Baptism party {the food}

Back to William's party!!

Typical of me to start with dessert first ;)
From the beginning I knew I wanted to do cupcakes rather than a cake. Granted I would have purchased the cake which would have been less work than making cupcakes (maybe), but I didn't want to have a bunch of leftover cake. I made cupcake toppers to make the cupcakes for festive. I designed the emblem with a cross and the words God Bless William in Powerpoint and printed two dozen. I did buy a scalloped punch, but when I used it, it worked in the reverse way that I needed if that makes sense. So, the individual trips to Michael's and Jo-Ann's and $30 spent didn't help. I resorted to cutting out each circle individually with scrapbook scissors. Same idea, more work. I used a drop of hot glue to adhere the toothpicks to the cutouts before adding a blueberry and topping each cupcake.

For the first time I finally decided to make a watermelon ice bucket! I saw this idea a long time ago (or so it seems) and I finally had a reason to do it. I used the watermelon on the fruit kabobs, which is why I had it. I hollowed it out with an ice cream scoop on Saturday and then kept it on the counter overnight covered in saran-wrap because I was worried about it smelling rotten. Well, it stayed fresh, so I filled it with plain ice cubes and special blueberry ice cubes I made. 

Sadly, this is the only food shot I have and it doesn't capture it at all. The party started and ended so quickly, and everyone was so hungry, that I didn't get the shot I wanted. We had beef brisket, pulled pork and hamburger sliders. Tossed salad, fruit kabobs, cheese and crackers, pasta salad, etc. I also made a few different drinks and put cute little tags on the pitchers to identify them. Stay tuned for the recipe for Fruity Mint Tea which was a hit!

Time Out Tuesday #2

On Saturday this smile absolutely made me cry. Sure W has made "milk drunk" smiles while nursing and smiles related to bodily functions, but this one was during playtime and in response to what else...funny noises I, as his mommy, was making. I haven't captured his smile again, but this one photo could hold me over for awhile :) I consider it an [early] Happy Mother's Day/Happy Birthday smile.

This is my family and it is perfect for me. The baby definitely has his Dad's blue eyes, but I'm not sure you can tell here. This was at our Mother's Day dinner (who wants to fight the brunch crowds??). When I came down from feeding W on Mother's Day there was a beautiful framed 8x10 photo in our entry way of my husband and I kissing W after a bath, a photo that my mom took during her first visit to meet the baby a few weeks ago. When I went into the kitchen there was another photo, one of me and baby taken when he was 11 days old. These are the types of gifts that make me cry. I also got some birthday gifts from my in-laws since today is my birthday!

And just to show how much he has grown in 6 weeks, here he is propped up to a semi-sitting position that I'm sure wasn't too comfortable for him, but posed for the sake of a picture, in the family cradle (more on that here).

Right now he is napping, a great birthday gift since I had time to take a nice long shower, start giving myself a pedicure, have hot(!) coffee and read a few sections of Sleep is for the Weak, a funny book on motherhood that a friend gave me.

Take some time to enjoy your little ones today!!

Diaper Cake

This past weekend my mom and sister hosted a beautiful shower in our honor at The Nutmeg near my hometown in Connecticut. My sister contributed two cakes. This edible one that was out of this world!! Red velvet layers with white chocolate "frosting", not fondant and all delicious!

And a diaper cake!!

My sister referred to a site called Plan the Perfect Baby Shower when planning the diaper cake. She told me that she used about 80 newborn diapers (now all put away in the baby's dresser) to make the three-tier cake. The base of each layer was cut white cardboard and the center of each layer used a baby bottle as a support. Using the bottles made the diaper cake weigh less than if a full bottle of shampoo or other product was used.  

While my mom was recovering from surgery, my sister put her in charge of rolling the diapers. They opened the diapers (rectangle-sort-of-shape) and rolled tightly from front to back. Then a rubber band was used to hold it in place. You can see by the indentation in the second photo below that they did secure them tightly!

Then, ribbons were tied around some of the diapers that would be visible around the outside of the cake. She used thin purple and light green ribbon since the gender of our little baby is a surprise.

My sister grouped together several diapers with yellow ribbon when assembling the layers so all the diapers weren't loose. As you can see in the first photo of us with the diaper cake, she used the same yellow ribbon to tie the layers together and attached the plastic bottles, stuffed animal, pacifiers, etc.

Obviously we had to disassemble her masterpiece toget the diapers back to Maryland. What did that look like you ask? I was surprised that I didn't get extra screening from TSA since this was my carry-on bag!

Once home, I had the task of unrolling all of their hard work, which was the easy part. The rubber bands left faint yellow lines on the diapers, but let's be serious...those diapers are going to look much worse once they are put on the baby! The newborn diapers from the cake take up one full small drawer in the top of the dresser - jeez. And I know what all you moms are thinking...these diapers will only last a few days. Iguess the next thing we need to purchase is a trash can!

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself, Finding Fabulous,  FFA Friday, http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2011/01/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-see-kate-sew.html

Does Bigger = Better?

Less than one week after purchasing our Nikon, we had the annual family reunion. This was the perfect excuse to walk around with my camera all day, taking candids of many generations enjoying each other’s company. The reunion was for my husband’s family (his dad’s side). My father-in-law, Paul, has eight brothers and sisters. Five of them see each other regularly, one lives in West Virginia and three have passed away. The spouses of two of the three siblings who have passed away are still involved with the family and they were at the reunion too.

Here are the siblings who attended this year’s reunion (youngest to oldest). Do you see the family resemblance?

If I’m counting right, there were four generations eating side-by-side and it was great. Now, our immediate family only had two generations at the table, but hey, one day there will be more.

I grew up in a small family. My mother has two siblings and my father has one sister. Although my dad’s family still lives in Connecticut (his parents have since passed away) we didn’t see each other much at all growing up. My mom’s family is scattered from Illinois to Miami and places in between.

When we moved to the DC metro area in 2007, I was amazed at how much of Brad’s family stayed within an hour of where they were born and raised. It makes for large family gatherings full of conversation, humor and lots of food. It took me a few family functions to get acclimated to “the crowd” but I am now used to it and can’t imagine a holiday with less than a table full of people.