Recently at our gingerbread house party, I found a random sour worm in our gum drop bag. Jax ate it and was in love. That combined for how much he (and I) enjoy his Bugs & Buttons/Bubbles/Numbers educational games inspired me to plan a bug-themed party.

I started with an inspiration board in Photoshop. I chose a color scheme that was like a sunny outdoor picnic. I designed a DIY sewing project to give as one of the favors (a felt caterpillar pouch) and planned out 3 bug-themed mini cupcakes.

There was a lemon cupcake with lemon frosting (tinted green and piped with a grass tip), little black ant sprinkles, and watermelon slice candies. I baked them in red gingham cupcake liners. (I had a custom listing set up on Etsy will my three liner choices.)

The ladybug cupcakes were strawberry, strawberry swirl icing and fondant leaves I cut out with a cutting and embossing set. I added little pressed sugar ladybugs. I baked them in lime green cupcake liners.

Our chocolate cupcakes were chocolate with fudge frosting, crushed Dark Chocolate Fudge Stripe cookies and sour worms. They were baked in simple brown cupcake liners.

I tried to be very thrifty with the decor. We get beautiful light in the afternoons in our kitchen, so I planned a hanging jungle with sunlight pouring through. Thankfully, the sky cooperated! I hung two shades of green streamers, some faux leaves I hung from bakers twine, and a clearance luau door curtain I cut up into 6 strands. I added some fun plastic bugs to some of the leaves.

I set our party table up in front of the window. It was the first time I’d placed it there and it worked out so well! I used a simple green tablecloth under the food, because a pretty $5 gingham picnic tablecloth (Joann’s Fabric Store) was already brightening to room on our kitchen table. My wonderful friend fulfilled my request of fresh flowers for the table. She went above and beyond! They were gorgeous, and I wouldn’t have had the time of funds to get them myself.

I used our everyday green bamboo place mats as accents, and borrowed some live potted plants from the windowsill. Plastic bugs were sprinkled all around. I served the food in green bowls from the dollar store and DIY platters made from dollar store plates and votives.

In addition to the three cupcake flavors, I had assorted snack foods. We had the classics: chips and dip, cheese and crackers, olives and fresh veggies. My same amazing friend copied my fruit flower prototype and made the beautiful fruit kabobs happen while I rushed to ice 80 cupcakes.

I made two snack mixes to save on serving bowls. The sweet mix: yogurt and chocolate raisins, yogurt and chocolate peanuts, s’mores Goldfish, mini Oreos, mini marshmallows, chocolate Cheerios, sour worms and gummy tarantulas. The salty mix was a snack mix base from Target, ABC pretzels and Scrabble Cheez-its. We had fruit/veggie juice boxes, plus sodas, lemonades and tea.

Jax had a blast playing with other kids! He doesn’t get to often as he is at home with me. Regardless, he is very friendly and outgoing to all children. He is (almost always) great at sharing his toys and getting along. He was so into playing he barely paused to eat the food I set up for him before running back!

He was so anxious to blow out his candle that he blew it out the second I lit it! I had to re-light it and remind him to wait until we were done singing to him. He got so cute, covering his excited smile with nervous hands while we sang. It made my heart float!

Just like last year, he was more into the candies on the tops of the cupcakes than he was with the cupcakes themselves! Silly guy.

Everyone seemed to love the cupcakes which made me happy. Lots of love went into those little creations! Also made with love: the party favors! I had three separate sets of favors so guests could pick and choose what they wanted. There were my hand-sewn caterpillar pouches, traditional favor bags (with a dollar store solar dancing flower, bug stickers and a gummy spider) and “bug jars” with candy bugs.

Jax got some gifts – something he now understands and was thrilled to see. He still isn’t the best and opening them, and would happily watch while other kids opened them for him. We encouraged him to do it himself.

The party was right around his nap time. I just planned for him not to nap. There really wasn’t a better time for the party. He did very well, only showing his fatigue when he stubbed his toe and cried more than he would normally. A sweet toddler party guest offered to kiss his booboo!

After the party wound down, we went out to eat “brinner” (breakfast for dinner) with friends. Perfect way to end a wonderful day!

Happy birthday, big sweet 3-year-old! I’m looking forward to watching you grow!

How is my little baby already 3 years old?

Photo by Jax

I miss the sweet baby days, but he is just SO smart and sweet. I adore him! He is always telling us he loves us. Many times a day I hear, “You are my best friend!” He thrives on learning and is so ahead of where he should be at his age. It blows my mind quite regularly.

We celebrated Jax’s birthday at his favorite sushi place, Noku. I baked a from-a-box cake at his request: “Fun-fetti” with strawberry icing and sprinkles.

The sushi master made an adorable “cake” out of rice, fruits and veggies and brought it out to Jax with a candle. (See a video clip here.)

After dinner I lit three candles on his cake and we all sang to him. He blew out his candles and sweetly offered slices of cake to everyone after hearing me do it.

We are having a party for him Saturday afternoon. I know he’ll love seeing all his favorite people and having play time with his friends!

I love you, Jackson!

In January, Jax and I stayed busy planning his 2nd birthday party and learning to read the alphabet and numbers 1-20. In February Jax celebrated his 2nd birthday with a sushi-themed party. March was a mellow month, with work and trips to the park. On the 17th, Danny and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. Wow! April was terrible. I got sick with a cold, then when I was finally feeling better, I got a terrible stomach bug. As soon as I recovered, my cold relapsed! I was finally better as May started.

In May we took our yearly road trip to the Outer Banks in NC. We bring the dogs and rent a house with friends for a week. I had expected it to be such a great trip for Jax – he was 2 and things like the beach, sand castles and swimming pools seemed perfect! But, I was very wrong. He was terrified of the sand, which meant I could only walk on the beach if I wore him in the carrier and dealt with tears. I could only go in the pool if someone was willing to play with him on the patio. He kept tripping and scraping his knees bloody on the trip. 5 times in 2 days!! The trip was bizarre and I often felt cut off from our friends when I stayed in the beach house playing with Jax. But, we made the best of it and I still enjoyed it.

In June we stayed busy. I worked, sewed a big gift for a friend’s 2-year-old and got a new point-and-shoot camera from Danny. In July, we took a mini road trip to Virginia Beach for my birthday weekend. We chose to stay in a kid-friendly hotel at one end of the boardwalk. It had many pools, but Jax was still too scared. He finally got over a lot of his fear of beaches, thanks to the many playgrounds they had in the middle of the sand. That month, my hair was finally long enough to switch from braids all over my head to just a few rows of hidden braids to add in extension hair. I mixed turquoise into the blond for fun!

In August I started homeschooling Jax more formally. I started with weekly lesson plans, but quickly found her learned better if I followed his lead and turned his daily interests into learning opportunities (in a kind of “unschooling” way.) I also worked on painting over his old nursery (*sniff*) to make a craft and school room. September was fairly  quiet – just enjoying the last bit of summer and the beginning of autumn. I worked on painting a giant mural in Jax’s “big boy room“.

In October we went apple picking to start the fall season. I baked a lot of apple pies! We visited a corn maze and autumn festival, and Jax whined to go home the whole time. He was feeling very “two”. However, later in the month I took him to a huge park with several playgrounds. I convinced him to wander off on a nature trail and he LOVED it. Loved it so mach that he refused to go back to the playground and didn’t want to turn back to the car! I made him his Halloween costume – a train he could wear! I’m pretty sure the entire neighborhood was in love with him.

In November I did a lot of Christmas crafting. We didn’t have plans for Thanksgiving, so we got together with friends and ate dinner out. It was the first time I’d done that, but it actually worked out well. Danny and our friends got a traditional meal, I got a vegetarian risotto and Jax got spaghetti. We all enjoyed pumpkin pie! In December Jax had his photo taken with Santa. What a difference from 2010! Later in the month, we left Jax alone with a babysitter for the first time ever to go to Danny’s work holiday party! It was someone Jax loved, and we were home before bedtime, so it wasn’t stressful at all. The weekend before Christmas, we hosted a little get together to eat yummy Italian food and decorate gingerbread houses.

Christmas was quiet at the Segall house. We exchanged gifts with my brother’s family a few days early. I’d sewn my  niece a custom My Little Pony plushie (Pinkie Pie, for those in the know!) On Christmas morning, we had a light breakfast of donuts and coffee (juice for the little guy) then opened gifts. We drove out to my dad’s place (he is in a retirement community that will allow him to move up into assisted living in the future as his Parkinson’s progresses) after presents. We gave him a photo album I had put together, then went down to his community’s Christmas brunch. Jax was thrilled to have eggs and strawberry pancakes, and adored hold hands and being carried by grandpa!

I rung in the new year quietly, with a little boy curled up beside me, having fallen asleep a half hour before the ball dropped. I still kissed him at midnight.

Collages created with Photovisi.com. Follow me on Instagram @punquin for daily photos.

Christmas was quiet at the Segall house. We got just enough snow Christmas Eve to have a lovely white landscape outside.

We exchanged gifts with my brother’s family a few days early, as they were heading out of town for a road trip to Iowa. Before bed on Christmas Eve, Jax and I put cookies and (soy) milk out for Santa and read a book by his playroom tree. After he was asleep, I came down to assist “Santa” in building Jax’s big gift.

On Christmas morning, we had a light breakfast of donuts and coffee (juice for the little guy) then opened gifts. Jax DID NOT want to even look at stockings or gifts until he’d eaten. Child needs his breakfast.

I had ordered most of his gifts from MYHABIT, so he had a lot of wooden Melissa & Doug toys. His big gift was a mini trampoline for his playroom. He also got some cars and signs for his train set (train set was from my brother), an ice cream sundae set and a cargo truck. He got a similar truck from his great aunt, but that one carries horses.

Jax’s Trains

One of his favorite gifts is a digital camera for kids purchased off his wishlist by his aunt and uncle. He loves it!

Some photos by Jax:

We drove out to my dad’s place (he is in a retirement community that will allow him to move up into assisted living in the future as his Parkinson’s progresses) after presents. We gave him a photo album I had put together, then went down to his community’s Christmas brunch.

Jax was thrilled to have eggs and strawberry pancakes, and adored hold hands and being carried by grandpa! Grandpa enjoyed showing Jax off to his friends. We had to leave after brunch and a FaceTime call with family in Iowa. Jax was getting sleepy and crazy.

For Jax’s first Christmas in 2010, I had him visit Santa. He did SO well, that I didn’t feel like jinxing it the next year. He wasn’t at a very patient age! This year, I left it up to him.

We were at the mall right after it opened one day (really, the only time to go there for indoor walks in the month of December. It’s just so busy…) and stopped to wave at Santa. I told Jax how people can go visit Santa, sit on his lap for a photo, then get a candy. He saw the huge bag of candies beside Santa and was sold. The line was very short (4 families ahead of us, as opposed to 30 later in the month) and we waited about 15 minutes.

Jax had fallen asleep during our mall walk and was still a little sleepy and mellow. He was fine on Santa’s lap, but they had to work a bit to get him to stop chewing on his sweater and smile. A squeaky puppet did the trick and we were done in under 5 minutes. Jax got his peppermint lollipop, which he liked the idea of, but didn’t eat. It turned out cute. Luckily I’d put a nice sweater on him that morning, as I hadn’t planned on photos.

Here is his 2010 photo for comparison. Hi, Santa! And, omg those cheeks!

For our Christmas cards this year, I did a 5 minute photo shoot with Jax. I taped up some white sheets, laid out some string lights, and dressed Jax in a thrifted Christmas sweater and hat. He tolerated 2 minutes of picture taking and we were done. I ordered cards that can be saved and hung as ornaments. They are from Storkie.com.

We also finally got our Christmas tree, so it feels like Christmas is almost here! I’ve already been listening to Christmas music whenever Danny isn’t around… Hehe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We didn’t have plans this year, so we got together with friends and ate dinner out. It was the first time we’d done that, but it actually worked out well. Danny and our friends got a traditional meal, I got a vegetarian risotto and Jax got spaghetti. We all enjoyed pumpkin pie!

We ate at Chef Geoff’s in Tysons Corner, VA. None of us had been there before, but it was nice. They were playing disco music, which was odd, but I bet Danny was glad it wasn’t Christmas music already.

It was great seeing Christine and Dawn. Jax was a huge flirt at the end of dinner and tried to get Christine to be his new girlfriend! He was very well behaved. Thanks, kid!

Happy Halloween from Jax & I! My little man decided he wanted to be a “choo choo” this year. He has since learned that he is actually an “engineer”. I love how his costume came together! And it was very cheap to do.

His clothes were: Osh Kosh overall bought when they went on sale for $10, an H&M tee for $5, thrift store Stride Rite shoes for $2, thrift store Osh Kosh hat for $1, and a craft store bandanna for $2.

train in progress

The train was: cardboard, plastic party plates, plastic party cups, a dollar store push light, a dollar store foam floral ring, straps from a dollar store tote bag, stuffing and duct tape. For more on how I built it, go here.

All week we’d been talking up Halloween and telling Jax how fun it would be. But he insisted his “dun like Halloween treats” and he “dun like trick-or-treat!” Oh, little man. We set out around 7 pm when it got dark. I’d planned to carry his train, due to all the stairs in our neighborhood, but Danny insisted he wear it. I’m glad he did! I had a dollar store led light on the front that lit our way. We each grabbed one of Jax’s arms when we’d get to a set of stairs, and we’d “fly” the choo choo up to the door. He started getting into it then and stopped asking to “go home!” His favorite thing was to choose his own candy from each bowl and put it into the bag I held. He looked pissed whenever the homeowner put the candy straight into his bag, heh. But he was good at saying “trick-or-treat!” and “thank you!”

Here’s a little movie from my engineer!

He was too wary of the slides after that and mostly wandered from play set to play set. There was only one other child there because it was so early, so he wasn’t feeling inspired to play. I suggested a walk when I saw the start of a trail. I told Jax we could look for another playground, thinking the trail would wrap around to one of the playgrounds deeper into the park. I was wrong, but so happy to be!

The walk turned out SO beautiful! The leaves were every color possible, the sun was shining, and the temperature was a perfect 65 F. Right away we got to cross a sweet wooden bridge. A creek was bubbling past, full of yellow and orange leaves. We played Pooh sticks and launched leaf boats. Really, Jax just liked throwing things off the bridge!

We walked slow and met squirrels and birds. As the morning grew older we began to pass people taking walks with their dogs or jogging. We chatted and got puppy kisses. We collected leaves of every color and shape. Jax didn’t want to turn around, but he was looking tired and the trail wasn’t a loop. I reluctantly turned us around with the promise of more bridge time.

We had to pass the playground to get back to our car. Mr I. Love Playgrounds himself told me he didn’t like the playground and loved the bridge and leaves. My sweet guy!

We had a fun day planned at the local fall festival: corn maze, hay rides, corn cannons and corn pits! Snacks and haystacks to climb! Animals and bouncy mats! But I guess we didn’t run it by the toddler first.

Jax just was not in the mood. He pretty much wanted to go home the entire time. He had a little fun in the corn pit (like a sandbox but with corn kernals) but then threw a fit at the suggestion we do anything else. Like laying on his tummy on the ground crying type of fit. Nice. We did get him to do the corn cannon once, but he refused the cow train ride and made us carry him through the whole corn maze. Sigh.

Maybe next year?

We did get him to choose a pumpkin. Hopefully he’ll be into carving it with me next week.

Yesterday evening I had my first taste of being a mommy hosting the neighborhood kids outside for some play time. It brought back memories of growing up playing outside all the time with all the kids on my street. Though the kids grew and moved in and out, they never stopped knocking on our door to ask me out to play. Even when I was in high school and they were little. I never turned them down!

Yesterday I brought Jax out after work for a walk, but as soon as we set out, I got a message that I needed to do a bit more work. I set him up with sidewalk chalk and sat on the steps getting my work done on my laptop. Our neighbor came out with her granddaughter to do yard work. I was wearing a flowy sundress at the time. The sweet 2.5yo girl asked me very seriously if I was “a pretty princess!” So cute! She was super interested in Jax, so once I put my laptop away and swept the leaves out of the way, she joined us for some chalk fun.

Next thing I know, the older kids a couple doors down had joined in as well. Lots of rainbows and ABCs were drawn, then everyone made big piles of leaves to jump in and throw in the air. Snack were shared and hugs exchanged, until dinner time called everyone back inside.

I hope it is the first of many fun times to come…