The Theme: Winter sparkle snowflake party, with glitter, pale pink and blue accents
The Location: The entire first floor of my house

This post is going to be HUGE, so if you have no interest at all in Caroline’s party please come back in a few days when it’s been bumped off the front page. I don’t want to put in a page break and have people think I’m trying to trick them into more page views. I get my page views the honest way – exploiting my children and friends!

The Decorations:

Dining room

Tree branch sprayed with snow-in-a-can

Ruffled crepe paper trees from this tutorial found on Pinterest

Living Room

Snowflakes cut from printer paper (Google “snowflake templates” for ideas)

My clothes pin photo display re-purposed as Caroline’s year in photos display!

Epsom salt in mason jars to look like snow

Glitter play dough party favors (more details in this post), yarn wreath, mirror frosted with snow-in-a-can

Yarn wreath, $1 picture frame ornament from Target

Chandelier decorated with dollar store garland & ornaments

Doily garland

The orange high chair didn’t match my theme, but a paper table cloth and a little tulle fixed it!

Fake snow everywhere!

The Food:

Hot cocoa and cocktail bar – the Keurig made it SO EASY!

I bought every single Christmas mug at Goodwill

Mini marshmallows, egg nog, powdered sugar, crushed candy canes, vanilla syrup, pink sprinkles, whipped cream, coconut flakes. Also on the bar: dark and milk hot cocoa, cider, Bailey’s, vanilla vodka, coconut rum, peppermint schnapps, mini candy canes.

Cucumber sandwiches, candy cane blossoms, red peppers & dip

Smoked salmon, dill & cream cheese on herb bread

Cupcakes (from a box!), my favorite frosting, edible sugar paper snowflakes bought at Stop & Shop

Sparkling cranberry brie bites. You know how sometimes you seen an idea on Pinterest and think “yeah, there’s no way that idea is going to be as awesome in real life”? This one was JUST AS AWESOME.

Thumbprint cookies, gooey vanilla sparkle cookies, fruit & dip, sugar cookies, ginger cookies, mini pastas on sticks with vodka, marinara, and alfredo sauce.

Coconut snowballs

Cream cheese mints, lemon meringues

The pasta on sticks was a great idea… for grown ups. Next time I’ll get less pointy things.

Milk bottle snow men. Not quiet as cute as on the interwebs, but still cute.

Lemon cake (more boxed mix!) tinted 3 shades of pink

Tiny cake baked in a tomato can, covered in sprinkles & topped with “Caroline” written in chocolate

Don’t even THINK about taking her cake away

The Fun:

Glitter play dough & cookie cutters on a kid-sized table

All the planned activities in the world can’t stop the kids from getting every toy out of the toy box

DIY pull string pinata (more here) was a hit, even though it didn’t work exactly as planned. I had to shake most of the candy out after the ribbon holding it up broke, but the kids didn’t care one little bit.

DIY snowglobes were cuter in theory than in reality. They were kind of leaky and some of the trees dyed the water purple and the glue was messy, but everyone went home with one!

Sharing strawberries with a friend

Refusing to wear her hair bow

Dance party!

These two are TROUBLE

Playing with Grandma

Somebody got a pony for her birthday! (She’s kind of scared of it though)

Family photos with two kids – there is ALWAYS someone not looking.

Holy crap, that was ridiculously long. I think I got all the links and recipes in there but if you’re looking for something let me know. My Pinterest board for the party (with most of the ideas I did use and some really good ones I didn’t get around to) can be found here.  I’m sorry most of the photos are terrible – it gets dark REALLY early here so I had to use the flash after the first 30 minutes of the party. It was definitely a great time and I know Caroline enjoyed herself. I hear everyone’s kids slept really well on Saturday night so I think they ran off all the sugar I pumped into them before they went home. Thank you to everyone who came and especially to my mother-in-law Carol who flew all the way from Ohio just to help me make the food and watch Little Evan for a few hours!

And Happy Birthday Caroline!

Busy week! Five days of baking, four days of Stroller Strides, three days of shopping, two days of parties, one exhausted mama… and a partridge in a pear tree! No, not really.

Sunday:

I take at least 2 of these pictures almost every day

Oh yeah, maybe THAT'S why I didn't lose weight this week

We missed Santa at the Seaport (apparently I can't read a calendar) but still had fun playing

Monday:

If you want to lie under your blankets drinking milk, why not SLEEP IN once in a while kid?

As soon as she sees my phone she runs towards it as fast as possible

Late-night grocery shopping for the party

Tuesday:

Angry troll baby is angry

Making meringue cookies colored with sparkle dust

Ahhhh bubbles in my eye ahhhhhh!

Wednesday:

Why yes that IS my coffee mug

You know I'm planning something when my purse is full of tiny Christmas trees

I threw ALL the books on the floor Mom! Aren't you proud of me?

Santa called. He said he knew I was really busy and frustrated with my attempts to make a play kitchen, so he'd bring one this year instead (also, it was only $48 - down from $99 - after a sale & a coupon)

Thursday:

Shoe in one hand, gun in the other. She refuses to be put in a box!

Bath & Body Works for some scented candles to make my house smell festive.

Non-Weight Watchers Approved Answer: Cookies and Egg Nog.

Friday:

Dinos AND a fairy wand. More box refusal! I love my kids.

Three shadesof pink for the cake

Running like a crazy person at the Nautilus Submarine Museum (for E's work party)

Saturday:

I swear sometimes he wears clothes! It was just a busy week!

One hour til the guests showed up and I was already dressed! It's a miracle!

I think she had a pretty good time

Rub a dub dub two gingers in a tub

Today I have no voice, sore feet, and no energy to put anything away. Although thanks to E and my mother-in-law all the dishes are already done and the kitchen is clean, so at least I can find the coffee maker. And the peppermint schnapps.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

Tempur-Pedic and Clever Girls asked me if I would write about my holiday comforts, and since I can’t seem to STOP writing about the holidays it was easy to say yes.

For me, the holidays are all about the cookies. I have so many memories of my mom making Christmas cookies as a kid – papparkakor with piped white icing (recipe coming soon!), thumbprints, spritz in “S” and “C” shapes through the cookie press, toffee, tea cakes, raspberry bars, these amazing little meringue mushrooms (they look so much like real mushrooms people are scared to eat them) and most of all sugar cookies with colored frosting and sprinkles. (more…)

What? This is totally innocent! Have another drink, baby!

So despite my own dislike of the Elf on the Shelf (short summary: he’s Santa’s sort of creepy spy to report your kid’s behavior), I have to admit Jill’s contest is TOTALLY  cracking me up. This is my friend April’s elf and his, uh, friends. Go vote for it at Baby Rabies – we’re #85! (Holy crap! EIGHTY FIVE!)

Also known as the week my iPhone died, came back to life, died again, started working EXCEPT for the camera and then died. I suspect Caroline had something to do with it, but there’s no visible damage and I tried the dry-it-out with rice trick without success. I was going to get a new phone in January anyways, but I’m kind of annoyed I won’t be able to give the toddler the old one (deactivated) as an iPod touch for his apps & junk. I’m MORE annoyed that after more than a year of daily photos I missed half of this week. The good news is my iPhone photos are VASTLY improved thanks to the new phone!

Sunday:

Candy cane sugar cookies for Caroline's party...except I ate them all. Oops.

This game is called "squish the baby".

This game is called grab the baby with your legs. She gets pushed around a lot but she's really tough.

Monday:

Who is this big girl?!

This is considered a really bad traffic jam in my town.

Crafting! So messy!

Mommy's crafting mess is even bigger.

Tuesday:

The baby gate makes it petting the kitty like going to a zoo!

True fact: I'm going to just throw this whole mess in boxes and hide it in the basement for the party.

Sibling loves

Missing: Wednesday, Thursday

Friday:

HOLY CRAP LOOK AT HOW CLEAR THAT PICTURE IS

SERIOUSLY, SO CRISP AND BRIGHT! (Caroline's first year book from Shutterfly)

NEW IPHONE CELEBRATORY SUNSET PICTURE

E is not as excited about the new phone as I am

Saturday:

At the 7th circle of hell aka Walmart for Ball jars and Dr. Seuss

Closeup baby is CLOSE

Practicing my DIY snowglobe project. That animal is actually a baby cow from a Toob.

It turns out that piping melted chocolate into fancy gorgeous snowflakes is a LOT HARDER than the internet makes it look. Shocking, I know.

 I suspect next week’s photos will all be of cookies. I’ve got so much to do before Caroline’s party – luckily cookies can be frozen so I’m not trying to do ALL my baking on Saturday.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!