Nora's 5th Bday Pizza Party!

 

 
Nora's birthday this year was a BIG one! The big fifth, number 5! She is wearing kids clothes vs. toddlers clothes now.  She can write well, and loves to use new (and big!) words. She loves learning and taking care of her baby dolls.  When I'm traveling, she is the one that loves to FaceTime and chitchat with me. She is amazing, she makes me laugh, and she is so smart.
We celebrated her birthday in California this year, right before Thanksgiving. So, this past weekend, we culminated her multiple-week long birthday celebration with a pizza party at our favorite pizza place, 1889 Pizza Napoletana, with a few friends and some family.  We had a blast, and the owners at the pizza place made the whole experience so interactive and fun! 
Coming off of a lot of travel and in between more travel, I needed something more turn key - and this was a blast!  All I had to do was bring some balloons, cupcakes and some little aprons for the kids that I picked up for cheap (and they loved!).  Overall, the kids had SO much fun. They made their own pizzas, from scratch and then ate them! It was the perfect little celebration for my big 5 year old!
Here are our party outfits:

 Here's to the next year baby girl!

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Favorite Wears: Sheer Holiday Wear

 

  text The title sounds way more scandalous than this outfit is. In reality this outfit is just the perfect excuse to wear LEGGINGS to a holiday party. And that's just what I did this past weekend for my work holiday shindig. I was very comfortable, let me just say. And I already have ideas how to weather this sheer dress/top thing again... in a more casual way over jeans (and maybe even sneakers). I'll keep you posted.
For now, any remaining holiday parties or upcoming NYE parties, I suggest going sheer!  To spice it up a bit more, you could wear over faux-leather leggings (like these that I'm wearing). I've rounded up, not only my exact one, but other options + my new favorite black tank that I'm wearing under this dress:

What do you think about wearing sheer over a solid layer?

Photos by the talented Elizabeth of Elizabeth Ladean Photography.   She shoots portraits, engagements/weddings and lifestyle sessions all around Kansas City.  You can follow here on Facebook here and on Instagram here to see more of her work!

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Simple Toddler Party Idea: Darling Yoga Birthday

What do you do when both of your kid's birthdays are smack in the heart of the holiday season?  Turning two and four this year, I didn't plan to have a big party, but a small combo-bday celebration with our closest family and few friends at our house for my littles.  But then Liam, who is more aware now of his birthday now, started talking about his birthday party and my heart melted.  And knowing Nora didn't really understand the concept - we kept the combo and moved it a bit closer to Liam's actual bday.
I still wanted to keep this party under control - keep what matters at the heart (because sometimes I think all these over the top b-day parties are more about proving something to other adults than the child's happiness), but I also knew that I couldn't handle having a slightly larger than originally planned gathering at my own home (especially with it stuffed with holiday decor).  So, we had it at a local Yoga Studio - one of my very favorites in the Kansas City area, Darling Yoga!
They actually have a jump house that fits in their large yoga room which kids always love! So we used this room to set up a few snacks, cupcakes, added some balloons and a couple banners, and that was it!  The littles ran around, loved building forts with the yoga blocks and then, of course, we had a kid's yoga teacher come and do a little yoga class for the older toddlers in the smaller yoga room.  I was unsure how this would go, but you guys - I was swooning over those lil tots doing yoga, all quiet, listening intently to their teacher, Kat, and sticking their little bums in the air!
Not only is yoga SO GOOD for them, but it was so fun!  Their yoga teacher had them doing animal sounds, kicking their feet and leap frog jumps!  Then at the end, they turned out the lights to lay in savasana - which illuminated a ceiling of stars!  They were in awe!

This was the most well-behaved these kids were the whole time!  I loved watching them laugh and giggle their way through yoga. This makes me want to start taking Liam more regularly (and Nora soon once she is a bit older)!

 Some of the babies and younger toddlers stayed in the big room during kid yoga and got the bounce house all to themselves, which was good!  

{Nora's dress is from Old Navy; Liam's shirt here and since it was yoga - he got to wear sweatpants, bonus!}

This ended up being the perfect thing to do to let the kids just have fun, play and get out some energy! I also loved it because I could relax a bit myself, not feeling like I had to run crafts, fill drinks, worry about impending weather or fit everyone in my home.

If you are in the Kansas City area - I highly recommend contacting Darling Yoga for your next birthday party!  Then all you have to do is bring whatever decor you fancy, some nibbles & sweets and a bucket of drinks.  I didn't even do little goodie bags - but instead laid out a bunch of sticker sheets on the food table to decorate and then for kids to take home!

The most important thing, Liam loved it all!  (I think Nora did, too?? haha).  Thanks to all our family and friends who came!

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A Gender Reveal within a Baby Shower

A few weekends ago (when the weather was completely opposite of what it is now), a couple of my best friends came into town and we threw our other best friend a baby shower!  My friend, Bre, is having her first baby this summer and we're all excited. This baby shower was extra special, not only because she had lots of friends and family in town to celebrate, but because it was also the gender reveal!  
We hosted the shower at Sasha's Baking Co., which is a sweet little place in Kansas City with delicious food (we loved the brunch!) and treats.  They also made a cake for us, which under the thick vanilla buttercream icing was either a blue or pink colored cake to announce the gender. Both the parents-to-be knew the gender and called to let the bakery know so they knew what color to make the cake.  
During brunch, we all went around the table and I think all, but 2 people guessed that it'd be a boy. So later after we were done eating, gifts and a craft (more on that later!!), the boys joined us for dessert time - and thus the big gender reveal.  Bre slowly sliced the first piece of cake, slowly turning to reveal the inside, and it was...  Well scroll down to see!

Pink! 

We were all pretty thrilled and excited, but none more than the parents-to-be (and maybe Katie who was not so secretly hoping for a girl despite her boy guess).  I really love this new trend of gender reveal parties, and I'm so glad Bre incorporated it into the shower we threw for her so we could all enjoy this fun surprise together.  The squeals and energy were something I'll never forget. There is a great video out there someone caught... I'll have to get my hands on that and share to my YouTube page.  I can't wait until baby W is born!

Huge thank you to Tiny Prints for the super cute baby shower invites and menu, which really help us shape the overall theme and decor of the shower. You can read more about my approach to hosting any sort of (but in this case, baby) shower over on Tiny Prints today! I'm sharing my 5 tips to hosting a stress-free, but fab shower and it's exactly what we did for this one!

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