Charlie's Second Birthday Party

Many apologies to those of you who have been waiting for this post!  I've been traveling within the UK and to Germany for work and Jason is currently in Amsterdam as I write this.  It has taken me a few weeks, but I'm happy to finally get pictures of Charlie's birthday party up!

First of all, you should know that there were balloons . . . lots of balloons . . . two hundred balloons to be exact!

The overall effect was a bit hard to capture, but you can get the idea from the pictures:

They were SUPER fun and festive and Charlie LOVED them!  They had to be blown up that morning (unless they arrived "treated" the day before, but that sounded awfully chemically for a kid's party).  So we had a guy arrive at 7am to start blowing up balloons with a huge helium tank.  Charlie slept in pretty late so they were all blown up and ready to go by the time she woke up.  She was thrilled!

The rest of the party was pretty simple, we had brunch foods complete with mimosas for the adults and flavoured milk for the kids (and Josh).  We added sprinkles to the rims of the glasses by dipping them in powdered sugar and water and then into a pile-o-sprinkles:

The cake was also sprinkle themed:

 

As were the party favours:

I didn't want to organise many activities but I did make a "Pin the Face on Charlie" game.  It started off looking like this before we played:

I spun the kids around and let them put the individual face parts on without a blindfold:

It ended up like this:

It was pretty hysterical to watch.  That bow tie just kills me!  

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and Charlie loved opening all her gifts:

Her favourite part may have been having everyone sing happy birthday to her.  She seemed so flattered and honoured by it all!  The look on her face while people sang was absolutely priceless:

It was a fantastic day!

PS:  Charlie's first birthday party!

Christmas Day 2012

We spent Christmas 2011 with family in Mount Vernon, WA at my sister's house.  It was so wonderful to be surrounded by family for Charlie's first Christmas.  We spent Christmas 2012 as a family of three at home in London.  We all missed our family in the states, but we had a great time being in our own home.  

Charlotte was SO excited to wake up and open presents and find gifts in her stocking!  Her excitement made things that much more fun for Jason and me.  It was a truly magical Christmas.

Charlotte's big gift was a Balance Bike.  It is basically a small wooden bike with no pedals.  The idea is that she'll use her feet to push herself forward.  As she learns to balance, she'll be able to go faster and faster and by the time she's big enough for a pedal bike, she'll already know how to balance on it!  

She still has a bit to learn . . .

That's better:

She got lots of other great gifts but a sure favourite (The most favourite being the wooden play fruit.  Thanks, Elliot!) was a set of Dr. Seuss books that Jason found for her.  Luckily, they're lots of fun to read, because they're getting lots of use!

Here is a partial shot of the aftermath:

After naptime, we headed out to see Emily Bemily and Rob and Mimi (and the twin boys in Mimi's belly!).  I forgot to bring the camera, but Rob sent us some photos of the evening's activities.  There was loads of playing:

  

Delicious food (including a Christmas pudding that Jason made!):

And one big, beautiful Crock Pot.  Thanks, Mary!!

Hope yours was as great as ours!

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2012

While I was still on my way home from Miami, Jason and Charlie prepared the house for Christmas Eve festivities.  By the time I got home, there were Christmas crackers on the table and a duck feast in the oven!

After our food settled a bit, we went up to our neighbours for some more food and drinks.  Jane is a chef, so there was an incredible spread!  

We had a fantastic time eating and drinking and enjoying each other's company.  A great time was had by all!

Though nothing about our great evening could top this moment of seeing my husby and sweet baby girl after nearly three weeks of being away:

Merry and Bright

Jason, Charlie and I got all sorts of festive before I left for Miami.  We turned on the Christmas music, got a tree and I even got a red pedicure (it was actually the most terrifying pedicure of my life, but that's another story . . .).  

Here is Jason with our tree at The Secret Garden Centre here in Crystal Palace.  For the first time EVER we chose one in under 45 minutes!  It was the first one we saw!  It took about thirty seconds for us to choose it.  It was a true Christmas miracle.

And here's my handsome man carrying our prized tree home:

Charlie's favourite part about getting a Christmas tree was that one of her most favourite people in the world, Rob (Emily Bemily's dad), was there.  SHE WAS PUMPED!

There was a brief tree decorating hiatus to head to Build a Bear with the Hallidays.  Charlie chose and outfitted a stuffed dog for Emily for Christmas and Emily made a bear for Charlie.  It was nap time, so Charlie was a bit sleepy and dazed for the whole process:

Turns out she's totally traumatised by the animal stuffing process:

But it wasn't anything a little snuggle from Rob couldn't fix:

Her favourite part of Build a Bear?  "Washing" the dog she made for Emily in the "bath" station.

The rest of the evening was spent napping and then decorating the tree:

Charlie loved unwrapping the ornaments and putting them on the tree.  Here she is trying to show some pretty ornaments (that Grandma Peterka made!) to the camera:

We had a great time decorating, I'm just sad I'm not there to enjoy it!  December 24th can't come soon enough!  Until then, I spend all my free time gazing at pictures like these.  I can't get enough of this kid!