It’s 2020 and it is the year of celebrating the holidays safely at home!

Navigating the holidays this season can be tricky but we can still keep it fun and full of treats.

Gather & Pop put together the cutest “Boo Crew” party set up for your littles to keep the holiday spirit going this year.

Balloons have made a strong comeback this year as the way to elevate any special event or occasion that may have to be celebrated at home. Gather & Pop have truly mastered this art. This pastel orange ombre balloon garland would have sent Evelyn into a hysterically excited freak out! Nothing is more festive for kiddos than balloons. We love how they pulled everything together, including our Boo Crew sign and laser cut bats and spider webs to surprise the kids first thing in the morning.

The tables were set with laser cut spooky spider web chargers, personalized bat place cards, and fun matching stir sticks. What is Halloween without some delicious treats? These adorable cookies and delicious cake from Sweet Cheeks Baking Co. was topped with our Squad Ghouls cake topper.

We had a blast creating all these spooky goodies and are excited to celebrate the Halloween holiday with our own kiddos with some of them. Things are crazy, but there are still ways to have fun, learn about new holidays, and make memories with our loved ones.

If you want to order any of these fun details, be sure to check out our shop or email us. We can’t wait to help you celebrate with your little boys and ghouls!

Design/Styling: Gather & Pop
Treats/Cake/Cookies: Sweet Cheeks Baking Co.
Cake topper/Boo Crew Sign/Placecards/Spiderwebs/Stir sticks/Bats: Delovely Details
Balloons: Gather & Pop
Calligraphy signage: Gather & Pop

Delovely Details is expanding in so many ways recently. The biggest expansion is probably that we added another employee and sister to Evelyn, with Hazel Marie!

Hazel was born in the middle of a global pandemic on June 7, 2020 at 9:01pm in very dramatic fashion.

While her entrance was dramatic, I’ll save that for another post, her existence has been mostly dramatic-free. Thankfully. Except for today while I try to write this post, typical.

Going from a family of 3 (+2 pooches) to a family of 4 (+2 pooches) has been fairly easy given that Drew is working from home due to said pandemic and business has been much slower with the restrictions we’ve seen on weddings and large scale events. Then again, I feel that taking care of a newborn is easier than being pregnant. At least for me anyways.

Hazel has been a very sleepy baby. At first we had to wake her up for her most of her feedings. This was the complete opposite problem we had with Evelyn who woke up for every single feeding SCREAMING. It was really hard to bring myself to wake a sleeping newborn at 4am but once she got back up to her birth weight, we started allowing her to take longer stretches. Now she wakes up on her own, we just have to work on keeping her awake long enough to take a full feeding so we aren’t up again an hour later.

Evelyn has made this transition beautifully. It helps having Drew around more so she’s still getting most of the attention she is used to. We are able to trade off with Hazel so that Evelyn hasn’t really had to “share” us too much yet. She is learning to be quiet around the baby, how to be gentle, help with diapers, and what burp cloths and pacifiers are for. Her favorite is wearing her “baby” in her Solly wrap just like mum wears Hazel.

This whole experience has been pretty crazy, being in the middle of a pandemic and all. However it’s had it’s silver linings. We aren’t feeling pressured to just jump back into a go-go-go lifestyle again, we are able to establish a good routine with both girls that seems manageable, and we are soaking all this family time up. There are definitely some challenging parts, something I will discuss in another blog post.

If I had to choose my favorite part of becoming a family of four, it has to be seeing Hazel and Evelyn develop their relationship. I have a little sister whom I’m very close with. I already see that relationship within my girls. Evelyn will burst into tears if I don’t let her come wake Hazel up with me. The first thing that we noticed Hazel tracking was the voice of her sister. Drew and I have to work at getting smiles from Hazel, where all Evelyn has to do is ask Hazel if she had a good nap and Hazel just grins ear to ear. They’ve definitely already started on that road to becoming good friends, and while I’m sure there will be fights and disagreements, I hope and know that they will learn to appreciate each other and share a love for each other.

If you know Drew personally, you know he’s into cars, racing cars, flying RC things, sports, typical “boy stuff”. When we told all our friends and family we were expecting another girl, most of the responses were, “Drew is the perfect girl dad”. (Just a suggestion, responding with…”aw, are you gonna try again for a boy” is a horrible response to a gender announcement.) They were all completely right. Drew was put on this Earth to be a girl dad. He would’ve been an amazing father to a son, but I think deep down he knows he was meant to be a girl dad. He is the best girl dad and his girls adore him. I love watching him love our kids, it just all feels so right and complete now.

I am adjusting pretty well I think for being a new mom again in the middle of a pandemic. Yes I am a new mom. I know I’ve been a mom before, but that was a mom to Evelyn. Being a mom to Hazel is completely new to me. She is a totally different person and her needs are a lot more different than Evelyn’s were. I was a bit naive feeling like I had this gig down already, but I quickly learned that each of my children are different and I have to be different for them. I am soaking up all these newborn moments that I didn’t with Evelyn. I would never say never, but Hazel is most likely our last and I am also excited to put the baby making stage behind me and start the next phase of my life as a mom: raising these girls and showing them the world. Being a new mom during a pandemic has raised a lot of questions, nerves, and insecurities in me. But I’m ready to take on those challenges as well to show my girls how to be resilient.

I feel incredibly blessed with my family. We were deeply touched by all the well wishes we’ve received over the last few months with Hazel, the meals sent to us, and gifts we got. Thank you so much to all our friends and family for the outpouring of love and support for our sweet Hazel.

All photos are courtesy of our cousin and talented photographer - Danielle Mancino Photography

Drew and I both grew up going to airshows as kids. Drew has always been into aviation, his major was originally aerospace engineering. He flew RC planes, took flight simulator classes, and even flew in a glider once. I grew up next to Edwards Air Force Base and we constantly got previews of the latest and greatest secret projects from the military. For years we’ve talked about going to an airshow together but we just haven’t been able to make it to one.

Finally, a free weekend allowed us to finally check out the Great Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach. Drew was so excited to take Evelyn to her first show and let her experience one of his favorite things. It was pretty special. Evelyn had the best time enjoying the beach while catching an airshow. Unlike seeing an airshow at a military base, where there may have not been a ton of things to keep her busy and occupied, the beach is her all time favorite place. She was definitely interested in the planes, the bigger ones specifically. However, I think her favorite thing was just sharing some time with her Daddy.

Since my tips from my apple picking blog were so well received, I figured I’d share some of my top tips to taking your kids to the Great Pacific Air Show as well.

1. Go on a Friday! Friday is technically a rehearsal for the Saturday and Sunday performances however the crowds are significantly smaller. Parking was an absolute breeze and NOT inflated for the event, we parked directly across the street in a parking structure. The beach was busy, but we still had about 100 feet around us from the next set of people making it perfect for our toddler to have the room to run and play where she wanted. Our favorite burger place in the area (TK Burger) wasn’t inundated with crowds at lunch time, this kid loves “burger-fries”. I think going on a Friday significantly improved our time at the show.

2. Find a good spot! We had a great spot for the show. They have tickets for sale in the grand stands that range from basic general admission to VIP private booth status but watching it from the beach is free! We wanted to be somewhat close to the bathrooms for Evelyn so we found a spot about half way between the pier and the hotels. It was a perfect spot. All of the tricks seemed to be right in front of us. We couldn’t imagine paying for better seats. Depending on your situation, you can get as close to the water as you want. We stayed farther back so that we wouldn’t be chasing Evelyn in the waves constantly while we tried to watch the show and to get a little more room between us and the pretty loud jets.

3. Bring ear protection for everyone. The first part of the show are biplanes, refueling demos, and quieter planes but by the end of the show it can get fairly loud. The jets are the main attraction basically so they usually come at the end of the show and Drew was taking a cute picture of Evelyn holding onto her shovel when the jets happened to show up. I felt so bad for not catching it before it scared her, but these fighter jets are known for sneaking up on you. That’s their whole purpose! However, as soon as we put those headphones on her, she was fine! I was so proud of her! We also brought ear plugs for Drew and I just in case. We didn’t need them, however I’m glad I had them in case it got too loud for us. Besides the loud noises, the jets were definitely the favorite of ours.

4. Be flexible. Evelyn did great with the loud jets once she had her headphones. I even figured maybe she’d sit on my lap during that part of the show however she was content to dig her sand castles and watch the show on her own. Occasionally running back to me . However, we saw many kids about Evelyn’s age freaking out and having to leave. Some even had the headphones on. These jets are intense and they are incredibly close to you. These fighter pilots are the best of the best and I was never worried about safety but to a toddler, it might be too intense and too difficult to understand. So be prepared to have to leave if your toddler isn’t feeling it.

5. Bring shade. This is one thing I wish we had done better. Thank goodness we had the Keenz with us, which by the way, it is the absolute best stroller wagon ever! It didn’t hit us that we would be sitting on a beach from 11-4:30 PM in the sun. Being in the direct sun during those hours for that long, we really could’ve used an EZ-UP or umbrellas. I was really good on the sunscreen for Evelyn (not for myself though, ouch!) and she had a blast sitting and playing inside of her Keenz when she didn’t feel like being in the sun luckily. Lesson learned though, bring shade or shelter next time. If it was cloudy and rainy, you’ll want the protection and if it’s hot and sunny, you’ll want the shade.

6. That being said, pack for the beach too! Bring the sunscreen, the sand toys, the beach chairs, snacks, water, wet wipes, swim suits, etc. There is a break between performances and that was the best time to play in the water or help build a sand castle.

7. Lastly, bring the camera! Much like anything new with toddler, I didn’t know how Evelyn was going to do with an airshow. The loud planes during the middle of her nap time could’ve easily backfired but we ended up having an amazing time together on the beach doing something special with her Daddy. Drew was in heaven capturing the moments of introducing his daughter to one of his most favorite things, he had a big goofy grin on his face most of the day.

I know this will not be the last time we do this as a family together, it was so special for Drew and I know he secretly hopes it will always be special to Evelyn. Besides lunch, all we had to pay for was parking so there really isn’t an excuse not to do our best to make this a tradition.

Location: The Great Pacific Airshow

Evelyn’s Swimsuit: Minnow Swim

Evelyn’s Headphones: Baby Banz

Stroller Wagon: Keenz Stroller Wagon

Because Oceans Tote: Unblushing Co.