Itty Bitty Boo Boo !!!!: Recent happenings: Rants about Pinterest and Chase Turns ONE!

Hello Friends! It's been a NUTTY month. We celebrated boo-boo's birthday on June 9th at our new house (his birthday is 6/14). We had lots of guests and it was a beautiful sunny day! Our theme, as many of you know, was nautical. There is something about a vintage anchor and sailor suit that makes my mommy mouth water. After much searching, we found a really cute sailboat outfit and hat at 'Once upon a Child'. If you have never shopped there, I suggest that you check it out. His entire outfit from head to toe was 10 dollars. Plus, I found the pieces separately and put them together as an outfit myself. If you know me, I'm not super traditional. My friend (who is an art teacher, photographer and general life rebel) and I have labeled ourselves "anti-pinterest" Although I participate on pinterest (there are great ideas for education etc...) We have both felt that it stifles the creative soul. It's basically art plagiarism. Clearly, someone thought up the idea that is getting pinned and repinned over and over, so why couldn't WE think of something on our own. Do you really want to have the same nursery, or artwork that 1,000's of other people have? What about the same buffalo chicken wing dip that everyone has pinned? I (we) feel it is such a cop-out in some areas. I(we) have thought, why the HELL can't we be thinking of those things. We are creative. (and very defensive of our projects). We've been creating, and re-purposing, and taking photos since forever, and we never needed pinterest for guidence. It takes a little effort to be creative. All of your tools that you may need will be in the basement, or attic or at the store still.....you won't have the step by step picture guide, or photos of the end product. You are probably going to screw things up more than once. (Think photoshopping eyeballs into someone who has blinked in the picture no...no....noooo good. it happend) If you know what you want something to look like in your head, you should go with those ideas. I do understand that not everyone has the ability to create, and they need the guidance of the internet to gather ideas. There is much to be said about the feeling you get when you see your vision come to life. We want people to carry on the anti-pinterest challange. Many people are trying 'summer pinterest challange'....see how many pinterest projects you can complete...? How about think of a project you want to do, think of a way you can do it, gather the materials, swear, sweat, finish and don't share your idea with a damn person. Because YOU created it, it served a purpose for YOU, and YOU saw it through to the end. Don't paint by number when you have a blank canvas right in front of you. rant done.**

Anywho-- Chase was so excited to have his birthday party.

He isn't very shy right now, so he was extremely interested in all of the people that were at his party.

His theme was nautical. I've always loved the blues and whites of the nautical theme. We also did some pops of red and it really turned out beautiful. My BFF did some beautiful photographs of BooBoo a couple days before the party. They turned out adorable even though he had an ear infection at the time. He wasn't super smiley. They were very sweet and innocent none-the-less.

We did cupcakes and purchase some theme items online. The party was very low-key and served somewhat as a housewarming party as well. People were able to get the tours of the house, hug a squishy baby, eat cupcakes, and sunbathe.

Little boo was quite spoiled at his party. Not sure if his feet ever touched the ground. All of his friends were there and it was really sweet to see them interact with each other. He was a HAPPY boy all day long. No meltdowns!

Along with the nautical theme, I decided to make a cardboard sailboat for the kids to play in and of course for decoration. I took a large box and taped on two triangle peices of cardboard to the front and back. Then, I cut a U shape on each side to mock the boat shape. I took a plastic table cloth and two dowels and created a sail, and then painted the whole thing complete with SS Chase on the side.

I also made some bunting, to hang on the clothesline for decoration. I used scrapbooking paper and created a month by month photo bunting with pictures, and a name bunting to go along with the happy birthday ! I'm going to hang the name bunting on his door when we finally GET a door on his
room. (hint hint hubby)


birthday jammies

He loved his cake. He was a little bit shy at first, but after the taste he dug right in! I was suprized too, he's awfully finicky about consistencies of things. He doesn't really like things that are gooey, cold, wet, slimey, etc..... just like his father.

Chase wore a Snappy Greens Diaper which was custom made and one of the first of its kind. We were lucky enough to be blog testers for this product. It held up beautifully and it was the hit of the party! It kept with the theme while serving its purpose and allowing little boo boo to eat his cake and get all messy!

It seemed like his little playmates enjoyed the party. Everyone was smiling, happy, sharing toys and having fun playing. Some of the sweetest moments come between Boo and his little buddy. His buddy gives his hugs, kisses, and taps him on the head. He says "baby!" when he sees little boo boo. I took some really sweet shots of the kiddos playing together. It was just an adorable memory. The whole day was memorable.

Come back and see me again! I promise it won't be a month next time! I have 5 weeks off and trip to the zoo on Sunday! Blog post and pictures to follow!