Flamingo Birthday Party

So, let's me confess right up front: I adore party planning. Which is a bit weird given that I'm not a details person. I'm definitely a big picture kinda gal. Chris is the nuts and bolts half of the relationship. We joke that I dream up the vision and he makes it a reality. Which, if you know us, is so true. 

I think I'm going to start telling Chris that my grand vision for our daily lives does not include a tidy house. Life, especially with kids, is gloriously messy. This is a great idea, yes?! All in favor of adopting, shout 'aye'!

Anyway, back to the party. Since Ben and Emma have birthdays that are only separated by two weeks, it makes sense to smoosh them together into one glorious fiesta. I plan to do this until they stage a revolt. Frankly, we expected Ben to protest vociferously  but we appeased him with the promise of his Treasure Hunt (aka his buddy birthday) party and he happily went out of his way to tell everyone that he was having two birthday parties. Dude is spoiled rotten, it's true. 

So, now that we were planning Un Gran Fiesta (can you tell that I've been practicing my spanish on Duolingo?!), we needed to pack a birthday punch. 

And really, are there any other birds on the planet that can rival the flamingo for sheer showy gaudyness? (Parents and other birders: don't answer that. Save your blue mot mots, birds of paradise, and other feathered friends for next year's party) 

I found this geometric flamingo file (instant download) for $1.50 on Etsy and then set about crafting a proper invitation. 

Eh. It was ok. But who can resist messing around a bit more? 

(And I just noticed that there was a typo in the first invitation. Eek. Where is my detail-oriented husband?!)

 Or adding pink bunting? Peeps, the world needs more pink bunting.

I also added a few feathered models to the birthday cake. Bad picture, I know. Wind + dying camera does not make for good photographic evidence. Plus I was trying to balance the entire thing on top of a paint bucket (yes, we're still in construction mode) 10 minutes before guests walked in the door. Welcome to my hectic life. Which clearly has no time for tidying. Flamingos always take precedence over house chores, yes?

Here is the cake right before we dug in. This is when I started singing Happy Birthday but Ben halted the proceedings because I'd neglected to turn off every single last light in the house and it wasn't dark enough for him. Got to follow the rules and the rules say that light go OFF. Yes sir.

Ben requested an ice cream cake which was good since our oven wasn't hooked up and thus we had no way to bake a cake. This one was based off of an Ombre Cake and it got high scores from family members. Basically you whip up a whole bunch of whipped cream and layer it in between ice cream flavors of your choice. I picked chocolate, raspberry, and mango. YUM. It was an excellent combo, if I do say so myself.

Give yourself a day to make this cake. You put the bottom ice cream layer down, then a whipped cream layer and then stick it in the freezer to harden for half an hour. Then you put down another layer of ice cream and a second layer of whipped cream. Then harden. And repeat for as many layers as necessary. And then you cloak the entire thing in more whipped cream that takes the place of an exterior frosting.

Next time I'd try to make my whipped cream layers thinner. Or perhaps nix them entirely. Whipped cream simply doesn't it do it for me when compared to a good gelato. 

For the past few years we've done birthday shirts for the kids but I lied shamelessly to Ben and told him that they don't make shirts big enough for five year-olds. The tradition was cute for the first few years but I don't want my sixteen-year-old throwing a fit when he doesn't receive his annual birthday vestment. So we cut it off at age four. Sorry, Bubba. 

This is what I sent to the gal on Etsy that makes the shirts:

And...we got kind of close. It all depends on what she has in stock and I'm not surprised that her stash of oranges is a little thin.  Eh. I can live with it. Don't sweat the details, remember? :) I'm just grateful that she's willing to do custom orders. The one she made last year for Em was perfect. 

The birthday girl was happy and proceeded to show her appreciation by smearing chocolate ice cream over the front. It's my party and I do what I want to.

Sometimes it seems a bit silly to make such a to-do for what is a very small birthday party for only the kids' closest family members. But I remember quite vividly the parties my mom staged every February: the kite flying party. The high heel races. The tea party. They were great fun, even when things went wrong. Ahem. Like the time I lit the house on fire. In hindsight, that one was less fun for my parents, perhaps.

So in the meantime we're going to make a fuss over the kids and let them enjoy (jointly!) their special day. And really, it's also just an awesome opportunity to make delicious cakes.

xo,

Sonja

Peaches!

The only tree in our yard that even remotely enjoyed this summer was the frost peach. 

Smokin’ hot weather? Heck yeah. Bring it, said the peach tree. 

Randomly, and somewhat off-topic. Chris saw a bumper sticker on a prius yesterday that said: “Cool Prius! -Said Nobody Ever” .  Love it. 

Anyway, back to the peaches. We planted our tree back in 2011 in honor of our first child's momentous birth. So this is Ben’s tree and is therefore four years old. Which isn’t very long in the life of a peach tree. It’s our baby peach. 

Last year was the first summer we got fruit and frankly, it wasn’t anything to write home about. Not much flavor. We ate a few and then turned the rest into jam. 

Actually, I harvested them and then we promptly flew up to Alaska for a week so they sat in our fridge and our house sitter probably thought we had a weird obsession with tiny peaches, given that our fridge was entirely empty except for a giant bowl of tiny peaches. 

But they made AMAZING jam. It was seriously fantastic. So great that I turned into a hoarder and didn’t give any of it away. It’s usually my go-to hostess gift but nope, we ate every last jar. 

We ran out a few months ago and have been subsisting on an ok-but-no-super-flavorful plum jam. I tried to go the natural pectin route, using apples from our (former) crab-apple tree but the result was meh. 

So, back to Little Peachy. This poor tree decided to put all its energy to to producing the tastiest, most massive number of peaches known to man. So many that little peachy was bent in half trying to support the weight of these suckers. Today our mission was one of compassion: free the tree from her burden! (Yes, I should have staked up the branches and picked some of the littler fruits earlier on...what can I say, my time for horticultural tasks right now is at an all-time low)

Holy moly they were delicious. And Ben loved picking the fruit from ‘his’ tree.  (Hmm. just realized that we’ve yet to plant a tree for little Em. We’d best get on that)

We ate them for dinner atop a green salad. Which was NOT picked from the garden because my lettuce, due to the heat, bolted in two days flat.  Boo.

It was a grand harvest. And our little tree is standing a little straighter now. Hopefully she’ll now put her efforts into growing better, stronger branches.

I am seriously going to dream about these glorious peaches tonight.

Oh hey. Bolted lettuce. Pretty, in a non-edible kind of way. 

The roof on our garden shed is looking a wee bit dry, just like everything else around here. But also rather pretty, no?

So the plan is to unapologetically gorge ourselves silly on fresh fruit and then jam the rest. Because I still adore peach jam more than any other jam out there, with maybe the exception of highbush cranberry. Which you will probably only know about if you’ve lived in Alaska. Liquid gold, I tell you.

The problem with peaches, of course, is that there is an extra step in the jam-making process. You can’t just cut the fruit it, throw it in the pot with sugar and pectin, and call the whole thing good. No. You have the remove both the pits and, annoyingly, the skin.

So I set up a processing line in our kitchen: Whole fruit at one end, followed by a boiling hot water bath, then an ice water dunk, then the peeling process (which may be easy or horrible, depending on the individual peach), a bowl for the skins, then a holding bowl. Then I tear the peach apart with my hands, deposit the pit in the skin bowl, and toss the halves in the giant glass jar. It’s time consuming.

And, of course, done in the heat of the summer, standing over a hot stove, working with boiling liquid and slimy peaches. If I’ll be perfectly honest, I no longer love canning, mostly due to the fact that I’ve always done it in miserably hot kitchens with no ventilation. I’M LOOKING AT YOU, YOU LOUSY RECIRCULATING FAN.

But I’m telling you, peeps, the end product makes it worthwhile, especially in the dead of winter when you need a reminder of summer. 

Stay tuned for more canning goodness to come. 

xo, 

Sonja

Ben’s 4th Birthday: Party Details

Have I told you what good sports our family is? 

Exhibit #1:

Not only do they graciously help us celebrate our two wee tykes but they willingly embraced the whimsical toddler activities.   It reminded me of my second grade teacher Mrs. Roarback who came to my birthday part and then gleefully participated in the high heel relay races. 

[side note: how is it that none of us broke ankles participating in that particular stunt?!]

But back to the family: I think I’ll keep them. 

And they make quite fetching woodland wolves:

I'm especially partial to this one:

The forest gnome. Awesome sauce, peeps. You totally need this one at your next wedding photo booth. Robbie looks quite dapper, no? The jaunty bow tie makes the ensemble. 

The birthday boy doing a little ice cream cranking. 

Hedgy the Hedgehog! In all his glory. 

He is directly modeled off of this terrific version, available from Etsy seller Wunderlandhome.

I feel like he’s got his arms out, saying: “No!! Stop, do not smash me to smithereens!"

Sorry Hedgie, no mercy today, even after all that work. sniff.

Never get between a boy and his candy. 

Cake topper and invitation:

I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow that candle out:

xo, 

Sonja

Resource List:

Invitations: The Pear in Paper (I cannot rave about this Irish artist enough. She’s so fun to work with)

Piñata Inspiration: Wunderlandhome

Party Masks: The Quirky Quail

Birthday Shirts: Say It ’N Stitches

Here are the details for Emma’s First Birthday Party. 

Emma’s First Birthday: Party Details

The kids had a joint birthday party with our extended family last week. 

We went with a woodland theme, because, hey, why not? 

You know me, I am a sucker for pretty party details. This pink and yellow combo is just about my most favorite. Can’t go wrong with sunshine and papaya. Makes even these grey February days bearable. 

I completely forgot to put up Emma’s weekly photos that I took throughout her first year. I’m still ticked about the whole thing, really. All that work and nobody got to see it. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

The babe even got her own (tiny!) little cake. It’s our old standby: spice cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. The frosting isn’t as pretty as your typical fondants or buttercreams but the flavor is unparalleled. 

She devoured it. 

It wouldn’t be a woodland party without forest animals. Here we have little bear and hedgehog. Instant paper downloads from Etsy seller The Quirky Quail. 

Emma was not partial to the owl.

CAKE!! LET ME AT THE CAKE!!!

You’ll notice that Emma is sporting her first birthday shirt. 

 Ice cream too?! YES PLEASE.

Up next: Ben’s half of the birthday party. 

xo, 

Sonja

Hikes: Moss Lake Natural Area

Today we decided to venture off on a new hike in the Moss Lake Natural Area, which is managed by the King County Department of Natural Resources. It’s ideal for children as it’s an easy three mile loop with minimal elevation gain. Frogs were calling as we ambled out of the parking lot and the first (and only) peek of Moss Lake is not to be missed. 

The trail is wide and well-maintained and provides a nice variety of habitats. Bring some good mud-stomping boots or be prepared for soggy feet. The autumn leaves are falling right now and it makes for a colorful stroll. We read that it can be buggy in early spring but for our Sunday outing it was delightfully pleasant and insect-free.

The one glaring detractor of this hike is the lack of signage. We neglected to properly read the trail description in the guidebook (besides knowing it was a loop hike), thus, when we arrived at a point with three possible route directions, we were stumped.

Additionally, we were already late for a birthday party and reluctant to head back in the direction that we’d previously traveled as it was well past the half-way mark of the three mile loop.

Chris set down his pack and jogged down the trail that we’d decided was most likely to lead us home. The troops were feeling a bit peckish so I broke out a few tasty morsels to cheer them up.

My dears, have you tried the This Bar Saves Lives from Whole Foods? The dark chocolate, cherry, and sea salt version is heavenly.

And it’s not just for cranky toddlers (and their mothers): for each bar purchased, food is delivered to starving children around the world. Last quarter the company sent 101,000 packets abroad to children in Africa, India, and Haiti. Definitely a cause worth supporting by chowing down on scrumptious bars.

 Chris found our trail home and we booked it back to the car and off to the birthday party.

Thinking of taking a walk yourself out at Moss Lake? Be not like us, my dears, and take a good long look at the map! Here is an excellent one for reference.

xo,

Sonja

From the Blog-O-Sphere

My Dears,

I hope you have a great weekend planned. We’re going to hit up the Lake City Salmon Fest (car show, reptile man, parade!) and then we’ve got to hammer out the last of the basement work.

Last week Chris and I simultaneously went on strike; we couldn’t handle another weekend of baseboard and door hanging. So we went for a hike at St. Ed’s, had a picnic in the park, and then zipped down to NW Trek on Sunday.

It was a nice break. Chris has been working crazy hours (example: yesterday 5:30am to 8pm) and the kids are their usual exuberant selves. Add in high summer temperatures and it makes for a chaotic, hot mess.

Am I allowed to start petitioning for autumn yet? I spend all winter wishing for warm weather and then I simply can’t handle the heat when it arrives. Fickle.


My friend M pointed out that the blackberry season is upon us and that an excellent place to pick them is the parking lot of our preschool. I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you. Or at least poke you with a blackberry pricker. Ben’s mouth is permanently dyed red and I’m hoping we have enough for a tasty berry something tonight.

Here are some links from around the web this week:

Who Wins the Name Game. Ugh. I always find it fascinating (and slightly depressing) how one’s name can play into daily interactions. That’s a tough burden for soon-to-be-parents. Frankly, Chris and I were just attempting to find names that went well with our hefty (and long!) middle-last name combo.

Let’s play airplane peekaboo (or, how to open up airplane lavatories from the outside. You’ll never know when you need these skills, peeps!)

How to shut down the trolls on FoxNews

Happy Weekend, Darlings.

xo,

Sonja