milk and cookies

About eight months ago the littlest person in our house turned two. What a fun time we had celebrating Samuel this year.

I came up with a milk and cookies theme because he was really into cookie monster at the time. I didn't want the whole party to be about cookie monster though. And of course he also loves to drink milk.

I found this invitation on ETSY. So cute and a modern take on cookie monster.

So here's the birthday boy on the morning of his party. I am sure I was running around the house trying to finish everything up. My guess is that he was watching his favorite show Paw Patrol. 

This is the entryway. I put packages of cookies in the boxes for the kids to take on their way out. I hung pictures of Samuel on the wall and laid some on the table for the guests to see.

I found individual packages of Famous Amos and Oreo cookies to fill the boxes with. Then I tied them with three pieces of twine.

I also filled this plastic paint can with bags of mini Oreos and had each guest guess how many Oreos were in there. Can you guess how many are in there?

Here is the table I came up with for all of the cookies and cupcakes. I started by covering the table with a white tablecloth. The table needed more color so I added this polka dot runner that I made out of some fabric I found on clearance at the local quilting store. To go with the theme, I made cookies and cream cupcakes and stacked them in this wooden box I found at Hobby Lobby. I only made three kinds of cookies and bought the rest at the store.

 Here is the recipe for the cookies and cream cupcakes.

I found the clear paint cans at Michaels to put the store bought cookies in. They are inexpensive and come in several different sizes. 

The store bought cookies include: Nutter Butters, Iced Oatmeal, Fudge Stripes and Oreos. I made the black signs out of black cardstock and used a white pen to write. The paint cans are wrapped with burlap ribbon and blue striped twine. 

Pumpkin cookies with Penuche icing. These went fast. I didn't even get one.

Buttery Cinnamon cookies. This is basically a glorified snicker doodle. Really yummy.

These are my signature cookies...chocolate chip...the favorite of everyone. It is a good thing Cookie Monster is trapped in that glass jar. I don't think there would be any left for the guests. 

And here is the cake I made for Samuel. It is very small...6 inches. It was very easy to make but took quite a bit of time to pipe all of the fur (Wilton tip 233)...and there might have been a few hand cramps along the way. The mouth and nose are made from Shape-n-Amaze edible clay that I found at Michael's. You can buy it in small bags and it is more affordable than the boxes of fondant that they sell. 

And then there are the milk bottles. I have a girlfriend that saves her glass Starbucks frappuccino bottles. Paired with stripey paper straws...I think that they turned out so cute. And so cheap compared to how much vintage milk bottles cost.

In the background you can see a huge chalkboard that Patrick made for me. I found a great chalkboard writing tutorial that made this so easy. Check it out and you will truly impress some people.

 During the party we all painted pumpkins to look like cookie monster.

 We went to our local pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins and take pictures but in the end we just bought the pumpkins from HEB. They had a better selection and more uniform sizes.

I rented three child height tables with chairs and lined them up in the kitchen. The lower tables were totally worth it for the cost. I covered them with white butcher paper and a paper polka dot runner. The runner was wrapping paper I got from Target. The wicker baskets are filled with paper shreds that we glued on after we painted the pumpkins blue. (Note: I searched everywhere for paper shreds. They are really expensive and I needed a bunch. I finally found them really cheap at the Dollar General. They have every color and of course are only a dollar a bag.)

Here is a finished pumpkin. I was really pleased with how they turned out. We painted the pumpkins blue and then let them dry for a few minutes. Then we sponged on tacky glue and stuck the paper on. The eyes are foam balls with black felt pupils and the mouth is black paper that I traced a mouth onto.

 Samuel is all ready to paint with his blue apron. Amazon sells kids crafting aprons 12 for $8.90. I thought that was a really good deal.

My other little artist.

And here are some of our friends and family that I managed to get pictures of.

My niece Sarah.

Samuel's friend Silas.

Samuel's friend Daniel.

Samuel's friend Asher and his mom Celeste.

 Kids and adults painted pumpkins and had such a good time.

My sister Tracy and nephew Emile.

 I guess Samuel thought his cookie monster should have three eyes.

Gigi

 Matthew is so kindly sharing his cookie with me.

After we were done with the pumpkins we went into the living room to read a couple of Cookie Monster books. The kids loved story time and it gave us a chance to reset the table in the kitchen for milk and cookies.

 This is our sweet friend Stella. She is always taking care of Samuel when she is with him.

After story time, we were ready to load our plates full of cookies and cupcakes and blow out the candles.

 I think he was able to blow the candles out all by himself this year.

Notice we all have on cookies and milk t-shirts. It took awhile to find one for all of us.

Next we moved onto the presents.

 My dad made these beautiful lacing blocks for Samuel. 

 Dress up is big in our house.

 Trains are one of our favorites too.

And that pretty much sums up the party. We had a fun time painting, reading and eating and visiting. It was a great party.

Dear Samuel,

     I have never met a two year old with more personality than you. You light up our life and fill our hearts with joy. At two and a half, you are quite the independent little BIG boy. You make sure to tell us that all of the time. Some of your favorite things include hunting for snails, playing in the sandbox (you are definitely not afraid to get dirty), jumping on the trampoline, painting, bubbles and pretty much whatever your big brother is doing. You always want to be included in everything and your heart is broken when you are left behind. 

      

        You wear your camo rain boots and camo hat almost everywhere and you are obsessed with making sure the shorts you wear have pockets. You love to help me in the kitchen daily and are up early enough in the morning to make the coffee...which you by the way enjoy drinking too. We take your dog Ellie everywhere we go and she has gotten left several places. 

      

      You cannot sleep at night without a hug on each cheek, a kiss and a nuzzle. Our routine now includes hugs and kisses for Ellie too. We also sing several songs...Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, You are my Sunshine, I call you Faithful, and last but certainly not least, The Steadfast Love. Sometimes you even sing with me. 

     

     Your favorite show on TV is Paw Patrol and you have six dogs that roam around the house and sleep with you...Ellie (your dearest), Slinky, Astro, Baby Clifford, Big Clifford and our newest addition Root Beer. 

   

       You are an amazing little boy and I love being your mom. We are thankful for the gift you are and know that our future holds lots of baths, loads of laundry, cuddles, and laughter.

I love you!

Mommy

By the way...I think there were 463 mini Oreo's in the paint can. My sister Tracy was the winner with a guess of 461.