Sunday, July 20, 2014

Cyan’s Winter Wonderland 13th Birthday Party

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My only daughter turned 13 last week.  It’s amazing to me and yet about time in coming.  She is not the typical 13 year old at all.  She is a special girl who acts more mature than me sometimes and who is a HUGE help to me in all ways.  She is my little social butterfly, loving and fitting in with all people, and I wanted to find a way to truly honor her during her special celebration.  This year, when asked what kind of theme she wanted, she told me that she would like to have a winter party in summer.  So we got out the Christmas décor and started planning a party! 

It all started out with giant pinecones, burlap and Christmas balls.

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Even though she wanted a winter wonderland, my weather app said it was supposed to be 92* on the day of the party so I set about translating traditional winter fare into a summer feast!  She especially requested hot cocoa, so I made each of her guests a hot-chocolate pudding mugs with mini-marshmallows on top!

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I searched for Italian Coffee mugs at thrift shops in the weeks before the party and set them on a mirror I also found at a thrift shop that doubled as a beautiful party tray!  (It now hangs in my entry way.  At $10, It was a score!)  I added the marshmallows when the pudding was still hot so they melted a tiny bit on top, which added to the ‘hot cocoa’ feel of the whole thing.  Just before serving I stuck a chocolate hazelnut wafer cookie into each pudding cup.

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I had used a red table cloth and a burlap runner down the center.

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And the table was garnished with Queen Anne’s Lace, which you can not find in winter, but looks like snowballs when put into a bouquet and, bonus, they were free!  (They grow everywhere around here!)

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The backdrop was tons of paper snowflakes cut out and put on the dining room window.  They were beautiful, but in the bright sunshine, they were a little hard to photograph.

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We used pinecones and Insta-snow for fluffy white stuff around the centerpieces and it added beautiful that touch of wintery flare.

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The dinner started off with typical party platter food, fruit, cheese, and crackers all put on silver tiered trays (from my wedding 15 years ago!) which gave them a very beautiful and elegant look running down the center of the table.

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The main course was hot tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken skewers.  Some of my daughter’s favorite winter foods!

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Insert baby photobomb:

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The cake table was my favorite space at this party.  I used a frame I have and added all pictures of Cyan growing up to give it an immediate celebratory flare with Cyan at the center of the party.

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The cake table was decorated with red table cloth, burlap runner, twigs (from Pier 1 imports), cardinals (from Michael’s Crafts), birch straws and napkins (from Amazon Prime), and Christmas décor (from mine and my neighbors stash of decorations).  It was so beautiful that I think I kept it up for a week!  (Minus the food of course) 

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The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting, decorated with fresh raspberries… which was an awesome combination!  I may actually do this again!

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After dinner was, of course, time for cake and gifts.

 

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She had a little trouble blowing out her red flamed birthday candles…..

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Silly girl!

After that, I packed everyone up in the vans and headed to the ice skating rink.  I had gotten tickets on a Groupon so they were all 1/2 off!  It was the perfect end to our Winter Wonderland afternoon. 

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Each girl went home with a hand-poured peppermint, beeswax candle in a red and white stripe.

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It was a lovely day and a wonderful way to celebrate this amazing girl!

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Friday, July 18, 2014

Meet our newest baby

This is the last addition to the Rose household that we are planning for a good long while.  Don wanted a dog and Ember wanted a friend.  We were set up for dogs in a really good way and so I said yes.  I was thinking this fall, but this little guy just fell into our lap and I fell in love.  I am sure you can see why.  He is a black German Shepherd. 

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The naming conversation went like this:

Don: “If I picked him, I get to name him right?”

Me: “Sure, as long as you don’t name him something dumb, like Boba Fett.”

Don: *long pause* “You’re right!  A pure black Shepherd… his name is Vader!”

Me: “NO!” *smirk*

Don: “Put it to the masses… I bet I get at least 50% vote.”

And so I did.  And everyone on Facebook and text LOVED the name.  So his name is Vader. 

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And it fits… if Vader was made out of puppy fur and cuteness.

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We are all in love.

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Completely and absolutely.  Even Ember loves him to pieces…

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which made me doubly glad we got a pup when we did.  They adore each other.  In fact, Ember looks a little like Vader’s mama:

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All in all, we are one big happy family and training is already going well.  It’s amazing how the trickle-down effect also works with dogs.  Have one smart, well-trained dog and she will train the new one.  It’s been a great puppy experience!

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Couldn’t you just squeeze him???

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