A Crabby Party!! {Henry turns 1!}

This weekend we celebrated the first birthday of our little man! I love birthday parties and can get a little carried away with all of the details, but having recently moved to a new home in a new country this party was a little more low key. We were happy to have Henry's Nana, Auntie and two cousins fly in for the event and coincidentally some other family friends were in the city so they stopped by to join the celebration!

We decided that "A Crabby Party" would be a fitting theme for Henry's first birthday, now that we live in Maryland. To get ready for the party I cut out some beachy shapes on my silhouette, hung some beach balls around the living room and placed some snacks in sand pails (including "Oh Henry" bars of course!).

The kids made some simple crab hand print art using red finger paint and googly eyes.

I baked white cupcakes with Cookie Butter frosting and graham cracker crumbs, to resemble the beach, and placed a few little crabs made from edible moulding dough. I also made a matching smash cake for Henry to tear apart!

We all laughed as Henry politely sampled cake. He needed some help from Daddy to really get the idea! 

A good time was had by all. We got some fantastic pictures and made some great memories. As it turns out, Henry doesn't really care if the water bottles are personalized and napkin rings match the goodie bags. He's just happy to have his family there to play!

p.s. I go crazy for personalized water bottles and matching napkin rings, 

so I am totally doing that for his second birthday!

Henry is 1!!

It has been an exciting week in the Leeper house! Henry turned one this weekend and we had some special visitors from home make the trip to Baltimore to help him celebrate! Nana, Auntie, Alana and Jacob arrived last Thursday and we spent 5 days running here and there enjoying all that this new city has to offer to keep little fingers busy and little minds active! We partied on Sunday and showered our little man with love and attention to mark his first birthday!

Now that Henry is one, he has a few new tricks! He fearlessly motors around the house on two feet, with his hands high in the air and a silly grin on his face he looks more like a baby chimp than a baby boy! He yells "dada" as soon as Rob enters the house each evening and makes a beeline for the door (why is that always the first word around here??). 

Henry's "stringbean" physique continues. I haven't had his height measured recently, but he weighs about 5lbs less than his big brother did at this age, and is definitely taller. He has a total of 8 teeth, 4 up and 4 down. His appetite is fantastic, but he has become quite picky and would be happy to survive on a diet of crackers, yogurt and blueberries!

It has been a fabulous year with this sweet boy and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next!

Veggie Cakes for Toddlers

In less than one week Henry will be one! His appetite is growing almost as fast as he is and I am finding it difficult to stay creative with his meals. He absolutely loves to feed himself and has little patience for being spoon fed. I am happy that he is becoming more independent at meal time but am concerned that he isn't getting the nutrients he needs from the foods he is able to handle on his own.

On the search for Toddler Food Ideas, I came across many recipes for pancakes, fritters and even frittata! I muddled around with some ingredients and came up with these Veggie Cakes. They can be made in a large batch and stored in the freezer and are easily modified for the veggies you have on hand.

What you will need:

1 sweet potato

1 small zucchini

1/2 cup chopped spinach

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs beaten

1 tsp pesto

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup sour cream

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Veggie Cakes - Shred sweet potato and zucchini and combine with chopped spinach. Remove excess water by wrapping in paper towel. In a separate bowl sift together flour and baking soda. Add flour mixture and eggs to the veggies and stir until combined. 

Scoop out small balls of the batter and place in an oiled non stick pan over medium heat. Brown for 2 minutes on each side and then transfer to a baking sheet. Bake at 350º until veggies are tender. 

 Creamy Pesto Dip - combine pesto, yogurt, sour cream and lemon juice. 

I served the veggie cakes plain for Henry but mixed up an easy Creamy Pesto Dip for Andrew. Henry gobbled them right up, but Andrew wasn't a fan of the texture. Maybe if I had encouraged him to be more adventurous when he was one he wouldn't be so picky now!

What clever ideas do you have for sneaking 

more veggies into your kiddos diet?

Sharing at:
Pure Grace Farms - Foodie Fridays

Kid's Crafts ~ Instagram Watercolours

Today I am sharing a fun activity that combines two things I love... instagram and kid's crafts! This is a quick painting activity that is perfect for your preschooler. Andrew really enjoys painting, but his fine motor skills are developing and his paintings are usually just a jumble of colour. Preschool abstract art is great, but all starts to look the same after awhile!

To get started I printed a few of our favourite instagram photos with a sepia filter. I also tried a black and white effect but found sepia to be softer and more inviting to the colours of Andrew's choosing.

I mixed some watercolours by combining a few drops of acrylic craft paint and a small amount of water, handed Andrew a paint brush and stood back!

Once the paintings had dried, we stuck them to the fridge for all to enjoy! We sure do miss the cute faces of Andrew and Henry's best friends and having them smiling back at us is a nice reminder of home!

Linkin' Up!

It's Playtime - Kid's Activities Blog

Shine On Friday's - One Artsy Mama

It's my Blogiversary!!

Today marks the first birthday of ...And Away We Go!! 

source

It has been an exciting year for our family and I am happy to have documented some of the great moments here on the blog! I love that, because of this blog,  I have a monthly journal of Henry's first year (his birthday is less than two weeks away!) and a running commentary of the crazy things Andrew comes out with!

Our family has seen a number of changes in the last 12 months; a new baby, a new home and a new country! It's been an adventure to say the least!

The crafting and DIY side of "...And Away We Go!!" has been more of a success than I could have ever imagined! I am honoured to have been featured on a handful of incredible blogs and I am thrilled to have met so many supportive and creative friends in the blogging world!

I am so excited to share more with you over the next year. As we settle into our new home, I can't help but see everything through the "lens of a blogger". There are so many projects and kids activities I would like to tackle!

Thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to stop by and cheer us on!! 

I really appreciate the support!!

Sewing Storage...

Last week I shared a few of the simple ideas I had found while trying to decide what to do with my new Heritage Collection Mason Jars. There are so many ways that you can use these jars and they add such a nice touch to any space. I settled on using the jars to organize my sewing supplies. Not very creative, but extremely functional!

No fun tutorial to share, I simply organized my buttons, bobbins and thread into the jars and then popped a label onto each lid.

I covered the box that the jars came in with some fabric, using the same "No Sew" method that I blogged about here. Keeping the jars inside of this box makes it easier to grab everything that I need from my cart and stops them from tipping when it gets moved around. 

Like I said, pretty simple and very functional!

Linking Up

Organize It! Linky Party (October)