Growing Like a Weed

Avery LOVES being out at my parent's ranch. She has tons of room to run, jump, and explore. You will often find her riding in the wagon, putting rocks in a bucket, or splashing in the baby pool. Grasshoppers and tractors are new favorites too.

We just had Avery's 2 year checkup, so as usual I have to give the report. She is still topping the charts at 31.5 lbs and 36" inches tall. Yep, she's my little one yard wonder.

Ford's Room

I made it up to Dallas this past weekend to visit my sister, Casey, and attend her first baby shower. I finally finished and set up the bedding I made for Ford. Casey's MIL made a wonderful matching quilt too! Ford's nursery certainly is taking shape. We can't wait to meet him in September!

Limeade Ava

I bet you are wondering how I had time to blog all of those birthday posts and sew a new outfit for Avery in the past two days! Omie and Opa pulled a surprise move and brought Avery up to San Antonio with them when they left on Sunday. They've taken Avery before, but Todd and I have always been elsewhere. It was so nice to have some down time and work time at home without the munchkin under foot. I can't tell you how wonderful the hug was when I pulled up to the ranch house today though.

I was able sew for hours yesterday and managed to finish a whole outfit in a day. This never happens for me! This one is Patty Young's Ava pattern using Tanya Whelan's Ava Rose fabric and Barbara Jones' Bubblegum Basics. The two Avas made quite a pair. Patty's patterns are always well written, so the top came together easily. I paired it with a simple Simplicity pattern for the shorts. I liked the idea of the stylish halter with some comfy playtime shorts instead of the skirt that comes with the pattern.




I found these sweet birdie buttons at the last Warrenton antique show. I think they really completed this top.

Berry Good Time

I certainly think Avery enjoyed her special day! I didn't get any good pictures of the other kiddos, but we were so glad everyone could join in our fun.

That's it for the birthday pics folks! Thanks for letting me document everything that went in to creating this party. Of course, I'm already looking forward to next year's.

Berry Pretty

Here are a few close ups of the decorations you've had glimpses of in the previous posts. I'm hoping to do a few mini tutorials on some of these later, so I'll spare you the details for now.







Ok, only one more party post to go then we can finally move on!

Berry Fun

I love to use party favors as part of the decor and to carry on the theme of the party. For this centerpiece, I used one large pre-made lollipop dressed up with a strawberry pincushion from a pattern by Heather Bailey. My great uncle found this wonderful vintage strawberry pot for me a while back. I was thrilled to have it for the party. I filled in the "pots" with strawberry lollipops made with candy melts and a mold from Bake it Pretty.




While searching for strawberry favors, I came across the template for the strawberry boxes at Oriental Trading Company. I filled each box with two pieces of strawberry taffy.


I wanted something for the kiddos that wasn't edible, so I pulled together some glitter playdough from this great tutorial. I asked Mary Jo to print up some stickers for me when she did the invitations. She did not disappoint!

Berry Sweets

My favorite part of any party is dessert, so I went all out with strawberry sweets for Avery's party.



The cupcakes still make me smile. The decorations are made out of fondant, and the cute cups came from Bake it Pretty. I used this Sprinkles strawberry cupcake recipe and my own icing recipe. These cupcakes baked up with the perfect dome; I just love it when that happens.






Yummy cookies!



I found the strawberry marshmallow recipe at MarthaStewart.com. This was a fun experiment for me, but it turned out quite messy to make.

Berry Delicious

I'm going to start the party posts with the food. This table holds the munchies for the adults. The menu included fruit salsa with cinnamon chips and fruit kabobs to carry on the berry theme.

I found some great free printables during my planning phase including the lemonade tags you can download here.



I had a great time putting together some fun foods for the kiddos including kid's meals in strawberry baskets and strawberry milk. You can purchase the strawberry baskets and the cute straws in the previous photo at Bake it Pretty.

I'm saving the desserts for another post, so I think I'll take a break and eat a cupcake.

Tease

Here's a little tease of what's to come when I give you the nitty gritty details of Avery's 2nd birthday party.


Right now I'm a bit to tired to think straight!

Starting It Off Right

Check out this adorable invitation Mary Jo of What's Inside Designs put together for Avery's party! She pulled together the theme, wording, and fabric print so perfectly. My sister helped with the fun wording. I love setting the stage for a party with cute invitations, and these certainly did the trick.

Berry Sweet

I know my blog posts have been few and far between lately, but I really do have an excuse. Friday is Todd and Avery's birthday. We'll be having Avery's big 2nd birthday bash on Saturday, then Father's Day on Sunday. It's going to be a fun weekend!

Unfortunately for Todd, most of my preparation activities revolve around Avery's birthday. This year's theme is a berry sweet birthday. I recently finished up this dress for Avery using the Farbenmix Vida pattern. The fabrics are quite an assortment of Michael Miller, Jennifer Paganelli, Robert Kaufman, Tanya Whelan, and Barbara Jones. It has actually been a while since I've sewn anything for Avery given the numerous other gifts, etc. I've been working on. This one was so much fun to put together.


I love all of the extra ruffles and trims.

I'll have tons more to show you after the party, but I wanted to give a hint of a preview with the dress. I may be tempted to show more, but we'll see if I get around to it. Boy, do I love party prep!