09.30.09
Laura + Corey, the professional version
The photographs from my sister’s August wedding are up on Jarusha Brown’s site right here. A pretty good-looking bunch, if I do say so myself!
First Haircut
Well, last night we finally decided to cut Jax’s hair. I have very mixed feelings about it, but the poor kid constantly had hair in his face and was such a good sport about the nightly de-tangling, we thought we’d give him a break. It’s still kind of long and it’s still curly {yay}, but it is definitely a different look! It’ll just take some getting used to, and perhaps we’ll go with a professional next time and avoid the Audrey Tautou look, but in all, we are pleased with the result.
The photo record of baby’s first haircut:
09.28.09
Red Balloon Birthday Party
Happy First Birthday to Jacob DeWitt!
Invitations
The dining room setup: even the high chair was put to use.
The den is just to the right of the living room and on the way outside. We had The Red Balloon movie looped and playing in here (at my desk) to set the scene. Because there is very little dialogue in the movie, it served as background music as well. Balloon garland and paper lanterns from Pearl River.
These “red balloon” mini sandwiches were an idea I got from the wonderful Party Perfect blog, the readers of which helped me brainstorm. These photos show the toddler-friendly cream cheese version. Paris plates from Marshall’s.
I also had an adult version: ham and swiss cheese with French mustard on pain au levain (French sourdough bread we are lucky to find at our farmer’s market, along with those olives in the foreground).
The inside menu: cupcakes, mini “red balloon” sandwiches, the all-important fromage plate, salad, and sangria.
I made the pennant bunting myself out of heavy scrapbook paper and embroidery floss. It was easy to divide the 12×12″ pieces into triangles, dividing in half lengthwise and in thirds crosswise and drawing long diagonal lines from top to bottom (does that make sense?), resulting in 10 triangles per sheet. The whole bundle of paper, cutouts, labels, stickers, and punch-outs were in vintage 50s prints. I used less than a quarter of the stack and created a whole party from it: liners for the invitation envelopes (above), the “Happy Birthday” garland hanging from the window in the center, and photo “frames” for baby photos adorning the wall.
The paper straws and wooden disposable utensils are from Can Do Chefs.
The birthday boy, greeting guests by the door.
Outside we had the non-alcoholic drinks: lemonade served in a this dispenser, Orangina, Perrier, apple juice boxes, milk boxes, and sippy cups for the little ones. Our wonderful next-door neighbor Jane let us borrow the beautiful folding bamboo chairs. She even had a 1-year-old-sized version. {I didn’t take any photos during the party, so I’ll post more outside pictures when I get them! Edit: See below!}
The red balloons were a huge hit with all the toddlers.
{Hint: when mylar balloons are popped, they don’t become choking hazards as the rubber ones do.}
Update: Some more photos from Grandma & Grandpa Weintraub show the scene outdoors!
Toddler sized French bistrot chair
One of the most fun activities for the little ones was to smash those balloons!
They played in a band, too
A lone balloon at the end of the driveway let arriving guests know they were in the right place.
We all love you, Jax!
09.25.09
One Year!
1 minute old.
1 month old.
2 months old.
3 months old.
4 months old.
5 months old.
6 months old.
7 months old.
8 months old.
9 months old.
10 months old.
11 months old.
And now, 1 year:
09.16.09
Vintage abécédaire bookplates {free download}
Abécédaire is the French word for alphabet sampler (whether stitched, printed on posters, or bound as a book). I have been thinking about how to incorporate a French abécédaire into favors for Jax’s birthday party. The theme I’ve been aiming for roughly revolves around 1950s Paris, inspired by Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 classic, The Red Balloon. Using free clipart from Retrographix and free fonts from dafont.com, I designed these children’s bookplates, reminiscent of what young Pascal may have seen in books or on the walls of his école maternelle.
They were really easy to design in Adobe Illustrator, my design software of choice habit. You can print these on plain paper and use a glue stick to affix them to books, or print them on adhesive paper to create ready-to-stick bookplates. They would be a nice little addition to a baby gift {especially when giving a book, of course}. If you’re interested in making these, I’m happy to share! Just click on one of the following to download:
You can open either of these files in Adobe Illustrator in order to add your child’s name, change the colors or fonts, really anything you would like to do with this base design. The fonts I used were SchoolHouse Printed A (no longer on dafont.com, but this one is very similar), Valérie, and Book Antiqua.
If I had more time, I’d take on the task of creating a whole poster. In reality, it was much easier to pick up a sheet of this inexpensive French alphabet wrapping paper made by Cavillini {and use my French language skills to write more of my dissertation instead!}
Another fun photo trick
Check out Rollip, a site that turns a regular digital picture into a polaroid – for free!
Poladroid is another program to check out: you download the application to create Polaroid-looking photos on your computer. I haven’t tried it yet, but if you have any thoughts about it, please share! Via Ohdeedoh.
09.09.09
09/09/09
Happy birthday to the best husband and the coolest dad around!
We love you.
It’s a big day in Apple news, too, with an iPod event, so Seth will be crazy busy covering that on his site. Once that is over, though, we will have to shift our thoughts to cake, ice cream, and play time.