Betsy's 4th Birthday Party Circus / Carnival!!!

We did it!  

After all the weeks of party prep, we managed to pull off one heck of a circus / carnival for our sweet four year old girl.  

what's a circus without a ferocious lion and lion tamer? 

Our twin girls were on the parts! 

Here's the candy bar...

I made this candy / sweets sign myself.  When I was at Cost Plus one day, I saw a huge display with this signage.  I asked if I could purchase it, or wait until it was ready to be discarded, but the manager said it would be there through spring.  Hmph.  So I ended up taking a photo of it, then having it blown up onto posterboard.  I then mounted it onto foam board (from the dollar store by the way!!!) and cut it out with an exacto knife. 

The cute DIY peanuts, candy, cookies labels can be found here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/partyinvites

super fun favor bags with silly glasses, tops, scooby doo snacks and 'tickets' to the carnival. 

We draped the outdoor fireplace and dressed it up and hung vintage string lights across the grassy area of the backyard for the full effect.

Fresh cotton candy topper for the birthday girl's cupcake. The only problem was that cotton candy and Houston humidity did NOT agree.  It turned into this hot pink mess within minutes.  But it was cute while it lasted!

our birthday girl back in the day when she was just a year old. 

I'm really glad she has hair now.  We waited a long time!

our little Emily looking out the window after her nap. She looks just like Betsy did at 11months.  

Note the baldness!

 the tables (I have to have SOME shabby chic in my parties!)

The poms were purchased here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/partyson

we bought the mini circus tent for the twins, but all of the kids had a great time playing in it.

welcome to the Lion's Den

plenty of fun and games

and funny faces!

I made this little birthday banner and was very happy with how cute it looked on the cake

the birthday girl

Projects!

Why is it that creating a birthday party seems so easy and inexpensive in theory... until you actually start doing everything for it?  I had high hopes of keeping Betsy's birthday affair a simple one, but now it is becoming quite the project.

Every carnival needs a candy bar!  Here's the sign I created for ours.  The white shabby armoire is going to be filled with sweet treats :)

Found this frame at Ikea.  It was black.  After a few coats of acrylic paint,  it is now fun and festive and will work well with our theme.

We have this outdoor fireplace that I want to do something with.  I picked up some red & white striped fabric and hope to hang the frame and the red "B" in the center, and then make curtains out of the fabric.

Big plans, little time.  But it sure is fun! 

xx

Here we are!

My oh my. It's been awhile. I should probably re-introduce myself to this poor blog.  But life has been a bit busy what with growing people and all......

This photo was taken on Valentine's Day at our favorite cupcake boutique.  I just can't believe that these sweet girls are almost 10 months old now. They have wildly different personalities~ Margo is my big, sweet girl who sleeps like a log and snores like a trucker.  She is the first to smile in the morning when she sees us come in her room, when she greets us with her sleepy eyes and bedhead.  She loves stealing toys from Emily and grabbing for anything she shouldn't have (including Betsy's hair, Emily's pacifiers, Lulu's tail, etc).  The funny thing about Margo is that she absolutely melts down if she sees a stranger even look in her general direction.  She is all, 100% my little 'mama's girl'.

Emily on the other hand, would be perfectly happy if the garbage man or any other stinky stranger held her.  She's definitely our firecracker~ and will wear every emotion on her sleeve.  She is cute as a bug's ear and loves dancing, singing, and being held.  If you leave her with a jar of puffs and a chair that bounces, she's generally the happiest girl in the whole world. Emily could quite possibly have the longest eyelashes of anyone I know, and I am confident that she is going to be trouble in about 13 years..... Daddy will have to start practicing his aim!  These two have kept us busy and on our toes.

Aside from all the baby chaos and fun, I'm happy to say that Operation birthday party is here! I love this time of year.  I thought that this year would be really easy for Betsy.  She is turning four and had all along wanted to have her party 'somewhere else', meaning anywhere but home.  So, we settled on Monkey Joes and I sat back, kicked my feet up, clicked a few buttons and made the reservation online.  Easy as pie.  Until she decided the next morning that she most certainly did NOT want to have her party there. She wants to have it at home.  So, operation party planning is in effect.

We settled on a carnival theme, and by 'we', I mean I.  There was so much indecision on themes, that finally, I picked one.  She thinks it's a Scooby Doo party, but have you seen Scooby Doo?  I can't have an all-brown party.  Nope, can't do it.   So we'll have a little Scooby Doo party at home on her real birthday, and for her birthday party~ COLORS!

I'm working on some great little details that I can't wait to share!  More soon, but for now.....
sleep.

Sweetness

two of my favorite new people

xx

Tick Tock

Time is flying by! 

Our sweet girls are three months now.

and my 'big girl' is ready to start another year of preschool

she was only six months when we snapped this picture

where did the time go?

xx

Today's quick change

I can't wait to blog about decorating again. 

It will happen one day. 

*sigh*

But the babies (and Betsy) have been keeping us on our toes.

(emily above, margo below)

I did, however, manage to squeeze in twenty minutes today 

to change the rug in our dining room.

It was probably a bad idea since I threw my back out yesterday.

But I couldn't help myself.

This is still my favorite room in our house.  

But it currently doubles as the twins' bedroom.

There's a diaper changing station on the buffet now.

We're glamorous, I know. 

I had to make name tags to identify which crib belongs to who 

(or is it 'whom'?)

 Here's the new rug!

what do you think?