One Big Wave Birthday Bash: The Details
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Baby Ahrens, Happy Homemakers, Party Time
We had SO MUCH FUN celebrating Hudson’s first birthday. We waffled back and forth if we should even have a party out here since we don’t have any family in the state but in the end decided we should just go for it. I’m so glad we did! If we were allowed to have alcohol in the park, champagne would have been served. Matt and I looked at each other after everyone had gone and just were like, whew, we made it a year. Go us!
As you know, I came up with the theme from Pinterest inspiration {duh} from these two parties. We knew we had to have the party outdoors since our apartment is teeny tiny. Any more than five people and we all would have started to feel a bit cramped. So, why not use what nature gave us and go to the beach? There was a perfect grass park right in front of the sand that we used. It was so much better than going out on to the sand. So here’s what we came up with for the big day. Prepare yourself for picture overload.
Our glorious Ikea easel in action. I had big plans for a pretty stencil on this but, you know. Ran out of time!
Bubbles and sunscreen for our littlest guests! Thank you Target $1 spot!
Hudson’s baby buddies. They were all born within 8 weeks of each other> So fun to have their mamas to talk all these pregnancy and baby related with.
Our food setup. It was an 11th hour decision to use the surfboard as our table top. The usual top that fits on the sawhorses was too big to shove in our trusty Elantra. Rather than beg/borrow/rent a van we just decided to improvise. I kind of love how it turned out!
Cute printables from my go-to gal Debbie at Wants and Wishes. You can win a $25 gift certificate to her shop at this giveaway.
Goodie bags filled with gummy sharks and temporary tattoos and goldfish crackers made up our centerpieces.
Sorry for the blown out pic, but it was super bright outside. I personalized the bags with iron on transfer paper.
I pre-packaged veggie straws in these little glassine baggies and sealed them with a cute sticker. I tried to make the food really kid friendly and easy to picnic with.
You can’t have a party without paper straws, am I right?
We didn’t make any of the food for the party. We decided to splurge and just buy it. I’m glad we did, I think it would have been much more stressful trying to make everything and haul it to the beach. I really really tried my hardest to make the kid his very own smash cake put it was an epic fail. Maybe you caught that gem on Instagram?
My little cake fiend. He gobbled it up so quickly, he thought we were going to take it away. He obviously wasn’t too upset that it was a store bought cupcake.
Our pack of 3! High fives all around for a great first year! Thanks for indulging my party planning hysterics! I’m sure we’ll be doing cake at home for his second birthday.
Sources:
Printables: Wants and Wishes
Surfboard: Perry’s Beach Café
Banner: homemade by moi, followed this tutorial
High Chair: Craig’s List find + spray paint
One shirt: homemade, so simple! I made it just like his St. Pat’s outfit.
Buckets/bubbles/sunscreen: Target $1 spot
Goodie Bags: Amazon
Paper products {picnic boxes/straws/glassine bags}: Garnish
Tags: Beach Fun, beach party, first birthday, one big wave, surf party
One
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Baby Ahrens
On the night you were born,
The moon smiled with such wonder
That the stars peeked in to see you
And the night wind whispered,
“Life will never be the same.”
Because there had never been anyone like you…ever in the world.
So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain
That they whispered the sound of your wonderful name.
It sailed through the farmland
High on the breeze…
Over the ocean…
And through the trees…
Until everyone heard it
And everyone knew
Of the one and only ever you.
Not once had there been such eyes,
Such a nose,
Such silly, wiggly, wonderful toes.
When the polar bears heard,
They danced until dawn.
From faraway places,
The geese flew home.
The moon stayed up until
Morning next day.
And none of the ladybugs flew away.
So whenever you doubt just how special you are
And you wonder who loves you, how much and how far,
Listen for geese honking high in the sky.
(They’re singing a song to remember you by.)
Or notice the bears asleep at the zoo.
(It’s because they’ve been dancing all night for you!)
Or drift off to sleep to the sound of the wind.
(Listen closely…it’s whispering your name again!)
If the moon stays up until morning one day,
Or a ladybug lands and decides to stay,
Or a little bird sits at your window awhile,
It’s because they’re all hoping to see you smile…
For never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
Has the world ever known a you, my friend,
And it never will, not ever again…
Heaven blew every trumpet
And played every horn
On the wonderful, marvelous
Night you were born.
All photos by the fantastically talented, Jylare Smith. Text from Nancy Tillman, best first birthday book ever.
Whirlwind
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Happy Homemakers
Woo whee! I finally feel like I’ve collected myself after a 3 week tour of Iowa and NYC. We have lots of pictures to come + tips on travelling with an almost toddler (sob!). Yo, parenting solo is hard work!! Hat tip to all the single ladies out there.
I’m also knee deep in party planning prep. T-minus 2 days until the One Big Wave party! It looks like it’s going to be perfect weather, I’m so excited to celebrate our boy’s first year.
So, that’s what we’ve been up to this week. Laundry, party prep and more laundry! Oh, my little sister is flying out to see us tomorrow for 10 days. Holla for free babysitting!
Tags: Our View From Here, the everyday
Mama Must Haves: Summer Fun
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Mama Must Haves
With Memorial Day behind us, we can officially welcome summer! Bring on the beach, BBQ and long days! I’ve seen a few people list their summer favs and I love seeing what everyone stocks in their beach bag {nosy, right?} so I threw together my mama + baby must haves for summer fun!
1. I love this Tuffo beach blanket. I usually put it under our beach towels. It’s water proof and it’s made of some plastic material so sand slides right off. It also wraps up neatly in it’s own carrying case.
2. Hudson has a love for the sand {the grass, notsomuch} so I bought him a few sand toys from Target and Ikea. He loves them.
3. Ahh, the almighty baby powder trick. Thanks to Pinterest, I’m sure you’re all in the know but baby powder gets sand right off baby’s legs and feet. No need to use the outdoor showers to clean them off.
4. My girlfriend Kelly had this foaming sunblock for her little boy the last time we were at the beach. It is perfect for babies/toddlers with fair hair. I was lathering up Hudson’s hairline with our usual sunblock and it wasn’t working that great. This goes on almost like mousse so you can really get their scalps covered. I wouldn’t use it for all over protection but for baby’s scalp, it can’t be beat.
5. iPlay sunhat. Another recommendation from a fellow beach mama. Hudson has a giant noggin and none of the baby hats fit him. I love this because it has an elastic, adjustable strap around the top. I bought this in a 2T and cinched it up to his head. We’ll get plenty of wear out of this for a few years.
6. I bought these sunglasses at American Eagle about 5 years ago and they’re still holding strong. Best $15 I’ve spent and I don’t have to worry about them breaking.
7. This is my 1-2 combo for my pasty skin situation. I use the sunblock on my face almost every day {nary a breakout to be found} and L’Oreal sunless tanning gel is seriously the best around! Believe me, I’ve tried them all!
8. I love this nail color, My Chihuahua bites. The name sold me on it but really the color is pretty perfect for a summer pedicure!
9. We all need a good summer anthem and my boy Eric Church has the best. I’ve already seen him in concert twice and am going in July. Can’t wait!
What’s in your beach bag? Do you have a summer jam I have to know about?
psst- I wasn’t paid or perked for mentioning any of these items. I just love them. Especially Eric Church.
Tags: mama must haves, Summer, summer fun
Pinterest Challenge: Easel Upgrade
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Before & After, Craftiness
When I saw that Katie and Sherry had announced the Pinterest Challenge Spring Edition I knew just what I was going to do. I’ve been obsessed with all things First Birthday and I’ve had this idea pinned from Darci for months! Which, if you haven’t checked out her blog, go do it now. She is one awesome party planning, chalkboard making, creative mama!
I started off with a $15 Ikea easel. You may have seen a snippet of Hudson’s maiden voyage to Ikea on Instagram. We left with our easel, 5 down filled pillows (only $6!!), some sand toys and a dozen cinnamon rolls.
Hudson is obviously thrilled with his age-appropriate new toy. Ha!
Sorry for the bleak cell phone shots in the garage. I was working on nap time and didn’t grab the fancy camera.
I strayed from Darci’s tutorial in that I used regular paint instead of spray paint. I had almost an entire gallon of paint leftover from Hudson’s dressers so I thought I’d paint the easel to match. I would say if you’re looking to recreate this project, go with the spray paint. I had to sand down the original finish on the easel and then apply 4 coats of paint to get the best coverage.
It ended up turning out perfectly though!
I also followed Darci’s tip of repainting the chalkboard with chalkboard paint. The chalkboard the easel comes with is kind of cheap and I’m not sure it would hold up for the long haul.
Boom. One awesome chalkboard! For about $30 in supplies. I’m still waiting for the chalkboard paint to cure {it takes 3 days} so I don’t have a witty message to show you just yet.
We are using the easel at Hudson’s first birthday party to write the surf report and welcome our guests ala Finn’s birthday party {also found via Pinterest}.
I’ll make sure to post updated pictures after the party! I can’t wait to see what everyone else whipped up this time!
psst- All pictures courtesy of their respective pins {click the link or the pic for source}
Tags: easel makeover, ikea hack, painting, painting Ikea easel, wood easel
Sayonara San Diego
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Baby Ahrens, Happy Homemakers
This last weekend we headed down to San Diego for one last California visit with my Dad and his wife, Amy. They are relocating to Boston in a few weeks for work. They offered to babysit Hudson while we went out to dinner. We couldn’t get down there fast enough! We’ll be sad to see them go but we had a great time and even snuck in a super early birthday celebration for Hudson!
There was lounging by the pool.
Birthday party prep going on! Man, I miss having a backyard and garage to do my projects. Yes, I did use a big stick to stir the bucket of dye. #classy
Our homemade birthday banner. My dad said it looked like we were doing redneck laundry!
First taste of birthday cake in the Craig’s List highchair. We have big makeover plans for this chair!
Puppy dog cuddles!
The rest of this week I’ve been doing laundry, cleaning and packing for our upcoming trip. Hudson and I will be gone almost all of May! We have a wedding, 2 graduations, and lots of new babies to meet. See you soon Iowa!
Countdown to the One Big Wave Birthday Bash!
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Baby Ahrens
I can’t believe I’m already working on Hudson’s first birthday party! As cliché as it sounds, this has been the fastest year of my life. Although I can’t really remember those newborn days very well. My sister just had her baby girl last week and I had no words of wisdom for her. I was all, uh? I think they sleep through the night at 6 weeks? Clearly, I blacked out for 3 months. #nothelpful
It may seem a little early for the party planning but we’re going to be out of town all of May so I needed to get a head start. I think Matt is equally impressed and scared with the craftiness happening around these parts!
We are having his party on the beach since our apartment is too tiny to host more than 2 people and hey, who doesn’t want a party on the beach?! I worked with Debbie at Wants and Wishables to create THE cutest invitations.
I am so stinking excited about them. You may have caught a sneak peek on Instagram. Just wait until you see all of the printables – so.dang.cute. I went straight to Pinterest {obvs} for party inspiration. We’re using these two birthday parties as our jumping off point. I loved the blue ombre and the vintage surfer vibe so we’re going with the One Big Wave Birthday Bash theme!
I’m trying to keep my party-planning crazy in check. You won’t see any toddlers and tiaras size party up in here but we are trying to make it a special day to celebrate our favorite guy. Yes, I know he won’t remember a thing but we’re celebrating our family making it a whole year together {everyone is alive! and happy!}. I’m getting pretty DIY with the whole shebang to keep costs down and I can’t wait to show you all of the finished projects. Like I said, I’ll be using mostly blue ombre for the décor {I loved Jessica’s pink ombre party!} but throwing in pops of orange. I think it looks preppy and fun!
We’ve also been trying to decide what to get our little surfer dude for his big birthday. He has SO MANY toys! and clothes… and well, everything. He is so loved/spoiled! So we’re getting him a few “big things” that he can use for awhile. I already know that we’ve gone overboard on the presents but at least he’s still too little to know he’s got us wrapped around his finger! Here’s a rough idea of what we’re planning on getting him.
One last beach picture because I just can’t stand how cute he looks in a baby speedo. The boy loves the water. It is still WAAAAY too cold for me to dip my toes in but he loves it!
Have you planned a kid’s party in awhile? I’m a newbie but I remember the parties my Mom’s threw for us being off the hook <—- I’m sure I said that as a toddler. What made your party awesome? Décor, food, location?
Tags: beach party, blue ombre, first birthday, one big wave, surf party
Aloha Adventures–Part 2
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Dashboard Diaries, Happy Homemakers, Our View From Here
Sorry to leave you all hanging on the lost tooth drama! Let’s finish up this travel tale. Matt and I went to Hawaii looking for relaxation and didn’t really have much of a plan in terms of sightseeing. This is pretty unusual for us (mostly me!) since I’m usually a gal with a plan. We left most of our excursions up to our friends and we basically brought a list of restaurants and bars we wanted to go to. Classy, right? I’m sure you all want to vacation with us now! Although, I can direct you to the finest Mai Tai on the island!
Anyway, here is what we tackled in 5 days:
- Drive the North Shoreline: We did this on the first full day we arrived. It was the perfect way to begin our trip. Lots of beautiful scenery {prepare yourself for the photo overload}! But first we were all hit with a monster case of jet lag and woke up at 5:00 am local time. We got the bright idea to walk down to the beach/Front Street and watch the sunrise. Turns out we were on the West side of the island! Oops!
I’m pretty sure this is Matt’s favorite photo from the trip!
- Hike the Haleakala Trail/crater: This is where things start to get dicey. We were not at ALL prepared for this hike. We thought we knew our friends well. We didn’t realize they were olympic style hikers. We showed up for our trip up the crater in gym short and a t-shirt {Matt} and yoga pants and a tank top {me}. Please note the picture below- actual prepared hikers with backpacks! and water! and supplies! Me with nothing but trying to look official.
Kurt and Marisa had actual gear! Turns out it is fricking freezing at the top of the mountain since it’s at 10,000 feet.
It felt like this scene out of Dumb and Dumber. Luckily, our pals hooked us up with some extra jackets and we were off.
This hike was no joke people. You walk down the crater first and the rule of thumb is however long it takes you to walk down, double that on the way up. Athletes we are not. We turned around before Kurt and Marisa and they still almost beat us back. We seriously thought we were going to die. My legs were burning for days. #outofshape
We made it back to the top! Huzzah!
- Road to Hana: After the hike we jumped back in the car and started our journey to Hana. It was an awesome drive and not quite as treacherous as all of the guide books tell you it is. Although, I wouldn’t want to drive that road at night! We stopped at a few overlooks and waterfalls along the way. The island is seriously beautiful!
These signs were the only way to let other cars know you were coming through the one lane road.
We stayed overnight in Hana. It is such a quiet little town. All of the restaurants close at 8:00 pm. We barely made it in time for dinner. On our way home we stopped at the black sand beach and cave.
AND THEN! We stopped for lunch at this little road side stand for pork tacos and Matt’s front tooth fell out. I freaked out. It was definitely the worst sound I’ve ever heard, I initially thought he had bit into glass. So gross. He had a veneer put on in High School after his tooth was knocked out in football {or something?} and it just gave out. Perfect timing huh? Thankfully it happened to him since he was so casual about the whole situation. I think I was more freaked out than him. If I would have lost a tooth we would have just gone home. I’m not a team player. Our dentist back home said it was cosmetic and not to waste time with a local dentist so he rocked the hillbilly look the rest of the trip. We still had 3 days on the island so he perfected his closed mouth smile!
After that debacle, we stopped for coconut ice cream and made a beeline back to the condo.
- Beach Day! It was nice to just lay on the sand and take in the awesome views. Kurt, Marisa and Matt went snorkeling at Black Rock {I held down the fort under the umbrella-obvs}.
We spent our last afternoon on the island at the condo pool and it was glorious. We drank beers in our own cabana and had a fabulous time. I have about 200 more pictures of this week long extravaganza. It was so fun! A big shout out to Matt’s parents for watching our little bambino while we were away!
Do you have any vacation drama you’d like to share?
Tags: hawaii, maui, travel, traveling
Aloha Adventures–Part I
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Dashboard Diaries, Our View From Here
Aloha friends! We spent an amazing week in Maui and have finally sobered up/gotten back into our normal schedule to regale you with all of our travel adventures. Get fired up for a boatload of internet stranger’s vacation pictures!
So, onward we go! We’ve been planning this trip for what seems like forever. We originally wanted to visit Hawaii to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary but somebody crashed that party. Rude. Thanks to a thrifty traveling tip from my gal pal Alexson, I had been perusing homeaway.com for condos to crash at since resorts on Maui can blow your vaca budget real quick. She is an authority on traveling on the cheap {and I mean that in the best possible way!}. We found an awesome resort/condo village for $165 a night for 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms. Then when we saw everyone’s favorite DIY bloggers stayed there and loved it, we were sold. We called up some of our best friends and asked if they wanted in on this fabulous vacation and it took them about 4 seconds to say yes, sign us up! So we only spent about $85 a night to stay on Maui. You can’t beat that deal with a stick! We loved our location and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a great location on Maui {very family friendly too!}.
Our favorite part of the resort were the pool areas. The main pool was salt water and was surrounded by these fun cabanas. It was just what this sun-adverse lady needed! We also used the pool pavilion to watch the Iowa State tournament game at an ungodly hour of the morning {thank you jet lag!}.
We were also really close to the main street part of Lahaina called Front Street. It had the typical touristy shops and a few local haunts mixed in. We went down there almost every night for dinner. Our favorite restaurant hands down was the Lahaina Grill. It was definitely our splurge dinner as it was a little pricey but so worth it! I still have dreams about their lobster risotto. Delish. We also went to Cheeseburger in Paradise, Lahaina Pizza Company {best Mai Tai I had on the island!}, Sure Thing Burger and of course Ululani’s Hawaiian Shaved Ice. Our favorite breakfast place was the Gazebo. Our friend Emily recommended it to us and we agree, the macadamia nut pancakes can’t be beat!
On Sunday night we decided to mix it up and went on a sunset dinner cruise with the Pacific Whale Organization. I love that a portion of all sales goes back to their foundation to preserve the oceans and the organization takes school children out on the boats for hands on learning each month.
We were a little nervous boarding the boat as most of our fellow passengers definitely got the senior citizen discount. We were afraid it wasn’t going to be that much fun. We were {thankfully!} so wrong. We had a small group at around 20 people so our waiter had plenty of time to keep the drinks full. Proof of that below!
All of the staff on board are certified Marine Naturalists so they were super helpful in pointing out whales and telling us all about the island. Since we had such a small group they stopped the boat off shore and dropped a microphone into the water for about 15 minutes and we were able to hear the whales singing back and forth to each other. It was so incredible!
We were able to catch a grainy cell phone video of the whales singing. Sorry for the shaky hand but filming on a boat + 5 Mai Tais = crazy video. Just think of it as extra authentic!
So, I’ll be back tomorrow to finish up our travel tale. There is excitement ahead: a road trip to Hana, hiking the volcano, and someone lost a tooth! We kept the excitement going all week long!
Tags: condos in hawaii, hawaii, maui, travel
Hudson’s First Easter
Posted by Brittney | Filed under Baby Ahrens, Holidays
It looks like everyone had a great weekend based on my Facebook and Instagram feeds! We had a casual, low-key day since Hudson came down with his first cold and was pretty miserable. So no church and no brunching for us. The dream of matching Easter outfits was not to be this year. Not to worry, I soldiered on and documented our baby’s first Easter to share with all of the internet.
I will admit that I went a teeny tiny bit overboard with the basket this year. In my defense, I bought the PB basket for him and it looked deceivingly small in the store. Do not be fooled folks. I dropped in a few goodies after I got home and it looked pitiful. So I filled that sucker up with a ton of Easter grass and other odds and ends {thank you Target $1 spot!}.
basket/books/moracas/sippy/tree/sunglasses/ears{$1 spot at Target}
I also added in a boat for the bath, plastic eggs filled with cheerios and goldfish crackers, some bubbles and a weird blinking bouncy ball. What did the Easter bunny leave at your house?
Tags: babys first easter, easter basket, Favorite Stuff, toys
