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Turning 2, birthday traditions

And now my baby girl is officially two! Today we celebrated at home, just the five of us. Using all our traditional birthday ways. Including the birthday banner that is hanging in the windows and goes up for all our birthdays. The decorations hanging from the chandelier was a new garland sewn for today, simply using circles of felt sewn into a chain.

My newest birthday tradition are these seat covers for the birthday girl. I did one for my oldest daughter who turned seven last week. It was something I thought of the night before her party, as I furiously sewed everything the day before (yes it’s true)

But this baby, whose due date was on my oldest daughter’s birthday, is the one we celebrated today. Two, she’s really two, or 2 – no matter how you look at it! 2!

And in true last minute style, this birthday seat cover was sewn today, the day we came back from being out of town, about one hour before dinner. She really loved the decorations, pointing to all of them laughing, excited, saying, “Party.” She was grateful, in a very excited two-year-old way.

I always try and do at least one homemade gift for my girls on their birthday. This time, her oldest sister did her the honor, by sewing her this small lap quilt (with my help), on her very own sewing machine.

Another important birthday tradition here is that each girl has her very own cake stand that she uses on her birthday.

Lastly, I tell the girls every year on their birthday the story of the day they were born. This little two-year-old was born at 11:45 pm. Which is right about now! So I’m off to nurse her back to sleep, kissing her head and telling about the moment I met her.

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It was a pick up and go trip – to Asheville

Sometimes my mind just says, you must travel. Yes it’s a hassle with three young children, and yes it’s just as much work as it is fun. But sometimes you just gotta do it. It’s just good for the soul.

The girls had fall break this past week, which gave me the itch to get the heck out of dodge. Last week we booked a hotel room in Asheville, NC with no plans but to go bum around in a different town, eat at different restaurants, visit different books stores and just breathe some different air, physically and mentally.

I didn’t pack a thing until Wednesday morning, the day we left. Basically I grabbed two outfits per kid, one pair of pajamas each, tossed some cloth diapers in a sack, toothbrushes in a tote and headed towards the door. My kids are great travelers, they like an adventure and this week Asheville was just what we all needed.

It was a different place to rome, new grass to run on, new places to cop a squat with a book, and new streets to stroll. Which are the things that kept us busy for two days of new scenery, new food, good shopping and some mighty coffee.

What I really like about Asheville is all the local shopping and eating, with few chain establishments in sight. There is even a grassroots effort by the The Asheville Grown Business Alliance, to buy local with a logo that can be found all over town.

I am a big proponent of supporting the local businesses and artists. It feels good, it tastes good and it usually is a whole lot more interesting than what big box places have to offer. While there, my kids saw an advertisement on a map for Mellow Mushroom and begged to go. “NO, absolutely not,” was my quick answer. “We are here to try new things,” I added.

Instead we took our party of five and dined at Tupelo Honey Cafe, which was the highlight of our trip. There was not a kid in sight there, but thankfully our children are quite versed in dinning out – even while we had to wait 30 minutes for a table. We’ve never hesitated in taking our kids anywhere, dinning included. So yes, we did some local eating. And some local sight seeing.

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Make a dinner date at home, minus the sitter

My husband and I live 200 miles away from our nearest family. We don’t have the luxury of having grandparents popping in for a quick visit while we slip out for dinner together. While that would be lovely, we’ve come up with creative ways to adapt and have dinner dates at home.

I never plan these evenings, simply because I’m not a planner. They are just impromptu dinners, taking advantage of the time, hungry kids who need an early dinner and having something good in the fridge to cook for us parents. Hubby doesn’t usually get home till about 6:30, so we are used to eating around 7:00. Which I know is late for most families, but I insist on us eating together for daily family dinners.

But once in a while, I do something easy for the kids, like pizza, sandwiches and fruit. And let them eat in front of the TV. I enjoy a peaceful glass of wine and get cooking in the kitchen. Then it’s off to an early bath and bedtime for the kids. Once they are tucked in, we enjoy our grown up dinner with the table to ourselves.

We like doing these late dinners once in a while. It sort of reminds us of our summers together in Europe as students living with host families, where it’s customary to start dinner 8:00.

For our most recent date dinner at home, we ate pan seared salmon, herbed potatoes, squash and salad. It was tasty, but really, it’s not about the food. It’s about making time for some grown up, uninterrupted conversation. Which doesn’t happen too frequently for us.

Cheers!

 

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Sewing Surprise, Lessons with my Daughter

I know a few artistic, stylish women who have been sewing their whole lives. This is not I. They started sewing as a child and by the time they were in high school they could have pulled off the Pretty In Pink sew your own dress scene on the day of the prom.

I started sewing a couple years after I got married because I wanted to have curtains in a rental home that had odd shaped windows due to being a big old urban house chopped up into three apartments.

To this day, I still live in an old house with big odd shaped windows that still has me making my own curtains. But beyond that, anything other than a straight stitch, a zipper or an appliqué requires a trip to YouTube for a state-of-the-art sewing lesson.

This is why I am teaching my oldest daughter to sew now. So she can have that Pretty in Pink moment if she wants it. And in a lot of ways, I’m learning right along with her.

My oldest daughter, who is now officially 7, was surprisingly over the moon excited when I told her I was shopping for a new sewing machine and I nonchalantly told her that if it happened, she could have my old machine. Really, I was genuinely surprised by how excited she was. We were standing in the fabric store and her eyes lit up.

“Really, really, I can have your old sewing machine!?!” she kept saying in amazing disbelief at the offer I made her. Then the ideas started spinning in her head and she started picking up bundles of fat quarter fabrics planning for projects.

She had mastered hand sewing projects, from buttons to pillows to purses. So I was fairly confident she was ready for this offer. But I had no idea how touched she would be at my offer to give her my old machine, and how much the time spent learning to use it, with me, would mean to her.

I did buy a sewing machine that day, a Janome, which is a large a step up from my basic Singer that was a gift by mom, when I needed a little number to sew a straight line on some curtains back in 2001. I’m still looking for the time to learn how to really use all the great things on my new machine. Because you see, I’ve been so busy teaching my daughter to sew on my old machine, that my new one is collecting dust.

But when a girl as sweet as her, insists on making a quilt for her baby sister, for a present on her second birthday – I say absolutely, let the new one collect dust.

The quilt is small, made of nine 6″x6″ squares – a clutch quilt for cuddling or wrapping up a doll. But my oldest girl, with a little guidance on the front end, measured, cut and arranged the squares all by herself. The project was a great first lesson on how the machine works, how fast to sew and so on. It was also great to spend time with her, just sewing.

Recently when she looked over my shoulder and spotted a blog I was reading over at Soulemama, where her young daughter was ironing and sewing her own banner for the chicken house, my girl was mesmerized by the level of entrusted responsibility she saw in those little hands. Next I’m fairly certain I’ll be adding the job of ironing to her sewing lessons.

This oldest daughter of mine is also now designing t-shirts for her dolls, using a kit she got for her birthday. So yes, I do think it’s safe to say she is well on her way to being able to pull off a Pretty in Pink move.  I look forward to seeing it, along with all her creations along the way.

Have you ever made an on-the-fly offer to one of your kids that surprised you how much they grabbed hold of the idea, and how much it meant to them?

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Immune Boosting Popsicles

DSC_0494It’s October, and during the last 10 days sickness has hit our house in it’s annual timely fashion. Together my three girls had the combined symptoms of sore throats, fevers, aches, coughs and the general need to be cuddled and offered something special.

These immune boosting popsicles made by me were just the trick, yummy, healthy and a feel good treat for the kids and the mom who was feeding them.

They are made with berries that are packed with antioxidants, orange juice with the benefits of vitamin C, protein powder that gives an energy boost to sick tired souls with lack of appetites, probiotics to add healthy bacteria to their little guts to fight off the bad germs (especially my littlest one who was on antibiotics for strep throat) and echinacea that works as a natural antibiotic.

Here’s how to make these little goodies, that can be enjoyed all season, in sickness and as a preventive measure.

Recipe for Immune Boosting Popsicles

In a blender or food processor, put in 1 combined bag of frozen organic strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, 2 bananas, 1 cup of orange juice, 1 tbsp of infant/toddler probiotic powder (like this), 2 scoops of egg white protein powder (like this) and blend until creamy.

Pour into popsicle molds and add a 1 tsp. squirt of echinacea (like this) per popsicle.

Freeze, then enjoy them over and over again. Or if you don’t want to wait until they are frozen, they are perfect as smoothies too.

Here are some links for fun popsicle molds – stars, rockets and ice cream cones.

The key to getting them out of the molds is running the frozen popsicles, from top to bottom, under hot running water.

 

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My Avoidance of Being a Taxi Mom

What ever happened to the days when moms could see their kids off to the bus stop while still wearing their pajamas? Then, after school, the children were returned safely without mom ever having to leave the house.

I never officially signed up to be a stay-at-home mom and I still chuckle at the “homemaker” title on our tax returns. But I gotta to tell you, that bus gig doesn’t sound too shabby.

I know school busses still exist, of course. And if it were an option for us I would consider it. But seriously, I do not know one single mom in my town that puts their kid on a school bus. Not one.

Now, it is true that only one of my daughters is officially school age. But they all go to school, because otherwise I might loose my wits. All moms need some non-mom time to keep things balanced. I’m a big believer in that.

I use my non-mom time to be a freelance writer. So please, don’t call me a homemaker. If you saw my home, outside my camera’s zoom lens, you’d know the only things I make come from either my sewing machine or my Kitchen Aid mixer. I am far from a perfect homemaker.

When school returned after summer break, I was too busy picking up my three girls at their three different pick up times (one for the toddler, one for the preschooler and one for the first-grader) to make a single darn thing.  It left me longing for summer break, and to return and the leisure days with no schedules of who had to be picked up when. (My husband does the morning school drop-offs and has ever since I our second baby was born, allowing my the luxury to stay in with my nursing babies).

Don’t get me wrong, come the end of summer break I was counting down the hours until school started back up. I love spending all that quality time with my girls and feel very fortunate to be in the situation to do so, but I had reached my goal of having a TV Free Summer and they had become bored enough that they were begging to go back to school. My plan was working out perfectly.

Except for one thing. All that driving around was turning my spirit into road mush.

Something had to give!

Now picture my hair blowing in the wind, me huffing up a hill, enjoying the fresh woodsy air on my bike – while taking my toddler girl to and from school.

Ahhhhh, this is SOOOOOOOO much better.

I so adored the lady watching my toddler girl at her house. But the drive was driving me bonkers. And when I realized there was a Montessori school with a toddler program having classes at a nature center that is a one-mile trail ride away from my house – I told my husband, “I’m signing her up!”

So no, you’ll never see one of those hanging yellow signs in my back car window from the 80s that said, “Mom’s Taxi.” Not me, unless it’s hanging from my bike trailer with my toddler on board.

The view on the way home from school, right before nap time.

 

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What I learned about mushroom logs

Fall is here and garden fresh tomatoes are gone. But have you ever thought of harvesting a mushroom log?

I have, every time I drive past the Everything Mushrooms building on Sevier Avenue in South Knoxville. One day, it got me curious enough to stop by to see what goes on inside there. The following is what I discovered.

According to Bob Hess, owner of Everything Mushrooms, there is still a window of opportunity to take home a mushroom log and get one last harvest before temperatures fall too low for them to grow.

Come spring, the log will resume producing mushrooms right where it left off.

“They survive just about anything, and that’s the nice thing about them,” says Hess.

Everything Mushrooms is one of about six companies in the United States that specializes in the production and maintenance of gourmet mushroom spawns and cultures.

The UPS truck pulls onto the property three times a day, shipping out a total of 50-100 packages of mushroom growing supplies. He ships everywhere from California to Australia. Farmers and gardeners are his main buyers. Each package is worth $50-$60.

Education is also a large part of the business.

“That’s been the biggest challenge in this business is educating the clients in what we do, said Hess.”

On the local end, Everything Mushrooms has a specialty store that is open Tuesday-Saturdays from 12pm to 4pm. Locals can drop by to shop the selections of resource books, supplies to spawn mushrooms at home, dried gourmet mushrooms, hard to find truffle oils and dried soups by a company called Fungus Among Us.

Next spring there will be more teachings. An educational mushroom garden is in the works. And Hess is working on a prototype for a mushroom terrarium that uses a small cake style spawn, to grow mushrooms indoors, an educational display he thinks adults and children will find interesting. Classes and workshops will resume then too. He has a new baby at home, so he’s taking it slow right now.

To help in his educational efforts, Hess has a new blog-style website, at everythingmushrooms.com. He is using it to share about the process and material for making mushrooms – from starting spawns, growing mushroom logs, harvesting them and the daily effects the seasons have on it all.

Typically to start a mushroom log, it takes about a year to get the first crop. But at Everything Mushrooms, they cultivate the logs and keep racks of thriving, pre-made logs of either Pearl Oyster orShiitake mushrooms.

“We drill about 20 holes on a mushroom log, then plug them with wooden plugs that we have grown the mycelium onto,” said Hess.  “The mushroom mycelium eats the wood so it creates a little mushroom colony on the plug.”

Hess’s own educational background provides an unlikely beginning to his company. He has a degree in journalism. He started his mushroom business on the side, while he worked a job doing public relations for Roane State College.

“Originally I was collecting and trading mushroom cultures and spore prints, which was the easiest way to store and ship them around on the Internet.  And it slowly grew out of that,” said Hess.

“As our company grew, we tried to develop a product that is more accessible to people who want to garden, pick up the tools and go home and use them,” he added.

For the mushroom logs, it’s working.

“I have been amazed how many people buy and ship a pre-made mushroom log,” said Hess.

Bob Hess, inside his shop Everything Mushrooms. 

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Midwife Support is the Best Push into Motherhood

This week is National Midwifery Week. Also this week, I’ll be celebrating the birth of becoming a parent – when my oldest daughter turns seven on Friday. So naturally, I’ve been thinking a lot about her birth story, plus the births of my other two daughters that followed. I have a tradition of telling my daughters every year on their birthday, about the day they were born. They love this.

Each of their births were very different, happening with three different midwifes in two different bathtubs. The first was at a hospital and the second two were at a freestanding birth center. All of them were wonderful. But one thing is for certain, having a midwife by my side was the best push into motherhood.

In May 2011, Amnesty International launched a one-year update to its groundbreaking report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crises in the United States.

The following statistics are just a few that you can find in the report, which you can read more about here.

Did you know that the United States cesarean rate in 2009 was 32.9 percent, an all-time high following a 13 consecutive year rise? Did you know you it’s possible to drastically reduce your percentage of having a c-section by choosing a midwife supported birth with minimal medical interventions?

Or how about this? There are 49 countries that have lower maternal mortality ratios than the United States. And in states with cesarean rates higher than 33 percent, the risk of maternal death is 21 percent higher than in states with cesarean rates lower than 33 percent.

I myself, was scared to death of the possibility of having to have a c-section and the recovery process that followed. This procedure is a wonderful thing to have when it’s needed. When it’s not needed is when it becomes a problem. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today.

I’m just going to tell you how having a midwife supported birth gave me the best push into motherhood, and left me feeling empowered that I could do anything after enduring a natural birth and the amazing raw unmedicated, emotional experience of birthing a baby.

The feelings and emotions of holding my baby skin-to-skin, chest–to-chest, in the moments after she was born are ones I can still recall in an instant, as if it happened just yesterday. I still remember every word I said to her the moment I looked at her for the first time. And exactly what she looked like. I could say the same about my second two babies as well. But there is just something uniquely different about the first, and the birth of becoming a parent. 

I had to push for three hours and 17 minutes, working for the moment to meet her. It was my midwife, my husband, and I, in an intimate setting in a small bathroom with candles burning and a nurse who had Norah Jones playing in our CD player (this was before iPods so I’m showing my age).

Just when I was desperate enough to take any measure to get my baby out, my midwife knew just the right, calming thing say – giving me the confidence to keep going.

After the birth when I had a breastfeeding question, my daughter was jaundice and the hospital staff was suggesting I supplement with formula – she was supportive and encouraging in my decision not to.

When I showed up at my two-week post-partum visit tired and unsure about myself on this new journey of motherhood, she encouraged me to sleep with my baby (giving me tips to do so safely) and made feel completely normal for wanting to do so. Woooeshhhh, that helped me like you have no idea!

That midwife was Margaret Strickhouser. Her and her incredible wisdom are now helping to lead a team on a mission to Bring Birth Back, a campaign to bring awareness to birth center births, midwife care and the quest to open the Atlanta Birth Center.

Ten months after that birth of my first baby, I moved to a city where we do have a freestanding birth center. I immediately went there for my well women’s care and then the birth of my next two babies. I’m talking about the Lisa Ross Birth and Women’s Center, which has become nearly like a second home in my heart.

I could go on and on with all the ways I’ve been touched, taught, encouraged and blessed by the midwifes I have known the last seven years. I have also had the privilege of having them as my friends, getting hugged by them exactly when I needed it, and having the pleasure of working with the staff over the last four years as I have served on the board of directors for the LRBWC.

When I found out my two-year-old had a mouth full of cavities, which the dentist told me was the result of her nursing at night, I went straight to the birth center crying and found the knowledge and advise I needed.

Yes I could go on and on. Everyone needs a midwife to hug. And sometimes midwives need a hug too. They work long hours with a passion for caring. So during this National Midwifery Week, I encourage you to drop a note, an email or a post and let them know how special they are.

Some days I feel like I owe my success of mothering, seven years of breastfeeding and three natural births – to the midwifes, and the women working with them, who wholeheartedly support this mentality of mothering.

Every mom needs a village, and midwife is a good place to start.

 

A note about the photo at the top of this post: That is me in a pool of water, immediately after the birth of my third daughter at LRBWC. It was taken by my friend who was at the birth. Nine months later I was there for the birth of her third baby. And now I can never imagine life without this friend. I am so very thankful for my village. 

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Sponsor :: Little Red Hen Consignment Tagging Service

Today I introduce you to the first giveaway and Simply Natural Mom sponsor,

Little Red Hen Consignment Tagging Service.

 With over five years of experience consigning her children’s outgrown clothes and gear in Knoxville’s children’s consignment sales, Kristen Yartz, owner of Little Red Hen Consignment Tagging Service, decided to start a business helping other families who were too busy to consign their own items.

Today is the start of Little Red Hen’s free Early Bird Drop-offs for the 2012 spring sale season.

 For future updates on events, follow Little Red Hen on Facebook.

Simply Natural Mom: Tell us about your business.

Little Red Hen: I’ve always talked up seasonal children’s consignment sales to friends and colleagues as a way of earning money from items that they’d either been donating or keeping in storage.  The response has often been a sigh of exhaustion and the response, “It just seems like so much extra work!  How do you price things?  I just don’t have the time.”  A friend of mine planted the seed for Little Red Hen in early 2010, saying, “How about you do it all for me and I pay you half?”  It was definitely an “A-ha!” moment, and I ran with it.  In conjunction with a talented trio of a local graphic designer, artist and web designer, I developed our logo, business materials and website.  At Little Red Hen, we aim to make things as simple as possible for our clients: for them, it’s as simple as gathering their items together and checking them for sale-ability, folding them neatly in large plastic bags (kitchen or lawn size work well) then scheduling a Drop-off at a convenient Knoxville location on either the east or west sides of town.  Clients complete a Consignor Agreement and pick a sale in which to participate, and we take care of the rest: registering them for the sale, ironing, hanging, tagging, storage, plus delivery to the sale of their choice.  All supplies are provided by Little Red Hen.  Each client is registered under a specific Little Red Hen consignor number and password and clients can follow their sales online through the consignment sale’s website.  Clients get all the benefits of sale participation, including access to the Private, Pre-sale shopping event, and the option to work a sale shift for greater sale benefits if they choose.  Post-sale, we generate checks for our clients, splitting the Final Proceeds from the sale 50/50, and applying our $10 administration fee.  Easy peasy!  In the off-season Little Red Hen features a free Early Bird service, where folks can send on their items to us for early preparation, tagging and storage.  This provides more space in their closets, attics and garages (as you can imagine, Dads love Little Red Hen!) and ensures their spot as clients for the upcoming sale season.

 

Simply Natural Mom: There is an earth friendly aspect to reusing and reselling clothes. Is that important to you?

Little Red Hen: Absolutely!  In our home, we are avid recyclers, and the process of consignment (especially seeing how many items are barely worn when sold) has led to a more conscientious approach to how much we purchase, especially clothing-wise.  Most of our daughters’ clothes are purchased second-hand, but you’d never know it to look at them.  Folks new to consignment are amazed at how many next-to-new outfits, shoes and gear are for sale at children’s consignment sales, and at prices that are much lower than brick and mortar consignment stores or on ebay.  As a parent, there’s a freedom that comes from knowing you paid very little for an outfit that is meant to be worn, played-in and enjoyed.  The aspect of our business that enhances re-use in our local market is very enriching, as is our clients’ genuine enthusiasm for our service.  Equally important: monies spent and earned from local consignment stay in our local economy.  It’s a good feeling to know that when I purchase items at consignment, that money is going directly back to local families, not to a national chain retailer.  The consignment sales that we work with also raise monies for local charities as part of their sales efforts.  Little Red Hen has been a natural offshoot to my role as the Cooperative Relations Administrator of Three Rivers Market.  I’m a big proponent of supporting local, independent businesses and making sustainable choices for my family in how we live and what we eat.

 

Simply Natural Mom: Tell us about your clients.

Little Red Hen: Our clients are busy Moms and Dads whose schedules are jam-packed as they balance raising their children, work commitments, and all those extracurricular activities that families juggle. Most of them share the feeling of being overwhelmed, with consignment as something that they’ve been “meaning to do, but just can’t get to,” sometimes for years!  We have clients who send along items outgrown by their children in the past season, and others who send their entire stash of items that they’ve been storing for many years.  Before finding Little Red Hen, many of our clients had been simply donating their children’s outgrown items or stockpiling their items in totes in spare rooms and garages, with a sense that they would get to them “some day.”  In the current economic climate, every dollar counts, and we’re welcoming new clients each season who are either new to consignment or so busy that they don’t have the hours of time to devote to the process.  Our clients don’t necessarily have the time for item preparation or pricing, but all are fiscally conscious and keen to retain funds by selling their children’s outgrown, un-used items.  Most of our families roll these monies back into the next season’s wardrobe needs, whether or not they choose to shop at consignment sales.

 

Simply Natural Mom: What is the most items one of your clients has ever sold in one sale?

Little Red Hen: The most saleable items thus far from one client was 538, generated by a family with five children.  In 2011 alone, we prepared just over 6,700 items for sale over the course of 4 seasonal (spring/summer and fall/winter) sales.

 

Simply Natural Mom: What’s next for Little Red Hen?

Little Red Hen: This fall we’ll launch Little Red Hen Consulting tailored to individuals who plan to start their own consignment tagging services.  In the past year, we’ve had e-mails and calls from folks all over the country, asking for advice.  We’re looking forward to being that go-to resource for tagging service start-ups!

For today’s giveaway, Little Red Hen is generously offering a free administrative fee for the first five customers to sign up for Early Bird Drop-offs for the 2012 spring sale season.   Just tell her, “I’m a Simply Natural Mom.”

Thank you to the Little Red Hen!

If you like this deal, please go to Facebook and “like” Simply Natural Mom and Little Red Hen.

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Homemade American Girl Birthday Party

My oldest daughter celebrated her seventh birthday on Sunday, with a homemade American Girl birthday party. Celebrating with her, were five of her very closest friends that she has known almost her whole entire life, plus her two sisters.

Most all of her birthday celebrations have been at home. Except for last year, when she wanted to visit the American Girl doll store in Atlanta. We don’t live there, but our family does. So we had lunch there with the grandparents, aunts and the one girl cousin we have living there. It was fun, but my daughter missed celebrating with her friends. It wasn’t the same.

One birthday later, she is still an American Girl lover through and through. So this year we decided to do our American Girl party at home, just the way we like it. While waiting for her party guests to arrive, my daughter looked around and warmly said, “I love homemade birthdays.”

That, for a mom, made it all worth it.

We sent out personalized, homemade invitations that included each friend’s name plus the name of her American Girl doll.

It was a drop off party where the parents didn’t stay, which was a request by the birthday girl. And I have to tell you, it’s my new favorite way to throw a party! I didn’t worry about the mess, or the dishes in the sink or if the laundry had been put away. We just focused on the girl that matters and the fun that a seven-year-old’s party is all about. And as you’ll see by the goodness that follows – we had a lot of fun!

My daughter prepared the party table arrangements for the dolls, using the two sets of tables and chairs we have, plus two wooden child-size footstools. On one of them she used a vintage handkerchief as a tablecloth. Then she set the tables, preparing for the special guests and making sure each doll had at least a plate and a cup. Pizza was on the menu. So I sewed a piece of pizza for each doll, using three layers of felt – brown, then red, then yellow for cheese. For a no sew method: fabric glue would have worked fine too.

I found this tiny plastic Mozaik appetizer set at the grocery store, which we used for plates and utensils for the dolls. I used them inside the guests’ takeaway treat bags too.

At the party we made birthday crowns using colored card stock (that I cut out in advance) and decorated them with American Girl stickers. Each girl made one for herself and one for her doll. I made a doll size banner using scraps of fabric, hot glued to a ribbon. I thought the girls might be interested in doing this as a craft at the party, so I planned on using fast drying glue.  But it turned out, taking the dolls into the backyard for trips down our zip line was way more fun – and understandably so.

For the children’s table, I love to make them special for birthdays! I sewed new cloth napkins and one special placemat for the birthday girl. And after that, at about 12:30 am, came the idea for my newest favorite birthday tradition – a chair cover with the new birthday number on it – in this case it was seven. For a no sew version of the table set up: cutting fabric with pinking shears will work, at least for a couple washings before the fabric will unravel and need to be recut. Heat N’Bond iron on adhesive would hold the number in place on the chair cover. And you could just tie some fabric around a chair, eliminating the need for sewing. 

The plates, cups and fruit bowls were a major score at Goodwill from two years ago

A mom friend of mine who runs a catering business out of her house helped me out by baking the cake pops. If you don’t have a mom friend with a catering business: Starbucks sells pink perservative-free cake pops. And they’ll sell them to you for a discount if you ask to buy lots of them straight from the freezer. That was my  back up plan.

My daughter and I spent some special one-on-one time together drawing on watercolor paper with watercolor pencils, which we used to decorate the cans holding the cake pops. They were repurposed cans that otherwise would have gone from my kitchen to the recycling bin. The mini cake pops were for the dolls. But after the the dolls pretended to eat them, the girls enjoyed them the most. Of course.

When I was at the grocery store buying strawberries for the fruit cups, it dawned on me – what will I put the candles in if we have cake pops? The m&ms and pink stars were the solution.

The fireplace mantle seemed like the most lovely place to display the treat bags, and it made me love homemade birthday parties even more.

The treat bags were sewn by me, and stuffed with what you see above – all for the dolls. For a no sew version of these placemats and napkins: pinking shears, again, would work to at least get the fun appeal. For a no sew version of the bags: stamps on a paper bag would have worked fine too. But don’t forget the ribbon – it’s the best part!

In the end, it was a beautiful birthday celebration. Wonderful friends, who shared in the birthday excitement, surrounded the birthday girl. They brought amazingly thoughtful gifts, with sweet handmade cards in which they were all proud to give to their birthday friend. We are so blessed to live within a circle of friends and fellow natural mamas, who are all so dear to us.

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