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A told B, and B told C
“I'll meet you at the house
for Leah's party!”

“Whee!” said D to E F G
“Are you coming to see
the coconut tree?”

Chicka chicka boom boom!
Will there be enough room?
We'll find out when you RSVP!

When Leah consistently started choosing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for a bedtime story, I knew it would be the perfect theme for her 2nd birthday. The party started with making Boom Boom shakers. It takes a lot of concentration to fill a shaker with beads.

The kids then sat for a reading of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and used their shakers to go boom boom!

To the surprise of many, I did not make the cake this time. Chad convinced me to focus on the rest of the party prep and have it made by Oh What a Cake. It was great decision and a great cake.

The basic story of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is about the alphabet climbing to the top of the coconut tree. So, naturally we had to have one present.

Thanks for inspiring silly ways to play with balloons, Uncle J!

Leah was so excited for the birthday song that she even sang it to herself!

To fully appreciate the taste of the cake, Leah thought it necessary to close her eyes. Though, when you do that you must open your mouth as wide as you can to make sure it gets in.

Who needs a fork? Icing, finger, tongue.

Then it was present time and the kids were definitely present.

Leah's very into baby dolls right now. This one came with a bottle, which was a big hit.

She also enjoyed reading a fun, new book.

And as a party favor, guests left with colorful alphabet cookies.

Skit skat skoodle doot.
Flip flop flee.
Thanks for coming
To Leah’s party!

We have a lover of all things pink in our house, so when National Pink Day came around on June 23rd, I knew we had to celebrate! I hosted a Pinkalicious Party in honor of the day.

I decided to make our reading of Pinkalicious a bit more fun. I had the girls stand-up or sit-down every time I said the word pink or cupcake. Do you know how many times those are said in this book?! Oh.my.goodness. A lot! They eventually gave up and just sat and listened.

We had some pinktastic treats: strawberry cupcakes and strawberry pink lemonade. I used these free printables for the cupcake toppers.

And of course there was a pinkerific craft! The girls painted with glue to create Pinkalicious magnets.

The girls came dressed for the occasion and had a fun time celebrating all things pink!

And Leah enjoyed getting in on the cupcake action too.

I made liquid sidewalk chalk for the girls to paint the driveway. It paints like water colors, but dries bright like chalk. And it's a simple recipe - equal parts water and cornstarch, plus a few drops of food coloring.

Molly liked painting with all the different colors.

Leah had a lot of fun painting the cement, but eventually moved on to her hands, and the front door! It's a good thing the paint was washable.

For the third year, I hosted a Mardi Gras celebration with my MOMS Club. I enjoy sharing this New Orleans tradition with my Maryland friends!

The party favors were made...

And someone was very excited about eating king cake with her friends! I made a cream cheese filled, with cream cheese icing. Mmmm...

Molly welcomed everyone at the door saying, "Happy Mardi Gras Day!" The kids decorated their own king's crowns...

then donned their hats and enjoyed a piece of cake.

Each child left with Mardi Gras beads and a bag of cookies. I hope I lived up the the hype, as according to one friend, "It's the best event of the year!" I had to laugh when another friend said she'd been waiting years to come and was "starting to feel like [she] should camp out for tickets!"

On Monday, we had friends over to make a thaumatrope. It's an optical illusion created with two spinning pictures.

Leah is coloring one side - a snowman.

Rachel is coloring the other side - a hat, scarf and gloves.

And here is what happens when you spin the images - a snowman dressed with his hat, scarf and gloves!

Last week, I hosted a squirt bottle painting playdate. Squirt bottles + colored water + paper = happy kids! They sprayed so quickly that the water didn't really soak into the poster board, but they didn't care!

The kids did a nice job of sharing to end up with a nice waterfall of colors. They all had such fun!

We all enjoyed owl s'mores when the masterpieces were completed.

We made it to the end! Molly and I posed together with our last letter, Z for zebra.

Using a recipe for pinwheel cookies, we made zebra cookies.

With the help of the self-timer, I was able to capture our mommy-daughter game of Zingo. It's Bingo with a zing!

We ended the week making zucchini chocolate chip muffins. Molly liked tap-tapping the eggs.

You can check out what other moms are doing with their tots at 1+1+1=1.

Our week began by making a W for watermelon. While preparing this week, I remembered that a college friend had made these letters with her daughter months before I started with Molly. At the time I thought it was a great idea, but since it was the day before Leah was due, my pregnant brain obviously forgot about it. So now, 9 months later, thanks Christen for sharing!

When I saw these watermelon cookies, I knew we had to make them this week! Molly loved cutting and adding the special "seeds" to these cookies.

Molly did a little watermelon math and sorted, counted, then graphed the different shaped watermelons.

She also did this Wonder Pets puzzle all on her own!

The end of the week was spent in the water. First, Molly started swim lessons. Here she is ready and excited to go to her first lesson. Sorry, no pictures from the lesson as I couldn't manage swimming and taking pictures simultaneously.

She then spent an afternoon at the pool celebrating a friend's 3rd birthday.

You can check out what other moms are doing with their tots at 1+1+1=1.

Flag Day was at the beginning of our week, so we made our letter F accordingly.

Molly had a great time rolling, and pressing her thumb into our chocolate peanut butter fudge buttons. She had to be reminded to be gentle when pressing, or her she'd press her thumb right through!

I hosted a playdate to create wacky foam snakes by blowing air through a simple, homemade bubble-making device. I found the idea in my Family Fun magazine.

We took a field trip to a local farmer's market. The favorites from the loot? Blueberries, raspberries, and honey whole-wheat bread.

We made several Father's Day cards during the week, and even went to a friend's house to make a special card for Daddy.

And finally, we read The Very Lonely Firefly.

You can check out what other moms are doing with their tots at 1+1+1=1.

I hosted a playdate to create wacky foam snakes by blowing air through a simple, homemade bubble-making device. I found the idea in my Family Fun magazine. The kids dipped bottles into bubble solution,

used their little lungs to blow into the bottle,

to make a foam snake appear out the bottom.