Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Happy Birthday To Us!


Oooooooooof...  Happy Tuesday! Wow. I'm back. Took an unexpected bloggy break there...

That's because I just said hasta la vista to a jam-packed birthday week and weekend.  Over the last few days, The Boy, Dia and I celebrated our 8th, 20th and um... OLDer birthdays respectively. The week started out with a whirlwind road trip to visit my girls, Elle and Dia, who share living quarters in Toronto. We spent a lovely afternoon with them catching up on life, school and work, and chatting about food and movies over the yummy vegetarian offerings at a small local restaurant. The service was great and the staff let us linger. We had a really really nice time. Despite the fact that they flew the coop a few years ago now, I still think it strange to visit these adults (!!!) that are my children, and see them living independently from us. Working. Learning. All by themselves. They seem to be handling it just fine. How does this happen, I often wonder. How's it even possible?... I guess that's just what kids do, eh?

Here's a pic of my beautiful Dia taken at the aforementioned lunch.


The next few days I spent getting ready for The Boy's Bowling Birthday party which we celebrated this past Sunday afternoon with 12 of his friends (boys only as he stipulated). The pizza meal was held upstairs in the bowling building and we only had a few minutes to spruce up the space so I wanted the decorations to be effective yet super-simple at the same time.

We needed balloons o' course... So I concocted these balloon trees which The Boy dubbed "balloon supernovae". That name rocks my socks so it stuck! I made the trees two days prior, and the day of the party we just plunked the gravel-filled plastic jugs down in the center of the tables and stabbed in the stems. Nice and easy!



The Boy is a huge fan of airplanes so I rummaged through my garland box for the colourful paper airplane garland from last year (he digs it) and divided the lengths into two batches. Then I hung the lengths with bread wrappers onto two wire hangers. When we got to the bowling alley I simply hung the hangers lickety-split on an overhead beam.



For cake, The Boy requested chocolate. I chose to do the chocolate cupcake thing and I'm so glad I did because they were tast-EE! I baked the cupcakes the day before the party and iced them the morning of. I topped them with piped buttercream frosting and finished them off with one upside-down red candy wafer (used as is) and a Smartie. Delicious and do-able (even for a non-cook like me)...



The little personalized handmade goodie bags Lo and I put together (using this template) for each guest went over well too. I made the bags a few at a time over the two weeks prior to the big day. We filled them with candy, notepads, pencils, erasers, hockey cards and one of my all-time favourite origami gizmos.

When we sent out invitations we specified "no gifts" because our little one has more than enough. We were overjoyed by all the lovely handmade cards that each child brought instead. Reading through them at the end of the day was definitely a highlight for me. They were just so sweet!





I can't say the day wasn't without its challenges. Kids playing catch with 10 lb bowling balls, for instance. Kids running down bowling lanes. And there was that one tiny injury too. Small hand caught in swivel chair... Oooooweeeee... But after the obvious pain and the gush of tears, the little guy bucked up and kept playing. Kids are amazing, aren't they?

But on the whole, the party was a success, I think. We're not used to having 13 boy-children in tow, you know? But they had fun and Lo and I managed well in my opinion. We stayed pretty relaxed through it all. And The Boy had a blast which was the ultimate goal!

So the week of birthdays is taken care of for another year, can't believe it. Everyone's happy. I know I am. Happy Birthday to me!


Well, you have a lovely day now. I will be back!

♥M

45 comments:

  1. What wonderful pictures. It sounds like you had a great weekend. Your daughter IS beautiful and looks a lot like you! I can't believe you invited 12 boys!! My limit is more like 6 :)

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    1. I had worried about having to keep track of them all, but they stuck with us (mostly) so that was a relief. 13 boys is a lot though! I have a lot of respect for teachers who do twice that amount everyday of the week!

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  2. Happy birthday to you!!!! I knew you're a Pisces, like me :)

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  3. Happy Birthday!! I remember those great kids parties for both my daughter and her two children that are older and want to take train trips to Chicago...alone with friends...for their birthday!
    Time flies and the memories are fun.
    xx, Carol

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    1. We've never had requests for train trips to Chicago, but that sounds like something I could get into. :)

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  4. Happy Birthday to you & your sweet family..I am sure you are having a good time..my Mother's birthday is also at this 8th & I think she is your age fellow..hmmm..stay blessed dear!
    Dia looks so cute, after all she is YOUR daughter :)

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    1. We did have a lovely time Khadija, thanks! It's nice to relax now and know we did a good job of it. :)

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  5. Happy Birthday, Michele! The party looks fantastic... I love the decorations. Perfect! And those cupcakes look delicious :) Glad the boy enjoyed.

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    1. thanks Gwen, it turned out really well, but I'm glad to be able to check it off the list too!

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  6. Feliz cumpleaños!!!
    Hermosas fotografias!!!
    Abrazos!!

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  7. What fun! I think you did amazing things for your son. Congrats on another year well lived, wishing you many more. :) Happy birthday to lovely Dia as well. :)

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    1. Thank you Chris. I can't get over how fast time flies. Sometimes I feel like the world is turning but I'm just here, standing still. It's interesting...

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  8. Happy Happy Birthday to one of my favorite artists. How fun to have so many family celebrations clustered together like that. It looks like a splendid week. Here's wishing you a very creative year!

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    1. Thanks Diane! I'm hoping for the very same thing, with an added dash of organizational inspiration on top! :)

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  9. Happy Birthday to all of you! Glad to hear the party went well.

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    1. Thanks Michelle! My husband and I were pleased and so was our little one. So, all good!

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  10. I love the simplicity of the decorations and yet they simply scream birthday fun! You amaze and inspire constantly. :) Hope your own celebration was wonderful and full of fun- Happy Happy Birthday friend!
    xoxo

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    1. Aw thanks Amy! My husband will be taking me out on a "hot date" this Friday to top off the celebrating. I'm looking forward to that. :)

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  11. Happy Birthday to all of you Michele!!
    That was one fantastic party you threw for your son! Dia is lovely!

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    1. thanks so much Maya, we did have fun so the effort was well worth it. I'll tell Dia you think so. :)

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  12. Oh, so much fun and such cute decorations! You are clearly a fabulous party planner, let me just note that down in my growing list of your skillz. Happy b'day to all three - Dia is a lovely creature! And so are you.

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    1. Thank you Michelle. You're making me blush over here. :)

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  13. Happy Birthday to all of you! Sounds like you all had a fun time.

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  14. Wow, great causes for celebration!! Happy day everyone!

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  15. Dear Michele, Happy Birthdays to you and your children! Be healthy and happy! What a beautiful daughter... just a little bit older than my son!:) The Bowling Party looks so exciting and unforgetable! You made lovely decorations and I'm sure the boys enjoyed them! It's so sweet that they made greeting cards for you son - such a nice way to remember this birthday after years...xx

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    1. Yes, I was thinking I should bind the handmade cards together into a little booklet. wouldn't that be nice? thanks Rossichka. :)

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  16. Wow love all your simple but effective party decorations here Michelle! Happy birthday to you, you totally deserve the week off from blogging. I find it hard to imagine my girls all grown up and out in the world but I guess it will just happen before I know it won't it. Such a lovely natural shot of your daughter btw.

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    1. Thanks Catherine! She's a real cutie that one (They all are actually, but what else would I say, right?). It seems like a lifetime ago that she came into our world. Time is tricky that way...

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  17. Happy Birthday Dia, Happy Birthday Boy, and Happy Birthday Michele! Boy's party looks like a huge success. Kids are amazing - I agree.

    Whenever I look at the prospect of my girls being on their own I believe it can't happen so I can imagine the strange sense of displacement you must feel!!

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    1. Thank you sweet Melissa!

      A sense of displacement, yes. That's a great way of describing the feelings I have when I'm with my older children. It's like how a time warp must feel I think.

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  18. Buon Compleanno!
    love, xxx Alessandra

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  19. What a great update, Michele. Happy birthday! Your party decor is ingenious and I'm glad to hear how much you enjoy each of your kids. I'll look forward to celebrating N when he's 8 and...gulp, down the line...20!

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  20. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Happy Birthday!! Love all the decorations you made for the boys party.

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  21. happy belated birthday Michelle! :)

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  22. Happy Birthday(s) to you all, great celebrations, brilliant decorations and scrumptious looking cupcakes.
    Carol xx

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  23. Well belated birthday wishes to you all :) I really love all the details from The Boy's party, those balloon supernovae are truly super indeed!

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  24. Wow what a busy weekend. What great ideas for decorations!

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