4 posts tagged “party”

For the second year in a row we hosted a toddler friendly fondue party for New Year's Eve. Once again it was a blast with 13 kids ranging in age from 8 months to 3.5 years and 15 adults, I think. The adults enjoyed many great appetizers that were brought to share and then dug into milk and dark chocolate fondues. There were an array of yummy fruits and AMAZING peanut butter balls to dip into the chocolate (thanks, calimama!). The kids had a great time with nary a dispute over toys (at least that I witnessed). Most people were home by 9 and we had the house semi-cleaned up and were in bed by 11:30!

Before:

Today is Anya's second birthday! We had a very low key day hanging out with Grammy. All of the excitement took place on Friday when we had a party at the park.

The party was lots of fun. We met at Children's Wonderland and staked out some tables in the shade. While the previous day saw temperatures in the triple digits it was a little bit cooler on Friday (only mid 90's by the time we left). The kids didn't seem to mind the heat that was melting the adults, though. The staff even set up a sprinkler and there were some wet toddlers before too long. Anya and one of her best friends even spent a little bit of naked baby time running around in the vicinity of the sprinkler, but neither were daring enough to run through the middle of the water stream.

After snacking and lots of playing we sang Happy Birthday and ate some delicious Tres Leches cake.

She also received some fantastic gifts: an absolutely adorable dress from Calimama, a fabulous hand-made tutu (now know as a "choo choo dress") from one of her best friends, a great swimming pool from Grammy, a train set and tea set from Mommy and Daddy, and much more.

Last weekend we hosted a few of our friends and their beautiful children for authentic Chicago style pizza party. The kids had a blast running around and pretending that our storage boxes were cars to race in. Meanwhile the adults enjoyed pizza flown in from Chicago just for the occasion, along with some wonderfully tasty salad (thanks, Calimama!), and real Chicago chocolate chip cookies served warm with ice cream. It was really fun and a night that may have to be repeated soon!

In other news from the last couple of weeks:

• Anya loves coloring in the bath with her soap crayons, and she ended up writing her name all by herself. Here is the photographic evidence
  

  First time writing her name ;)

  2 comments
• Chris was the very happy recipient of Anya's very first unsolicited, "I wuv uo" and I have to admit that I am a wee bit jealous
• Anya now consistently counts from 1-10 (and sometimes to 11) without leaving out 4-7 like she used to!
• Anya and her friends love to walk holding hands with each other, which might be the cutest thing ever.
  

  What?! Haven't you ever seen two girls holding hands before?

Last night we had a bunch of friends and their toddlers over for a kid-friendly New Year's Eve fondue party. We had 20 people total (I think). Six toddlers and 14 adults (one couple's kiddo had to stay home due to illness). It was a raging success, if I do say so myself ;).

I made cheese fondue with an assortment of veggies and sourdough bread for dipping, and a chocolate fondue with all sorts of fruit, marshmallows, angel food cake, chocolate covered apples, and chocolate pecan tarts. I thought both were pretty tasty, but everyone else was much more excited about the chocolate than the cheese.

I had crackers, mushy carrots, cereal bars and mac 'n cheese squares for the kids. They had a blast running around playing with each other and independently. It seems that Anya was quite popular as a couple of the boys chased her around trying to kiss her. One even let her snuggle his "Baby" (a small blanket), which is apparently unprecedented. I also learned a few things for next year (this year went so well I think we'll make it a tradition): 1) remember to hide the drawer full of art supplies before the kids arrive, and 2) do not leave dirty clothes in the hamper! Luckily none of my dirty undies made an appearance, but it wasn't for lack of trying as at least two of the toddlers "explored" in the hamper.

Here are some pictures. I meant to take more "after" shots, but forgot by the time everyone left around 9 (it seemed much later!) Needless to say the house was pretty trashed!

Before shots:

During:
After: