I kept the menu very simple: donuts, bagels, donuts, donuts, fruit and a few donuts. We had milk and coffee for drinks. I custom-ordered all the full size donuts from our favorite grocery store, then used a donut maker to make blueberry mini donuts from scratch and yellow cake mix donuts with a strawberry glaze (uses Jello – thanks, Pinterest!)

Because Jax likes the idea of cake, but not actually eating it, I got ambitious and created a cake out of fresh fruit on the morning of the party. This let us still sing “Happy Birthday” to him as he blew out the candles on a “cake”. It turned out beautiful!

The rest of the post is coming soon!

The theme this year was fire rescue services, and they had neat vintage firetrucks set up. There was a giant hay stack that Jax was scared to climb on, but he went through the tunnel under it twice.

There were camel rides, which I wasn’t thrilled about (I’m always on the fence about animals being used for that sort of thing), and Jax was scared to go near them. However they had carrots you could buy so I got one of the camels a little snack. That got Jax over to the fence. He though the camel was funny crunching on the carrot! I got a very soft camel kiss on my hand.

Jax has been homeschooling with me since around June. We’ve been using Montessori methods and it’s been going so well! I’ll write more about it soon, but you can see some of what we do on my other blog.

Two things Jax was lacking was phys ed and group classroom time. He is very outgoing and friendly, but doesn’t have any experience with waiting in line, sitting quietly to listen to a teacher or taking turns.

We’re now combining all those needs and have signed him up for gym class! He is taking a weekly sports class for 3-4 year old. He also gets a 45 minute gymnastics practice session each week.

He arrived for his first day of sports class bursting with excitement! He made friends right away and had a blast learning golf and all the cute songs they sing there. When they lined up and the door and all walked out, he burst into tears. He didn’t want to leave!!

The next evening was his gymnastics practice. He adored that too! He was a little unsure about being on the bar, but he loved the rings and the balance beam. They did a fun “dragon ride” where they pulled them across the room on mats. He thought that was great. When they sat in their circle for their goodbye song, he realized what was about the happen and started crying. It took some effort on the teacher’s part to get him to leave. Poor guy, he just loves it SO much!

This year Jax did so much of the picking that I didn’t have to help! He was very proud of himself. Besides apples, we went into the farm market store and got a big glass jug of apple cider and the aforementioned cider donuts. Yum!

On the way home we stopped for a late lunch at Sonic. Slushies are always a treat, as Sonic is 45 minutes away from our house!

You might have noticed (or not) that the blog has new clothes on! I’m freshening it up and I will be adding all the posts I’ve gotten behind on.

Jax did all the painting, but I loaded the paint on the brush. I also guided his had to write his name in pencil. He traced the letters with paint.

Recently at our gingerbread house party, I found a random sour worm in our gum drop bag. Jax ate it and was in love. That combined for how much he (and I) enjoy his Bugs & Buttons/Bubbles/Numbers educational games inspired me to plan a bug-themed party.

I started with an inspiration board in Photoshop. I chose a color scheme that was like a sunny outdoor picnic. I designed a DIY sewing project to give as one of the favors (a felt caterpillar pouch) and planned out 3 bug-themed mini cupcakes.

There was a lemon cupcake with lemon frosting (tinted green and piped with a grass tip), little black ant sprinkles, and watermelon slice candies. I baked them in red gingham cupcake liners. (I had a custom listing set up on Etsy will my three liner choices.)

The ladybug cupcakes were strawberry, strawberry swirl icing and fondant leaves I cut out with a cutting and embossing set. I added little pressed sugar ladybugs. I baked them in lime green cupcake liners.

Our chocolate cupcakes were chocolate with fudge frosting, crushed Dark Chocolate Fudge Stripe cookies and sour worms. They were baked in simple brown cupcake liners.

I tried to be very thrifty with the decor. We get beautiful light in the afternoons in our kitchen, so I planned a hanging jungle with sunlight pouring through. Thankfully, the sky cooperated! I hung two shades of green streamers, some faux leaves I hung from bakers twine, and a clearance luau door curtain I cut up into 6 strands. I added some fun plastic bugs to some of the leaves.

I set our party table up in front of the window. It was the first time I’d placed it there and it worked out so well! I used a simple green tablecloth under the food, because a pretty $5 gingham picnic tablecloth (Joann’s Fabric Store) was already brightening to room on our kitchen table. My wonderful friend fulfilled my request of fresh flowers for the table. She went above and beyond! They were gorgeous, and I wouldn’t have had the time of funds to get them myself.

I used our everyday green bamboo place mats as accents, and borrowed some live potted plants from the windowsill. Plastic bugs were sprinkled all around. I served the food in green bowls from the dollar store and DIY platters made from dollar store plates and votives.

In addition to the three cupcake flavors, I had assorted snack foods. We had the classics: chips and dip, cheese and crackers, olives and fresh veggies. My same amazing friend copied my fruit flower prototype and made the beautiful fruit kabobs happen while I rushed to ice 80 cupcakes.

I made two snack mixes to save on serving bowls. The sweet mix: yogurt and chocolate raisins, yogurt and chocolate peanuts, s’mores Goldfish, mini Oreos, mini marshmallows, chocolate Cheerios, sour worms and gummy tarantulas. The salty mix was a snack mix base from Target, ABC pretzels and Scrabble Cheez-its. We had fruit/veggie juice boxes, plus sodas, lemonades and tea.

Jax had a blast playing with other kids! He doesn’t get to often as he is at home with me. Regardless, he is very friendly and outgoing to all children. He is (almost always) great at sharing his toys and getting along. He was so into playing he barely paused to eat the food I set up for him before running back!

He was so anxious to blow out his candle that he blew it out the second I lit it! I had to re-light it and remind him to wait until we were done singing to him. He got so cute, covering his excited smile with nervous hands while we sang. It made my heart float!

Just like last year, he was more into the candies on the tops of the cupcakes than he was with the cupcakes themselves! Silly guy.

Everyone seemed to love the cupcakes which made me happy. Lots of love went into those little creations! Also made with love: the party favors! I had three separate sets of favors so guests could pick and choose what they wanted. There were my hand-sewn caterpillar pouches, traditional favor bags (with a dollar store solar dancing flower, bug stickers and a gummy spider) and “bug jars” with candy bugs.

Jax got some gifts – something he now understands and was thrilled to see. He still isn’t the best and opening them, and would happily watch while other kids opened them for him. We encouraged him to do it himself.

The party was right around his nap time. I just planned for him not to nap. There really wasn’t a better time for the party. He did very well, only showing his fatigue when he stubbed his toe and cried more than he would normally. A sweet toddler party guest offered to kiss his booboo!

After the party wound down, we went out to eat “brinner” (breakfast for dinner) with friends. Perfect way to end a wonderful day!

Happy birthday, big sweet 3-year-old! I’m looking forward to watching you grow!

How is my little baby already 3 years old?

Photo by Jax

I miss the sweet baby days, but he is just SO smart and sweet. I adore him! He is always telling us he loves us. Many times a day I hear, “You are my best friend!” He thrives on learning and is so ahead of where he should be at his age. It blows my mind quite regularly.

We celebrated Jax’s birthday at his favorite sushi place, Noku. I baked a from-a-box cake at his request: “Fun-fetti” with strawberry icing and sprinkles.

The sushi master made an adorable “cake” out of rice, fruits and veggies and brought it out to Jax with a candle. (See a video clip here.)

After dinner I lit three candles on his cake and we all sang to him. He blew out his candles and sweetly offered slices of cake to everyone after hearing me do it.

We are having a party for him Saturday afternoon. I know he’ll love seeing all his favorite people and having play time with his friends!

I love you, Jackson!

In January, Jax and I stayed busy planning his 2nd birthday party and learning to read the alphabet and numbers 1-20. In February Jax celebrated his 2nd birthday with a sushi-themed party. March was a mellow month, with work and trips to the park. On the 17th, Danny and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. Wow! April was terrible. I got sick with a cold, then when I was finally feeling better, I got a terrible stomach bug. As soon as I recovered, my cold relapsed! I was finally better as May started.

In May we took our yearly road trip to the Outer Banks in NC. We bring the dogs and rent a house with friends for a week. I had expected it to be such a great trip for Jax – he was 2 and things like the beach, sand castles and swimming pools seemed perfect! But, I was very wrong. He was terrified of the sand, which meant I could only walk on the beach if I wore him in the carrier and dealt with tears. I could only go in the pool if someone was willing to play with him on the patio. He kept tripping and scraping his knees bloody on the trip. 5 times in 2 days!! The trip was bizarre and I often felt cut off from our friends when I stayed in the beach house playing with Jax. But, we made the best of it and I still enjoyed it.

In June we stayed busy. I worked, sewed a big gift for a friend’s 2-year-old and got a new point-and-shoot camera from Danny. In July, we took a mini road trip to Virginia Beach for my birthday weekend. We chose to stay in a kid-friendly hotel at one end of the boardwalk. It had many pools, but Jax was still too scared. He finally got over a lot of his fear of beaches, thanks to the many playgrounds they had in the middle of the sand. That month, my hair was finally long enough to switch from braids all over my head to just a few rows of hidden braids to add in extension hair. I mixed turquoise into the blond for fun!

In August I started homeschooling Jax more formally. I started with weekly lesson plans, but quickly found her learned better if I followed his lead and turned his daily interests into learning opportunities (in a kind of “unschooling” way.) I also worked on painting over his old nursery (*sniff*) to make a craft and school room. September was fairly  quiet – just enjoying the last bit of summer and the beginning of autumn. I worked on painting a giant mural in Jax’s “big boy room“.

In October we went apple picking to start the fall season. I baked a lot of apple pies! We visited a corn maze and autumn festival, and Jax whined to go home the whole time. He was feeling very “two”. However, later in the month I took him to a huge park with several playgrounds. I convinced him to wander off on a nature trail and he LOVED it. Loved it so mach that he refused to go back to the playground and didn’t want to turn back to the car! I made him his Halloween costume – a train he could wear! I’m pretty sure the entire neighborhood was in love with him.

In November I did a lot of Christmas crafting. We didn’t have plans for Thanksgiving, so we got together with friends and ate dinner out. It was the first time I’d done that, but it actually worked out well. Danny and our friends got a traditional meal, I got a vegetarian risotto and Jax got spaghetti. We all enjoyed pumpkin pie! In December Jax had his photo taken with Santa. What a difference from 2010! Later in the month, we left Jax alone with a babysitter for the first time ever to go to Danny’s work holiday party! It was someone Jax loved, and we were home before bedtime, so it wasn’t stressful at all. The weekend before Christmas, we hosted a little get together to eat yummy Italian food and decorate gingerbread houses.

Christmas was quiet at the Segall house. We exchanged gifts with my brother’s family a few days early. I’d sewn my  niece a custom My Little Pony plushie (Pinkie Pie, for those in the know!) On Christmas morning, we had a light breakfast of donuts and coffee (juice for the little guy) then opened gifts. We drove out to my dad’s place (he is in a retirement community that will allow him to move up into assisted living in the future as his Parkinson’s progresses) after presents. We gave him a photo album I had put together, then went down to his community’s Christmas brunch. Jax was thrilled to have eggs and strawberry pancakes, and adored hold hands and being carried by grandpa!

I rung in the new year quietly, with a little boy curled up beside me, having fallen asleep a half hour before the ball dropped. I still kissed him at midnight.

Collages created with Photovisi.com. Follow me on Instagram @punquin for daily photos.

Christmas was quiet at the Segall house. We got just enough snow Christmas Eve to have a lovely white landscape outside.

We exchanged gifts with my brother’s family a few days early, as they were heading out of town for a road trip to Iowa. Before bed on Christmas Eve, Jax and I put cookies and (soy) milk out for Santa and read a book by his playroom tree. After he was asleep, I came down to assist “Santa” in building Jax’s big gift.

On Christmas morning, we had a light breakfast of donuts and coffee (juice for the little guy) then opened gifts. Jax DID NOT want to even look at stockings or gifts until he’d eaten. Child needs his breakfast.

I had ordered most of his gifts from MYHABIT, so he had a lot of wooden Melissa & Doug toys. His big gift was a mini trampoline for his playroom. He also got some cars and signs for his train set (train set was from my brother), an ice cream sundae set and a cargo truck. He got a similar truck from his great aunt, but that one carries horses.

Jax’s Trains

One of his favorite gifts is a digital camera for kids purchased off his wishlist by his aunt and uncle. He loves it!

Some photos by Jax:

We drove out to my dad’s place (he is in a retirement community that will allow him to move up into assisted living in the future as his Parkinson’s progresses) after presents. We gave him a photo album I had put together, then went down to his community’s Christmas brunch.

Jax was thrilled to have eggs and strawberry pancakes, and adored hold hands and being carried by grandpa! Grandpa enjoyed showing Jax off to his friends. We had to leave after brunch and a FaceTime call with family in Iowa. Jax was getting sleepy and crazy.

For Jax’s first Christmas in 2010, I had him visit Santa. He did SO well, that I didn’t feel like jinxing it the next year. He wasn’t at a very patient age! This year, I left it up to him.

We were at the mall right after it opened one day (really, the only time to go there for indoor walks in the month of December. It’s just so busy…) and stopped to wave at Santa. I told Jax how people can go visit Santa, sit on his lap for a photo, then get a candy. He saw the huge bag of candies beside Santa and was sold. The line was very short (4 families ahead of us, as opposed to 30 later in the month) and we waited about 15 minutes.

Jax had fallen asleep during our mall walk and was still a little sleepy and mellow. He was fine on Santa’s lap, but they had to work a bit to get him to stop chewing on his sweater and smile. A squeaky puppet did the trick and we were done in under 5 minutes. Jax got his peppermint lollipop, which he liked the idea of, but didn’t eat. It turned out cute. Luckily I’d put a nice sweater on him that morning, as I hadn’t planned on photos.

Here is his 2010 photo for comparison. Hi, Santa! And, omg those cheeks!

For our Christmas cards this year, I did a 5 minute photo shoot with Jax. I taped up some white sheets, laid out some string lights, and dressed Jax in a thrifted Christmas sweater and hat. He tolerated 2 minutes of picture taking and we were done. I ordered cards that can be saved and hung as ornaments. They are from Storkie.com.

We also finally got our Christmas tree, so it feels like Christmas is almost here! I’ve already been listening to Christmas music whenever Danny isn’t around… Hehe.