Behind the Scenes at Tacoma Musical Playhouse: Charlotte's Web

I was thrilled to be invited to a Behing the Scenes look at Tacoma Musical Playhouse and get a sneak peak at the first act of Charlotte's Web during a rehearsal. It was a lovely event hosted by TMP and loved seeing some blogger friends and meeting new ones too! I am so bummed I did not bring my oldest kiddo Cade along (it was kid friendly - love this) because he would have loved seeing the giant spider web the set designer had created for Charlotte the day before.

  I loved these spider Web inspired treats! 

view from the balcony: this is where the symphony plays 

Our group was able to tour the huge building that TMP owns and look into all the really cool prop storage areas, set designing and building studio (pictured above), costume area, dressing rooms and more!

After the tour we were invited to watch the rehearsal and have a question and answer with the cast.

The amazing thing about this production to me is that the cast is made up of a diverse group of actors. They was a pediatrician, attorney, frozen yogurt worker, middle school student and the list goes on.

Charlotte's Web runs November 1st - 9th at Tacoma Musical Playhouse on Sixth Avenue. This is a must see! Would you like to get a free child's ticket to the show? Comment below with your favorite character and winner will be chosen at random.

Camp Lucas: Celebrating 1

It has been almost 2 years since my last blog post - wow! The time has flown by and this last year has been one of the quickest of my life. We welcomed a new little guy into our family last July - Lucas Donald Moll. There have been a ton of great adventures with family and friends, huge milestones, celebrations and parties, learning to overcome new challenges, and living this crazy, fun, busy life as a family of four.

A few weeks ago our family and friends celebrated Lucas' first birthday with a camping themed birthday party at our favorite park, a park I grew up going to with my sister, Mom and Dad: Gig Harbor City Park at Crescent Creek.

We had 38 happy little campers and 40 big campers join us on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We hosted a camp cookout themed lunch, a scavenger hunt, arts & crafts where campers could decorate a  personalized wooden camp medallion, a cozy teepee area created the perfect backdrop for our photo booth, and a new play area was just opened at the park featuring a cool ship to play on so the kiddos were happy as can be. We finished the day with sweets: s'mores on a stick, teepee cookies, cupcakes, s'more stacks, cake and girl scout cookies. Each family that joined us left with a Campfire CD featuring some of our families favorite sing a long songs.

Here is a peek at Camp Lucas! 

Invites to our Happy Campers

Snap a Pic 

Teepee backdrop and camp themed props for the photo booth 

#camplucasmoll

 Guests were able to capture the days adventure with photos to take home. Our photographer gave us a copy of each guest photo that I am using to create a camp photo book. 

Arts + Crafts

Floral 

I believe that every event needs some sort of floral element. For this party I did a combination of succulents and herbs potted in wooden boxes, tin cans and little ceramic pots. 

Scavenger Hunt 

Lunch is Served: Camp Cookout 

The cookout was served around and on a double sided wood burning stove. We had a fire on one side to keep the grilled items and the campfire beans warm. 

Cookout Menu:

Kosher Beef Hot Dogs

Chicken Sausages 

Campfire Beans 

Watermelon & Mint Salad 

Greek Salad 

Classic Potato Chips 

Extras for our Little Campers: 

Watermelon triangels on popsicle sticks

Applesauce 

Carrots 

I packaged individual Greek salad and watermelon mint salads for the adults. It made for a easy grab and go for adults with kiddos and less stress for refilling salads during the party. 

Bamboo forks, spoons and knives, napkins and wet napkins were stocked in glassine bags in a vintage wood crate for a grab and go. 

Camp Treats 

 Natural colors, materials and vintage camping thermoses were used in designing the dessert table

 Cake forks had a wildlife washi tape wrapped around them

 and craft colored boats were used to collect all the goodies you wanted

A glimpse at the last year with Lucas 

An old window pane was the backdrop to string some memorable photos from the last year we wanted to share with guests. Here Reese and Rory are checking them all out. 

The Cake 

 

He started out a little unsure about this whole cake thing and a few minutes he had his entire face in the cake. We had one messy guy who had the best time enjoying his birthday cake from our favorite bakery. 

 Cousin Wyatt and Big Brother Cade sneaking a taste of Lukey Bear's Birthday Cake 

Thank you for Celebrating: Campfire Songs 

With the help of our friend Alika a CD was created for each family to take and enjoy the the rest of the summer. It was a combination of old sing a long classics and some fun kid sing a long songs too. This CD was the soundtrack for our party this day as well. 

Keepsake book of 1st birthday cards using the invite as the cover / Lucas camp medallion /  arrow art from old barn wood and wire created for Lucas by my incredibly taleneted friend Jennifer Robbins. 

It was amazing to have so many family and friends here to celebrate with us. I am thankful for the help of my Mom, Dad, sister Megan, friend Paolo and Alyssa in helping me make this day what I had envisioned - a fun camp themed celebration for our sweet little one Lucas! 

invites, scavenger hunt, camp lucas banner, menu signs, framed signs, thank you tags -  Kari Snyder

photobooth - Carino & Co. 

vintage khaki linens  -  Trendy Events

cupcake toppers - Shop Sweet Lulu

photos here are a collaboration by: Paolo Liloc, Kari Snyder, Megan Winther, Sheryl Brown, and Jordan Moll 

{Love} Twelve Months!

You at Twelve Months:

You love to eat! You have given up on baby food and eat all the things that we eat now. Your favorite fruits are watermelon, peaches, nectarines and strawberries. You also love eggs, avocado, beets, chicken and turkey.

Your love for Chloe continues to grow - we love watching you play "catch" with her. You are pretty good at throwing the ball for her now. You love to lay on her and cuddle with her.

You like to dance. When I say "Let's dance Cade" you start wiggling back and forth and laugh at me dancing too. This is a favorite part of my day! 

 You are happiest in the backyard, on a walk in your red wagon or at the beach. 

You love balloons! We discovered this at your 1st Birthday party.

Your favorite book is Where is Baby's Bellybutton.

You love to climb - stairs, onto tables, beds. We have to keep an eye on you. 

You still love all things related to water.

Happy Twelve Months Cade! 

Cade's 1st Birthday Bash: A Pool Party

Doughnut Dessert Table 

Cade's Birthday 'Cake' - adorable stand created by Grandma Kari 

Favor pails for the kiddos 

The favors: mini pails, goggles, mini beach ball and swedish fish in a chevron print bag stamped with a number 1 

Sunscreen Station 

Brunch. The backdrop: A window pane strung with instagram prints  

In his favorite place: water 

Birthday Chair 

Mini Water Bottles for the kiddos finished with paper tape stamped with the number 1 

Our amazing family and friends that came out to celebrate 

Our family 

Cade and his Great Grandma Shirley

On Sunday August 26th we hosted Cade's 1st Birthday Bash: A Pool Party. 

Cade LOVES the water and we could not have picked a better place for his party. We hosted 80 family and friends for a brunch to celebrate Cade's 1st year at The Tacoma Lawn and Tennis Club. The weather turned out perfect, brunch was delicious - thank you to Chef Randy, Sandra, and Janin at The Vault Catering Co, dessert was scrumptious and all the family and friends made the day perfect. 

Happy 1st Birthday Cade! 

Paper Crafts and Menus created by Kari Snyder 
All images courtesy of Sandra Winters of The Vault Catering Company