Pink Party!

As most of you know the past few weeks have been quite eventful.  We had my grandfather's memorial, my step-dad is recovering from a heart attack (and doing QUITE WELL thank heavens) and Luke broke his arm in a blaze of glory attempting a dunk in his varsity basketball game (surprise!  You readers didn't know that one yet!).  In the midst of all of this we (it was definitely a group effort) pulled off a Pink Party to celebrate Audrey's second birthday.

Our Pink Party Family

I've posted about a million pictures of the attendees on Facebook.  This post is dedicated to all things pink that made the party so much fun! 

The theme came about last fall when I made some pink garland for a friends baby shower.  I saw an idea on Pinterest, played around with the sewing machine and set to work creating garland of all different colors of pink circles.  Even thought the theme was pink I also LOVE the color of an ocean-blue, and because Audrey is still small her friends are really my friends, and since she technically almost stole my birthday I make the final decisions and decided the theme would be pink AND a little ocean blue for good measure :)
The garland turned out beautifully, especially when professionally photographed :)

Pink Garland

Next I set to work planning a pink menu.  I knew I wanted rice crispy treats but then went out on the search for pink snacks to add into the mix.  We found berries, gum balls, m&ms, and made some cupcakes for good measure (thanks Valentines Day, for also choosing to color coordinate your colors with my birthday party plans!).  I was going to make some cake balls and had big plans for what they were going to look like but in the end, these were the first and really only thing to be cut.  My mom and I were able to knock out the rest on a Saturday as Bob was resting at home after a really long few days.  It gave my mom and I something to focus on besides worrying, and I'm actually really thankful for the tasty diversion.

*A Side Note.  I've learned I'm 100% a stress eater.  To prove this revelation, I can attest that I was left alone with a bag of blue icing.  Once I had decorated the cupcakes I proceeded to sit on the couch and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze the icing into my mouth until I was sick.  It was the best tasting icing and was well worth the stomach ache later in the evening





                         


 
  Audrey's favorite food in the world right now is M&M's.  Lucky for us we have photographic evidence that her hand, in fact, was caught in the candy jar.  We had the table set up a few minutes before the guests arrived and Audrey could be found happily perched beside the snacks in a very precarious position...


The final touch to the Pink Party was the pink birthday cake.  I saw an idea (again, thanks PINTEREST!) where the icing was piped in swirls all around the cake.  My step mom had a great recipe for a stiffer icing and it worked great!  My mom and I baked a vanilla cake, dyed pink of course, and mixed the thick icing.  I set to work making swirl after swirl and was really impressed with the final result!  This is the same icing that we made later, that I piped directly into my mouth, for the record, so it not only decorated well but tasted delicious! 

In the end the best part of the Pink Party was having my family in attendance and having all of my friends over for the afternoon.  I have a wonderful group of friends and they have wonderful and adorable kids.  It was a much needed break from some of the less pleasant things going on to spend a couple of hours really laughing and spending time with friends and family. 

Bir-day Cake

Today, January 13th, is my precious daughter's second birthday.  We celebrated with a pink party (the topic for a coming blog), friends, and family.  Since right now Audrey's friends are attached to my friends I concider today a birthday party for me, with the smoke screan of saying it was for peanut.  She had a blast chasing after all the "buddies", ate her fill of m&ms, and is still wide awake in her crib, even though we put her down 45 min ago, sitting up thinking about the festivities.

Today marks the end for a very tiring but happy ending week.

Last Saturday my grandfather passed away.  He was surrounded by my mom, aunt, and uncle, and his wife, my grandma.  The memorial service will be next weekend, where I get to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins and spend time talking and sharing stories about a wonderful guy.  Scott is making a video for the family to watch and we've been going through old family footage.  We've heard some great accents (I'm gon ged-it = I'm going to get it), seen an AWESOME sweat suit (mom...) and the same sweatpants on a cross country tour (uncle Pat!).  It's been really great to go back and see how lucky I was to have such a happy family growing up.  Something I don't want to take forgranted ever.

In other family news Bob (my step-dad) had a minor heart attack on Wednesday, which meant he had stents put in on Thursday, and, AMAZINGLY was home on Saturday.  It's not until tonight, after the party festivities are over, that I can truly tell you how thankful I am to have Bob back home with our family.  I left work early to go be with mom and Luke.  Scott joined us Friday, and we stayed with mom and Bob and Luke.  It was a blessing in disguise because I had a family effort supporting the birthday efforts, and everyone was able to make the trip up to Greeley to celebrate.  Once I'm finished with this post I'm planning on taking a deep breath, kissing my still-awake daughter good night, and getting some hopefully restful sleep.

Friends and family, I can't begin to tell you what an amazing two years it has been since Audrey came into our lives.  Although we are well underway into the Terrible Twos there is no one in this world I would rather watch throw a temper tantrum over the wrong milk cup or having to wear a coat in below-zero temperatures.

To Audrey, with all my love, you are smart, carismatic, precious, happy, vivacious, and your mom and dad's biggest joy in life.  We love you.  Happy birthday my daughter.

Audrey - 2 Months

Audrey - 2 Years

Stream of Thought

Holy Holiday Break Batman!  When I thought we were busy before, I had no idea what December had in store for our little family. This post serves to update on a few happenings going on around the Ward-Ward household.  Not all are wonderful news upon first reading, but trust me when I say each is positive in its own way.

1. We are attempting (quasi-attempting) to potty train Audrey.  We have the potty chair, the Dora pull ups, and the m&m treats.  Our morning consists of many trips to the bathroom to give pottying a "try".  So far our most productive day produced 2 successful potty attempts.  We average 1 a day.  And although Audrey can identify the planet Saturn in the Rose Bowl Parade she hasn't connected the idea that potty = m&ms.  She loves it when it happens and runs around the house all proud and yelling to anyone that will listen about her success, but hasn't made the jump to tell us when it's time.  I know the wonderful lady who watches Audrey will take off from where we left off and she'll be a potty pro in no time but this makes me a little sad.  I love this special time with peanut so much it's hard to relinquish such a task to others.  DARN IT for finding people who love and take care of her... What were we thinking??!!?? Then, I also think, why am I so excited to sit in the bathroom and yell about potty so much?  Perhaps this is a blessing in disquise!

2. I hate the thought of going back to work.  Tomorrow Audrey goes to her new pre-school in the morning (she'll go on Fridays) and it breaks my heart to be away from her for 3 hours when it's not necessary.  Again, it's a blessing that we found such a wonderful pre-school.  She gets to go with her best buddy and will have  a blast with the other kids but I selfishly want as much time as possible just to be around her!  Right now she's perfectly content coloring  and playing with an assortment of living room toys and I'll miss that.  It makes me long for summer vacation, which is MONTHS away! The positive aspect to this is I know she will be very happy being back with Julia and playing at Jan's, and I also remind myself how much I like the people I work with and how much I love the job that I do.  I sure will miss my squirt though.  It doesn't get any easier to go back to work, just more routine I guess.

3. My grandfather, who has battled Alzheimer for years, will likely pass away this week.  Although this is a sad time for our family, the timing has been a blessing.  Most of my family was on break and could come and spend time together and I had a lot more flexibility to drive down to Colorado Springs.  Anyone who has known someone with Alzheimers knows that the end is such a blessing  I have seen God's touch through my family this past week.

4. Our Christmas break was longer this year so I got to spend time with my mom, Bob, and Luke and my dad and Anne this break.  Audrey doesn't know what to do with herself now that she's not surrounded by grandparents but is sure lucky to have so many people who love her!

5. I still have 3 days before I go back to work and I plan on making each day count.  Audrey and I will watch Mickey Mouse, eat lots of snacks, color, organize the basement, and read lots of books in the next few days.  Even though I give her up for 3 hours tomorrow morning I get her back in time for a lunch date and a fun evening with dad.

6. Audrey turns TWO YEARS OLD in about a week.  I've been busy getting ready for her party and am so  amazed she's already 2.  She's amazing.  She talks my ear off and has so much personality it oozes from between her toes!  She's learned the art of flopping on the dirtiest of floors when we are running errands and she doesn't get her way, she takes her shoes off every opportunity she can, she sneaks Tober treats when no one is looking, all she wants to do in the morning is snuggle in our bed, and she loves to take pictures of her feet with the iphone.  I'm really looking forward to her birthday party next weekend.

7. I got two new pairs of jeans at the Gap for 23 dollars each.  I finally gave in a bought a bonified pair of skinny jeans and got another pair, bootcut, that will replace a pair I've needed to say farewell to for quite some time.   If you see me in the next few days I'm most likely wearing them, and most likely looking completely and totally awesome :)

There you have it.  All the things that have occupied my thoughts in the past 25 minutes.  Now it's time to snuggle, read some books, sing some songs, and relax :)