Pink Parisian Poodle Party

An Eiffel Tower greets the guests as they arrive.

I like alliterations, can you tell?  Pink Parisian Poodle Party.  Has a nice ring to it. :)  My now 3 year old, Delaney loves dogs.  She asked to have a dog party for her birthday.  As we went through the pre-made party supplies online, we came across the pink poodles in Paris line.  So, we rolled with it and added our own flair (of course!).

Using a projector and my laptop, I made the
"Pin the Puff on the Poodle" game.  "Genevive",
as Bella named her is about 2 feet tall.

Lanterns - I love me some LANTERNS!

The cupcakes were INCREDIBLY yummy.  Made by Darby's Delights (Angela Rolf). We had raspberry and cookies and cream.  All I had to do was add the toppers which I made from some fun paper punches.  It was nice to give my scrapbooking tools a workout.  If you're from the KC area and want Angela's information, just send me a message, and I'll get you in contact with her (or click on "Darby's Delights" and you'll find her FB page).

Laney got a giant cupcake all to herself! Lucky girl!

Jerry looks tres chic decked out in Parisian style! Notice the sweet applique on his shirt - yep - I'm awfully crafty with an iron!
 We gave out these berets from Oriental Trading as one of the party favors.

Some pics of the food spread.  Please pardon my French.  I used Google translate to help me, and for some reason couldn't find the French word for "fruit".

Bella got to wear a fancy "French" feather bow in
 her hair and I ironed on a fleur de lis and the word "Paris" on her shirt.
And yes, that's me in the background holding the blindfold for the game. 
I ironed a bling-tastic fleur de lis on the back of my black shirt. 
Didn't get a good pic, though.

Luke sporting an adorable Eiffel Tower iron-on.  He walked around most of
the party stealing cookies from people's abandoned plates.

I tacked a poodle applique onto Laney's tutu that I scored from the toy dress-up section at Walmart.  It came with the matching headband.  It's hard to see in this pic, but she got an iron-on, too - a white poodle on her black leotard.

It was a fabulous party.  We played Pin the Puff on the Poodle, and the kids made foam frames to take home.  The favor bags included a beret, poodle bubbles, a poodle tattoo, a paw print stamp, and a personalized swirly sucker that said "Happy Birthday Delaney."  The cupcakes were delicious, the company was wonderful, and the birthday girl was happy.  What more can you ask for?

*Again, I didn't post any pics of our party guests in case they didn't want their children's faces on my blog.  We did take plenty of pics, and SOMEDAY I'll get around to adding them into a scrapbook.  You know - when I find some spare time!

Room 5: The BIG one!

Jerry and I were most excited about this room re-do.  It's the first room you see as you walk in the door, and it was lacking something.

Before, the living room was functional, but lacked style and coziness.  Plus the carpet had seen much better days. We really didn't spend much time in this room. 

The toy chest in the lower left corner usually purged its contents all over the room.  Pay no attention to the lanterns randomly on the piano.  Those were put together and waiting for the next party.

From this angle, you can really see what we wanted to change.  The two black and white drawings on the walls have been up in our home since we were married.  They were drawn by Jerry's sister, so they mean something to us, however LL Cool J and Ozzy Osbourne don't really have a place in our family room now that we have a true family.

Our engagement picture looks great, but it is not really the focus of our family.
 It's being moved up to our bedroom so we can reminisce about the times
 when I was skinny and Jerry had hair. :)

The color we chose was "pumpkin butter" by Behr.

Everything off the walls - Let's go!

A much warmer look - along with some new decorations, but a few things were missing...

Out with the old carpet that was worn from many a playdate, party and indoor picnic.  The padding is made from recycled Nike tennis shoe soles.  Yay for being green!

Ooh - I can feel the warmth already!  The color of the carpet is "truffle".  Yummy!

New religious art reflecting the true center of our home and our family. We picked up all these gems at Hobby Lobby for 50-80% off!  Praise the Lord for that, indeed!

All done!  ...or so we thought at the time... 

Surprise!  Jerry had been shopping for good deals on baby grand pianos for a while, and the right one finally popped up!  It's a Young Chang, and sounds beautiful.  He certainly has been playing more than he ever has before.  It's music to my ears! Literally.

Everything has it's place, including the keys to the piano.

Ahh - so warm and inviting!

Now Jerry and I have our cozy, more adult-friendly living room.  The majority of the toys are in the playroom in the basement. 

 We are already spending a lot more time in this room individually and as a family, and since the toys are elsewhere, the kids are more apt to pick up a book!  The toys that do make their way here can be quickly hidden away in the brown bins in the bookshelf.  So refreshing!  Please, Lord, let us always remember keep it looking so nice.