Merry Birthday, Waylin
Those that are close to me know that I am a pretty religious “NO CHRISTMAS BEFORE THANKSGIVING” kind of gal. Maybe it’s because I’m a Thanksgiving baby (this year, my birthday falls ON T-giving - ohhh yeah! 👍), or maybe it’s because it’s my second favorite holiday EVER. Whatever the reason is, I DO NOT LIGHT UP WITH JOY FOR CHRISTMAS THAT EARLY. 🙅♀️
but…
When you become a mom, you just want to make them happy (and apparently jolly 🎄). Way has been obsessed with Christmas siiiiince…well, last Christmas! 🤣 And honestly, Ben and I have been watching Hallmark Christmas movies since October! 🤦♀️ I know, I disgust myself too.
Here’s proof of the last few weeks following up to her birthday party:
Evidence #1 pictured below.
Location: Hobby Lobby
Date: Definitely not December (more like early October 🤣)
Her little heart is just so genuine and lovely. ❤ We found this life-sized version of Santa in the middle of Hobby Lobby’s obnoxious Christmas display in the middle of October. I thought she would be coy and flirty when she saw him, but instead she confidently walked up to him and held his hand gently. * be right back, my heart is melting * I am pretty sure that is at the top of the list of the sweetest things I’ve seen her do this year!
Evidence #2 pictured below.
Location: Farm ‘n’ Fleet
Date: Also not December
Farm ‘n’ Fleet had a Christmas decor display at the front of the store next to a big section of aisles blocked off for their famous “Toyland” they have every year. When we walked into the store, she immediately wanted to hug the snowmen. I especially love that she hugged them both at the same time! 😍 I’m telling you, that heart is precious.
So, your Honor, I believe this evidence speaks for itself.
Waylin is a Christmas junkie. 🤣
There are so many themes for 2-year old birthday parties, but none of them felt like “her.” I think birthday parties should be a reflection of what the birthday girl is interested in, and for Waylin, that meant we were throwing a MERRY BIRTHDAY PARTY! 🎅 That’s right, if you cocked your head to the side, that is the exact reaction I got from most people. Yeah, we know it’s October. I actually kept her birthday theme a secret from Ben until closer to the date because I KNEW he wouldn’t like it. When I finally told him what we were doing, he said, “Why can’t you just have…* birthday * as the theme?” That should be read with EXTREME SARCASM AND A LACK OF AMUSEMENT. 😂
I didn’t get a chance to finish her birthday invites like I planned. Making homemade cards is one of those hobbies of mine that I love to do, but always, always don’t have enough time for. I made a prototype for the card I planned on creating from scratch. It was so cute too! For the location, I put “there’s snow place like home” and for time, I put “It’s a swell time. It’s the right time. It’s 2 PM.” Cute, right? I ended up texting a picture of the prototype to my family. 🤦♀️ That’s like a slightly ghetto version of an e-vite, but oh well!
I may have failed on the birthday invites, but I pulled off cute decor for her party!
Since it was October, we had to make sure we set the mood with snowflakes! ❄ Waylin was so great at helping me setup her birthday party…actually, much more helpful than Ben! 🤣 Ben was focused on cleaning his toilet and reorganizing his dresser drawers in the bedroom (yeah, the bedroom…where no one was going to be 🤷♀️). I was stressing out doing all the work by myself, but I got it done with Waylin! She did a great job applying the snowflakes to the window!
And to make matters more stressful, about 50 minutes before her party started, Ben hit his head on a cabinet in the garage (#damnitdale). It was actually a pretty good gash, and of course, I don’t know when someone is supposed to go to the hospital. My vote is usually no, but it was bleeding pretty good. He spent the better part of the party holding a napkin to his head to wipe the blood away. Poor guy!
I was so busy running the party and making sure the birthday girl was having fun that I barely got any pictures of my decorations and complete setup. I hear no documentation means that is when you’ve had a successful party…😁 I put together a hot cocoa and Christmas cookie bar with made-from-scratch hot chocolate. I also had bowls of marshmallows, chocolate chips, and whipped toppings.
Actually, I wanted to post the slow cooker hot chocolate recipe here, because we will definitely be making this again (ya know, when it’s actually Christmas time):
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
6 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups of chocolate chips (milk chocolate OR semi-sweet - I used Ghiradelli)
You just combine all of the ingredients and set the crockpot to cook on on low for 2 hours until everything is hot and melty. I needed to whisk my chocolate a little longer at the party, but I thought it turned out pretty good regardless.
I decided to pick up a cake from the store the morning of her party. One of these days, I’ll get my shit together and make a homemade cake. In the meantime, store-bought cake is still pretty good. 😏 Of course, with it being October, there were no red or green cakes. I decided to just go with a yellow and white cake. You should have seen the ladies at Meijer when I told them what I wanted them to write on the cake. #fullycockedneck One of the ladies was super sweet and she ended up adding some red and green icing/sprinkles to help make the cake a little more “Christmas-y".”
We also had Christmas music playing the background. Thanks to Pandora for the Mariah Carey and Frank Sinatra playlist! If that doesn’t get you in the mood, your heart definitely won’t be growing by three sizes! #Grinchreference
I found this beautiful Christmas dress on Amazon for $12! It even had a little train! Everyone commented on how adorable it was! My sister caught Waylin and her great grandpa Poppy playing with balloons among a couple of rough, crazy boys having fun! 🎈
In my ghetto e-vites, I urged everyone to wear red/green and to wrap her presents in Christmas wrapping paper! 🎁 I was impressed that everyone broke out their Christmas paper for Waylin! There were also many family members with Santa hats! 🎅 I bought one for Ben, but since he hit his head, he refused to wear it. :/
Our family did such a great job with gifts that she can actually use and have fun with! She got some cowboy boots, play kitchen food, books, money, socks, llamas (of course ❤), cars, a tent, bubbles, etc. I definitely have to downsize her toys to make room for her new things!
Overall, I was really happy with how her party turned out! I enjoyed going with a theme that was unique and festive! I used a lot of things we had around our house and borrowed little Christmas trees from MIL. We actually ended up keeping our fireplace Christmas decorations up because I loved them so much!
YES, you are reading this correctly…
I have Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving…even before Halloween! 😱 My grinch-colored heart has softened and I’m actually really excited for Christmas to come this year! 🎄
