On Monday June the 14th we found out what the sex of our baby was! I decided it would be fun to have what they call a "Gender Reveal Party." 

I know it's kind of silly, but it was really just an excuse to get together and have a party. 

Since we don't have any family that lives in town other than my mom, our church friends ARE our family!

I first found cute cupcake papers at Michaels that had polka dots on them in blue and pink and green and yellow. Not sure if you can really tell in this picture. 

This is Tammy....she made all my cupcakes for me!! 

There were chocolate cupcakes and white cupcakes and they all had chocolate frosting. She injected pink icing into 2 cupcakes and blue icing into 2 cupcakes, then when we did the big reveal I gave H and I the cupcakes with the right color to bite in to.

THEN, I found this polka dot wrapping paper at Walmart that was kind of my inspiration for the decorations. It coordinated PERFECTLY with the cupcake holders. We had pretzels, chips, m&m's, strawberry malt balls, marshmallows, kettle corn, kettle corn with cinnamon, lemon cookies and ice cream sandwiches.

(thanks to Merydwen for helping put all the decor together and taking most of the photos you will see)

So glad all of you could come for the party. I will post recipes at the bottom of this post. 

We gave H & I each a cupcake, WITH everyone staring at them....

THEY DIDN'T KNOW what to do or think! H has never taken so much time to eat a cupcake!

GIRL!!!


PUNCH RECIPE: It's called a "JUNE BUG"

Here is what you need for 4 servings:
3 cups giner ale
4 Tbsp. grenadine
4 Tbsp. orange juice
3 scoops orange sherbert (I used raspberry to make it pink)
(for alcohol version add 1/2 cup white rum: didn't put any of this in unfortunately this time!)

CHOCOLATE-MARSHMALLOW ICE CREAM SANDWICHES:

10 Mini Caramel Twix Bars

1 2-layer size Chocolate Cake Mix

2 eggs

1/4 cup veg oil

1/4 cup water

2 cups Choc Ice Cream

2/3 cup marshmallow cream

1. Unwrap twix bars, put in baggie and freeze for 2 hours. 

Take out and crush bars.

2. prepare cookies, preheat oven to 350 deg. In mixing bowl combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and water. Beat until combined. Drop dough by well rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. cool 1 minute on cookie sheet and remove to wire rack to completely cool.

3. spoon ice cream into large bowl. let stand 10 min and stir twix bars into ice cream. return to freezer until ready to use.

4. spread marshmallow cream on the flat sides of half the cookies; place, creme side up, on a shallow baking pan. Using a small ice cream scoop, place some ice cream mixture onto flat sides of remaining cookies. Place on same baking pan, ice cream side up. Loosely cover and freeze for 2 hours or until firm.

5. Gently sandwich cookies together. Serve immediately or wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap for up to 1 month.

SUNSHINE LEMON COOLERS:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Unsweetened lemonade mix

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cream together sugars, shortening, egg, vanilla, and salt in
a large bowl.
3. Add the flour and baking powder. Add 1 tablespoon of water and
continue mixing until dough forms a ball.
4. Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls and flatten slightly onto a
lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until
cookies are light brown.
5. As cookies bake, combine 1 cup powdered sugar with the lemonade
drink mix in a large plastic bag and shake thoroughly to mix.
6. When the cookies are removed from the oven and while they are
hot, add 4 or 5 at a time to the bag and shake it until the cookies
are well coated. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Party: My 3 year olds

Isaac and Hadleigh turn 3 years old this year! I was 3 in June and H will be 3 in July. I CANNOT believe it! We have almost had them for 3 whole years. It's amazing the little people they have turned out to be and their distinct personalities. 

They are both so independent and I love that. They are their VERY own person that God has planned for them to be. They like to do things by themselves and for the most part if they think they can do it we let them.

I read this quote in a book I am reading through my pregnancy and I LOVE it!

"Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed" -Maria Montessori

 My Isaac: Sensitive, smarter than he lets on, cautious, at this point he is a follower, ALL BOY, does not like shirts with collars...he says they "bother" him, he has a memory like an elephant, very quick learner, likes to ride his bike, play outside, hunt bugs and read! He's the first to learn every word to a song and learn his memory verses. He will play with his cars/trucks all day long by himself, the first to learn his colors, the first to walk and the first to talk (will REPEAT anything and everything you say word for word), has been carrying on a real conversation since before he was one. 

My Hadleigh: Snuggle bug, she has no fear, wants to wear a dress every day with a matching bow....GIRLY GIRL, likes to swim and is also a fast learner, the first to be potty trained, the first to swim by herself, she is a go-getter, very expressive and you know what she's feeling by the look on her face, a leader, attention getter, likes to do anything artsy, likes to dance, the HARDEST to discipline (nothing is working with this girl), hard headed, mean and a lover at the same time!

So on with the party!

I had the GREATEST privilege of working with Viridian Design Studio and My Delightful Designs to prepare and pull of this FUN party! The party was hosted at the Comanche Trace pool.

 

Merydwen Peschel, with My Delightful Designs prepared a full spread of characters for me to choose from. I started with Thing 1 (Isaac) and Thing 2 (Hadleigh) and told her to do whatever after that. She designed the Invitation, Thank You card, Posters for both Hadleigh and Isaac, Gift Tags for the party favor buckets, Stickers for the bubbles, Water bottles and Drink bottles .

Here is an idea of how these things were used at the party!

 

To go with these designs and colors Tricia and Emily with Viridian Design Studio came up with these FABULOUS and "Seussish" decorations!

 

 

And last but not least, here are some party pics!