March28,11 (MM:another Fail)

Bummer. Baby boy wasn't feeling well so we didn't get to do this. Again. On the upside he did get a new smaller inhaler and is doing great on it! He will even ask for his "puffer" and sit very calmly during his treatment. Much better than the fights we used to have. I hate that he needs this. Poor lil monster!
He is now having cold like symptoms, which is common for his issues. He's actually kept me awake for the past 4 nights having intermittent crying spells. Like a pain cry. Going to give it one more night and then make a call to the pediatrician. I just wanna rule out any ear infections or anything. ok, I am starting to ramble. Hope the next post can be my happy monster creating something to show you lovely people!

Sebastian's Monster Bash Take 2

Hi everyone!! So I have been having lots of people ask me to show some more detailed pics of Sebastian's 1st birthday party. This computer is new so I didn't have any old pics on it. I hope I loaded what you wanted and this isn't pic overload ( I still have more from the actual party, haha.) Enjoy!
Getting Crafty:
First, we needed a theme. I could not think of the perfect theme for him. After much thought, I decided Monsters. He knew that monsters growled and let's face it, he IS a monster! After much research online, I found the perfect paper goods at this birthday supply site . I also got some great favors here. Then I had to make the rest.

The Theme and Inspiration

Then it was on to getting crafty!
The Banner:

The Cupcake stand: Hubby cut out the shapes and I put it all together. I covered the circles with a red linen fabric, then trimmed them with a purple satin ribbon. Next I drew a face on the small monster, painted him and attached him to the top. I also bought precut wooden letters that spelled out Sebastian and attached them to the top tier of the cupcake tower.

Next up we created some signs. Skylar (the most awesome big sissy ever) made his Welcome Sign. Hubby and I bought worked on the sign for the food table. (I have carpal tunnel so my hands start to really hurt after a while, so he was great to help out!)

(as you can tell we had a taco bar for the food)

Next I thought it'd be cute to have a little candy station. I bought some glass jars and attached ribbon onto then using hot glue. I also created some circles to attach to the centers. Sadly my printer was acting funny so this had to be hand drawn, but I was still content with the way my monsters came out, haha

I also wanted to have a place where people could sign, but did not want an actual guest book so I created this little framed photo. It will later be hung in his room.

Hubby cut some large pieces of wood for me to paint so that we could use them as decorations. The little face was used at the food table and the big one was as a photo prop. The kids all loved these!

I love doing favors and crafts at parties! This is the favor bags I put together for this event. The bags also contain the crafts they got to do. I first put everything (except their cups) into a gallon size Ziploc bag so they could decorate their actual bags with stickers, markers, etc, and then they got to dump everything into their true bags.

Every month, exactly on the 14th I took Sebastian's photo in the same chair with the same bear. I made a poster using these photos and displayed it at his party.

For my daughters birthdays I have always bought the cake, but this year I decided to try my hand at making cupcakes. I made 4 different styles of cupcakes (with the help of Skylar) and they were strawberry, chocolate, spice and funfetti. I first made regular sized cupcakes, then minis. I stacked the mini on top and used that as my foundation to create the Monsters. I did the fur and Skylar (using various treats like sprinkles and tiny marshmallows) created the faces.

We rented out our Community Building for his party. They give you the key the day before in case you want to go in early to set up. We took advantage of this opportunity and decorated the night before the party. This is the party room before, during, and after our decorations! (including a funny photo I had to add of Skylar. She decided Sebastian didn't need any pink balloons at his party, so she put them in a safe place! HA)

I hope this better shows his party, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Please comment in the comment box!

March23,11 (WIUW: Cookies)

Today we did the sugar cookie thing I wanted to do before and Hubby threw the dough away, grr.
Basically I just took a roll of store bought dough and cut them into circles.

Then I gave Sebastian 2 cookie and some food coloring on a plate and let him "Paint" his cookie. (before baking) He painted for a while, but then just wanted to eat the raw dough, so I had to say "No" to which he got angry and refused to paint anymore. He just watched Sissy instead and waited for them to be ready to eat.

Skylar and I teased him that his looked like bloody chicken prints. His hands were also a horrid sight. Haha, oh well. It'll come off...eventually! The main thing was he had fun, until I said the "N" word! :)

Skylar, however, took his actions as a good thing because it gave her more cookies to color. Once she realized it was staining his skin, she stopped "painting" and moved on to various sprinkles. She loved the idea of painting cookies but had picture day at school the next day, so she had to be careful.

Once they came out of the oven we all tasted them and they were so yummy! Sebastian ate one, and the rest of us monsters had 2. We gave the leftovers to the grandparents. This was so fun!