Nautical Birthday Cake

This year was a long and exhausting year. With two kids and both being under 2 most of the time; I struggled to sleep and struggled to stay awake. For Jared's first birthday I had planned to make his birthday cake, and a small smash cake as well. When we finally arrived at my in-laws house, we were chatting with my Mother-in-law and she said I should just purchase the cake and that she would pay for it. I agreed with some hesitation, but after the party was over and done with, I was so happy I did. I wasn't completely tired from being up all day and night, I wasn't dealing with two kids while watching cakes bake, and I wasn't stressing over a cake meltdown or disaster.

I had made some decorations for the cake, before I decided to not make the cake. I also had redecorated a #1 candle, as I could not find anything that matched our colors or theme. I used puff paint and painted zig zags on the candle. It was super easy and only took about 2 full days to really dry.

NOTE: We did not light this candle. I do not know how the puff paint will react to fire. Please know that this candle was for decoration ONLY!

I purchased the 1/4 sheet cake with whipped frosting and a extra large cupcake for the smash cake. I then placed all the decorations on the cake (the ones I made before we even drove down to southern California).

This is the large cupcake, also with whip frosting, and I just purchased the blue candle last minute when I thought I forgot the one I made. When I didn't forget it, I just used the light blue candle for his smash cake, and we light that candle.

He had no idea how to blow out the candle but he sure was cute about the entire thing.

He wasn't to excited about smashing the cupcake, but once he got the hang of it he loved it.

A family photo of my happy birthday boy and wet brother. Best day ever.

In the end, I am so glad I made those cake decorations before we left, that way I already had something to put on it. I also was happier during the party, more relaxed because I got sleep and I wasn't stressed out. I am so glad my Mother-in-law paid for it and was nice enough to do so.

If I can help save at least one mom from doing what I did for so many parties, stressing out over all the baking, then I hope it was worth it. I know for myself, I felt like I captured so much more joy during the party, instead of being stressed out and freaked out. Remember, just because we order a cake doesn't mean we are being a bad mom, just means we wanted to have more time with our kids.

It Was A Beautiful Day,
Sarah

Jared's 1st Birthday Party

In June, we had a small week vacation down to southern California, to celebrate our little guys 1st birthday. I seriously can not believe this year went by so fast. Why do they have to grow up?

It was an exhausting trip, and I was struggling with: doing everything or just let some stuff go. So, I did what the new me would do, I let some stuff go. The end result was a wonderful party, and I enjoyed every second of it, and I hope everyone else did too!

Heres a few pictures from the party, and don't worry the tutorials and more photos will follow this post later this month! Keep an eye out for some tutorials and fun ideas.

I made a front door "wreath" and loved how it turned out!

up close

 While I spent a lot of time cutting out these pieces of paper, I really feel like they made the decorations come together.

Of course I have to do his photos through out the year...

His Birthday Boy chair!

The cake and goody table... yum!!

Heres where I decided to let it go. I made the decorations, but bought the cake. I just was so exhausted and did not want to be up all night making a cake; thanks to my mother in law we had a wonderful store bought cake, with my pre-made decorations!! (I also made the candle... well decorated it to match).

The individual large cupcake was for his "smash cake".

Mints (or life savers, to go with the theme), sugar cookies with royal frosting and chocolate stars which were all made by me!

Cookies!!!

I will more then likely post a tutorial on how I made these fun buckets, so keep an eye out for them. Total I believe I spent about 15 bucks for everything inside!!

I made the traditional Happy Birthday banner.

Heres those hand cut out anchors, sail boats and ship wheels:

 Of course we had to do cake time:

Such a happy birthday boy!

Blowing out the candle!

Getting his hands dirty.

Family photos, we had small kids pools set up; so excuse the wet 2 year old.

After a costume change, we got to the presents.

Which Jared LOVED opening.

Of course no birthday is complete without mommy dealing with two kids and their complete meltdown at the same time!

Best gift ever... I had something very similar when I was a kid, and thanks to Grandma Leonard, Jared now has one too.

Lastly, here is Jared in his shirt and shorts that I made. The outfit worked great with the theme, and all the colors worked so well together. Thank you to my mom, Grandma Leonard, who purchased all the wonderful balloons and helped me out so much.

 In the end, the day was perfect. Not super big, not super small, but just right. We literally had enough cake for everyone, and had tons of cookies and candy left over. It was a great party and I really have to thank everyone who helped, came to the party, and shared in on our celebration for Jared's 1st Birthday!

Thank you to my Mother and Father in law, who let us use their house and made all the wonderful food and had all the drinks and alcohol to share. Thank you to my entire family for helping me pull this off from afar, and purchasing items here and there for us. Thank you to my wonderful husband who helped watched the kids from time to time, to let me get stuff done for this party. Thank you for agreeing with your mother that I should just enjoy the day instead of bake all day! It was a great idea, and I seriously enjoyed myself, and I know Jared LOVED every second of it.

Another Successful Birthday,

 Sarah

June Give Thanks, Week 5

June 29:
     Thankful for a chance to go to Great Grandmas house and let the kids swim, and see more of their family. It was a great day with lots of swimming, sun and toys!

Great Grandma getting cuddles from Jared

June 30:
     So happy and thankful that my husband watched the kids for the later part of the day, so I could go out and enjoy a dinner with my mother and sister (as well as Jameson)!!! It was so nice to get out (without my kids) and just talk with adults.

Give Thanks,
Sarah

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

While we have been in New Mexico we have had a horrible time getting out and sight seeing. The reasoning is because I have been pregnant most of the time we have been here. Now that I am healed from giving birth and our boys are finally big enough, we decided to travel out of town for the day. Where to? Well the Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. We drove 2 hours south through Roswell, which was an awesome visit, but we didn't get to stop and shop (might have to do that before we leave), then we traveled two more hours to the Caverns. It wasn't that bad of a drive!

When we got to Roswell we were able to grab some starbucks, which is like a luxury for those of us living in Clovis, because we don't have one! Then as we started back on the road, our oldest son got sick. Poor guy has been fighting a cold, as I have too, and it finally got to him and he just made a mess of his outfit and carseat. Thats always fun! After a wardrobe change and some medicine we were finally back on the road to the caverns.

The national park entrance was a fun drive! Its curvy and the speed limit is 40, so it makes it fun to drive. Once at the top, at the center, we were able to unload, go to the restroom, and grab our tickets to the park entrance. We checked out the gift shop and got a few items for our collections. I love to collect shot glasses from each place I go, so of course I had to get one! We also got a small shirt for Brian, which in a year or so Jared will wear too. Once the shopping was done, we were off to the actual caverns.

The caverns entrance is extremely steep. Both myself and my husband had a child strapped on us, I had the youngest and my husband had the oldest. It was a workout for both of us. They have an elevator entrance for those who use wheelchairs or walking assistance but if you take the elevator you drop right down into the bottom of the caverns. Its great if you need the assistance, but I highly recommend making the walk. Half of the exhibits and unique rock formations are along the path. They also have seats and benches along the walking path so if you need to rest; or for us feed the little ones, then theres plenty of areas to do so!

Once you get to the bottom you can walk around several different paths. Some say it should take an hour to walk, but for us most of them only took about 30 minutes. I believe the time is based off walking with the audio; meaning you would stop and listen and then walk, stop and listen, etc. We walked along slowly but like I said, we made it through most of the areas in about 30 minutes.

 Also at the bottom is a very small selection of food and drinks. The water bottles were small and $5 each, so be sure to pack a hydro pack or a couple bottles of water. The food selection was also small, but we had snacks so I didn't even bother looking at any of it, especially after seeing that the water was $5 each. They also had sweaters and a few other souvenirs for purchase, the sweaters were $40 and hard helmets with lights were $5 each. The caverns are cold, around 50 degrees so be sure to pack a sweater, or in our case we had kids keeping us warm! 

The sign at the top of the facility said that the elevators could be an hour wait, but when we got in line it was a little after 4pm. When we got on the elevator it was only a little after 4:30pm. It really moved fast as they had two elevators running. The elevators go up several feet and it goes fast so if you have kids I would recommend a pacifier, bottle, feeding them or giving them something to chew because your ears will pop. The elevator was worth it at the end, as all our legs were killing us.

It was a fun day trip, and totally worth it. I would love to do it again, but I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable if the kids were bigger. Our drive home was an easy one, and we made sure to grab some starbucks on the way home.

I would highly recommend the Carlsbad Caverns to any family or couple,
Sarah