Eden's Ice Cream Shoppe

Here are some of the pictures from Eden's first birthday party held last Saturday. As I've mentioned, I decided to do an "ice cream shoppe" theme quite awhile ago based on some party ideas I had seen on other blogs.

I made the little pink, brown and white labels for all of our dessert items and I had a lot of fun "collecting" pink colored yummies to use on the dessert table over the last week or so. It is amazing how much you can find in a certain color palate when you pay attention. We had strawberry malt balls, pink chocolate balls, pink taffy, pink lemonade...You get the idea!

I had a picture of Eden as a newborn framed on the table.

The strawberry malt balls...I wasn't sure what these would taste like but they are actually quite good and I'm not a big strawberry flavored person.

I decided to do cupcakes instead of a more traditional birthday cake but wanted them to look pretty so I broke down and bought an icing decorating kit with various tips and the disposable icing bags. I had so much fun decorating the cupcakes! I could sit there and do that all day long if my kids let me :) The fondant ice cream cone toppers I found on Etsy and I thought they were so cute!

I made ice cream cone cupcakes which were a hit with the kids!

And we had "1" shaped cookies as well.

July is one of the hottest months in S.C., so most guests spent time indoors or on the screened porch, but Josie and Avery ventured out to do a little swinging. I thought it was sweet how Avery was trying to give her a push!

My birthday girl and me...

Ryan taking in the dessert table...

Pink and white marshmallows found at Wal-Mart!

The kids had a great time selecting their toppings for their personalized sundaes.

Eden getting ready to dive-in to her first taste of cake!

Most of it ended up all over her face!

Avery was not wasting a bit of her sundae - she opted to put a straw in after it melted and drank the rest!

A few of the girls enjoying their sundaes outside.

Happy 1st Birthday, Eden!

It's hard to believe Eden is one year old today! Above is a picture snapped today during her birthday party and below...

is one of the first pictures I took when we brought her home almost a year ago from the hospital. Wow! How does the time go so fast!?!

As I had mentioned, we had an ice cream themed birthday party in Eden's honor today and celebrated with a few friends and family.

Eden had her first taste of cake, vanilla cake with strawberry frosting. I think more of it ended up on her face than in her mouth!

We had a good day and I think she enjoyed the attention for the most part. Of course, clean up is a rather slow process so I still have wrapping paper and dishes to put away but I'll be back to share more pics from the party soon.

Party preparations under way!

This sweet baby girl is about to turn 1 on Saturday! We are having a birthday get-together for her with an ice cream parlour theme. So I have a running list of party details that I am trying to accomplish over the next two days beginning with...

chocolate dipped pretzel rods - yummy!

I think part of the reason I enjoy hosting parties is because I get to design the menu! More party details to come. I think it is going to be very cute once it is all put together.

Now and then...

There was something about Emma's retro jean dress, armfuls of bracelets and the lovely shade of yellow nail polish that she picked out that brought me back to an earlier day...Probably sometime in the early '80's when I used to wear armfuls of jelly bracelets and weird colored nail polish with the collar of my shirt standing up tall.

Funny how things seem to keep coming around. Even the really bad fashion trends!

Adventures with Dora and Snow White

This morning was a dress-up day like most other days in our household. Emma still gets lots of use from her Snow White Halloween costume from last year and Avery decided to take a fashion risk and dress in an old Dora costume.

They were taking care of their babies and it was so funny listening to them talk.

"Snow White! Snow White! The baby is still upstairs!"

"Go rescue her, Dora!"

And this...is the $11.00 cardboard color house that has kept the kids busy over the last week. It is looking a little dilapidated now, but it has turned out to be well worth the money spent!

4th of July Backyard Party

The 4th of July is another of my favorite holidays. Between the all-American picnic food, music, fireworks and kids playing in the backyard, what's not to like - right? We found it was a great reason to have a friends over and celebrate our Independence Day.

I was able to recycle many of my serving pieces from Ryan's First Communion party like my Mason jars, cupcake stand and of course, the drinking dispenser.

I made angel food cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and used strawberries and blueberries displayed in large hurricane jars as part of my table decorations.

I wasn't sure about the Hawaiian Punch blue drink when I first selected it, but is was a big hit with the kids!

Of course we had slices of watermelon available and I think everyone that came brought some dessert item so by the end of the night we had a frozen treat, lots of cookies and brownies. I had made two key limes pies that never made it out of the fridge because there were so many goodies out there!

We served hot dogs, freshly made cheeseburgers, chips, homemade potato salad, coleslaw, chili, baked beans and all the fixings inside.

I found some red, white and blue Blowpops and hard candies at the Dollar Store that I displayed in jars as well.

We had our basket of bubbles available for the kids and set up hula hoops, water balloons, the water table, horseshoes, and more in the yard to keep them entertained.

Ryan enjoying a piece of watermelon...

Grilling away...I think we went through close to 30 hamburgers and probably around the same number of hot dogs. We ended up with a good-size crowd and they did a good job of not letting food go to waste!

Eden decked out in her red, white and blue...

Michael and Emma having fun with the hula hoops.

Katie and Avery hanging around the food.

Kayla and Michael...

A few of the girls...Morgan, Abby, Emma, Katie and Avery.

Emma showing off her new shorter 'do - she has been begging us to get her hair cut shorter. When she finally lopped part of her own hair off with scissors we decided it was time!

We had a good 4th and completed the evening with a neighborhood fireworks show. The kids were so tired by the end of the day and I am still trying to get things cleaned and picked up days later, but it was a fun party. I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!

Chopped salad

This is a healthy light summer dish that we tried out recently for dinner. I actually came across the recipe on Candace Cameron Bure's Twitter post and her pics of it looked so good that I went to the store the next day to gather the ingredients. Honestly, you can use whatever veggies you have on hand in your fridge.

The directions are pretty simple. Chop about 2-3 cups of each ingredient for a group. You can eye it and decide how much you need for one or two of you.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Spinach leaves
• Bell pepper
• Tomato
• Corn
• Avocado
• Egg whites (hard boiled)
• Turkey
• Salami
• Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top

Chop it all into bite size pieces and add pepper to taste. Drizzle a teaspoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil after plating.

If you have any great summer salad recipes, please share. I am always on the lookout for something new!