Sunday Night Chit Chat: The Birthday Girl

Howdy Humble Readers...

Another week has flown by, and here I am trying to figure out where the time went.  Just fair warning, this is a photo heavy post.  :)

This week was dominated primarily by our wee sweet girl's birthday party.  Can I just say that I am almost appalled at the amount of time and energy I expended on a birthday for a three year old?  Holy cow, all week was spent on making décor items, planning out the party, and prepping. 

Just a reminder, Ginny is my girl's name on the web.  :)

I had decided, ages ago, that Ginny's party would be Candyland themed.  I found some great invitations on Etsy, and then went to town on pinterest looking for ideas.  That's where most of this came from. 

Candies made from two backward paper plates
taped together, decorated to look like peppermints,
and wrapped with cellophane and ribbon. 

The cake was especially challenging, because I had a bit of a brain dead moment when I baked it.  I had never baked a 9x13 cake with the intention of taking it out of the pan to decorate it, so I was concerned that it wouldn't come out of the pan nicely.  My solution was to use baking parchment.  Not the best idea in the world, as the parchment made the cake do some wavy crazy stuff around the edges.  In hind sight, I should have just trimmed up the edges, but I wasn't really thinking.  All in all, it turned out ok... the kids really liked it, and that was the important thing

The end product, meant to look like the game board

 

blowing out the candles

The rest of the food turned out great, and went over very well.  I did a chocolate cream cheese dip with fruit, veggies and dip, and pizza dippers (crescent rolls with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese rolled up inside, with a pizza sauce dip). 

We played a couple of games (pin the gumdrop on the gingerbread man and a bubble gum toss) and did a craft (peppermint candy picture frames - dollar store frames with peppermint candies glued around the edges).  The kids also played a couple of rounds of Candyland. 

Another idea that I got from Pinterest was really cute.  In each of the kids' goodie bags (containing a gingerbread man, some tootsie rolls, a candy bar, and a few peppermints) was a new toothbrush.  I figured they'd need it after all the candy at the party.  Oh, and did I mention that we had candy cane ice cream with the cake?  Are your teeth aching yet? 

the goodie bags

Ginny got ridiculously spoiled, and her favourite gift was a chef's coat & hat costume from my mom.  Mr. Potato Head was a close second. 

I can't believe she's three!

In other news, Pippin went for a haircut, and oh my goodness did he come home looking like a big boy.  My Beloved took him on Saturday morning while I was doing the final prep for the party. 

Before - At breakfast on Saturday

After - just before the party started

Now that we are past Ginny's birthday, Christmas begins at the hobbit hole in earnest.  This next week is my baking week.  I'm baking five different treats for Christmas, including making homemade irish cream truffles.  Yum! 

Also up this week are check ups for both of the wee-lings.  I'm going to be pushing for a hearing test for Pippin, as we are still concerned about his lack of any words.  I'm also going to ask Dr. B about Ginny's latest potty training hurdle... she stays dry all day now, but she only pees or poops during naptime or at bedtime when she's wearing a diaper.  I don't want her to do any damage to herself in this process. 

Ok, so that was really long.  How about the chit chat.  Here's what I'm...

Reading - I'm embarrassed to say that I had to return Game of Thrones to the library before I was finished it, so I am back on the hold list for it.  In the mean time, I wanted something comfortable, like a cozy blanket to slip into, so I picked up Memoirs of a Geisha again.  I just adore that book. 

Watching - The Grey Cup!!!  And yes, our Roughriders did indeed take the cup!!  Wahoo!!  It was a great game, and I'm so happy for the players (and for my Beloved... he's so excited). 

Listening To - My Beloved rejoicing about the win.  :)

Cooking/Baking - Tonight I made my Lazy Sausage Casserole... lots of great veggies roasted in the oven with olive oil, seasonings, and balsamic vinegar, topped with Italian sausages.  Very yummy.  As for baking... next week I'm making peppermint meltaways, butter tart bars, snowdrops, irish cream truffles, and cranberry almond wedges.

Happy I Accomplished This Week - All the prep for Ginny's b-day party, managing to keep my blood sugars relatively stable even with the candy binge yesterday, and I did some more crafting (made a groovy mistletoe bouquet, I'll show you next week). 

Looking Forward To Next Week - Baking, getting some forward momentum on what needs to happen with Pip, our North Pole Breakfast next Saturday morning (when our Elf on the Shelf, Hermy, returns), and decorating for Christmas. 

Thankful For - That my Christmas shopping is done!  I just need to do stocking stuffers, but that will come next month, and I have a boatload of points from my grocery store that I'm going to use for most of that stuff. 

***Bonus Question***  When do your Christmas/Holiday Decorations go up?  I have to wait until after Ginny's birthday, which is technically this coming Wednesday.  Just my own rule.  They'll go up on Friday night, after the kids go to bed.  There might be a few things left to do on Saturday, but because of our North Pole Breakfast, I really want the wee-lings to wake up to a fully decorated house. 

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This was posted as a part of Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat.  Pop over and check out what others are chatting about tonight!