Mexican Beach Fiesta Birthday Party Planning

We had an awesome DIY Mexican Fiesta at the Beach Fifth Birthday Party for Nandini this year.  We did a lot of fun projects to put this party together and it turned out to be a blast.

I turned to pinterest for inspiration of course.  Because I was working with a pretty unique theme I had to pull ideas from different places.

I started with Fiesta and Cinco De Mayo Inspiration Pins.  I love the big big tissue paper flowers.  I have made garlands on a small scale for Diwali, but I really loved the impact of the big colorful flowers (click through for sources).

 

As far as trends go the cactus trend was one I couldn't pass up.  Plus, they seem to pair perfectly well with fringe and I have a perfectly good pair of Martha Stewart fringe scissors coming to no good use.  I made most of mine by hand, but I also picked up one of these Martha Stewart kits for extra big and beautiful ones. 

I have used the fringed invitation idea on a layout in the past and I was excited to pull it out again.  

I also really loved this wooden cactus from Ann Marie Loves. I also love how she kept her party theme very minimal and easy.  Great inspo right there. I ended up going even easier and making mine out of cardboard and putting crepe paper fringe on it. 

This baby shower was the opposite of that but man did it floor me.  Beach themed party ideas galore!  I got Mexican coke bottles instead of course. 

Printable food tags were a no brainer.  I just tweaked these printables to suit our menu and color theme. 

I spent a large portion of my days making crepe paper flowers for two weeks.  I love seeing the progression as my window fills up with color. 

 I really wanted a way to keep the theme Mexican along with beach and this giant fringed cactus really seemed to fit the bill.  It was just so lovely and colorful, it was fun to even just have around the house for a few days.

 I bought a ton of real flowers and cacti too to decorate the tables with.  I bought potted flowers so that I could plant them after the party and can hopefully enjoy them for a long time to come.

See all my posts about the Mexican Beach Fiesta here:
Photobooth and Props
Cactus DIY
Printable Labels
The Party

See my other parties here.

Around Here | February 2016

We celebrated the Chinese New Year at a friend's birthday party.  It was wonderful treat for us and our kids.  Say what you will about pinterest, but I appreciate a good lavish party a lot - especially if I'm a guest. And, I love parties where it's about families getting together, not just the kids.  We have a strong community and I'm so grateful for it. 

We took Nandini to her first concert (not counting ACL and Southby free events of course, lol).  She loves "Fight Song" and when we heard Rachel Platten was coming to town, we jumped on it.  It was a small venue and it turned out to be great.  She sang her heart out to every song.  

I started doing project life again.  I realized that I have more done of 2015 than I thought as well.  It feels good to start this project again. 

We drove from school to karate and dance a lot and tried to play along the way.

We took hikes around the temple on Sundays while the big kids take Hindi class. 

Playing pokemon, collecting cards for trading and dressing up as pikachu. 

Having way too much fun with Oh Joy's new line for Target.  Pillowfort is catching my eye now too.  It's basically like Land of Nod has materialized in my local Target and I can't get enough!

Early Spring Flowers

A walk up to Mount Bonnell in February provided my first shock at the sight of flowers in bloom.  

Growing up I always loved seeing the apple and cherry blossoms coming out every spring. We don't really have cherry blossoms here in many places, but we do have those Texas Mountain Laurels and Texas Redbuds and peach blossoms in bloom.  

These trees are so beautiful they break my heart.  They don't last long and I try so hard to soak them up as much as I can. 

Right now that means taking walks around our little paths two or three times a day.  Rain today threatens to break my month long habit. 

I planted these ranunculus in early February and they bloomed now, just in time for me to put them in Nandini's hair for her party.

Nandini and I even found real apple blossoms at our local nursery.

 My oxalis, a gift from a dear friend - because of my lucky clover, Lakshman, is blooming again just in time for spring.

Spring is almost here.  We are seeing more and more bluebonnets every day.  Spring, please stay!

Cocoa Daisy Scrapbook Layouts | March Kit Brand New Day

I am slowly getting out from under the tissue paper and chocolate cake fog of Nandini's big birthday bash and getting the chance to post my March Cocoa Daisy kit projects.  And this month was FAB!  

I got the main kit and the DITL pocket page kit.

Enjoying Life | This is my pocket page for the month.  When the new year started I got back into making weekly spreads again.  I really like being able to document our lives this way.  It really grounds me.  I love all the lucky and bear themed cards.  It feels like perfectly themed to my baby!  Laugh. Lots of springy blues and greens.  I like the softer colors because they really let the photos pop. 

I added most of my journaling in photoshop before printing.  It really makes the spread come together so quickly, and I love the look of it. I'll get used to my handwriting someday I suppose. 

Remember | I made a big two page spread for Lakshman's birthday party.  I added the word art and cupcake from this month's digital files and printed them onto plain cardstock.  I paper pieced the cupcake together and pasted it inside the outline.  Hybrid scrapping is one of my favorite things to do.  I love the crisp outcomes it produces while still giving me the chance to create with my hand.

It's a bit hard to see, but it reads "Teddy Bears have their picnic".

Create & Draw | The kids had the best time with these big coloring sheets from Tea Living.  I tried to break up the straight lines of the photo and journaling card with some slanted paper strips across the top to frame them.  I added a bit of the green ink from the kit on the title.  I added their initials across the top as well.  

I love us | The journaling cards from the DITL kit worked really well to build my layout around.  I wanted to try my hand at the fringe trend and I thought this month's exclusive patterned paper would be perfect for it.  I fussy cut it and hand fringed it before pasting it onto a heart template I had made.

Thanks for sharing a peak into my projects with me!

Be sure to check out this month's kit!  There are so many fun goodies from the BYO add-ons to bundle with the kits.   I love the frame kit.  Click here to check out the shop. 

Lakshman is two!

Lakshman turned two a few days ago.  He was so excited about his birthday!

It's funny because the day before he turned two I wasn't ready to give up my little one year old baby at all.  But the day he turned two I just felt so proud and happy, and so did he.  His teacher even told me, "You don't have a baby anymore!  He's two now."  And I didn't mind a bit.  

I still want to stop and reflect on right now.  I need to press pause just for a moment.  

My parents were here for his actual birthday and it was amazing.  It's always hard to figure out a way to celebrate on his actual birthday when it falls on a weekday.  Ryan still has to go to work and the baby gets tired pretty quickly.  

This year was so much better than last year.  When he turned one I cried because he wouldn't even try the cake, we were just barely starting to learn about his issues with food, and I couldn't believe a baby wouldn't get into having a smash cake.  This year he licked the frosting off one candle and we let it be at that.  

He absolutely loved blowing out the candles though.  At school he did try some of the chocolate chip muffins we sent in.  My Dad and I joined him for snack time.  His teacher had fake candles for him to blow on but he wasn't interested in the least.  I thought that he didn't understand the concept. He proved me wrong at home though. 

He got another surprise when Avinash arrived home from a school.  A friend of his sent over a bunch of Elmo balloons and an Elmo cupcake.  I dropped it so the frosting fell off, but that may have been the best thing because he ate almost all of it.  I think it is easier for him without mixed textures. 

After Ryan came home things were starting to get late and hectic again we ended up having a cake delivered from instacart.  That was a godsend.  My mom made a wonderful Indian dinner and the cake was delivered pretty promptly after that.  

He was so excited when he saw his cake.  He was singing along with us, very loudly "to you!!" He blew out his candles and quickly indicated that he wanted them lit again. 

We relit the candles at least ten times before we cut the cake.  He still begged us for more so we finished up the entire box of matches until we were breathless from laughter. 

Lakshman you are two-er than two.  You are a big ball of energy.  You are constantly running around, throwing with a very strong pitch, high jumping with two feet of the ground or just generally spinning around in a circle. 

You are still pretty timid at school, but a few days ago I heard that you are starting to assert yourself.   Home is a whole different story and you can be very naughty.  Mostly when it comes to hitting your brother and sister.  Whenever we tell you to go to time out, you run right over to the stairs and sit down.  A few seconds later you usually come running back, saying in your best sing-songy voice "kiss you!"

You also have learned how to tattle really well.  After many car rides spent listening to Avi or Nandini or both complaining, "He/she touched me!", you learned this is a pretty big trangression.  Whenever someone taps you, won't share with you or looks at you funny, you proudly declare, "He touch me!".  He even started saying that about us when we tell him no.  It's not something I really want to encourage but it's so cute, it's hard not to laugh.

You love your family so much and it shows.  Whenever we go to get Nandini from school, you go right up to her face and start talking to her and hugging her.  She watches over you on the playground and tells all her friends to take her of her baby.  On your birthday she made them all sing to you.

You are even starting to make your own friends at school.  A little boy wanted some chocolate you were eating on valentine's day and you gave him your entire piece and then tried to take some out of Katie's bag to give him more. I was so proud of you for being a good friend.

You love reading books. You love Jamberry and Dear Zoo a lot right now.  You love Elmo, all things Sesame Street, really, Octonauts, Pokemom and Pikachu.  It's adorable to hear you imitate Pikachu because you sound exactly like him.

He is still pretty much in a holding pattern with his eating.  His eosinophilic esophagitis is much better since we got him off pediasure and on to neocate.  His weight gain is super slow still (which is why he fits in the same Valentine's onesies as last year).   He has been eating okay for the past few weeks.  The Monday after his birthday party he ate a ton of food.  

He even finally had his smash cake moment with a cupcake in the backseat of the car.  I could not have been happier.  He also had potatoes dipped in ketchup, a slice of pizza and half a lara bar.  It was like a miracle.  He tried baba ganoush later that week too.  

He gets therapy two or three times a week right now.  He has made so many strides.  It's always funny to me how people think that therapy is a bad thing, but I've never felt that or thought that.  He needs help and I'm happy that there are people better trained and more knowledgable than me who can help him learn. 

 We didn't have a big birthday for you last year and I've always felt bad about that.  So when you turned two we did it up right.  You have always been our baby bear so we had a Teddy Bear Picnic themed party for you.  It was just the cutest thing.  I will post more about it later.

Happy Birthday Baby Bear Lakshman Hecker!

Family Days

Lakshman is one for one more day and we are soaking it up.  

This weekend we headed outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather here.  Saturday was one of those days where the weather is so perfect that you feel happy all over.  It is one of those feelings that make you feel joy and sadness at the same time.  Because on the one hand you feel so good but on the other hand you know it is all fleeting.  My friend Donna described the perfect consume like that but I think the feeling applies to a lot of things.  

Like, my baby not being a baby anymore.  He is learning to talk and I love the process.  But soon he will be pronouncing things correctly and just not as cute anymore.  Lol.  

He is learning at least a word a day right now.  He loves to run and jump.  His standing jumps and flying leaps are pretty impressive. 

He loves his Nana and Nani coming to visit him.  When they walked in the house his face filled with disbelief, like he couldn't believe that they were really here. (Away from all that snow!)

He loves his brother and sister so much.  He showers Nandini with hugs and kisses everytime she gets home from school.  

We took a little hike around Mayfield Park here in Austin.  It pretty magical there.  The grounds are filled with peacocks.  Because we haven't had a freeze here this year the trees and plants haven't lost their green yet.

 He's out to discover!

You turn two tomorrow and we can't wait for that big adventure!