Shiloh's Birthday Brunch

Shiloh turned TWO yesterday. To be honest, I'm surprised we've made it this far. Stevo and I have concluded that she must have a whole parcel of angels designated solely to her - there's just no other way to explain the fact she's still kickin' with all the stunts she's pulled.

But oh how we love that crazy girl!

Since we just moved, since I'm not a fan of large crowds, and since Shiloh is kind of a loner herself, I wanted to keep her party small with her favorite little buddies. This way, we could all just have a relaxed and fun morning.

I got my part of the painting {translate: as far as I could reach while standing on top of the piano} complete in the office. I did a little rearranging in there for the party and moved a mojority of the office stuff, pulled the desk out from the wall, and covered it with a green quilt for a tablecloth.

The theme was Watermelons/Summer Fruit.

I decorated in pink and green with some black thrown in...

The quilt's a little askew {bugging me now} due to the fact these photos were taken after the party. Call me lazy.

I borrowed some dishes from my friend and neighbor - who is just super cool like that!

The centerpieces were assembled and thought up the hour the party was supposed to start. For some uncharacteristic reason, I had it in my head, but not my budget, to buy fresh pink flowers that cascaded from a glass vase. I saw it somewhere in blog land and I just fell in love. But as you know, I do not - I repeat - can NOT justify buying cut flowers. If I were rich, I would. But I'm not. :-(

So I took apart a wreath I had loosely assembled earlier this year and just stuck them into the vases and bent them to make the cascade look. For artificial, I was pleasantly surprised, and only a teensy bit sad they weren't the real deal. Someday, I'll have a garden.

Printed out a birthday banner on gingham scrapbook paper.

I just printed out an individual letter on each piece of paper, cut it down to size, punched two holes in the top, and strung pink ribbon I had on hand through it. LOVE! Even better? I can switch out the ribbon and reuse for Keller's birthday party.

Made lots of these easy watermelon garlands by hand cutting several pieces of leftover scrapbook paper stacked (to minimize time cutting) and then just hot glued them to baker's twine while watching a movie. I hung them on the fireplace and in the office by tacking a thumb tack into the wall.

The office is going to receive a huge piece of artwork I'm stewing over above the piano, but for the party, I brought in a frame with Shiloh's photos already in it and just leaned it up against the wall. {Great trick for you home decorators who don't want to commit or just need something temporary.} I placed Shiloh's barely started scrabook on the piano and whipped up that imperfect little "2" sign in two minutes and hung it by a clear thumb tack.

Have you made these before???

I've seen them everywhere, but finally made some this time around. They are a quick project, with a great wow factor.

My girls woke up from their naps, and were like, "Wow! Mommy, it's a birthday party!!!"

It felt like Christmas morning and it just warmed my heart to see how exciting celebrating is through their young eyes.

Go HERE for simple step-by-step instructions.

The party itinerary went something like this:

Started with brunchy foods...

Did 2 crafts...

Opened gifts and sang to the birthday girl...

{no pictures, sorry!}

The cupcakes were carrot with orange cream cheese frosting. I forgot to put pretty cupcake liners on...oh well! The watermelons were again hand cut and just hot glued onto toothpicks and stamped with a "2" stamp in black ink.

The guests took home green flower pots with freshly planted flower seeds {one of the crafts} and this homemade strawberry jam Stevo and I made together:

Yes! Stevo will cook with me in the kitchen!!!

We finished the day together as a family up at the bowling alley:

Nothing like a shirt tucked into panties to give you that crisp, put-together look. ;-)