Isabella's 7th Birthday - Oz Style!

December saw the completion of a party that was a year in the making.........

Isabella's Wizard Of Oz Party!

Being an old American movie, this theme needed much preparation as supplies had to be purchased mainly from the US.

The movie holds huge sentiment to me. Growing up spending time with my Nan and cousins in Carnarvon for the school holidays for Vac Swim we used to be allowed to hire a weekly movie, my movie of choice for Week 1 was Wizard of Oz and my movie choice for Week 2, Wizard of Oz. My cousin had the same addiction with the movie Annie and I think my two male cousins would have destroyed those VCR tapes had they had the opportunity.

Overnight we put everything together we had collected to create a representation of the movie and I was proud of what we achieved.

THE FOOD:

 

Yellow Brick Road biscuits, Somewhere Over the Rainbow Cupcakes & Toto sandwiches

 

Red Apples, Tin Man Heart Lollypops and Ruby Red Cake Pops

THE CHARACTERS:

No Wizard of Oz Party would be complete without the characters from the movie! Enter our crazy family and that is achieved!

The Birthday Girl as Dorothy and Me (Mum) as the Wicked Witch of the West

Teresa as the Tin Man and  Dad as the Lion

Middle Sis as Glinda and Baby Sis as Toto!

Movie Cast Photo - Wicked Witch, Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy, Glinda

The Wicked Witch of the East, what remained of her after Dorothy's house landed on her.

THE CAKE:

To mix things up a bit due to the pretty backdrop for the party, we decided on a Witch Cake!

A double layer vanilla cake with green food colouring, topped with Black coloured Dream Whip and the best Wicked Witch ever!

A big thanks to Clorinda for making the amazing witch for me. You can find Clorinda on Facebook (Clorindas Creative Cakes). Located north of the river in Perth WA.

FAVOURITES:

I always sit down at night after the party and look through the pics and always find some real favourites from the day. Here are a few;

Everyone had left and we were still mucking about - love this pic of Isabella mucking around with her Dad.

Three of the Dorothy's getting loose with their fairy floss tongues poking out!

CREDITS:

A big thank you to Rebecca from Angelfaces Face Painting. Rebecca has painted at so many of my parties now that she is almost part of our Party Family! Rebecca, thank you for always doing such an amazing job. You really help to complete my parties and help make the photos extra special.

www.angelfacesfacepainting.com

A special thanks to Sam from Imaginate (search Imaginate on Facebook and like her page). Sam custom designed Isabella's invitation to fit my theme and helped with printables for the party. Sam is a delight to work with and always listens and designs to your requirements.

Milla's 1st Birthday Icecream Parlour

Ok, where did that year go?

I remember so clearly that at this time last year, I was awaiting the arrival of my third child. As usual I was being OCD and had told baby that he/she must wait until after my girl's dancing concert (3 days before DD) to arrive. Baby #3 conformed slightly and an induction followed by emergency caesarean occured on the 22nd November 2011.

A year on and we have a walking One Year Old!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we put together an Icecream Parlour themed birthday party!

Miss Milla proudly wore her Icecream Outfit - thanks to Tutu Prissy! (www.tutuprissy.com.au). The gorgeous icecream display was created by me, collecting pieces as the year progressed. A big thank you to Grandy who made these adorable fabric icecreams that I hung from the ceiling.

The centre focus for the table was a large photo print from Milla's 1st Birthday Smash the Cake Photo Session with Kelly from KAM Photography (www.kamimages.com.au)

I incorporated Milla's party theme into her Smash The Cake session to get gorgeous, original and precious photos that matched her party so well.

The table layout consisted of my Maxwell Williams Sundae bowls (given as a Christmas gift one year) filled with sundae toppers. I bought big tubs of icecream and lots of cones and let the kiddies all choose icecream flavour, topping, fillers etc.

Party food was all presented on the table for the kids to help themselves as they pleased. Cute little icecream cones were baked with cupcake mix and turned into Mr Whippy style softserve icecreams. We used Dream Whip for the icing. They looked super cute.

The cake was simple, yet looked amazing. A basic vanilla cake mix, two tiered cake topped with an upside down waffle cone and chocolate ganache...a mini version was also created for a special friend celebrating her 7th Birthday on the day of the party.

A special mention to Teresa, once again, I couldn't put these parties together without you. xxxx

And to my baby girl - Happy 1st Birthday Miss Milla!

Credits to:

A big thank you to Rebecca from Angelfaces Face Painting for all your efforts with the face painting.

www.angelfacesfacepainting.com

Thank you to Sam from Imaginate - you can find Sam on Facebook, just search Imaginate. Sam created all my party printables and Milla's Birthday Invitation and is such a beautiful person and her work is beyond perfect.

OCD + patience = a little bit of perfection....

Those of you who know me well, know I am slightly OCD, or as my husband says "very OCD".

Sometimes I think being OCD works to your advantage and if you add into it a BIG tablespoon of patience (which I sometimes lack I must admit) you will often come out with perfection.

A perfect example of this came on Tuesday.

My gorgeous sister drove down after school drop to meet me at my house prior to our girls Melbourne Cup lunch. At around 9:30am we attempted to commence baby photos of my newest niece Miss Britney.

Well..............Miss Britney did not want to co-operate. I really wanted her fed and dozy so I could get some beautiful newborn photos for my sister to capture this special time in their lives. Instead she decided on lifting her head right up (well beyond the ability of a less than two week old baby) and eating her arm;

After over an hour of persistence we finally caved to Miss Britney and decided to try again another day.

After our Melbourne Cup lunch Britney was fast asleep on my bed;

 

We embraced the opportunity to attempt to strip her off and put her in photographing position..........and IT WORKED!!!!

 

PATIENCE AND A LITTLE OCD BOUGHT US:

 

 

Pure Baby Perfection - oh, and of course her beautiful Mum contributed to her gorgeous genes.....

 

This little baby girl has been a massive shining light to our family in a year that has bought a lot of stress and tears. Britney, thank you, for being such a beautiful little angel. We love you. x

 

 

Princess Party for the perfect little Princess

This month, my gorgeous and cheeky niece Tori celebrated her 1st Birthday, Princess style!

The party was perfect for my brother & sis in law's little girl.

Pink and purple surrounded us and everything looked so girly and sweet.

To my sis in law Leanne, you did a super job at the party. The food, the decorations, everything looked beautiful. I must mention, well done on organising the biggest jumping castle Ive ever seen!

This was my first attempt at making a "birthday cake". I usually go for cupcakes as I find them easy to decorate etc. I think though this wasn't bad for a 1st go at something bigger! At the ripe old age of 1, Tori was quite impressed! The acrylic name cake toppers can be found over at "Bella Vita Craft Designs" on Facebook. I think they add a personal touch.

 

Some other Princess party food consisted of; marshmellow pops, cupcakes on Princess Stands and little teacups...

 

 

Sometimes making these little things, which are really quite simple, add such a beautiful girly touch to your party!

 

 

 

 

 

The joy of a new baby...

Almost a week ago, our family was blessed with a new addition.

My sister gave birth to her third child a baby girl.

This new little life is the 8th grand-child for my mum and dad. At the ripe age of 54 and 51 I think they are young grandparents.

Welcoming a new life into our family is a massive moment for our family. I consider us close knit and with each arrival, we are as thrilled as we were welcoming our own daughters.

I am immensely proud of my sister. Her strength has always been a huge admiration of mine. My sister has a beautiful relaxed disposition which I think has been passed on to my adorable niece.

To my niece Britney, welcome to our family of crazy moments, fun times but most of all to a lifetime of love, support and happiness. Personally I think you couldn't have picked a better family to have as your own.

Proud Mummy Moment

There are times during Motherhood when you get those moments of elation. Moments that full your stomach with butterflies and bring tears pouring. Today, was one of those amazing days.

Miss 4 got her first placing in dancing competitions.

This morning before leaving Miss 6 wished her good luck and Miss 4's response was "I will dance my best because I want one of those trophies". In the earlier comp days (ie, last year) she didn't really realise you got the big trophies until Miss 6 (pictured right) placed second in her Duo at April competitions;

 

From then on, Miss 4 increased her determination.

 

Many people have a lot to say about dancing. Some good, some bad. My experiences since Miss 6 started at age 3 have been nothing but positive. We have found amazing friends at our dance school and I hope these form lifelong friendships for my girls and me. The teachers of the school are nothing short of brilliant and inspirational and their goal to give children the gift of confidence is evident every single day in their students.

 

Everytime the session starts at competitions that my daughters are competing in, the butterflies start. I look at that massive stage and cringe at the thought of Miss 4 dancing straight off the front of it and landing on her face.

 

Today, she did exactly the opposite of make me cringe. She danced better than she has ever danced before. When she lined up for the adjudications and they called her competitor number for 1ST PLACE, tears poured out of my eyes. I was the proudest Mum ever! Not just at the placing, but at the way she presented herself on stage and danced so amazing at the ripe old age of 4.

 

Walking back to the change rooms, Miss 4 proudly showed off the trophy and informed other students that she "just won 1st place", bless her. The little ones do so brilliantly to get up on that stage on their own and dance their solos. I get a massive warm heart for each and everyone of them. As for their teacher, well she can do no wrong in my eyes and will always hold a huge place in my heart and our family. I won't go on and on about her, because she knows how highly I think of her and the way she treats my daughters and the other students. What Miss 4's teacher and the dance school represent is outstanding.

 

 

Babies/Children = Controversy!

Politics and religion are the two biggest conversation destroyers.................enter Pregnancy, Birth and Babies and you can almost start a war!

When you first fall pregnant, the comments, information, advice and feedback start and trust me they DO NOT end!
Right from how you go about your pregnancy, you will be judged....
"Are you finding out the babies gender?"
"Are you going public or private?"
That is only the very beginning.....next the birth of the baby opens another can of worms
"Are you having a drug free birth?"
"Are you having a natural birth?"
"Are you having a caesarean?"
Not only do these questions get asked, but they also get a lot of advice and judgement that follows them.

When bub arrives you will face the breastfeeding/bottle feeding questions, followed by everything surrounding sleep...
"Does your baby sleep through the night?"
"Does your baby sleep in their own room?"
"Do you put your baby in your bed?"

Next step, eating solids. Yep, you guessed it, something so trivial attracts a LOT of controversy;
"Are you making your baby's food?"
"Do you think they are eating enough?"
"Wow, your baby looks massive, I think you are over feeding them?"

This goes on and on and continues for Im guessing your entire child's life!

Having caught up with some high school friends last weekend, who are expecting their first babies, the only advice I could give them (after having 3 children), was
1. Take in what you want from what people say
2. Do whatever you think is right for you and your baby, despite what some people say, and
3. Enjoy every moment, because sometimes when you're in the moment and not enjoying it much, you tend to wish it away and when that little one blows out their candle at their 2nd birthday, you really wonder where the time went!

Oh..............I almost forgot, my all time favourite!
"OMG, you're massive, I never looked like that when I was pregnant".....

Now I am making my promise to never say that to anyone, not ever, because I was so massive my tummy should have had its own postcode! (pic was taken at 40weeks 1 day gestation).

xx

Miss 4's Owl Party

When Miss 4 advised me she wanted an "Owl Party" for her 4th Birthday, many family members said it would be easy as there's "owl stuff everywhere", there may be t-shirts, cups etc but there's not a lot of party supplies in an Owl theme.

I found some gorgeous Owl plates, napkins etc on an American website, http://www.birthdayexpress.com/, and decided that if I ordered birthday supplies for all three girls parties this year, I can justify the postage (to myself!), so I mentally listed everything I would need for the parties and went ahead with my order.

I must say the Birthday Express website is absolutely AMAZING! The themes they have available are beyond anything you could ever imagine finding in Australia.

I ordered the Owl Blossom range of tableware (see right). I thought it was cute and bright, and allowed me to purchase other things here that I could co-ordinate.

My Aunty made me an owl bunting to hang behind the trestle tables and found a completely gorgeous stuffed owl at Cotton On Kids that became the centrepiece. I made the raised section on the table out of a cardboard box. I covered it with polkadot wrapping paper and then glued on some scalloped white lace material to the front. It hid the paper join and made it look that bit more girly (ignore the fabric wrinkles);

I made some apple tree inspired sour strap sticks. I bought some flower pots from Spotlight and put a foam ball inside and painted both pink. I then rolled individual red & white sour straps and put them on the top of a wooden skewer stick.

They looked effective and the kids loved them! Other food included strawberry crackles (make like chocolate crackles, substitute the cocoa for strawberry Quik and add some red food colouring);

For Miss 4's cake, we had cupcakes with gorgeous Owl cupcake toppers, made for me by Giggles Cupcake Toppers (you can find on Facebook - search under Giggles Cupcake Toppers).

 

For what seemed like a challenging theme, I think we succeeded! In Miss 4's world it was the "best party ever" and at the end of the day, to me, that is all that matters!