Party #1

With spring comes the birthdays of the young'uns here in our household. I think about ideas for months in advance, start planning, and get excited about finding bargains for the parties. This year I was really focused on Jordis' party since Xander decided he didn't want one. And then a few weeks before his birthday he got up one day and announced he'd changed his mind. With limited time to prepare we told him he could have a set number of friends over for a Mario Kart Wii tournament. And this is how it went down......

Since I was working on a budget with two birthdays in the same week, I decided to fore go ordering the Mario Kart Wii party pack online, and went with a theme of primary colors mixed with the black and white racing checks. I made the place mats by just cutting up some fabric I found at JoAnn's (with my 40% off coupon) and the turtle shells were sections of an egg carton that I cut up and painted.

I used my Cricut and existing scrapbook paper to make a banner that hung over the dessert buffet.

The kids had an array of homemade Mario Kart themed desserts to munch on......sugar cookies with royal icing and fondant, chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting, brownies with royal icing and M&M's in the primary colors of the party theme.

My plan was to just have cupcakes, but Xander said he HAD to have a cake. So this is the cake that I slaved over lovingly made for him and he ended up eating a cupcake anyway.

I couldn't justify any sugary drinks with all the junk food we were having, so I jazzed up some water bottles and no one seemed to mind.

All the participants received a certificate and a trophy, with a little something extra for our tournament winner.

And goodie boxes on the way out.

The birthday boy had a great time and even had some love for his little sister.

Five

*Sigh*

My baby is five. I remember being sad when she was one and Xander was three. I thought their clothes were getting SO big.

*Another sigh*

She is now the oldest child in our weekly group of kids that visits the nursing home.

She's going to kindergarten this fall and can't wait.

She talks ALL DAY LONG. Seriously. It's no wonder she doesn't have any trouble going to sleep at night, she's got to be tired from all the talking. And if there's not any humans to talk to she'll talk to her babies and her stuffed animals. I've been told she gets it from her mother, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

She's such a sweet little girl and has friends everywhere she goes. I can't even imagine life without her.

We had quite the busy birthday week for Jordis. Her birthday was on Wednesday, but we have bible study on Tuesday mornings so I let her take birthday treats to share with her friends. She helped me make marshmallow pops and they were so cute and yummy.

For the next morning we took little cookies to share at the nursing home.

Jordis was so polite and passed them out to the residents.

Miss Kelly, the activities director, was so nice and had planned a party for her birthday. The residents made the cupcakes and there were party games to play. It was such an incredibly nice gesture and Jordis loved it (after she got over people giving her all the attention).

When Xander got home from school she got to open her presents.

I love that she gets excited about cute clothes.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

93!

On August 1st my step-grandma, Alberta, turned 93. You'd never know by looking at her that she was so many years young....no hearing aid, no cane, no walker, living independently. She has outlived two husbands and her only child. And she still talks a blue streak. My aunt and uncle had her come stay with them for a week and we all got together at their house to celebrate the occasion with a cookout. When we got there my aunt brought out three pillowcase dresses she had made for the little girls. Jordis loves hers!

We all brought food for dinner, so I decided to make the cake. I went to my neighbor Lisa's house for some special lessons on bakery-style buttercream. It was a long process to make and apply, but I was happy with the end result. It was an almond sour cream cake with almond buttercream and fondant accents.

Alberta loved the cake and we had a fun visit.

June no more

Where has the time gone? The first week of July is already over. Here's a quick summary for the end of June.....

The kids made their own kites. Out of coloring book pages and yarn. On a day with absolutely no wind. As Xander would say, we like to be "resourceful" here by using what we have on hand.

We have a garden this year. If you could call it that. It's about a 5' x 5' square Jason tilled for me that I filled with WAY too many plants. I have a LOT of lettuce, so I decided we'd have taco salad one night. There might be other vegetables out there as well, but if so I can't find them.

The kids went to a birthday party for our neighbor, Megan. It was a candy-themed party and the kids were super excited that I let them eat a bunch of yummy junk food. Xander's girlfriend was there AND he won a game. It was a banner day for him.

We've had out the pool.

Jordis hid from the camera, as usual, though getting creative this time in her escape. I thought I had her cornered on my mom and step-dad's porch, and then she just climbed right up on their garden hose reel.

Yep, that about sums up the end of the month. July is super-busy, so stay-tuned.

Jordis' Birthday Party

This year Jordis invited some friends over for a cupcake decorating party. She had wanted some invitations at Factory Card Outlet that I refused to buy because they cost a ridiculous $8. Then I spent $19 buying the supplies to make her some invitations. Crazy, I know. But mine were cuter. The ones she wanted had turqouise frosting and they just didn't look very little-girlish.

The first thing we did was play Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake. Then we opened presents. Jordis got some really nice gifts.

Then we put on the aprons I made and decorated some cupcakes.



After the cupcakes were complete everyone had a box to take them home in so they could share them with their families.

Then we capped off the afternoon with cake and ice cream. Jordis picked mint chocolate chip, just like her brother. She didn't want anyone singing to her though, so she hunkered down in her chair.



Xander enjoyed the day, too.

And now, we are thankful that their birthdays don't roll around for another 11 months.

Scooby Dooby Doo!

Xander has been into Scooby Doo for the past 8 months or so. Want to know what cartoon I HATED growing up? Yeah.....I probably don't have to tell you. But I love the kid, so I went along with his idea for a Scooby Doo birthday party. The plan was for the kids to make their own pizzas, play a few games, then do presents and cake. It didn't quite happen that way. Only a few kids made pizza, some refused to play games, one stood in the corner and listened to his I-pod, and they all practically sat in my lap while Xander opened his gifts. I think his whole video is going to just be me asking the kids (over and over) to scoot back. Let's just say that Xander's already been told he's not having 11 people over for his birthday next year.

I found paw print wrapping paper to decorate the tables and the kids snacked on potato chips and Scooby Snacks served in dog food bowls. We also had punch in Scooby Doo colors.

We played Scooby Doo bingo and one other game, and Xander enjoyed sitting with his "girlfriend." She lives down the street and they share a seat on the bus together. Each day they rotate who sits by the window, although I'm not sure if the coveted seat position is by the window or on the aisle.

Xander opened presents

Then we had cake and ice cream (Xander picked mint chocolate chip) and passed out goodies. Xander gave his friends cupcakes that had Scooby Doo liners, Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks, Scooby Snacks and Scooby Doo Band-Aids.

And then it was time to finish working on Jordis' party. One down, one to go.