{race car birthday party}

I wanted to share a few pictures from my son's race car birthday party that we threw for him a while ago.  I planned and organized for weeks, and of course the day of the party I left my good camera at home :( :( So I apologize now that these are all phone pictures, but the party was a huge hit and I wanted to share a few details.  

{homemade piñata with cut up cereal boxes, tissue paper, and glue}

{black plastic table cloth and duct tape to make "streets"} 

I wanted a few car tires for decoration and to create a bean bag toss game, so we called a few tire stores and one of them let us borrow some old tires for free and return them.  The tire store manager was so nice, he even let us borrow a race car tire that I used to prop open the entrance door!

{our church has a pinewood race car track that they let us borrow and the kids could race all of little G's toy cars}

{I love to bake and decorate cakes, and this cake turned out awesome! I bought a checkerboard cake pan set from Michaels and followed the directions so that the cake would look like a race flag on the inside.  And to make the "3" I used two round cakes and buttercream frosting (no fondant required!)}

 {I made my son's piñata last year, and after not finding anything I liked for his party this year, I decided to make it again since I had enough recyclable boxes and leftover tissue paper from the last piñata}

If I've learned anything from it, I think I won't forget my good camera again, haha!  But I would probably consider putting a friend in charge of taking pictures (or hiring a photographer) for the party.  I did a lot of the work for the party on my own (I'm not complaining, I love planning parties!), but pictures would be one less thing for me to stress about doing during the party and are so nice to have when all the food is gone and the decorations have to be taken down.  And no matter the quality or type of camera used, my family and I will always cherish the pictures and memories that we made together.  

Overall, the party was a lot of fun and it turned out great!  I'm a perfectionist and a procrastinator (a tragically flawed personality, right?! Hahaha!), so of course as fate would have it there were things that I wanted to do but didn't have enough time to execute.  But even so, watching my son play with his friends and seeing him have a blast was worth all of the late nights and last minute stress.  He is the only reason for the party, and what matters most is that he has a good time.  

xo, Sara

P.S. If you are planning a race car birthday party, you can find more ideas on my Pinterest board here.  

{violet's first birthday}

My daughter Violet turned one last week!  It has been such a fun year that has flown by.  She is learning so much and becoming just a fun little girl who has us all wrapped around her little fingers.  

When Grant turned one we had a big birthday party for him which was a total blast.  This time around I opted not to have a birthday party for Violet (this year!)…second child problems I guess?? Ha! I made sure though that we did our traditional "birthday balloons" (sneaking balloons into the birthday boy/girl's room the night before) and of course, a smash cake.  

Even though most of these pictures don't show it (except for the last two), she tore into her cake!  We had to pick her up off the floor and strap her into her high chair half way through since she was getting frosting on our walls!  Regardless of where she was, it didn't damper her excitement.  

I still have Grant's race car party pictures I plan on sharing, so stay tuned for that coming up soon!

Thanks for reading!

xo, Sara

{three years into motherhood}

It is a happy Monday indeed!

My little boy is three years old today! I am celebrating with him all day, doing all of the fun things he likes to do and eating all of the foods he likes to eat.  Thankfully since he is still little and easy to please,  he is having an amazing birthday.  His excitement for everything is super contagious, and this is why being his mama is awesome.  

Sometimes it still boggles my mind that I am a mother, and that I have two kids now!  Not because I didn't think motherhood wouldn't work out for me or because it wasn't in my original life plan, but time has just flown by…watching my kids grow up makes me feel old and I don't feel old at all!  I've always known that I wanted to have children, and because I had children when it was the right time for me, I have no regrets about it.  But…parenthood is hard.  The struggle is real!  I know that's totally cliche, but should something be a cliche when it's actually a fact of life? Parenthood is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and everyone seems to have a different opinion about it (including myself).  I have friends with kids that mention every now and then that they can't imagine life without their children, or that they didn't know what life was until their littles came into the world.  I'm going to honest, I can't really relate to those sentiments because I totally remember how my life was kid-free, and I CAN imagine what my life would be like without them.  That sounds horrible, but I can explain.  

The few years when it was just my husband and I, we were living it up as two full-time college students and part-time job holders.  For the most part we managed our time well to where we didn't always work crazy hours, every night was basically date night since we were together almost every night, and we were financially comfortable.  We would go on vacations, spontaneous weekend trips, and try new local restaurants with such ease.  We both had time for our own hobbies, and lived pretty well-rounded lives.  I love having that time with my hubby as just the two of us, even when it wasn't always easy (sometimes it was hard in its own ways).  With kids added into our mix, it has added a few steps of complication to all of those things.  I'm not saying we don't or can't do those things anymore because of kids.  Now it takes a bit more planning, money, energy, and forethought...whereas before we wouldn't have to worry about babysitters, how many toys to pack, and/or future college savings.  With how much we spend just on diapers alone we could visit any exotic place in the world (or buy me some really amazing shoes)!

So yeah, I'd say that I remember life without kids and I can imagine what life would be like…especially on those nights when my little girl decides to not sleep through the night and on days where my now three year old pushes all of my buttons and throws epic terrible two tantrums (which I'm told don't magically disappear by age three and that they get worse…what?!).  BUT!  I love my children.  SO MUCH.  I would never not have them in my life.  Just like all of the other parents I personally know would say the same thing about their kids.  And maybe the phrase "can't imagine life without them" is how they express that their children are irreplaceable and worth all of the sacrifices they have made.  Whether having babies in the first place was a cake walk or a refiner's fire through Hell and back, I think it's safe to say that all parents struggle with parenthood every now and then and can remember their life as it was before kids.  And those I know personally never quit on their children no matter how rough it is.  Because regardless of how tough it may be, there are moments that parenting wins and successes are made of and they are worth everything…and my daydreams of vacations and designer shoes can't even begin to compete with that.  

xo, Sara

{sesame street birthday party}

Happy Thursday!

In less than a week, my little boy will be turning three, and it boggles my mind that I have a three year old!  I'm crazy deep in planning his upcoming birthday party, and in honor of throwback Thursday, I wanted to share a few memories of Grant's birthday party from last year.

Growing up, my mom would put together Pinterest-worthy birthday parties for my brother and I (obviously before Pinterest ever existed), so since I was little I have wanted to do the same for my kids.  It might seem crazy, but I love planning, organizing, and throwing parties.  A lot of my favorite memories and best friendships have been from (or grown stronger because of) throwing a get-together, and adding a theme and decorations gives me a creative outlet and just takes things up a notch of awesome in my book! And now that I have kids, seeing the joy and excitement in their faces when they go to parties (or have their own) and play with their friends makes the effort (and sometimes late nights and stress) totally worth it.  

I have a Pinterest board just for party ideas here, and even a few separate party theme specific boards (including one just of Sesame Street ideas and inspiration, in case you have a little one requesting Sesame Street!)

This year we are throwing little G-man a race car themed party, so I'll be sharing that soon!

xo, Sara