Where the Wild Things Are Party-Part 1

Drake's Birthday Party was a HUGE hit! From the food, to the favors, to the cake...everything was perfect.

I have LOTS of pictures to share of the big day so I thought I would break it up into two posts.

This post mostly includes pictures I took of the favors, decorations, and food before the party started.

Enjoy!

I set up a favor table on a chest right inside my front door.

No Wild Thing party would be complete without quotes from the book!

For the party favors for the kids I filled chinese takeout boxes with bubbles, bouncy balls, water guns, monster finger puppets, and fake bugs.

I topped the box with a sand mold and a mask of a wild thing.

I made cake pops as thank you favors for adults and kids.  I made chocolate with cream cheese frosting and strawberry with vanilla frosting.

I dipped them in melted almond bark  with a few drops of candy melt and sprinkled mini M&M's and sprinkles to add a little more color  to them.

This is the sign I had sitting on the food table.

Our well-loved Where the Wild Things Are book made an appearance at the party

Wild Thing Cake

Cute little fondant Max on the side.

So perfect for the party (my talented neighbor made it ) and even more importantly very yummy!

The food table.

Best picture I got of the birthday boy all day! His shirt says "King of All Wild Things"

Tomorrow I will have pictures from the party!

Sources:

Masks

Signs

Help Needed

I just moved over to WordPress a few weeks ago and I'm still learning all the little ins and outs of the program.

So I have a few questions for all you WordPress pros-

1. What plugin do you use for uploading videos onto you blog?

2. What are your favorite plugins/widgets?

3. This is probably a super stupid question but how do I change the color of my text?

If you can answer any of these questions for me I will be SO grateful!!

PS-Since I TOTALLY forgot about drawing for my Stella & Dot giveaway winner, how about we give it another week?!? Go here to enter

 

Summer Break

I always have the best of intentions to get things done-housework, cooking, laundry, writing a blog post  and visiting and commenting on blogs I read just to name a few things.

But for whatever reason those things have seemed to be taking a back burner as I  fill up the baby pool in the backyard,  eat snow cones with the neighbors, take a bike ride with my family, and stay up too late watching TV after a long day in the sun.

After all it is pretty hard to say no to face like this

And pretty easy to say no to the things that can wait.

So thank you for sticking around my little blog and understanding that things are just a little slow around here this summer as I say no to the things that can wait and yes to the things that can't -like making a last minute decision to hit the pool.

I will still be around but things will just keep moving at the summer pace here on Sassy Silly Spunky Momma. Please stay tuned though because my blog is undergoing a makeover and I have a few other surprises for you all well!!

I'm off to enjoy the last few hours of my weekend!

Kisses

It started out innocent enough...

Just two kids enjoying some books on a hot summer day...

Drake decided that was the perfect time to make his move on Laila...

Then as quickly as it started it was over and they were back to their books...

Drake Gives Back 2011

 Do you remember this from last year?

Drake Gives Back donated toys to a local children's hospital-Blank Children's Hospital.

With companies like Playskool, Discovery Toys and Tommee Tippee, and LeapFrog participating the children received some pretty awesome new toys.

Here are all the updates to refresh your memory

Drake Gives Back Update #1

Drake Gives Back Update #2

Drake Gives Back Update #3

Drake Gives Back Update #4

Drake Gives Back Update #5

Drake Gives Back-The Donation

[caption id="attachment_457" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Check Out All the Donations!"][/caption]

At Blank Children's Hospital Dropping Off the Donations

So with the success Drake Gives Back had last year, I decided to celebrate Drake's Birthday in style again this year with Round 2 of Drake Gives Back!

 

The Inspiration
Last year when I started thinking about Drake's 1st birthday party, I thought it would be super fun to incorporate the party into my blog. I had originally wanted to do a week of great giveaways to celebrate. I was even able to get several different companies to commit, but I started second guessing what I wanted his blog birthday celebration to really be about.

With the overwhelming success of Drake Gives Back 2010 we are back at it for 2011!

The Reason

We truly feel that Drake is our miracle baby. We tried for many months to get pregnant with no success. I scheduled an appointment with a fertility specialist but instead of going to that appointment in January of 2009, I went to my first OB appointment because I was pregnant.

I enjoyed nine easy and uneventful months of pregnancy and a picture perfect delivery. Shortly after Drake was born we found out he was born with a true knot in his umbilical cord, but by some miracle he was unharmed and perfectly healthy.

We spent the first year of Drake's life battling severe reflux and saw our fair share of specialists, hospitals, and doctors offices. Even though that first year was tough I knew we could have had it so much worse and never took Drake or his overall good health for granted.

Drake Gives Back was born as a way to give back all that has been given to us through Drake.

The 2011 donations will go directly to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.

How YOU Can Help

It is so simple-DONATE.

Donate new toys. Donate money. Donate space on your blog in honor of this cause.  Just donate.

If you are interested in donating please email me at sssmomma@gmail.com

Stella and Dot Review/Giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED-Winner comment #7.

I love unique jewelry.  I feel like the right piece can add so much to a plain and boring outfit.

So you can imagine how excited I was when my friend (and old college roommate) introduced me to Stella & Dot.

The thing I love most about Stella & Dot is you can find a style you love in the price range you want. They have the most beautiful jewelry that has a modern, yet classic look. They even have a jewelry line for little girls!

Amanda was kind enough to offer me a piece of Stella and Dot jewelery to review. After browsing at all the awesome pieces I ran across this gold owl charm necklace and I knew it had to be mine.

How cute is that?!

I have received more compliments on this piece of jewelry in the few short weeks that I have had it than any other jewelry that I own!

[caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="411" caption="Please excuse the "I'm about to fall asleep look" I just got over the flu so I was about to fall asleep!"][/caption]

In short...I'm in love!

Now to the good stuff-the giveaway

The GIVEAWAY Details:

Enter to win a $30 Stella & Dot Store Credit to spend on anything you like!

Mandatory(must do this for other entries to count) - like Amanda's Stella & Dot Facebook page

You can earn extra entries to the giveaway by doing one, two, three, or all four  things listed below:
Extra entries

• Follow amandasturgeon on twitter (1 entry)


• Go to www.stelladot.com/amandasturgeon and tell me what your favorite piece of jewelry is (1 entry)


• Host a party (3 entries)


• Join Stella&Dot (6 entries)

(Make sure and leave a separate comment for each item you complete to earn your eligible entries)

The giveaway begins today Monday, July 11th and ends at 7:00 pm CST Thursday, July 28th. One winner will be picked at random, using Random.org. The winner must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be picked.

Please Note: I received the owl necklace at no cost to me.

 

Momma'a Day Off

Do you ever have one of those weeks that just leaves you craving a break from reality? A break from your normal routine? A break from the everyday? Yep, I'm so there.

With late bedtimes for Drake over the long weekend we have been struggling to get back into a routine and it is really starting to show. We have had  a tired, crabby, teething, mad little boy on our hands for the last few days.

Also? He pooped on the living room floor in several different places and also managed to smear it all of himself. Gross really does not even begin to describe it.

So when my plans to meet a friend today for lunch and pedicures fell through I kept the babysitter and headed out for a Momma afternoon. I started off with lunch with my hubby at one of my favorite places. Unexpected lunch dates with the husband? The best!!

After lunch I treated myself to a pedicure. One luxury hour of soaking, massage, and polish all while enjoying a book on my Kindle (The Art of Racing in the Rain is a MUST read) and enjoying the sights and sounds of the nail salon. After my pedicure I was off to run a few errands and finally relax at my favorite coffee house, where I am right now surfing the internet and catching up on blogging.

In love with today.

 

Drake's Wild Things Birthday Invites

Drake's party is fast approaching in a couple of weeks. First thing I've checked off my list is sending out the  invites.

I'm pretty much in love with them and feel like they set the perfect tone for our Where the Wild Things Are Birthday Party. My good blogging friend Shannon from Sweet Bean Co. was the genius behind these awesome invites.

I can't wait to get Wild!!

4th of July- Changes

Another 4th of July has come and gone. We had a great weekend celebrating doing lots of our favorite things with some of our favorite people. We went out for breakfast, to the farmers market, took Drake to his first outside concert, enjoyed a  baseball game, watched fireworks, had lots of fun at a parade, went swimming, and of course ate lots of yummy food.

With July well under way, I can't help but think about how fast time is going. I swear it feels just like yesterday that I was celebrating the 4th as a hot pregnant woman and now I almost have a 2-year old!

Here is a visual for you on how fast things can change in 2 years.

[caption id="attachment_435" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Celebrating the 4th of July 34 weeks pregnant 2 years ago."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="302" caption="Drake celebrating his 1st 4th of July last year."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_433" align="aligncenter" width="442" caption="My handsome little boy on the 4th this year."][/caption]

Time really does fly!