The One With Ellie's Third Birthday Party

O hey. Remember me? Yeah, I used to write this blog before the epic summer of craziness. And to be honest, I don't know when I'll be back to posting regularly, but I thought I'd still stop by and show you the cuteness that was Ellie's third birthday party.

That's right. Ellie is three. It is crazy. She is just so much fun these days. It's sometimes a little strange to me how much of a person she is. How she can tell me stories of things that happened to her. How she can look back at all the pictures on her Instagram wall (see below) and recount the stories of going there or doing that. She is just very wonderful. And I think she really, really loved having a birthday and being special and having a party and eating cake.

Picture courtesy of Mallory Phelan.

 

Picture courtesy of Mallory Phelan.

Picture courtesy of Mallory Phelan.

Picture courtesy of Mallory Phelan.

 

Picture courtesy of Stephanie Deever.

Picture courtesy of Mallory Phelan.

Picture courtesy of Mallory Phelan.

Blowing out candles is Ellie's favorite thing. As is singing "Happy Birthday." When I told her it was time to sing she wasted no time in starting to sing the Happy Birthday song to herself. Everyone else just had to join in.

Also, the greatest form of entertainment at the party was the rock piles in our backyard. Apparently way cooler to children than any of the awesome food. Except maybe for the kettle corn. That was a big hit.

Now that she is finally old enough to have a say, I really wanted her party to be all about things she really likes. So I made the menu around some of her favorite foods (and, admittedly, some of mine). And she even helped decorate the cupcakes. And she definitely helped a lot with quality control. She was great at sampling everything to make sure it was up to standard. Especially the frosting.

Menu:

• Mixed Berry Pretzel Salad (I made this recipe, but used frozen mixed berries instead of just strawberries - delicious!)
• Watermelon
• Famous Sub Sandwiches with Ruffles
• Corndogs
• Tortellini Broccoli Salad
• Kettle Corn
• Pink Scalloped Cake with Perfect Buttercream Frosting
• Funfetti Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
• Mint and Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Fudge for favors

The One With the Fantastic Fool-Proof Fudge

I forgot to post Ellie's birthday party invitations, but I was kind of thinking along the idea of having a carnival-themed birthday party. It seemed appropriate for the end of summer. Plus, you can serve lots of kid-friendly things like corndogs and kettle corn. And fudge. Definitely fudge. Or am I the only one who thinks fudge is carnival-y?

Anyway, whether you think it belongs at a carnival, or at your house so you can eat it whenever you want, you should give this recipe a try. It's super crazy fool-proof, just like the title promises.

Fantastic Fool-Proof Fudge with Andes Mints

• 1 12 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup (6 oz.) milk chocolate chips
• 2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 box Andes mints, unwrapped and diced small

Prepare an 8" x 8" glass pan by lining it with a 12" x 12" piece of aluminum foil, pressed along the sides and bottom. Lightly grease the foil with butter. 
Dice your mints and set aside in a small bowl.
In a non-stick saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the sweetened condensed milk, milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips, stirring frequently to prevent the chocolate from sticking to the bottom and burning. Once your mixture is liquid, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Moving quickly, pour half of the fudge into the pan and spread with a spatula. Sprinkle the Andes Mints over the top. Distribute the other half of the fudge over the top of the mints and spread evenly with the spatula. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Once the fudge has completely solidified, turn the pan over onto a clean work surface and cut into pieces. 


To make Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Fudge, follow the same instructions as above, but use 1 Tablespoon of Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla in place of regular, and don't use the mints.

One of the things I really love about Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla is that it is just slightly unusual, to give anything you make with it a little kick, but it isn't overwhelming, so most people like it.

I cut the fudge into rectangular pieces, wrapped each one in Saran wrap, and then put one of each kind in the favor bags for Ellie's party. I'm a big fan of favors adults can enjoy, because, well, they payed for the gift. And also, edible favors are nice because no one feels obligated to keep some random memorabilia of your party. Plus, I always like the excuse to make yummy things. 

The One With the Instagram Summer Adventures Recap

Yeah... forget the weekend recap. Here are all the Instagrams from my mom's wedding... a long, long time ago. And the adventures before and after. We've been pretty on the go this summer. And we've still got a lot of adventures before this year is over. It's fun. And a little exhausting. I'm enjoying the small breather we're getting at the moment.
But anyway...

The flowers at my mom's wedding were really beautiful. I'll post a few pictures of the bouquets soon, but I'm trying to remember all the names of the flowers. It's fun having a mom for a florist because I get to know a lot more about flowers beyond your typical ones like roses and daisies and such.

The missing friend at Crater and Diamond Lakes is Kaycie. We visited her in Louisiana this past spring and she just moved to Illinois, so she was unable to make it to this reunion. Hopefully we'll be seeing her soon.

Speechless Sunday

I just found this wonderful print by one of my favorite artists, Kit Chase, and I knew I had to have it for the girls' new room. I haven't done anything to their room in this current house because we're renting and it just seemed so temporary and they're not really in there much anyway because we spend all our time downstairs. 

Well that's all about to change with our new house. The inspection is on Tuesday, and if everything goes well we're hoping we'll be moving in around the middle of October. I can't freaking wait. I'm so excited for us to finally have a place all our own. It's been too long in coming.

And I'm excited to decorate for real. And actually hang up pictures because they'll be there for long enough to make the hole in the wall worth it. 

But mostly I'm excited to have a house our kids will grow up in... at least for a while. They can remember it as their childhood home. And that will be a good thing. I keep reminding myself of that as the part of me that is a vagabond starts to get a little freaked out about putting down roots.

Eat Cake for Breakfast via RambleWild on Etsy.

P.S. You've seen art by her before, which is why this will go perfectly in their new room. Olivia's little gallery wall in her nursery was made up mostly of prints from Trafalgar's Square, also by Kit Chase.

Speechless Sunday

 

I'm going to go ahead and claim this is why I'm falling so behind on here. It might have a little bit more to do with traveling, house hunting, catching up on chores and getting ready for Ellie to go to preschool. It is continuing to be just crazy around here. But I miss you all and will be back when I have something to show you. Maybe an Instagram recap at least. I do love Instagram. That's why this quote is not about wasting my precious life on Instagram. 

The One With the Crater Lake Adventures

A couple of weekends ago, Mallory and I were reunited with one of our college besties, Cara. We had all been wanting to go to Crater Lake for a while now, so we decided to make it happen during her visit. It was so awesome. Definitely one of the best trips of the summer.
We also went with our friend, Jo, who was moving to Los Angeles, and her escort Chris. They joined us for the first evening of our trip. We made it to the crater around 7:30, and even though it was getting dark, it was breathtaking.

The next morning, before Chris and Jo had to depart, we were determined to hike down to the lake. We found the Cleetwood Trail and hiked down. We even swam in the lake. It's really too bad we didn't bring our scuba gear (or ability to scuba dive), because apparently this lake is one of the coolest lakes to scuba dive in. It is the deepest lake in the United States, and was created by a volcano, Mt. Mazama, erupted and eventually caved in, creating a caveat that has collected rain and snow melt for thousands of years. It's pretty cold, but surprisingly nice for swimming.

 

We stayed in Diamond Lake Resort, about 15 miles from Crater Lake. It's just beautiful there, too. A little run down (but very clean) hole-in-the-wall kinda place with cabins and motels. It's nothing fancy, but that's perfect for me... it means we spent much more time outside enjoying the beauty of the Umpqua National Forest.  Except of course when were watching the Olympics. (It is just so very sad they're over, isn't it?) O, and if you go there, you should go get pizza and ice cream at the South Shore Pizza Parlor. And you should go out on the dock and eat your pizza because it is really the only place in the world you will want to be at that moment. I'm telling you... inexpensive family/friend vacation!

I just love everything about lakes. You can have the best of all worlds... water and mountains. It just doesn't get much better than that. I love the smell and the storms and the little lake towns that spring up around them. They're my favorite.

Have you ever been? If you live in the Pacific Northwest and haven't seen this, you really should. It is incredibly beautiful. Pictures definitely don't do it any sort of justice. 

Speechless Sunday

Well, I've been away for quite some time. And during that time, Steve and I celebrated our fourth anniversary. He's my rock and my perfect companion. I'm so glad we chose each other for this journey called life.
Via.