Planning Erin's 2nd Birthday

June 30, 2015

After throwing a huge party for Erin's first birthday, we decided we wanted her 2nd birthday to be small and intimate (and cheaper). We're just inviting our immediate family over for some dinner and cake. But I still wanted to send out an invitation and decorate. The theme for her 2nd birthday will be: Pandastic! She has been into pandas for some time now, so I thought she'd enjoy a panda themed birthday party.

I made some panda themed birthday invitations:




I had Ken take pictures of Erin. The pictures turned out great, so I plan on sending them along with the invitation. Here are a few of my favorites:




In terms of decorations..I'll be keeping it simple. Mostly black and white colored things. I'll get some balloons, party hats for the guests to wear, I'll be giving out some panda chocolates/cookies as favors as well as the temp tattoos I made. To keep up with the Panda theme, we'll be getting food catered from Panda Express (yum!) and for dessert, we plan to get a yummy cake from Porto's or maybe even Whole Foods. I'm sure Erin won't remember any of this, but it's fun planning things like this for her.


We'll see how it all turns out. Stay tuned! (Can't believe she'll be two in just a little over a month!)


Snapshots

June 24, 2015

Snapshots of life the last few months:



Temporary Tattoos - DIY

June 16, 2015

I've been really into temp tattoos these days. There are SO many cute ones out there. I've contemplated whether or not I want to get a real tattoo, but I could never think of anything I'd permanently want on my body, so maybe that's why I love temp tattoos so much.

I made some temp tattoos for Erin's 1st birthday party last year. It took a little bit of work, but I think it was worth it. I got a portrait of Erin's face made from Jordyluxe (so happy with how it turned out). I made some other designs and put them all together. With Erin's 2nd birthday coming up, thought it would be fun to do it again. Here's a little how-to.

What you'll need:
  1. Your design
  2. Temporary Tattoo paper (I used Silhouette Tattoo Paper and Papilio Tattoo Paper)
  3. Printer
How to make the temp tattoos:
  1. After you've created your design, make sure you flip the images so its mirrored. If you don't do this, your images will turn out incorrectly when it comes time for applying the tattoo. 
  2. You'll need to know whether you'll be using a laser printer or an inkjet printer before buying the tattoo paper. You'll need to buy tattoo paper according to which type of printer you're using. I've tried using a laser printer with an inkjet tattoo paper...it doesn't work.
  3. Once you are all set with matching paper and printer, its time to start printing. Make sure you print on the glossy/somewhat sticky side.
  4. After you've printed your design on the tattoo paper, the hardest step comes next. You'll have to apply the adhesive sheet to the tattoo paper. Gently peel the adhesive sheet from its backing and align it with your tattoo paper. Start at one end of the paper and grab a book or magazine and use that to help with applying it to the rest of the paper. You don't want any air bubbles so try your best to rub/press them all out!
  5. After you've made sure that the adhesive sheet is properly on the tattoo paper, you can start cutting out your designs. I didn't use any fancy craft cutting machine for this, just a pair of decent scissors. 
  6. Time to apply your tattoo! Have a wet cloth handy and peel off the clear adhesive sheet. Once you've decided where you want to put the tattoo, hold it down and keep the wet cloth on it for a few minutes. (You don't need to wait long after you've applied to the adhesive sheet to cut and apply the tattoos)
*Make sure your images have a transparent background and not a white one. If you have a white colored background, the tattoo will come out with a white background.
*The temporary tattoo paper is actually a bit pricey (especially if you aren't buying in bulk) so try to squeeze in as many designs as you can on each sheet.
*Don't peel off the adhesive sheet all at once. Apply it little by little.You're less likely to get air bubbles that way. 

Here's what my designs looked like:                                                                              

Walking down the Aisle

June 9, 2015

Erin attended her 2nd wedding this past weekend. She was also able to participate in the wedding this time around. It was her first flower girl gig! Ken and I were a little nervous. We were sure Erin would have a meltdown or freeze in fear. But, Erin did so well! There were no tears. It helped that there was another flower girl (who btw was so well-behaved and good) walking down the aisle with her and I made sure to bring some lollipops. The lollipops were key. I waited at the end of the aisle, waving the lollipops so Erin could see them. Sure enough, she bolted down the aisle, dragging the other flower girl with her. She walked right up to me and grabbed the lollipop. Success! The lollipop kept her pretty busy throughout the ceremony. We sat at the end of the row just in case she had a yelling/screaming moment. She was only 14 months when she attended her first wedding and she wasn't able to sit through it at all. Ken had to take her outside and let her walk around. They missed the whole ceremony. I'm glad to see that with age, Erin is able to somewhat sit through a 35 minute wedding ceremony (but only when she has things to keep her occupied, i.e. snacks). 

My little girl is getting so big!














Miss Bossy Pants

June 3, 2015

We got ourselves a bossy little girl. Not sure who she gets that from..maybe it's an oldest/only child thing? I know I wasn't bossy. I wonder if Ken was a bossy kid (he's the oldest in his family). She's been making us follow her wherever she goes, forces us to get up when we're lying down (she's literally dragging us), has us jump when she jumps, force feeds us, sing a song, dance with her or has us stop dancing...the list goes on. Sometimes I look at her and smile because it's kind of cute how her personality is developing and other times I'm like "ew, go away." hah. I hear that at daycare she gets pretty bossy too (so its not just at home with us). She'll have some of the older kids follow her around and do what she says. There was one boy who would comply for a short while, but soon realized he wasn't having any fun and told Erin he didn't want to "play" with her anymore. haha. No sure what her bossy-like personality will blossom into as she gets older...but I hope it's not going to be a big parenting challenge. I guess you still have to remember to keep your kid grounded (even at the young age of two) and remind them that they aren't the boss and though it's cute, we as parents need to ensure that they listen just as well as they lead.

Erin has also been in a very "I want to do it!" kind of mood these past few months. Erin can't do everything by herself yet, but it's nice seeing the independence kicking in. She's generally a very dependent person. She doesn't do much on her own, always has to have either me or Ken with her and has us do things for her. She still prefers to stay by our side..but she's been pushing herself out of that comfort zone. She insists on going up and down stairs unassisted and she climbs up and down chairs on her own. She'll start exploring new places on her own and wave hi to strangers. She's playing by herself more often now too. Apparently these days she doesn't want Ken to hold her and take her to the car when he picks her up from daycare. She just acknowledges him, walks past him and starts heading for the car on her own. She won't be carried to bed anymore either..she'll walk herself to her room now. Sad and cute at the same time. But with the new sense of independence comes more of the meltdowns. She'll cry when we won't her let do something she obviously can't do by herself. Silly kid. My mornings with Erin have been quite delayed. It takes double the time getting out the door because she insists on doing everything herself. I have to sit and wait while she attempts to put her socks/pants on (she fails each time), walk down the stairs to the kitchen, attempts putting on her shoes (about 75% of time, each shoe will be on the wrong foot) and then finally walking down the stairs to the car. I stand there thinking, "Can you please move faster??" hehe. My little girl ain't so little no more!




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