Minnie Mouse Party

 Cupcake was invited to a Minnie Mouse birthday party over the weekend.  I was nervous we wouldn't be able to make it since she wasn't feeling well and not sleeping well, but alas, it's just an ear infection, so no sickness to share!  She had so much fun at the party.  And she wore her Minnie ears for a good bit of it (until one ear fell off!).  She enjoyed the play area, the desserts, and seeing her friends (although she sees them at least twice a week!).
Rule #1 when throwing a child's birthday party. Don't put all the desserts out and close to the edge of the table.  This sneaky girl had her hand on the cookie tray every 5 minutes!  And a cookie or two just wasn't good enough.  She had to eat a whole cupcake, too!  At least she is a lady and eats her cupcake with a fork (less mess for momma to clean up!).
In leaving the birthday party I realized I have less than 3 months to plan her 2nd birthday!!!  How is that even possible?!?!?!

Toddler Photo Shoot

 Have you ever tried to do a photo shoot with a toddler?  Fun times!  I don't have a fancy studio or fun props, but I love to do photo shoots with Cupcake.  She loves the big dining room chairs, so I plopped one in the middle of the living room and told her to say cheese.  It wasn't going well.  Luckily she had made a foam heart Valentine at the library and it proved to be the perfect prop.  Mostly she tried to pick the stickers off the front, but out of the 24 or so shots I got 2 good ones.  We settled on #2 for the "official" Valentine's Day photo.  I think it's a winner.

Super Secret Valentine's Project

 Cupcake likes to send Valentines to her grandparents and godparents, so we came up with a super secret project for them!  But the secret is out, so now we're sharing with you.  I saw this great idea on Prudent Baby for making a heart stamp out of a toilet paper roll.  Corinne was in need of a bath so I figured it would be a good time to let her play with some red paint!  She sure did have fun stamping (and swirling) her heart stamp on the paper!  So much so that momma had to help so at least one of the hearts actually looked like a heart!  After her cards were done I did let her go to town on a piece of paper and she had a blast making a huge red blob!  We wrote a sweet message in each card, tucked in a picture and sent them off to her favorite people (excluding her awesome parents).  And just like her momma, Cupcake's got the crafty gene in her.  Now she wants to paint all the time!!