Sunday was Evan's 2nd Birthday! We had a wonderful day with our family and friends. And I had a great time planning this Monkey Birthday Party!
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Front of the Invitation
All done on my Cricut |
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| The back of the invitation. |
I love wreaths and I was so excited to make this balloon wreath after finding it on the Internet. So super simple and only took 30 minutes to do. I think I will get some orange balloons and stick those in and change out the monkey ribbon and use it for fall.
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| Balloon wreath on the front door. |
I also designed all the paper elements of the party. My first design for the Happy Birthday banner was ovals using the brown, yellow and green colors. But then I found this clip art leaf and ran with the idea for the tree with the Birthday banner in it. I am so glad I went this way. I think it turned out really neat and made a great backdrop for the sweets table!
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| Monkey cake. Also really easy. Round cake with one cupcake cut in half and tooth picked to the side for ears. |
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| Chocolate cupcakes with the cupcake toppers I made. |
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| Sugar cookies with frosting monkey faces. Yum!! The kids loved these. |
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| Barrel of Monkeys! |
I always like to have something to send home with the kids. But I didn't want to do little gift bags with trinket toys that get broken or thrown away or a bunch of candy. I wanted something that they could keep and wouldn't just be a waste of money. I found these stuffable monkey dolls, like Build-a-Bear. The kids had fun stuffing their monkey and then I also bought little shirts that fit the monkey doll. So, with fabric markers, each kid got to decorate and draw on the shirt and each wrote their names on the back of the shirt. Made it easier to know who's monkey belonged to each little monkey at the party!
We had a huge spread of food. I highly recommend Wal-Mart's 6 foot party sub sandwiches. You get lots of food for very little price. I over ordered on the sandwiches and ended up sending food home with some of our guests. We had 9 kids and 19 adults and we only ate 5 of the one foot sandwiches. (I ordered 12, that's the reason for giving them away!) And they come with all the toppings on the side! Made it very easy. I also made pasta salad, potato salad, chips, fruit dip and lots of different fruits along with the cake, cupcakes and cookies. I hope nobody went home hungry!
And of course, no Helm party is complete without a tractor ride. We got a bigger hay wagon and replaced all the wood on it and it was plenty big enough for all the kids and a couple of adults to go for a ride! It was a very fun party. And I hope everyone who helped us celebrate enjoyed themselves as well!
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| Sunday morning we woke up to Daddy's surprise! A Farmall M pedal tractor. Evan was so excited! |
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| Blowing out the candles |
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| Yum, cupcakes! |
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| Riding his new big wheel bike! |
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| Loving his tractor. Kind of hard to get up the hill and very scary watching him go down the hill! |
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Taking a tractor ride with Mom and Dad!
9/12/11 |
It doesn't seem possible that Evan is 2 years old. Seems like just yesterday we were making plans for his arrival. He is so full of love. He gives the best hugs and kisses and would follow his big sister anywhere. It melts my heart everyday that he loves to stay with me! He tells me everyday after dropping Madi off at school "I stay with you," in his best pouty voice, and holds on tight as we walk to the car. I wish I could keep him this age forever. Loving and innocent and eager to explore and learn.
I love you Evan!
Mommy
1 comment:
Makes me cry....I remember when Walter told me he wanted to marry me and never ever leave; I even remember where we were and what we were doing and that was 23 years ago. I am happy he chose to marry Laura and have that sweet little baby. They grow up too fast. Love you!
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