Look Whoooo's 2!

My sweet little monster turned 2 on Saturday!  Thanks for all the birthday wishes! We had a great, fun birthday party with loads of sugar and laughs!  So, I thought I would share a few dozen photos...

Here we go...

Mr. Hughes always does a chalk drawing for holidays and special days in our family.  

He also painted this sign to let everyone know where the party was...

He just copied the design off the invite that he designed... he really is quite talented *smile*

Here we are peeking out before the party... I didn't let baby hughes see all the decorations so he would be more excited when he did see them...

We hung up some vintage swings that we bought with no forethought...

And I sewed up some pretty silly owls to sit on them to greet our guests.

I created a banner with old book pages and stenciled happy birthday + baby hughes' name (not "baby hughes" hee hhee!)  and you can see a few of the pom poms I made

Originally, we were planning on having the party outside like last year, but it has been HOT!  So, I changed the plans.  I still made the moss table runner and the birch pots like I originally planned, but we lost the hanging branches.  Instead, Mr. Hughes happened upon a little owl garden statue at an antique store and we will be able to use him in our garden.  I am not too much for garden statues (except for pink flamingoes) but this little guy will stay... I like him... the "2" comes off as does the party hat.  I reused the birch pots that I had bought for another little table setting.

We lost out on hanging the branches from out pergola outside, so I brought them in to put on this table with the treat boxes.  When I first put them in the can it looked pretty bare, so Mr Hughes decided it needed owl tag ornaments....

Then I decided that those ornaments would make perfect birthday wish tags.  Each guest who could legibly write penned a birthday wish with quills made by Mr. Hughes. And, just so you don't think it is just yours truly that goes crazy over this kind of stuff, I will tell you that we made a special stop by Scarlett's so he could pick up some antique ink bottles for his quills...

Now, we will keep all the tags in a memory box for the boy.  I truly love how it turned out... much better than hanging branches.  I almost want to leave it up... at least til Halloween.

Next to the wish tree is where we had all the goodie boxes for the younger guests.

Complete with a finger puppet, tootsie roll pop, owl crayon and 

a mini owl terrarium made from baby food jars... the very same jars that held the sweet pototoes and turkey that I used to spoon into his precious mouth... our guests only get the best *wink*

We didn't get the best photos of the living room before the guests started arriving,  but here is a so- so one just to give you an idea of the double bunting action across the present opening area

Our goldfish, *chomp* even got in on the fun...

Now seriously people... have you ever seen anything this cute?  Go buy one!   And, what is even better, is that *chomp* really seemed to like it... started swimming faster and close up to the glass.... hmmmm.... it seems that I am as amused by this as the goldfish is....

And, the living room was filled with lots of pom poms too.  And, about a week before the party, I got this from sweet Tara... (sorry it isn't the best photo.... I haven't been able to practice with those settings that you gave me yet)

Isn't he just the cutest?  baby hughes seems to think he is HIS owl.... but I beg to differ.  I also wore a owl pendant from the same sweet lady, but I think the photos of me are on my aunt's camera.  Oh, did I mention my devilishly handsome husband sported a Woodsy the Owl t-shirt?

And here are 2 of the guests of honor... the black one is Hootie Hoot and the white one is Mr. Owl.  Now, Hootie is the one that started all of this owl frenzy in the Hughes Casa.  Before that, only our address stamp had an owl on it... now we have a pillow and some more sprinkled throughout the house.  But these guys are the most important.  They make up baby hughes' gang or posse if you will (there is also a seahorse and one or 2 dogs depending on the day...)

Now, here is what was probably the centerpiece...

the table with the cupcakes

Books were stacked and folded into pedestals that supported mismatched funky vintage plates

I have had that table cloth for years and it looked perfect.  And, I am pretty proud to say that I made the cupcakes, icing AND those fondant owls from scratch... it was my first time making cupcakes from scratch... I have made other cakes before, but never vanilla cake.  

I also dipped pretzels in white and milk chocolate for candy branches.

Here is the birthday boy trying to sneak an owl early...

later that day, he didn't hesitate to bite the head off one as soon as we let him (after the 3rd time of singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles... he loves attention....)

Well, there it is... there are plenty more party photos.  As it is, I am not quite sure that this has captured the scope of the pom poms that were at the party... I am going to estimate at least 35... they were all over the downstairs, still are, I kind of like them for a few more days.  Our family and friends probably thought we were so nutty... well, they know we are.  We had a wonderful time celebrating this special little boy's life so far.  

So, now you won't have to hear about a party for almost another year... or MAYBE I will start planning next week *evil laugh*

bye for now!

I like to give credit when credit is due, so a special thanks to Rachel who sent me the link to her directions for the pom poms.  
My Owl Barn, a blog that I have been stalking for the past few months for ideas.
Artisan Cake Company for the idea of the fondant cupcake toppers that saved me from ordering a $68.50 cake.
Tara, for her sweet owl gifts... they will be staying out for good!
And, if you missed where I got some of the party essentials, check out this post.


I had a lot of fun doing this party for my little guy, but it wasn't too pricy... if you want to know where I got anything at all, feel free to ask.

oh, and I was asked by Danielle to do a fun guest post... click here to see a page from my day