Claire's Harvest Party

Claire turned two on Nov. 1, and we had her fun farm/harvest-themed party on Nov. 2. We've been on the go quite a bit since then, thus the delay in sharing the details, but it was really so darling, I can't wait to tell you about it.

 

Theme
I ordered the invitations off Etsy, and just adore them. The designer tweaked them (free of charge) to my color scheme of pink, orange, and yellow.

Since we have way too many toys as it is, we asked for food for our church's food pantry in lieu of gifts, and I collected all our CSA boxes from the farmer's market all summer to have a thematic receptacle for all those non-perishables! (I took that pic before the party even started--we collected about ten whole boxes and bags full!)

 

For the decor, I used pennant banners in pink, orange, and yellow, as well as some burlap (made that wreath with an easy tutorial and plan to switch out the embellishments to use for other seasons), a scrap of yellow gingham picnic tablecloth I had around, and some bright, casual flowers.

 

A friend introduced me to the word "tablescape" when it came to my party decor, and while it sounds hilariously pretentious, I think this party was my favorite "tablescape" yet! I left it up for days and smiled every time I passed through the dining room.

 

I made this little photo box displaying a couple favorite photos from our trip to the farm a few weeks ago. The box, before I painted it, was a purple Melissa & Doug toy package—those little divided wooden containers M&D toys come in are the best. We have one in the girls' bathroom to hold the thousand little hair elastics we have. Anyway, they also make great shadow boxes!

And, for fun, I printed out some fall- and farm-themed coloring sheets and put them out with some pumpkin-shaped crayon rings I found at Target.

Food
I'm not the greatest cook in the world, so I've made it a policy to only tackle one complicated food item per party. Something always goes wrong, requiring a do-over or at least a last-minute run to the grocery store, so I really don't have time to deal with more than one high-maintenance food. Usually, it's the cake—Kate's ice cream cone cupcakes and Claire's rainbow smash cake were the focus in past years.

This time, I really wanted to try these carrot-shaped sandwiches I saw on Pinterest. So, I ordered the cake from Publix and kept all the other food simple so I could focus on these sandwiches.

Basically, you wrap crescent dough around ice cream cones, brush it with an orange-tinted egg wash, and bake. The complication was getting the cones out—parchment paper between the cone and dough helped, but made them take much longer to bake. I stuffed mine with egg salad and chicken salad. They were very tasty and made such a neat visual impact.

 

Publix did a lovely job with the cake, and I just did caramel apples (store-bought), candy corn, a veggie tray, my spinach-artichoke dip that I make for everything, and fruit salad in a watermelon-basket. The watermelon might have qualified as a second "complicated" food item that might have gone terribly wrong, but I told myself it's no big deal because if I screwed it up, I'd just put the fruit in a bowl and all's well. It was actually pretty easy, though, so that was cool.

The Birthday Girl
Last, but certainly not least, let me update you on my sweet Claire at age two! She's still so serious sometimes, then a complete ham once she loosens up. She imitates Kate's every word and move, and they are the best of friends.

Sober, then smiley.

She's about average in size, tracking a bit shorter than Kate was at this age, with straight, straw-colored hair. I call her "Sister Golden Hair" after the old song, since she's got the closest thing to blond hair in our family.

I know some of you are wondering about Claire's obsessive love of nursing, and how the weaning process has gone. I quit pumping at one year, thinking it would just phase itself out, but Claire was still intent on nursing whenever she was with me, and the milk held out. Around 18 months, I began to resist nursing in public, and as we got closer to two, it was strictly night-time only: bedtime and if she woke in the night. She started taking a sippy of water to bed, voluntarily alternating her beverage of choice (me or the cup) while we rocked and sang before bed. She was born at 10:21 pm, so I felt bedtime on her birthday was still fair game for our last nursing, which was sentimental for me too, as I've loved being able to nurse Claire.

I intended that to be the last, but when she woke up at 1:30 am, the need to get us both back to sleep trumped my willpower. So, the "rule" now is middle-of-the-night-only. She's been sleeping through the night better lately, so it's gotten pretty rare. 

Claire's favorite foods are peanut butter and baked beans. She'll eat PB by the spoonful, and will eat beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if she can. Right on cue, she loves Elmo and Abby, even though she doesn't see Sesame Street near so often as Kate did at that age. She loves to play with baby dolls and anything Kate is playing with. She still loves technology and tinkering—games on my phone and the screwdriver in my desk drawer are both fun playthings. She sings songs like "Happy Birthday" and the ABCs, counts to ten (sometimes skipping 5, 6, and 7, but who's counting?) and can do a forward roll like her gymnast sister.

Happy birthday, Clairy-Bear! We're so excited you're TWO!

Halloween Bugs

Halloween night and it's rainy and blustery here in Nashville, so most neighborhoods have postponed trick-or-treating until tomorrow night. So, we "celebrated" by creeping our way home from day care on slow-rolling wet roads while the kids explored the candy in their treat bags from school. Once home, we made orange-tinted pancakes in the shape of pumpkins, witches' hats, arched-back cats, and also a lady bug and butterfly.

Why those last two? Because those are my girls' costumes, which they've enjoyed wearing a few times already and will don once again tomorrow night for the official trick-or-treating. Tomorrow also happens to be Claire's birthday, so we'll celebrate that a bit too, while I continue prepping for her farm-harvest party on Saturday!

Here are some pics of my little bugs enjoying the Halloween event at the Louisville Zoo a few weeks ago. BGC stayed behind in respite care for the weekend, but I will brag on her that she was a finalist in our neighborhood Halloween party's costume contest! She's a sweet pea in a little bunting. So cute!

There were no zombies or vampires at this kid-friendly event, but bears are what really scare my girls!

As in, a guy in a bear suit. The actual polar bears didn't bother them.

Fall Fun on the Farm

 

 

You know I can't resist fun fall family excursions. On the first weekend of October (my favorite month, and it's almost over already!) we took the kids out to Lucky Ladd Farm about 30 miles away to enjoy the festivities. There were animals, mazes, slides and rides, and of course pumpkins!

 Kate fed the goats, and while Claire was interested, she was too afraid to let the goat near her hand. She walked around nonchalantly instead, hands in pockets! Somehow that seems "so Claire" to me, but I remember Kate doing that too at that age. Pockets are fun when you're almost two!

 

I love this pic. Cute kiddo with a pumpkin. She'll be two the day after Halloween, so she gets asked two questions a lot these days, occasionally mixing up the answers:

What are you going to be for Halloween, Claire?

"TWO!" 

How old will you be on your birthday, Claire?

"e-bug!" (ladybug)

The big girls enjoyed riding the barrel train (pulled by a tractor) and getting really dirty. Baby Girl Chandler mostly rode in the stroller, but enjoyed examining a pumpkin up close, too.

 

 

The corn box (like a sandbox, but with corn kernels!) provided some good sensory therapy for BGC. I don't talk about her case on here, of course, or personal details, but I'll say she does have some developmental delays and is getting various therapies. I was so glad to have my friend Nancy to advise me on where to even start getting BGC the help she needs!

Less than a week until Halloween! Thank goodness we can keep the pumpkin-themed fun going until Thanksgiving, or I'd be pretty sad.

Keep Thanksgiving Autumnal!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Holiday of cornucopias, turkeys, and pumpkin pie.

So why are Christmas lights and wreaths going up?!?!? And Christmas music playing?! 

For so many people, Christmas begins with Thanksgiving week (or maybe before).

But as for me and my house . . .

There will still be pumpkins . . .

 . . . and leafy garlands.

. . . and even pumpkins dressed up as turkeys!

 We've had a delightful fall. I love it every year . . .

And Thanksgiving will still be decked in oranges and browns (and cute little turkey applique shirts I made with Heat 'n' Bond). The red and green can wait a few more days. Goshdarnit.

So tonight I'm making cranberry sauce, and watching some Thanksgiving episodes of "Friends" . . .

. . . and looking forward to drinking Starbucks Thanksgiving blend coffee while watching the Macy's parade tomorrow morning and baking my pumpkin pies. And while I may set a few holly-and-evergreen arrangements on the bookshelf, you can rest assured it is only to serve as a backdrop for the Christmas card photo we're planning to take—and then they will go back into the closet for at least 24 more hours until the pinnacle of the glorious fall season is passed.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving—and give that lonely pumpkin a salute as it stands watch, humbly reflecting the glow of a neighbor's twinkle lights.

Trick-or-Treat Safari

We all dressed up this year for Halloween, with our safari family costumes. Neighbors repeatedly said we were the best ensemble costume they saw all night, and best of all, I didn't pay a cent for any of it!

Claire wore the monkey costume Kate wore in 2009. Kate wore the leopard costume my mom made for me back in 1985. And Matt and I borrowed the British colonial helmets from his parents.

Matt even shaved his chin to complete the "jolly good" look. He carried his pipe and I made him a monocle out of a clear plastic water bottle cap. We took the wagon, but Kate ran energetically from door to door, saying "Happy Halloween!" and "Trick or Treat!" I'm glad she got so into it. And she sweetly made sure that Claire got candy at each house too.

We stayed out a long time, and it was really fun to see the neighborhood buzzing with people. We should have block parties or something to get everybody out more! Some preteen boys took all the candy we left out in a bowl (I know this because we were only at the next house when they did it!) but that's okay because I didn't buy the really good stuff, and at least a quarter of the bowl was last year's leftover candy that has sat in our pantry all year ;0) So joke's on you, kids.

These kiddos got a reasonable amount of candy, which I'm sure will last us all year again!

Chianti and Crafts

I'm bummed that my favorite month is already half over. Fall just got here and I feel like it's flying by already! Yesterday was Matt's and my sixth anniversary. We celebrated Saturday night with a nice dinner out at a fancy Italian restaurant—caprese, bread, bottle of Chianti, pasta, dessert, cappuccino . . . multiply that by ten days and it will be obvious why we gained about 15 pounds on our Italian honeymoon!

We spent dinner doing what we usually do on dates—me asking random "get to know you" type questions and Matt playing along. A few I came up with the other night:

If you took a round-the-world trip with five stops, what five places would you visit?
If you could magically endow our children with one character trait, what would it be?
If you could magically solve one of the world's problems, which would it be?

Yesterday, during our precious few hours at home between morning church and evening church, Kate and I did two fun fall projects, both of which I'd pinned a while ago on my Fabulous Fall board.

We made pumpkin hats by painting paper bowls and gluing on a wine cork stem (see, we drank that Chianti for the kids ;), paper leaf and raffia ribbon. Kate wanted to paint hers green, rather than orange, but when it came time to model them, she wanted the orange one.

 Claire seems to enjoy putting on and taking off either of them.

We also made Candy Corn Cookies, which were really fun to make. Kate was constantly asking when she could lick the beaters, but once the dough was done and that was out of the way, she enjoyed pressing each layer down into the pan.

I should have used a smaller, deeper pan so the cookies would be bigger, but they are really cute, little bite-sized cookies.

The weekend was over far too quickly, but we had a lot of fun. Hope you did too!