Flamingo party {2 year old}

 Last Sunday we had Button's 2nd birthday party. I did a flamingo theme because, for some reason, I've developed a liking for flamingos for her. So last summer when I saw that the Dollar Tree had flamingo party stuff, I spent about $10 on plates, napkins, cups, an inflatable flamingo and a few other small decorations. I didn't know what I was going to do with them but, hey, it was cheap and why not?  I bought a scrapbook kit from Sweet Shoppe Designs called Coconut Grove to make invitations and whatever I needed. I gathered ideas from Pinterest and around the web and got started mid-February/early March. I found a few ideas for invitations and, in the end, this is what I came up with.

The invitations

I made a matching banner using the kit and strung it up on blue ribbon across our entrance way to the kitchen. I hung the inflatable flamingo from the chandler and we blew up pastel balloons for the tray ceiling. I had a giant wall hanging that had 2 flamingos on it from the dollar store (no picture) that I hung over the front door and I hung a few cut out flamingos on the mantle under which we put the gifts.

A few decorations

I decided on triple coconut cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. The coconut cupcakes were completely from scratch while the chocolate cupcakes were from a box. The chocolate fudge cupcakes ended up having strawberry icing with dark Lindor truffles in the center. I halved each recipe so I'd only have 12 of each instead of 24. I made 2 different cupcake wrapper in two of the patterns from the invitation, one with 2 flamingos and one with the number 2. I made water bottle labels with either a 2 or a L (her first initial) with a flamingo overlay (this was a great tutorial on it).

The party turned out great, in my opinion, despite me having been super sick the day before. Everything looked nice and all our guests had a good time.  She got quite a few things, though mostly clothes which she needed. Among other things, my mom bought her an InnoTab 3 Baby and some shoes and BT's mom got her a balance bike and a helmet. The helmet she loves, the bike we are working on. My sister got her a water table which she and Bub played with that afternoon and we got her a grocery cart that she now careens around the house pushing. We also got her a Curious George tea set and we have been treated to several tea parties already. 

I feel like I did a few less decorative things for this party than I did for her 1st party. I enjoy making these things so much. I practically need another kid  (haha NO) so I can make more party things. So another party in the books.

Even her dress and hair clip were flamingo themed

Still in the right direction

So we are at the beginning of April and I'm still walking and doing Weight Watchers. I feel like a pat on the back is in order. I'm losing weight very slowly at about a 1/2 a week. I know the desire to see a more rapid weight loss but I'm feeling like slow and steady is going to win this race. Having co-workers who want to walk is helpful as is meal planning. Meal planning is not one of my favorite things especially right now when the temptation is to grab something to go with all of the sports practices we have right now. But that's not good for anyone's health or my wallet. The weekly meal planning and grocery shopping is good though. I can plan healthy meals and, it's nice, every night to know what we are eating. And, yes, sometimes we have a frozen pizza but we are not eating out and that's a good thing.

It's frustrating sometimes to just not do everything I want to do or eat whatever I want. But it's not that I can't have fast food, in fact the other day I was tired and he had baseball practice so we got McDonald's. Not the best choice but sometimes I think it's okay. It's the all the time that matters. It's the all the time that is not okay. So it's a work in progress as are most things in life. And I'm trying to keep in mind that it's about the health and feeling better and maybe not so yucky that I'm looking for, the weight loss is a factor in that but it's not the complete endgame. The goal is good health.