Pen's first haircut

Last Saturday, April 20 Pen had her very first haircut! (3 1/2 years old)

I was waiting to cut her hair because since its curly it takes a bit longer to grow, but for the mere sake of helping it to grow out healthier I decided it would be best to start with a little trim.

Penelope was really excited because she knew this was where mommy went to get her hair done!

My friend Molly is such a sweetheart and Penelope felt very comfortable.

She did really great and its funny how with just a teeny trim now her hair is way curlier!

nervous and excited!

dad and baby sis cheering her on in the background

Violet made herself comfortable in the shampoo chair
it was fun for the ladies that work there to see Violet again because they hadn't seen her since she was an infant chilling in her carseat next to me for my first post-pregnant visits

so serious

V having a little fun with the products

ALL DONE! YAY!

Birthdays!

I'm so excited to finally be getting around to writing this birthday post!

Since the girls' birthdays are only 3 weeks apart we decided to have ONE BIG JOINED party!

It especially made sense since most of Pen's friends have younger siblings Violet's age who will most likely become her good buddies.

It was a lot to pull off, but hey at least we only had to do it once right?

Since they both love the carousel, and since we needed a location other than our house with an option to be indoors- a carousel party seemed to fit the bill!

I've posted quite a few pics, but they really do tell the day's story.

Huge kudos to Matt Coon for capturing the mood and taking such excellent pics.

There are so many more I just didn't have room to post, and if you made it to the party more than likely there are some really great pics of you and your kiddos here: http://www.matthewcoon.org/Professional/WelshBirthday/26856774_xRK8Vk#!i=2249992453&k=VGhJwnn

DIY chalkboard welcome sign

birthday girls!

had a lot of fun making this sky backdrop for dress up photos

I looked everywhere to find carousel cupcake toppers and couldn't find ANY!
SOOOOO  I decided to make some myself. sheesh
DIY cupcake toppers:
pic art cut out with stripe straws taped to the back, then just skewer a pom pom with a toothpick and drop on top
easy peasy!
and what could be more perfect than a carousel cupcake stand?!
I found this on Zulily and painted it white

when I saw this ferris wheel cupcake stand on zulily I knew it would be perfect for the party and many more to come
zig zag table cloth and stripe backdrop are both fabrics I found on fabric.com
My bunting banner turned out super cute too but sadly this is the best shot I have of it
marshmallow lolly's in the background

the parties color theme was pink and turquoise with a dash of yellow and purple
I used lots of chevron and stripes
the plates are from orientaltrading.com and the cups and forks/spoons I found on shopsweetlulu.com

sweet sibling love
my fav twins, Phoebe and Zander

Penelope's smash cake was made of whip cream so it started to look "smashed" before she even had a chance to eat it! ha! carousel topper courtesy of etsy

fashion diva just like mommy
Laurel

Violet Mae and nana
DIY lace birthday crown, I LOVED how this turned out!

I'm ONE!

the kids had so much fun decorating their own carousel ponies
I found cheap paper horses from michael's, and my hubby helped me tape sparkly pipe cleaners to the back to create "the pole"
I lined up lots of fun sparkly glue, feathers, rhinestones, dot markers etc and covered the table in craft paper so the kiddos could go crazy!
DIY lollipop topiary I made by sticking tons of dum dums into a foam ball and then I just painted one of our many terra cotta pots turquoise- getting the right size to make this work was tricky, too small a ball and they implode from all the lollipops-- too big and it become top heavy!

Penelope's finished pony

Weston going for seconds!
The cute popcorn boxes I found at orientaltrading.com

for the food we rented a hot dog machine and borrowed a popcorn machine from our church
it was a hit with the kids and especially Miss P since those are her fav things to eat :)

favors consisted of homemade pinwheels, wooden paint-your-own horse kits from Michael's, horse bubbles, horse squishy toys, candy bracelets and party horns
I found those cute sparkly boxes at Target years a go for $1 each and knew they would come in handy some day!

The Beard Fam

She's ONE!
Both Violet and Pen had matching t-shirts embroidered with their names, age and a cute carousel pony
The tutu was made by yours truly :)

can't have a party without a little piñata action!

homemade lace crowns made by the proud mama

precious Anivieve

mama-to-be Alisse and my sweet little niece Lilja with sis-in-law Linda

love her!

I love this pic!
Levi

buddy Kalista

Its a hot air balloon, get it?!
Well NOW you do!
sweet Danika

my favorite 3 year old

for Pen's "school treats" I found giant sized marshmallows and dipped them in white chocolate (dyed pink of course), threw on some sprinkles and then put a skewer in them to make marshmallow lollies.
They were a hit!

I also thought some ponies would be fun to gallop around with
I found the clip art of a horse head online, enlarged it, printed it out on colored card stock, cut it out, added a googly eye of course, then taped it to a gift wrap roll, punched two holes and tied some yarn
this took less than 10 minutes to do and didn't cost a thing!

DIY tutu
I used a rolled hem surger and added glittery pink rhinestones for that extra birthday sparkle

DIY mini cake bunting banner
I found this package of mini bows at Michael's and just hot glued them to a tiny ribbon and wound them onto tooth picks
super easy

Happy Birthday!

Can't wait for next year's! ha!