How has it been 2 years?!

I don't even know how that happened. I miss blogging and being able to look back at what I post. I have tons of ideas I don't get around to.
Right now while were on lockdown, I'm going to try to get some done. Maybe it'll stick this time? Hope so.
Happy Friday. :)

PJ Masks Birthday Party

For my daughter's 5th birthday party, we celebrated a lot...again. She had her usual family party plus she took a cake to school celebrate.

This year she had her first birthday party with her friends. I let her choose 5 friends to invite. Typically, French parties are "goûters" or around snack time (4pm).

I loved how her invitations turned out. The superhero lollipops were a big hit.

This is the table set-up from her birthday party with her friends. Each kid got a cape, mask and bracelet. I used toys to decorate.
I forgot to get photos of their favor bags. I got them drawstring backpacks in the PJ Masks theme.

This was the cake from her first birthday party with her friends

This is the cake she took to school

This is the cake from her birthday party with family. The silver is glitter powder which does not photograph well.

January February March

January

February

March

My Little Pony Party

My daughter turned 4 back in December and we celebrated a lot: First, with her cousins and uncles and aunts, then with her class at school, and lastly, on her actual birthday with a friend who she chose spend the day with and to go to an indoor park and restaurant. :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get good photos of all the decorations. But here are a few photos of some of it.

First up her party at home.  We celebrated the weekend before to make it a bit easier for everyone to come.

Here are a few photos from that:

 

A place setting from the kids table. Each kid had a little pony figurine and ear barrettes. (my daughter's had bows) I used stickers from eBay to decorate the Ikea cups that came in different colors and matched the pony to the cup color.

 Rainbow balloons my husband did that I got on eBay. The Spike window/wall decal was one of a set. All the windows had ponies on them, but unfortunately, I didn't get any good shots of them

 I somehow forgot to take a photo of the adult table, but here's the non alcoholic cocktail.

 Sugar cookies with cupcake toppers. Some had leftover white fondant on top

 The treat boxes we gave to her cousins are from Amazon (I added some stickers I ordered from eBay) and the Pony jelly lollies were from Thema Deco.

Here's what was in them :)

The cake is chocolate with chocolate frosting that I covered in white fondant. I ordered the personalized edible My Little Pony topper from Amazon. (I will try to remember to add links at some point, but all Amazon stuff is from Amazon.fr. Probably could be found in multiple places though :) )

Next up, the treat bags from here class the day before her actual birthday :)

What was inside

I was informed that in France kids only give out candy (if the school allows it), but I wanted to do something a little more fun. :) )

This is the cake I sent to school with her. Frosting topper with chocolate letters on a funfetti cake. It was a big hit.

And lastly, on her actual birthday, she invited a friend and we went to an indoor play park. 

Here are the contents of the treat box. Yes, that's mini cotton candy and a My Little Pony egg.

We went to a family grill style restaurant that provided the birthday cake for dessert.

It was a lot of fun and took quite a bit of planning. I had a lot of down time while recuperating so I thought I'd use some of it to plan. 

Having a December baby can be a bit difficult when people are in the Christmas spirit. I always want her to feel like she got a proper birthday celebration as other kids so she doesn't feel like it's an afterthought. :)

A very little Halloween and a tiny bit of Thanksgiving

Um, I really am late posting about the tiny bit of Halloween decoration. I still wanted to make a post about it to come back to so here's our little Halloween decorations for this year

A little pumpkin for the table 

A pumpkin garland

A few of our window stickers put up by daughter who dressed up as a nurse. :)

Now on to our "mini" Thanksgiving. I made potato sausage stuff and turkey "rolls" as usual with green bean bundles. The cranberry sauce, etc., was not homemade this year and we didn't have a lot of leftovers, but it was still delicious. And, for once we celebrated on the Thursday and not the following Saturday. :)

Blurry green bean bundles

I printed out some place cards and napkins rings which I decorated with my daughter. We also read an illustrated Thanksgiving story which she loved. Next year I hope to do more to explain the tradition.

19 years and counting...

Earlier this month my husband and I celebrated our 19 year anniversary of being a couple. Yes, we do still celebrate it even though we are now married. It gives us a good excuse to get dressed up and go to a fancy restaurant which is usually what we do in lieu of giving each other gifts.
Anyway, this year was a bit different since I was recovering from surgery, we couldn't go out. So, with a bit of "help" from the grocery store deli, my husband was able to pull together a delicious meal. I don't know if I've mentioned that he's not much a cook and by "much of a cook", I mean not at all. *lol*

My daughter helped me set the table. :)

The appetizers

Lamb's Lettuce salad with Duck Gésiers and vinaigrette

Duck Confit with a gratin dauphinois

For dessert, we had cupcakes that he made with my daughter. I got the cupcake toppers from Kingley's cake and they were made of a thin layer of frosting. :)

As usual, the photos don't do it justice, but I had to document it anyway. It was a lovely day and we're looking forward to many more happy years together as a family! :D

What I ate 3

Breakfast

 I had some muesli bread and a cup of tea. This one is salted caramel

Lunch

I had chorizo mushroom risotto. As usual, the photo doesn't do it justice

Snack

We tried out this popcorn with linseed in it.

Dinner

I had a big bowl of veggie soup (not pictured) and some fruit salad for dessert, all homemade