Zora's Bee Day Party!

Somehow a year has passed since we met our precious Zora Robin.  I can hardly believe that our baby isn't really a baby anymore.  It makes me excited and heartbroken all at the same time.

Over these last 12 months she's grown in so many ways.  She's gotten taller, smarter, funnier, happier, so many things in such a short time.  

I thought I'd share her first party with you because I found some great deals and even saved some money here and there. I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I did almost every bit with my own hands(and the hands of my family).  I even recycled.
 
We decided to celebrate Miss B's big 1st birthday with a "Bee Day" party.  She earned her nickname, "B," when we introduced her to Claire.  Claire had a knack for only saying the hard "ee" sounds of words for a long time.  So, kitty was "T" and baby was "B" and so on.  Claire had always had the very proper title of Miss Bear and so Zora was promptly dubbed Miss Baby or Miss B.  That name evolved or devolved rather into B-B, Biddley B(my husband is weird, who knows), and a few others I can't recall.  Claire had a ladybug 1st birthday so it seemed only fitting that Zora have a bug-theme as well.

Thank God for Pinterest.  After spending several months compiling a lovely pinboard, I was ready to get crafting.

The invitations were pale yellow checked paper with a solid yellow overlay that I printed on my own printer.  It's actually not that hard to set your margins, paper-size, and the like and print your own invites.  I think I spent a total of one whole dollar on the invites.  I don't count that I bought a snazzy paper cutter to make them because I'll use it a lot.  Sarah should be very proud of me for breaking down and buying my own after so many hours spent sitting at her dining table using hers.

 

They read:  "Buzz on over for some fun.  Our Sweet Little Bee is turning 1!  Join us for Zora's Bee Day, (date, time, place)  RSVP to the Queen Bee."  I googled and found this language on other invites and sort of compiled my own.

I had seen several table-scapes on Pinterest that gave me some great ideas for banners and such.  I purchased a few sheets of scrapbooking paper in the same color of pale yellow but with varied patterns, i.e. polka dots, checks, etc.  I then printed out letters in the size and font I wanted(in light gray to save ink), taped them to the paper and cut them out.  I didn't bother cutting them out before putting them on the paper, why cut twice?  Then, I used my paper cutter to make triangles out of paper bags.  My sister is an avid Whole Foods shopper and never uses her paper bags.  I had her save them from recycling for me.  I think I used two total.  I used a hole-punch to punch two holes in the tops of each triangle then threaded yellow ribbon through.  

 Luckily, my brother-in-law has a green thumb and a love of all things floral (except maybe couches and shirts, I'm sure he draws the line somewhere).  He picked up some lovely yellow and white flowers and my sister arranged them in varying vessels.  I found some adorable yellow and stainless little buckets at Target in the dollar bins and they worked perfectly.  Thanks to my pinning addiction, I also made a few yellow and white tissue paper flower balls to hand from the ceiling.  Those were a royal pain in my ass and I don't recommend them unless you like to be frustrated and yell at tissue paper.  I really don't know how these people make them look like they do in their pictures because I followed the directions to the letter and ended up with some very lovely balls of crumpled tissue paper.

 I found a great bee fabric at Hobby Lobby that was on sale 30%.  I purchased two yards and ended up cutting it length-wise and using half for a table runner and making the other half into two pillow covers.  They looked great on the black sofa and were easy to make since I basically wrapped the pillows like gifts and used small safety pins to secure them.  They only needed to last two hours and they did their job well.

We served a relatively easy menu from the standpoint that not much was cooked.  We had tea sandwiches; pimento and cheese, peanut butter and jelly(I made sure none of the attendees were allergic), and classic cucumber.  We even cut off the crusts.  My sister and mother dipped pretzel rods in yellow-tinted white chocolate and then striped them with dark chocolate.  We had fruit and veggies, chips and dip, and a cheese platter.  Zora's first cupcake was a banana cupcake with peanut butter buttercream frosting with a Hershey's Hug in the center.  They were decorated like bee hives so we needed something for height.  I found some little candy bees at Hobby Lobby that we put on the hives.  If you didn't like cupcakes we also had lemon cheesecake bars striped with dark chocolate.

For favors I purchased headbands at the dollar store(six for a dollar), black pipe cleaners, and black puff balls and made my own bee antennae.  That probably took the least amount of time of any of the projects.  The kids and adults enjoyed them.  The guests also received a little terracotta pot with a bag of flower seeds and a note that said, "Bees love flowers because they're sweet like you.  Thanks for coming to my birthday party."

 I wanted to keep with the bee theme and the only other thing I could think of was giving out honey, so I went with flowers.  I printed the little notes on my computer on regular white paper, cut them out and used left-over paper from the invites make them look fancy.  I hope the guests liked them and I hope their flowers grow.   

Our serving dishes were primarily white and we used a few rugged-looking cutting boards for cheeses and the cupcakes.  I had intended to make the cupcake stand that was featured on Squash Blossom Babies but after everything else, I just didn't have time.

 

 We kept the kids entertained with a giant inflatable pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and also put together two sets of pop-up tunnels(Rob calls them the Viet Cong tunnels).  I even climbed through a few times.

Overall, I think they party was a success and more importantly, Zora was happy all day.  She even got to wear a little dress with bees on it that I found for 60% off at Kohl's on a whim.  

I can't wait until Claire's birthday, but I guess I'd better get pinning...it's only 6 months away.

Here's the totals:

Invites:  $1 for the paper ($3 for the glue dots I had from a previous project and I also had envelopes left over from Claire's birthday that I paid $1 for 12)

Banner:  $2 for the paper, $2 for the ribbon, $0 for the paper sacks

Decorations:  $4 for metal buckets, $4 for tissue paper, $3 for fabric (1/2 made into pillow covers, 1/2 used as a table runner)

Favors:  $2 for headbands, $3 for pipe cleaners and puff balls, $4 for two packs of 6 pots

So, if you don't count food costs we spent $25 on supplies for the party.  Not too bad.

You're Hired!

Well, hell hath frozen over.  If by hell you mean Texas in August and if by frozen over you mean a chilly office in a North Dallas highrise...

Momma got a job.  Yep.

So here comes the mixed emotions.  I'm really excited to get back into the workplace.  Rob and I always assumed that I would stay home with Zora until she was 1 and then go back to work outside of the home.  Of course he said a few nights ago that he actually hoped I would stay home with her until age 2...now you tell me.

This job is a perfect transition back into the wilds of corporate America.  It's at a law firm and it's a writing position.  So, I'll be getting paid to do what I largely do for free.  I won't be practicing law, yet.  I say yet because I'm still on the fence if that's something I'm looking to start doing here in Texas. 

Yesterday when I arrived home from my interview I was basking in the joy of having a job offered to me on the spot.  Then I heard a tiny emanating whimper from Zora's room.  She was waking up from her afternoon nap and ready to be extracted from her crib confines. 

When I saw those little pink cheeks, big blue eyes, and tiny hands-one reaching for me, one holding on to Miss Monkey-I just lost it.  I scooped her up and apologized for leaving her, even though I hadn't.  I told her that I love her and that I was so grateful for the year that we had spent together.  I assured her that my going back to work wasn't because I don't like spending time with her.  I sobbed, "Mommy loves you so much. We'll still hang out all the time. I promise." 

It was awful.

We played together for almost an hour before Claire woke up from her nap.  She was distraught because Daddy had picked her up from school instead of Mommy.  If I asked her about her day at school she cried and said, "Mommy not coming. Daddy pick me up." 

Okay kids, you're making your point. 

So we spent the afternoon making up for hugs that will be missed, having giggles that I won't be here to hear, and generally enjoying each moment.

Look, I know they'll both be fine.  Claire will get used to going to school all day and Zora, well, as long as whomever is watching her feeds her regularly and makes sure she has Miss Monkey, she'll be fine.  I know all the things.  They'll be fine.  They'll get used to it.  They'll even like it.  No one needs to tell me these things, in fact, don't patronize me.  I know all of these things, but I don't have to like it. 

So, starting in a few weeks, I will be working outside of my home.  I'm not sure my emotions will ever be anything but mixed and I hope that I will look back on this decision and mark it down as a good one.  We shall see.