Olivia Reese's 2nd Birthday | The Very Hungry Caterpillar | Senoia, Ga Photographer

Olivia Reese loved her Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party.  She kept walking around saying "my dirf-day yayyyy."  Almost every day she sings a section of Happy Birthday and gives everyone, including the dolls, a fake cake. 

I love love love birthdays. As sentimental as I am and the fact that I can make and prepare something special for those I love, make birthdays my favorite.  They take me back to my childhood.  My mom is such a good mom and always did some of the most thoughtful things for my birthdays.  Naturally, I want to pass that on to my children.  Plus I happen to be a craft junky and a pinterest-holic.  I have like 9,000 pins- and I WILL get to them all.  

If you choose to do a Very Hungry Caterpillar Theme, I hope this blog will help you out.  I started off insisting that I was going to do only Eric Carle decorations... I quickly realized that Eric Carle likes all of his decorations too and prices them accordingly.  We were able to decorate our party on a budget and get our theme across at the same time.  

Reese's Party Favors

Pottery Barn's website has several ideas for this party theme.  I took their invitation idea and turned it into a favor jar.  Luckily, Target occasionally carries Eric Carle items in their dollar section.  I found Hungry Caterpillar crayon packs and cleaned them out! 
Joanne's had the wooden fruit tags for mason jars.  I painted them with acrylic and water to mimic the way the illustrations are done in the book.  
Walmart had the butterfly sun catchers and jars.
My friend Kaitlyn made the caterpillars for the jars- with thin green wire, two different colors of small green pom poms, medium sized red pom poms, and purple pipe cleaners. She painstakingly cut out little yellow eyes and noses and colored them all.

          

I used three different ribbons that I found at Hobby Lobby.  They were attached with hot glue so they could easily be removed later. 

 Since the caterpillar ate a lollipop on Saturday in the book- I added one to the favor jars. 

* You could take corks and stamp circles onto the jars to look like the circles in the book.  

Homemade Caterpillar Decorations

I bought super cheap paper plates in green (medium size) and red (large).  The ears were cut by hand out of purple construction paper.  The eyes and name were cut by my sister-in-law.  She has a silhouette (so jealous). 

You use a hole punch to make holes on the edge of the plate and then tie them together with pretty ribbon. 

Food labels, Banners, and Confetti

 My friend Kaitlyn found this Eric Carle sticker book. 

Whenever its time for the kid's parties- she helps scout all the stores on her end for decorations.  

If you like doing birthday crafts like I do, then you should totally invest in these punches.  I use them every party and for several crafts (like magnets).  Now if you have a fancy silhouette you won't need the punches. (HINT HINT HUBS) 

I punched the scallops and circles out- glued them together- then added a sticker to each.  For my food labels, we just hot glued sucker sticks (from Party City) on to the backs.  For the banner- we hole punched two holes at the top and strung them on ribbon.  

The Very Hungry Caterpillar's main colors are red & green- which can get a little "Christmas-y."  So I threw the purple from his antennas into the streamers and all through the decor.  We had splashes of yellow here and there and of course I had to sneak pink in for my baby girl. 

Reese's Birthday Outfit

Her headband and personalized shirt were made by All About Couture on etsy.com.  Silvia Hagans is the store owner.  She does amazing work, she is very thorough and pours a lot of hard work into her custom pieces.  She also did Reese's first birthday outfits.  

Her skirt was from a different etsy shop- Creative Stiches by K. I really love that we are can wear all of the pieces of this birthday outfit again and again.  Hubs said we had to start getting items that can be used for more than one day.  So voila! 

Joanne's also had the teacher's bulletin board kit in The Very Hungry Caterpillar!  The tin was from Reese's first birthday (see Hubs, more than one use) and the tissue paper came from Target.  It isn't Eric Carle, but it sure was cheaper ;) 

I hot glued two big popsicle/craft sticks and then glued the caterpillar to it.  Took me maybe two minutes and was a great center piece. 

After the party- I was able to give my aunt, who is a teacher, the whole kit so she can decorate her bulletin board! 

Here are those tags again.  I get overly excited about my inexpensive and simple crafts that work out so well! Purple utensils from Party City and the red & green straws are from Talking Twine and Trim. The yellow ones are from Maddox's first birthday (Glitter Daisy Shop).  The green and red were too "Christmas'y" on there own. Our cups were yellow, napkins were purple, and we used two different greens for the plates. 

 You just need lanterns and an extra large purple pipe cleaner. 

 I couldn't pull any of this off without good help though.

Patiently waiting... watching us decorate! 

We also made a birthday photo banner!  My sister-in-law used her silhouette to cut the circles out of green and red.  Then we cut out the photos and tied the caterpillars body together with string. * Silly me forgot to photograph the finished product :( 

Party Food 

The menu for this party is already planned for you!  Monday through Friday he ate- an apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, and five oranges (cuties).  

Saturday he ate... 

• One piece of chocolate cake (brownies)
• One ice cream cone (we skipped that one- we had enough sugar already)
• One pickle 
• One slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami, (we had turkey and swiss mini sandwiches- close enough)
• One lollipop (in the favors) 
• One piece of cherry pie- my home made tarts, we make our "Pop Tarts." They are so simple and way healthier. They were a hit at the party. (Recipe coming soon.)
• One sausage- pigs in a blanket
• One cupcake- skipped these too since we had cake, if I had done them I would've done them in green and made one big red one
• One slice of watermelon

Hubs made caterpillar kabobs- white and red grapes & wooden skewers.  He hot glued a piece of Styrofoam to the bottom of the tin and stuck the skewers in.  

Presents!  

Safe to say, she loved her trike!  It an all in one- I can steer her while she learns to pedal and steer herself, then I can remove the pieces to turn it into a little bike. 

Found the butterfly decorations at Walmart in their craft section.

Cake Time

 Her cake was made by Bonnie's Cakes. 

Sink Bath | Senoia, Ga Children Photographer

My spunky little cherub just turned two years old.  Its so surreal.  I can hardly believe that its been two years since I delivered this 8 pound 4 ounce sack of sugar into our world.  She has kept us laughing and on our toes.  Her personality fills the room and her energy radiates. 

Oh, little girl.  You are loved, you are loved, you are loved. 

Gardening with the Littles | Senoia, Ga Children Photographer

There is nothing that says happy child quite like a mud covered child. 

 We love for our littles to play outside, but more than that we love our littles learning outside.  Through gardening we are able to teach them where real food comes from and some life skills.  

  We break up the earth with tillers, rakes, and shovels... look at the different shapes, sizes and colors of seeds.  Then we plant our seeds, feed them, and water them.  The kids get a lesson in how the sun and water work to grow and nourish the plant.  They'll see the seed transform into a plant, and then they'll see the plants produce fruits and veggies.  I can't wait for them to dig up carrots and there are definitely going to be pictures of them sitting in the watermelon patch.  

  My kids love helping us make meals, so I know they will be super proud of themselves for picking the food, washing it, and then cooking and serving it!

Mason | Peachtree City, Ga Children Photographer

This is Mason, he is two and too cute for words.  His mom was so helpful at our fishing styled session.  We both had the same vision and were able to capture some great shots.  I just love his rolled up overalls with no shirt.  He wasn't exactly happy about being barefoot in the mud, but he was a trooper and pulled through. 

 His fishing pole was made from a stick we found and some twine. Somebody left a neon, plastic worm behind so we tied it to the other end and made "fishing" a little funner for Mason.  

Quick Tip | Setting the Table

  Super easy way to help teach your little how to set the table!  I found some cheap place mats at the dollar store, used a permanent marker and some household items.  I traced where everything should go and labeled them.  
  I keep the mats on the shelves in the dining room & when its time to eat the kids can easily put one at each seat and then set it up correctly.  :)  My son loves having a "job" and being a helper.  These little things help boost his confidence. 

Fresh 48 | Welcome Charlie | Atlanta, Ga Birth Photographer

Thank you Nikki and Curtis for letting me visit Charlie at the hospital.  I love the first looks and seeing mom getting to know her sweet baby.  Nikki is a natural, baby number two is a lucky little guy.  

I am so beyond happy for Nikki & Curtis as they welcome their second son, Charlie.  I know big brother Ayden is so excited too!  

Another fishing buddy for daddy. 

Helping with Snack Time

We are big on finding ways to involve our littles in helping and participating around the house.  They are a very important part of our family and we like them to know they play a role in our household.  Its a great confidence booster and exercises little hands (fine motor skills development- is super important).   

At the dinner table you will hear my son announce, " I washed those potatoes," "I chopped those leaves," "I helped stir..."

He is proud to have helped bring dinner to the table or to have cleaned our apples and grapes for snacking.

We learn a lot about nutrition this way.  We talk about what we are washing off of the food, how it grows, and this activity gets them familiar with working with fruits and veggies.  Plus, its just fun to play in the water! 

It also helps me out tremendously to have them distracted, scrubbing produce out of the kitchen while I am cooking the bulk of the meal. Its nice cooking without little people attached to you.

You can find these inexpensive scrubbers anywhere!  This one came from a dollar store.  Its got a handle thats just the right size for little hands and is nice and short so they can control it easier. 

I add water in the sink of their play kitchen (from Ikea).
There is still some great imaginative play happening- which is great for little growing brains!  We feel like imaginative play is one of the most important parts of our littles' day. 

I laid out a towel for all of our clean apples.  

I guess he worked up an appetite with all of that scrubbing.  My littles love fruit.

Super easy way to include the littles and get a chance to do your own cooking!  It doesn't always come out "picture perfect."  My youngest little (almost 2 years) will scrub a potato, splash a little, scrub another, then try biting the potato, then splash some more before she decides to dump the water out. :)
 My 3 year old does wonderfully with this task though.