Early Bday Party for our little Cozy

A couple weeks ago my dear friend, Melanie from Caravan Shoppe, called me to see if I wanted to throw a "fake bday party" for a photoshoot using all of their newest Happy Birthday Printables.

I was beyond excited to help out under one condition, if I could bake the goodies, which she happily agreed to.  I wanted to try out this ombre cake I had been thinking about since, I swear, six months ago. Maybe I shouldn't admit that?!
 

It was perfect timing since my little Cozette turns TWO years old in just a couple weeks (how is that even possible?!). I'm a firm believer that any excuse to throw a party is a good excuse; so it seemed fitting to celebrate Cozy's upcoming birthday! 

Party included:
- Caravan's Draw Together B-day Set

-4 layered Buttermilk Cake topped with this ombre cream cheese frosting (see below for frosting how to)

-mini-decorate-yourself, rice crispy treat cakes (also see below for the how to)

-small cups of decorating ingredients (chocolate chips, sprinkles, teddy grahams, cocoa puffs)

-a whole lot of art supplies

-and best of all...a table full of the cutest girls you've every seen

Mini-Rice-Crispy-Treat-Cakes

-Make a batch of rice crispy treats. 

-Fill small and medium bowls tightly with the crispies (I've found that if you get your hands a little wet, it wont stick when you push down on them to get it in there nice and tight)

-Let them sit in the fridge overnight

***when they're ready to frost, microwave them for about five seconds that way you can take a knife and scoop each one out. Than set a small one on top of a larger one to give the effect of a cake, and lastly frost it with store bought (or homemade if that tickles your fancy) frosting. The little ones LOVED decorating these! 

Buttermilk Cake with Ombre Frosting

I used this cake recipe but I used four small round pans to make it a bit taller

***For the frosting you split your frosting into four bowls. Add about ten drops of whatever coloring you want into one bowl. Than take two TBS of that frosting and add it into another bowl. Than take 1/2 TBS of the lighter frosting and add it to the third bowl. Leave the fourth bowl white. Frost from darkest on the bottom to lightest on the top. 

Best Bridal Shower For The Best Girl...

As many of you know, I come from a family of five girls...I am the second oldest. When my oldest sister Whitney got married I had so many different emotions. I was sad that life was never going to be the same...once you get hitched it really is never how life was before you were married. I guess that is the whole point, but as a Senior in highschool (since all I was thinking about was myself haha) I didn't like change too much. Actually, what am I saying, I still don't like change!

Well, crazy that the night of Whitney and Spencers wedding dinner I met Joshua; who is Spencer's cousin. Three-ish years later Josh and I got married. Talk about meant to be right?! Anyways, than last year my youngest sister, Sadie, got married to a wonderful guy...and now, in about three weeks, my other sister Rachael is getting married to Sadie's husbands brother! 

I know, I know... say what?! Trust me, this is all legal! :-) So to celebrate such a wonderful occasion my middle sister Paige threw a beautiful (and by beautiful I mean so many small details went into everything) shower. 

We played this game MASH, where everyone filled out a fake future life, and at the end Whitney read three of them. It was pretty hilarious what some of the ladies answers were...like who would you marry "paul newman"...really?! Oh wowza.

I loved the colors, the food, the guests, the table runners, the flowers. It was so perfect for our one and only blonde sister...and I couldn't be happier for her! 

now for the party favors...I order these mini soaps from Elaeis Spa Co. they smelt so good!

baby girl shower for Megan...

I threw a shower for my sweet friend Megan. She's having a baby girl any day... is there really anything more exciting than having a new baby join the world! So naturally I went with PINK; nothing says GIRL more than PINK! I had a frozen yogurt machine set up, with a bunch of toppings (brownie chunks, sprinkles, blueberries, strawberries, granola,  chopped cinnamon graham crackers, hot fudge). I'd like to think it was a success...I mean how can you go wrong with all you can eat frozen yogurt and great company?!

I also had question cards that people could fill out (opted not to do games so this was a good alternative). Questions like, "what is your best mommy advice..." or "what is your most embarrassing labor story?" (c'mon we all have them!)... or "what is your favorite children's book/quote/saying and why..." My favorite one was, "when all else fails (regarding a bad day in motherhoodville) what do you do?" and someone wrote "I go to Wendy's drive thru, get a diet coke...and drive around in the car with a DVD on." haha Honesty. I love it.

The only thing I am so bummed about was that I didn't take any pictures when guests arrived. I got a cute one of Megan and her sis, but that's about it. Dang it. I guess next time, I should put someone in charge of pictures.

...so on that note here's to baby season my friends! xoxo

***elephants & topping tribowls from Home Goods (a few elephants I found at antique stores)
***books from Barnes and Noble  
***the circled garlands I made using pink felt and I cut them out using a Sizzix, than my sewing savvy sissy sewed them 
       down the middle.
***frozen yogurt machine with frozen yogurt was from Golden Spoon
***party favors from Uncle Biffs (best cookies EVER)

^^^ sorry about the grainy pic...it was night time (I know, not the best time for pic taking)