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My son turned 4. Where does the time go?! I still try to cuddle him as often as possible, although he wiggles right out of my arms and is off to his next adventure. This boy has blessed us so much. We are truly thankful for him.
If you don’t have kiddos yet, you should know that life will never be the same after children,.. but you wouldn’t want it to be! God help us to be good parents and teach our son in the way that he should go (and give us the grace and extra patience to do it, please).
Here’s a look at how we celebrated his 4th birthday along with the food and decorations. We didn’t cook anything the day of our party and pulled off a really good menu. Here’s how:
The Menu:
1. Breaded chicken skewers. Party tips: If you’re on a time crunch, use chicken tenders. You don’t have to cut it up and it’s much faster to skewer 1 piece of chicken, than a bunch of small pieces. We made these the day before and heated them in the oven just before the party. They were tender and tasty as ever!
2. Chive mashed potatoes. These are my favorite mashed potatoes. They reheat beautifully. We made these the day before, refrigerated, then reheated in a couple skillets on the stovetop with fresh pats of butter. The potatoes were creamy and perfect.
3. Salmon canapky; made 5 minutes before the party started by my seester, Alla – (yeah these tea sandwiches were that easy!). Alla rounded with these before the real eating began and offered them up as appetizers.
4. Strawberry Spinach salad: this was delegated to my sister Sveta and she did make it the day of the party, but the salad is so easy that it’s really just a matter of assembling it.
5. Cabbage and cucumber salad (delegated to my sis Tanya). This one’s easy too and you could chop the cabbage the day before and mix everything the day of your event.
6. Cabbage and Cauliflower Salad. This one’s easy to pre-chop and mix everything the day of your event. Delegated to my sis, Anna.
7. Refrigerator Pickles: Make these 1-3 days ahead and keep them refrigerated until ready to serve.
8. Chocolate cupcakes – baked and frosted 100% the day before.
9. Tres Leches cake – baked, frosted and decorated 100% the day before. The decorations were purely meant to be entertaining; toys I found in my son’s closet. The kiddos enjoyed it and that’s what really matters here.
10. Mom’s famous spartak cake – (Mom baked and assembled this cake 100% the day before)
11. Waffle cakes with dulche de leche – Mom assembled these the day before (and they are best if made a day ahead). The children LOVE waffle cakes. It’s the first desert that little fingers reach for.
12. On to the adorable fish cookies. Aren’t they awesome? All of the children loved them and got to take some home. My friend Natalie sent them to me. Make sure to check out her Facebook page. She does take orders for these and she is super creative. She made exactly what I asked for. I am so impressed and they tasted great too (not just pretty).
Natalie, thank you so much and thanks for the large ones on the sticks; my son loved those most! You did an amazing job on these and the children and adults really enjoyed them!
13. Bread Kvass: This is a bubbly, ever-so-slightly alcoholic beverage that is pretty much the drink of choice on the streets of Ukraine and Russia.
The Decor & Party-goers 🙂
I don’t claim to have a strong decorating gene. Pinterest helped me with this one. The napkin idea for example; straight from one of my pinterest boards!
I tried to make the whole thing a fishing theme. I wrangled things up from around my house and even used some of my food photography props like the burlaps and linen. I hardly spent any money on decorations.
Even those cool oars were a garage sale score (from my parent’s garage sale; lol). I miss garage sales, I’ve been so busy this summer that I’ve missed all the good neighborhood ones. Do you break for garage sales?
So this piñata was a special request by my son. It’s not themed, but neither was last year’s (sponge bob), but it’s his party and he can pick the piñata that he wants. Mom of the year? oh stop! 🙂 I miss blogging too (actually having time to write).
You know I’m flustered when my blog posts are dry and boring; I’m hoping all that will change soon… Stress sucks. Thanks for sticking it out with me and I hope I haven’t bored you all to tears in the past few weeks (It’s been a busy month).
Seriously, those cookies were a hit! If you would like more information on ordering them, click here to visit: Natalie’s facebook page!
Singing the birthday song and naturally all of the little people are recruited to help blow out candles.
On to the best part. Presents!! That super hero outfit was from grandma and grandpa. Of course he wore it for the remainder of the day 🙂
He’s been dreaming of a telescope and Dad ordered one for him. It was a great deal – $6 on Amazon
What 4-year old doesn’t need a magnifying glass? This was all Mom. 🙂 I’m feeling pretty smug right now.
Happy birthday to our little super hero. You’re growing up way to fast! We love you so much! Hugs, kisses and many blessings from Tato and Mama. 🙂
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