My December Baby...

This past week my second born turned two.  Not sure why but this time around I am a gushy mess.  I'm usually not a sentimental crier but this week I have been a blubbering fool.  Maybe I had more time to ohh and ahh over my first one and the milestones were exciting rather than a realization that they are just a point of no return.  Or maybe it's because she has always been a lover by nature and all of a sudden kisses are sticky and hugging takes away precious playtime.  Whatever the reason, I'm a mess.

So like always, I poured myself into a project for therapy.  This time it was Marcella's Charlie Brown Christmas themed birthday party.  Following in her sister's footsteps, she is very opinionated and thorough about her party details. When asked what she would like to eat, without skipping a beat she answered, "cake, hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, and pizza."  Well the party was a morning affair and I wasn't sure any of these things would be appetizing at 9:30 a.m. but true to toddler nature, cake, hot dogs, mac & cheese and pizza are always a viable option.  So I got a little creative...

Her invite:

The spread:

small "pig pen and linus' pigs in a blanket"

"Shermie's pizza cupcakes"

"marci's mac and cheese" and "Woodstock's pretzel nest"

"Sally's snowflake cake"

"Peppermint Patty's peppermint patties"

"Snoopy's puppy chow"

"Lucy's shiny yet yummy Christmas trees"

I made "Charlie Brown" water bottles with yellow duck tape and black ricrac.

The kiddos made Christmas trees out of upside down waffle cones, frosting and m&ms and was happy at how well they turned out.  Not a lot of mess and it really kept their attention!

Then we beat the Snoopy pinata I made to death...

For favors, I was lucky enough to find some Peanuts themed goodies in the dollar section at Target.  Also, my local grocery store's bakery had some cute Snoopy and Woodstock individually wrapped cookies!  Perfect.  I also made the kids individual personalized Charlie Brown coloring books.  I found some large Peanuts coloring books at the dollar store.  I took ten pages, stapled them in construction paper and then used the same picture I used for Marcella's invite to photoshop each kid into it for a personal touch.

(Sorry this pic stinks!)

I think it turned out cute and Marcella was sooooo excited to have a day dedicated to her favorite topic of discussion :)