Two Plus Us

My little sis runs the NYC Marathon!

I was beaming with pride when I found out my sister was going to run the NYC Marathon! It’s one of the best days in NYC… there is so much positive energy literally flowing through the streets, and it’s really exciting to be there to cheer on the athletes. Obviously we had to celebrate this accomplishment in a big way, and we wanted Dana to have the BEST cheering section out of any runner. Our “heads-on-a-stick” might look a little freaky, but Dana — and all of NYC — saw us at every turn! We even got a nod and a smile from Mayor Bloomberg as he kicked off the marathon.

(And yep, we’re pretty sure Coop is pickin’ a winner in that shot.)

Playyy ball!

My sister and her husband love baseball so, naturally, when my nephew turned one we had to pay homage to America’s pastime with an all-star baseball party in their backyard.

We styled a fun and festive concession stand featuring Lone Star Kettle Corn popcorn, peanuts, single-serve cotton candy bags, and glass bottle Cokes. Close family members were outfitted in specially-designed team logo tees (note: I will look for any and every excuse to make matching tees!) and guests were given souvenir buttons and vintage-inspired custom baseball cards featuring the birthday boy.

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And the Oscar goes to…

Holden has always turned heads and made ladies swoon. My mother calls him “her Hollywood hunk,” so, when the time came to plan his first birthday, which falls during Oscar season, it seemed fitting to turn him into a movie star!

The main decor showpiece was a set of classic movie posters we turned into 24×36″ prints featuring Holden alongside some of Hollywood’s greatest names.  Betty Bakery took the illustration from our evite as inspiration and artfully created the gorgeous — and delicious — cake. Guests played a suspense-filled game of opening sealed red envelopes to reveal a winner (the prize? $20!) and took home autographed 8×10″ glossies.

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Fab Four

The Beatles obsession continues! Even though we partied at a local kid’s gym for Coop’s 4th birthday, we managed to infuse some John, Paul, George and Ringo into our evite and custom stickers for the treat boxes (which are my favorite gable boxes ever, from The Knot Wedding Shop).

3 Train

Matthew spent several sleepless nights hand-crafting (from scratch!) this stunning subway replica Halloween costume — AND it lights up, people! Go dad!

Read more about how he made the train.

Tiny Don Draper

For Halloween, 8-month-old Holden channels everyone’s favorite 1960s ad exec — Don Draper. We made the Canadian Club booze out of a bottle of iced tea, and his “women” came from the dollar store. Tiny Don handed out the business cards while trick-or-treating!

I was fortunate enough to have my friend Alicia pass along photos of Holden’s costume to Vincent Kartheiser (Peter Campbell!), via her brother who was interviewing him. From what we hear, Vincent liked the costume.

Zapfino

Cooper convinces the internet that his daddy loves Zapfino.

As seen on swissmiss

We all live in a yellow submarine

Atypical of kids his age, 18-month old Cooper fell in love with the Beatles after watching the probably-too-trippy-for-kids movie, Yellow Submarine. When the obsession showed no signs of waning as he turned two, we decided to incorporate the Fab Four into his birthday celebration.

Matthew scored some amazingly cool collector’s dolls on eBay and Betty Bakery in Brooklyn took inspiration from the colorful movie to create one of the most amazing cakes I have ever seen! And, of course, guests were encouraged to wear yellow.

We Moved

We announced ourselves as first-time homeowners with this silly photo. It was the first shot we took, and both of us were completely inside that box. No missing sides or Photoshop trickery here!