D is for...

4 Weeks Stats

• Your newborn stuff is put away!  You are one long dude.  
• I have no idea how much you weigh, but you feel hefty already.  Probably near 10 lbs already.  Your neck roll is probably 2 lbs by itself... ;)
• I'm hopeful that you are *slowly* growing out of your colicky-ness.  You are crying less in the evening.  Just seems you really need help getting yourself asleep.  Once you're sleeping, you're pretty good.
• You HATE baths.  You shriek through the entire thing.  So you don't get very many of them...
• However, your hair is really curly after baths, which I love and makes me contemplate bathing you everyday, just so I can see the curls.
• Mommy's awesome friend brought over a mechanical swing to try out for you - you sleep so much better in it!  And mom is extremely thankful to her friend... what a lifesaver!
• Your big brother turned TWO this week and your mom turned 27 (old woman!). 
• You are getting really good at holding your head up.  You've been having some tummy time lately and you hold your head up for several minutes at a time.
• You also are JUST ABOUT to roll over.  Not kidding.  You just turn your head sharply to the side and start throwing your legs up and over in the air and you ALMOST have rolled over several times.   Anderson strength freaks me out.
• As your eyes are getting wider, you are looking more and more like your big brother's one month old photo.  Of course there are differences, but my goodness.  You can certainly tell you're brother's.  Makes me so curious to see how much you'll look like him as a toddler.
• We can't tell what your eyes are doing.  Some days they are more brown/hazel, other days bright blue and other days more grey tinted.  
 

Well, buddy, this weekend you will turn a MONTH old.  Wowza.  

Love you, little man.

Mom

Zeek's 2nd Birthday - Balloon Party!

Yep, my oldest son (still sounds weird to say!) turned TWO this past weekend!  I knew that this year would be a little crazy with little bro being born just a few weeks prior, so no big party would be taking place.  I wanted to keep the party as simple as possible (and had to keep reminding myself of that motto as I party planned...darn Pinterest.  So hard to keep things simple in the world of Pinterest.)

I decided on a (let me say it again) simple balloon themed party (not to mention, we wanted to keep it VERY budget friendly)!

I remember seeing these balloon invites and wanted to come up with something similar...

Source: secretstoves.net via Kayla on Pinterest

I bought a balloon pump from Target for $2.99 so that I wouldn't have to put my mouth on the same balloons that I was expecting all of his guests to put their mouths on!

Blew up the balloons and used an Expo Dry Erase Marker to write the party info on it (this was key!  Sharpie permanent markers just smear and never dry when you deflate them.  A Staples brand dry erase marker just flaked off.  The Expo brand dry erase was the only one that worked both inflated and deflated.).

edited out personal info

I let the air back out of the balloons, stuffed them into little coin envelopes which I had stamped "Blow Up" on with white ink and then closed the envelope's up with a little washi tape.

Then I just stuffed the whole coin envelope in another small white envelope for mailing out.

I kept the table decor very simple (duh).  I was originally going to add a few helium balloons in blue and yellow on either side of the birthday banner, but with a screaming newborn most of the day before the party, that was one detail that I decided didn't matter.  :)

The birthday banner was made with my Silhouette cutting machine.  Seriously, that thing makes party planning so quick and simple.  Love it.

I just put out a bunch of random food; knowing we were having an "open house style" from 3-8 pm (over the dinner hour), and me being a foodie, I wanted to have plenty of good and filling food for people to graze on.

Pulled Chicken sandwiches, spinach artichoke dip, plenty of veggies, chips and salsa, a fruit bowl and a cheese tray for the sandwiches. 

I had seen this fruit and salad "bowl" (below) on Pinterest and loved it!  Already had the same jar, so just threw some watermelon, grapes, cantelope and strawberries in.

Source: 4men1lady.com via Kayla on Pinterest

Of course, we had to have plenty of desserts too...

Brownie bites, chocolate covered pretzels, m&m cookies, cinnamon roll bites, birthday cake and cupcakes.

Zeek's birthday cake was just a funfetti double layer round cake with vanilla frosting.  I loved this cake that I saw on Pinterest:

Source: thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com via Kayla on Pinterest

So I made this cake:

The balloon topper is a vintage one that I remember having on several of my own birthday cakes growing up.  :)

Since the birthday cake was little, I made cupcakes to go along with it.  To keep it budget and time friendly, I bought and used these little balloon cupcake wrappers and flags that I found at the dollar tree.  Again, just funfetti cake.  :)

The beverages:

Strawberry Lemonade, Lemon Water and Pineapple Mint Sprite... inspired by these drinks found on Pinterest:

Source: theyummylife.com via Kayla on Pinterest

For party favors, I used a free "thank you" tag that was already pre-downloaded in my Silhouette cutter downloads when I bought the machine.  I bought big punching balloons for each kid, hole punched the tags and tied the balloons on.  These sat out by the front door in a little basket.

And for the last little detail, I used the Silhouette to cut out "Birthday Wishes" and balloon outlines for people to write their wishes for Ezekiel on.  For his first birthday last year, I had people fill out birthday wishes and it was hands down my favorite thing every about the party.  I loved reading the wishes from his friends and family and put them in his scrapbook as a keepsake.  :)

I had people just hang them up on the wall.

And now, the ACTUAL party photo's!  Here's Zeek enjoying his big day...

My Grandma Grace meeting her newest great grandkid!

I strung up some balloons to hang over the window and blew up a bunch of other random balloons to keep on the floor for the toddlers to play with.

My sweet Grandpa Earl.

The birthday boy!

First present!  HUGE present brought in from Grandma & Grandpa Anderson.  Zeek immediately went to rip all the paper off...

Workin' on it...

  Checking out the new slide!

Whadda you know?! The BOX is a GREAT present!

Helping daddy build the slide.

And now to ENJOY the slide!

What great entertainment for the entire party. :)

All the kiddo's enjoyed taking turns.

Birthday cake time!

 

"Ouch, hot!" - Zeek

Enjoying daddy's Paleo birthday cake creation! 

(Pumpkin, almond flour, honey, eggs... not sure what else!)

 Sweet Ella girl!  One of Zeek's MANY girlfriends.  But I'm pretty sure this one is his favorite.  Talks about her all the time.  ;)

Birthday boy with the Greats!

He just wanted to get down and play.  Forget "cheese!". 

Friends meeting the newest Anderson!

The four amigos!

These four are always together.  :) 

And... what my house looked like at the end of the party.

#naturaldisaster

:)

Zeek loved his day and I am so proud of myself for keeping it simple!

A good reminder that kids love even the most simple of parties.  

All they need is food, friends and family.

Thanks so much to everyone who came!!

We are so blessed to see how much our son is loved by others.

One more year older.

Oh my.

:)

Love,

K

C is for...

3 Weeks Stats

• You're opening your eyes so much more often now.  They are getting wider and brighter every day.
• You are holding your head up all the time now.  You always want to throw your head back and look up at the lights or out the window.
• You are just about out of your newborn clothes.  Your toes reach the very edge!
• Speaking of your feet, they look just like your daddy's.  Long planks and long toes.  I did what I could to gift you with my feet.  Sorry buddy.  :)
• You are sleeping really well at night (never are awake other than to nurse, but then you fall back asleep as you are nursing.), but you are LOUD.  You grunt and groan all through the night.  I keep waking up, thinking you are awake.  But you are not.  You are just loud.
• Just like your brother, you hate baths.  You scream the entire time so we give you exceptionally fast baths.  
• Zeek is more and more obsessed with you.  He places toys next to your head and always wants to hold you.  He LOVES when we lay you next to him in bed after he wakes up.  He thinks it's the coolest thing and begs for us to let you take a nap with him.  :)
• Zeek is really mindful of you and loves to softly kiss your head as you nap.  When we are packing up to go somewhere, you are in usually crying in your car seat and Zeek always tries to comfort you.  He'll gently rock your car seat or lean in and give you a kiss and say, "iss otay Adder!" 
• No more doctor visits for you for another 3-4 weeks, but we are taking you to the chiropractor this week to have you checked over (and to show you off!).  We love our chiropractor and masseuse (who are in the same office) and can't wait to introduce you to them!  They both have seen you plenty while you were growing inside of me; now it's time to show you to them since you're on the outside.  :)

Love,
mom