Monday, September 27, 2010

Mighty Autumn List Number One.


My Mighty Autumn List is a tad smaller than My Mighty Summer List and does not include mighty things such as, say, birthing a child. But, I do have some goals for this season that I am excited to execute and two such goals were actually accomplished this weekend. Sweet! The first I will write about today, the second, tomorrow. The list will probably grow a little, too. This list is a combination of things that are already planned and things that are spontaneous, all being things I hope to accomplish.

Mighty Autumn List Number One.


Cub's Second Birthday (Family) Party

I sat on the floor at play group on Thursday, Naomi on my lap and Cub running around in the backyard, as I bemoaned to my friends that I hadn't, actually, put together Cub's birthday party yet. It was planned for Saturday and I had the cake ordered, but I couldn't seem to nail down a theme (pun! pun!). I had originally intended on doing a "things that go" party, including planes, trains, automobiles, tractors, etc. But I couldn't wrap my mind around executing such a broad theme, and the feeling left me frustrated. I wanted to give Cub a good party. But, honestly, my creativity is kind of zapped right now. When the kids are awake, I am able to accomplish tasks, but I am unable to brainstorm. You can't force creativity, people! And, when the kids nap, I nap. So, being only a few days away from the big day, my brain was muddled and my heart was a little broken, feeling failure on the horizon, cheating Cub out of the kind of day I wanted to give him. I had done a little planning, but it just wasn't coming together.

After everyone left, I put the kids down for naps and sat on my bed, thinking of what to do. Cub loves tractors and he loves Thomas the Train. Thomas is all kinds of awesome, but a Thomas party just didn't sound that fun to me. But tractors ... hmmm ... we could maybe do tractors ... construction? A construction party?

And ZING! The creative juices started a'flowin'. I grabbed my This-Is-Where-I-Write-Random-Ideas notebook and started scribbling out ideas. I knew I had about an hour and a half until the kids woke up, so any thought I had, I wrote down. Decorations: Caution tape would make a good streamer. Other than that? Uh, nothing. Okay. Food: The usual ... buffalo wings, pinwheels, cake is already ordered (I called to make sure a construction-only cake would work, and it did), fruit ... aha! We could put the fruit in Cub's dump truck! And the chips and salsa in paint cans! Voila! Plates and Cups: Already picked up some chocolate brown with primary color polka dots. I liked the idea of keeping it with primary colors and not using only yellow and black.

And the rest of the day went like that. I made my checklist and was on my way. I called my Mom on Friday to tell her my idea and she said she had some construction stuff she had used as decor for the early registration program at the college where she works. Sawhorse with flashing light? Um, yes! Orange cones? Definitely! Caution signs? Please! The morning of the party, I found a Happy Birthday sign, some primary colored cones, a cool vintage John Deere lunch box, and a Tonka book for Cub. All awesome decorations. I used things he already had (legos, tool box, dump trucks) on the snack table. It was so fun digging through his things and making things work. Even his cake housed two of his trucks.

It was really pretty amazing the way this all fell together. I was the girl who procrastinated in college and wrote her term papers the night before they were due. Honestly, it's just how I function. I can only plan ahead so far. If I'm not "feeling" it, it doesn't happen. Blame my overpowering right brain. Becoming a mother has made me more of a planner, which is why my lack of planning of Cub's party was so frustrating to me, but I really believe that even if I had planned way ahead, I would not have come up with anything better. I was so stoked with how it all turned out.



I decided to chop up some of the "caution" tape and plaster it all over the house: On the front door, on the walls, on the toilet, on the oven. Caution: Cub is turning TWO!



The table! Sorry for the bad lighting. The large window behind the table made my usual natural-light-preference pictures black and I didn't have time to take a bunch of manual pics, so I used my flash. I know, I'm a nerd.



I couldn't have imagined a more fitting or perfect cake. A huge thank you to Erin!!






Cub's uniform was a pair of overalls, a cuffed plaid shirt, and a Lowe's nail pouch ("BIG pockets!")


When I uploaded this picture, it brought tears to my eyes. Our family of FOUR!


Cub and Naomi had overalls, I had flannel, but my husband missed out on the construction-ish wear. That's okay. He's still cute.



Love my little man.

It was such a fun day. I can't believe Cub will be two in a few short weeks. I had to plan this party early thanks to busy weekends coming up, but I'm glad we did it now--it gives me some time to let it sink in that Cub is actually turning two soon. Wow. My little guy is growing up.

Good grief, I'm so teary I can't come up with a clever ending. There you go. Crying at my computer. I think I'm tired from this weekend? Maybe?

And I just really, really love my Cub. Happy Birthday (soon!), Buddy.

Have a lovely day!

4 comments:

  1. WOW! What an amzing party. It seems pre-ordained! Everything just fell into palce. Well done.

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  2. Super cute party theme! I love that family photo too. You should frame it!

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  3. LOVE this!! what an amazing party! (it looks like one whittney would plan, hahaha :)). i am super impressed with how you pulled everything together. the cake might just be my favorite part!!

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  4. It was a great party and a fun birthday boy.

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