Ann C

My little guy wanted to be a prince on his 5th birthday so I was excited to create “royalish” birthday for him. Besides, why should only girls have royal/princessy birthdays?!?! ;)  To make activities and theme appropriate to what he is into lately (superheros, fights, star wars etc.), I decided on “Knights and Dragons” theme.
Due to his several food allergies, I also have to make all of the desserts. And no one has more fun baking vegan desserts that contains black beans, prunes, and apple sauce as milk/egg replacements, than I do. :)
And I created most of everything myself, including Knights’ tunics. The birthday boy called himself “King of all Knights” and had  a blast with his fellow Knights!

How am I a 4 year old’s mom?!?! Ok, coming back to reality. I wanted to do art theme on my son’s third birthday party initially. But, I went with a different theme then.
One day he just randomly told me he LOVES painting. And that remained consistent for about a month. So, I went along with the theme for his fourth birthday.

When my very good friend told me that she is having baby number 2, my mind raced to baby shower planning. :) I wanted to make sure it was absolutely special, elegant and wonderfully memorable event for her.
That’s where PJ’s sister and I went crazy exchanging ideas and tips to make sure this shower was even more special one than the first shower we threw for her. PJ’s sister-in-law joined forces and then another one of our friend joined as a hostess as well.
The event was hosted at PJ’s basement so it was a pain to keep most of the elements a secret. Also, mom-to-be wanted it to be ladies only event to which the hostesses happily obliged.
 
 

My little guy has been obsessed with two things this year: trains and airplanes. Since he told us he wanted to be a Thomas for Halloween, airplane was the winner for the birthday theme as the day falls about 10 days after Halloween.
This year (the whole year) I have been testing and trying dairy/egg/soy free baking recipes. Ahaan is allergic to them but LOVES cakes and cupcakes. Last year, we had ordered a dairy/egg/soy free cake for his birthday. Which made me wonder about baking them at home instead of paying fortune to someone else. So the whole year, I tried and tested numerous recipes.
When his birthday rolled around, I was prepared….more or less. I baked all of the desserts (cakes, cupcakes, cookies and cake pops). I also baked white bread for kids’ sandwiches (since store brought bread has dairy on them).
I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off. But I think it turned out good. I was satisfied. I also DIYed a lot of decors and signs to ensure it matched the color scheme I had in mind.
Kids had a blast (I think) and adults enjoyed (I hope). :)

I had created this nursery for Ahaan sometime around his first birthday and I am finally getting around to posting these pics! Phew, life does get hectic after babies!
We needed to move Ahaan from his original nursery because he was quickly outgrowing the room (so much so that with all the furnitures, my husband and I could barely fit in there at the same time). Also because his previous nursery was the hottest room in the house, it was flaring up his eczema making him stuffy at night. I also wasn’t very proud of the old nursery so moving the nursery gave me an excuse to re-create that perfect room for him. In this nursery, I was able to put a lot of thought and inspiration to use. Now, I love hanging out in his new nursery :)

For a little man who loves to push anything on wheels and keeps saying “dump everything” I decided to go with the construction theme birthday party this year. Best part of the day was when Ahaan sleepily murmured “Todaiiii…..Ahaan’s happa day”. It melted my heart to puddle.