GREEN TEA & OLIVES: My Baby Turned 3!

Hello,

I know I am going to sound like everybody's mother out there. But seriously folks, where does the time go?! It used to be that I measured the passing of time by my own personal accomplishments but now that I am a mom I find myself measuring the passing of time by my kids' accomplishments ('cause let's face it, whether we want to admit it or not, their accomplishments are ours as well, right?) and their birthdays.

My youngest turned three in March but we had just gotten back from Hawaii and I had other commitments that I wasn't able to fully dedicate the time to bring to light what I had in my mind for his birthday. On his actual birthday we had cake and balloons and he was happy with that. Until his balloons escaped his grasp and went to balloon heaven. My poor child let out a howl of angst so intense I thought he had severed a limb! Thankfully it was only a cluster of balloons and Operation Balloon Replacement quickly commenced. We drove to the nearest Safeway and got more birthday balloons. The things we do for our birthday kids! :-)

We celebrated his birthday this past Memorial weekend with a What Does The Fox Say? theme.

I made some t-shirts for my two boys and my two nephews. I used the wax paper method. I didn't get the right paint and the paint ended up adhering to the piece of cardboard paper I used to line the t-shirt so that when the paint dried- yep, you guessed it- it was totally stuck to the t-shirt. Poor kids ended up wearing the t-shirts and scratching their chests all afternoon due to the pieces of paper stuck to the back of the fox. Still, they looked cute. :-)

I designed the water bottle labels, posters, soda bottle labels, and cupcake toppers. Geometric shapes and foxes? YES please! I found the fox clip art from etsy seller FRANCEillustration. She has such beautiful digital art.

Like every party I seem to be involved in, this party was a major budget party. It was small-- just family and a few friends. I made some fox tails a la Crazy Wonderful style. My sis and I cut these out of craft felt the night before and we sewed them up the morning of the party. I added some bias tape I had on hand so the kids could tie them around their waists.

I cut and sewed the geo garlands the day before. I followed this tissue paper geometric lantern tutorial by Jenny of Hank & Hunt (who is sadly no longer blogging).They are not difficult to make but are fragile and require a bit of patience. Well worth the effort, though.

We played some games: Musical Paws (i.e.: musical chairs without the chairs), Find The Fox (kids had to find little fox pins placed around the back yard), and Pin The Tail On The Fox. Then the kids simply ran wild from all the sugar they had consumed that was tempered by pizza. Sorry parents but thanks for joining in the fun!

I made a fox piñata from a cute burro piñata from Target. I made his ears and legs smaller by cutting the tips off. I then fashioned a fox tail and stapled it to the body of the piñata. I cut some orange, white, and black tissue paper, fringed, and glued it on the piñata. Geo Fox was born! He turned out quite cute.

The beautiful cupcakes and mini cake were made by my talented friend Judy. I don't think there is anything under the sun that she cannot bake. She also makes the most delicious coconut tres leches cake that is topped with fresh strawberries and toasted coconut flakes. So divine! These cupcakes and mini cake were no exception. They were strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream frosting. Well worth the caloric intake!