wagon, scouting out all the best pumpkins

Sittin' on the tractor with Mama - he wanted to explore it on his own

Aiden got down and checked out all the pumpkins -I think he was trying to find the best one!

 

The twins - laid back Ryan and sweet little Addison

The cousins! And to think, last year it was just me and Lisa picking out pumpkins!

We picked out some pretty pumpkins and headed home, I will make sure to post some pictures of our pumpkin carving adventures also!

How we spent the first rainy Saturday afternoon of the fall...

I love the rain today. But, we are trapped inside. Daddy took the car today because the battery is dead in the "work" car (note to self, we could never be a one car family!) - so we really are trapped.

The rain falling on our back patio

The afternoon started with a nap - Aiden snagged the best corner in the whole house and slept quite happily there for 2 hours. I dozed next to him and caught up on my Real Housewives of Atlanta, DC, Beverly Hills...

 Jeremy and I fight over this spot on the couch - it is soooo comfy!

Then we ate lunch and Aiden got to take a nice warm bubble bath. I would say it was relaxing, but the kid loves to play "splish splash" and basically splashes all the water out of the bathtub by the time he is done ;)

After he gets out of the tub he gets wrapped up in his shark towel and we play "baby shark". Baby shark entails me holding Aiden and running around the house doing the Jaws theme song (you know, duh duh...duh duh duh duh) and then showing him his reflection in the mirror and he screams "AH!"

My attempt at getting both of us in the picture...

I promptly dressed him back in pajamas - because on a day like today it is always appropriate to be a jammie day - no need at all to get dressed in real clothes! We watched some Baby Einstein and I painted my toenails "Wicked" for Halloween.

Aiden decided he wanted to check out what was going on outside, so I opened the door for him so he could get a closer look at the rain, I didn't expect him to try to crawl out there - but he did. 

He is thinking about it...

He wants out!

He's making a break for it!

I had to corral him back inside, where we lit the best smelling candle ever, snuggled up to read a few books on the couch and started cooking dinner from the comfort food bible also known as "The Pioneer Woman Cooks", because carbs and butter also seem totally appropriate on a day like today!

Allright Mom...

I posted the recipe for the delicious pumpkin bread I made the other day over HERE. I highly encourage everyone to make it! At least we can eat like it is fall!

Fall is here! Well, inside my house anyway...

Today is the first day of October. It is Fall. I don't care if it is 90something degrees outside, inside my house the leaves are falling (literally) and it smells like pumpkin spice bread. Little pumpkins have found their place in little spots all over my house and my fall wreath hangs on the front door. I love this time of year!

Since we don't have trees that have leaves that change color in the fall, I threaded some faux leaves on some thread and hung them up by the front door - every time the door opens, they move and look like they are falling. I made a little "Boo!" pumpkin banner out of glittery orange paper and glow in the dark letters, and added a glittery black crow to my fall wreath this year :)

 In the kitchen there are different types of cool looking winter squash on the table, waiting to be turned into Aiden's dinners.

And I made an awesome loaf of pumpkin cream cheese swirl bread. It is the best pumpkin bread I have ever had. Hands down. I am going to post the recipe on my tinycuisine blog a little later. You MUST try it.

 
Aiden's book collection is full of Halloween books, including my favorite "Goodnight Goon" - a parody of "Goodnight Moon", which I read to Aiden in the hospital.

I have been busy making Halloween decorations for the outside - I will post them later, once they are up. And Aiden's costume came in the mail yesterday. Halloween is my favorite holiday - can you tell? I just think it is fun and makes me feel like a kid again!

The changing of the seasons always makes me happy, now if only the darn weather would cooperate :)