Teddy Bear Picnic for 2 special guys

Today was CheshireCat’s birthday, and to celebrate his and Gnocchi’s birthdays we had a Teddy Bear’s Picnic.  We organized to have it at the Two Rivers Wildlife Park and to just have a kid-friendly, unstructured, fun day for everyone.  There’s a petting zoo, a big playground, animals, and a big wide open space for the kids to run free!  We had such a great day.  The weather has been so hot and humid lately, but today it was bright and sunny, with a perfect breeze for kite flying!

Dad’s bean bag toss… and the fun banner my friend and I made with her new Cricut machine!

The cake!  CheshireCat told me months ago he wanted a red and pink birthday party.  He wants everything red and pink right now.  We decided to use the Teddy Bears’ Picnic theme, to include “Georgie” (CheshireCat’s Curious George that is pretty well another child, he comes everywhere with us).  I didn’t get a great picture of it, but the boys’ cake was a 3 tier topsy turvy late night mission with 3 flavors: keylime red velvet (red velvet cake with cream cheese & coconut lime buttercream-whoa, delicious!), chocolate peppermint, and chocolate strawberry (pink strawberry and chocolate cakes with vanilla bean buttercream).  We also did some vanilla bean (colorless) mini cupcakes, and lemon sugar cookies decorated with 3 and 1, and of course, George!

After all the fun, the boys couldn’t keep their eyes open!  Gnocchi didn’t even make it to until the end of the wildlife park driveway, and CheshireCat’s eyes were heavy about 5 minutes into the drive.  Super!  It’s not often that either of them naps… never at the same time!  (And yes, they are all wearing matching shirts decorated with 1, 2 and 3.)

Gift opening: Wow, so many wonderful gifts, and fun new things to play with!  Gnocchi was pleased as punch with all the paper, and toys.  He spent the next hour walking back and forth with his new lawn mower, and then taking big steps on his own to get a toy from anyone who had one!  He’s trying to master the skill before his birthday at the end of the week.

And finally, for the big day, we made the boys a play kitchen!  We repurposed an old entertainment unit, which was an idea my sister had seen and sent to me.  So glad we did it, it turned out great!  We’ve been playing with it for a few weeks, they love it.  I wanted to show the progress pictures, but this post is just getting too long!  We do still have a few details to finish up (handles on the fridge/freezer and oven, a sink, and a window behind the curtain).

Anyhow, now it’s time for me to settle in for the night too… I’m ready for a good snooze!

Can’t eat this cupcake..

Every once in a blue moon, I get some spare time.  I know, crazy right!?  I designed and created this crib quilt last summer before Gnocchi was born as a gift for him.  It’s a very basic design, lots of polka dotted fabric, the cupcakes and cherries were hand embroidered on, and then my wonderful Mother quilted it for us.  We mostly use it as a picnic blanket, in the living room.  Even though it’s a little girly, both boys love it.  (And yes, even though it’s a simple design, it took me about 6 months to complete!)  It was my second quilt, but since the first one I did just after high school, and have lost, it’s my first important one.  I’m now working on one for our bed, which I will soon post photos of… I’m sure it will be a long process!