Fashion Runway Birthday Party

We had to have Emma's birthday party early this year.  10 days early.  Not a normal occurance, but our schedules lately, ugh.... 

But we still celebrated in style even though it was early.  Literally - in style.  For Emma's 7th birthday, she wanted a "Fashion Runway" party.  She has never watched Project Runway with me, but the day after the show airs, I sometimes show her online pictures of the designs.  She always calls the show "Fashion Runway".  So when she asked me for this party, I knew exactly what she meant.

For as much as I love planning kids parties, I had to think about this a little bit.  How could little girls make their own dresses?  I certainly wasn't going to help them sew.  Cutting up fabric would be a mess.  Then it hit me - grown up TShirts could easily be turned into "Little Black Dresses" for little girls, and they could have fun embellishing them.  Perfect.

We started with Black TShirts.  I bought Jr. Fit so they wouldn't be swimming in them.  The girls could add trim, duct tape, jewels, flowers, etc.  I used fabric glue, but it didn't dry fast enough.  There is probably a better answer, but not sure what??

 They really got into this!  Some girls could've embellished all day if I had let them!

Once the dresses were created, they got to add their finishing touches:  sunglasses, necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets....

Then they had a runway waiting for them!  But first - one last look.  And a reminder to remember to smile!

And they did take that one last look, too cute!

Look at this cute runway!  They are actually plastic tablecloths from Oriental Trading. 

Oh my goodness, what a blast the girls had modeling their new dresses!

The crowd approved...

And so did the papparazzi!

Complete with a strobe light!  Not sure the girls understood it was supposed to be cameras flashing, haha.  I actually stood right next to this and took their pictures as each girl came down the runway - and then used their pictures as thank you notes.  Cutest thank-you's ever!

A fashionista party wouldn't be complete without cupcakes with pink glitter sprinkles. (Edible of course, lol)

Happy Birthday my Baby Girl!  I can't believe you are already 7.  I hope you had fun at your Fashion Runway Party.  And I hope you realize that you are beautiful - no matter what you are wearing!!  I love you!

Mother's Day Tea

Wow, do I love this kid.  Luke's class had a Mother's Day Tea at school today.  They had to write (and then read in front of everyone) a book called, "The Best Mom".  I can't hold a torch to him - the assignment should've been:  'the best kid'.  He would've won.  Hands down :)

You made my day, buddy.  I love you!!

Dirty Little Lephrechaun

I'm not big into St. Patrick's Day, but with 2 kids...  well....  once a year, the Leprechaun shows up.

I never knew he would show up until Luke hit kindergarten.  Wouldn't you know, that dirty little Leprechaun showed up in his classroom, left a pot of gold and created a little mayhem.  Since St. Patrick's Day fell on a weekend that year, the teacher told the kids to look out for Lephrechauns over the weekend.

And so we did.

I almost forgot about St. Patty's Day this year until Emma's teacher reminded them to look for them, after they ruined their classroom as well.

Luke's not so sure about all this - nothing happened in his classroom.  "They're FAKE, Emma."  he assured her with emphasis.  "Nu-uh, LUKE!  They are REAL!  You should've seen our classroom."  "Whatever" Mr. Cool answered, "Are they real, mom?"  "I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens on St. Patrick's Day." I answered without a commitment.

Emma covered her bases, just in case:

To which that rude Little Leprechaun answered:

 They could not believe he moved the couch!

They could not get out of their rooms when they woke up, too funny.

He left a box of Lucky Charms and green milk in the fridge. 

And some chocolate coins on the kitchen table.  At the end of the rainbow, of course!

Not sure what Luke thought of all this, but he had no problem eating the candy, cereal, or green milk - and laughed like crazy at the mess.  After all, mommy would never make that mess, that's for sure!

 

Best. Present. Ever.

So I am guilty of saying a time or two - or twenty six thousand, but who's counting!!! - that, "Sigh... if only I had a palm tree..."

Here in Pennsylvania, winters are miserable.  I could move to Palm Tree Land and be totally content.  There is just something about palm trees that make me happy.  Summer.  Sun.  Sand.  Froo froo drinks with little umbrellas.

Joe and the kids got me the best Christmas present this year.  The kids were so giggly.  "It's just what you've always wanted, mommy!"  I had no clue what to expect.  I was NOT expecting this.

I have a palm tree!   In my living room??!!

In my defense, in the summer we will put it out on the patio.  But for now, maybe it makes me happy.  Every single one of the hundreds of twinkling bright (BRIGHT!) LED lights make me happy.  There.  I admit it.  Hey - I have a palm tree!

 Everyone had to get their pictures with it, too funny.  Just wait for our Christmas Card next year, ha ha ha!

Joe even made me a froo-froo drink.  CHEERS!

The Annual Stand In Front of The Tree Poses

 You have no idea how hard it is to get a picture of 2 kids and 2 dogs.  Whew!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas! 

Today we kicked off the Christmas week with our annual family get together.  My dad's brother's family (there are 8 kids, spouses, and kids-of-kids!) has a Christmas party the Saturday before Christmas - and somehow we get invited.  So we go :)

The kids always have a great time seeing relatives we only see once (sometimes twice) a year.  We do too.  We wouldn't miss it!

Poor Emma, she is the only girl no matter which side of the family we visit...  These are my cousin's kids, so not sure what that makes them?  Second cousins once removed?  Hum.  Just cousins sound much better!

Halloween Hangover

I woke up yesterday with a huge headache.  It must've been a migraine, I have never had one before.  But wow.  If I moved, it hurt.  The light hurt.  Noise hurt.  My face hurt.  My neck hurt.  Every part of my head hurt.  It took me 3 advil, 3 cups of coffee, a glass of water, several tears, and 3 hours of laying still to recover to "just" a headache. 

I wonder if it was from 19 kids screaming like crazy.  Hum.  One might think.

I wish I could blame it on some fancy and fun drink I had at the party, but I only had water and hot apple cider! 

The neighbor kid gets on the bus at our house.  This morning, he was going on and on -and on! about how awesome our Halloween party was.  He said, "The only thing that would've made it better is if you would've had robotic zombies in your maze!"  "And how would I have done that?"  I asked.  "Well, duh.  You could've MADE them!"

I'll get on that right after I make the cupcakes next year.  ha.

The Very Kid Friendly But Still Kind of Scary Halloween Party

I hate Halloween.  The one day out of the year when it is okay to see blood squirting out of someone's head because they have an ax stuck in it.  The one day out of the year when the devil and witches are glorified.  If we would see this stuff on any given Tuesday, it wouldn't be okay.  But on Halloween....  It honestly makes me cringe.

So when Luke asked if he could have a Halloween party, I didn't say yes, no, or maybe so.  I ignored him completely. 

Then I thought about it for a day.  Or two.  Or maybe three.  I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad.  We could have pumpkins and bobbing for apples and eat cupcakes.  I announced my decision:  "Luke, do you still want to have that Halloween party?"

"Yes, mom!  YES!  We can have it dark and scary and I want tombstones that say rip."  Not R.I.P., mind you.  Rip.  Like you do with a paper.  "Luke, do you even know what rip means?"  "Yes, I know, it's rest in peace, but rip sounds so much better.  Rip."  as he slides his arm to the side like some kind of new dance move.

So.  How to make a scary - yet appropriate - Halloween party for a 9 year old boy that won't glorify this stuff I hate but will still be fun for a 9 year old boy?  While keeping it tame enough for the 6 year old sister and her friends. 

My brain went to work.

I am okay with skeletons, after all they are just the bones in our body.  Bats and spiders and rats: all okay.  Even monsters are okay, since they are just made up.  As long as they aren't bloody.  I can even consider a tombstone with rip.  As long as there isn't something bloody coming out of it.  I could do this.  After all, I love a good kid party :)

I have very few Halloween decorations, since, well....  since I hate Halloween.  I had less than 2 weeks to plan. Luckily Halloween things were already 50%-70% off. Skeletons, bats, rats, and spiders were suddenly in my home.  So was a rip stone.  I mean a tombstone with R.I.P.   Strobe lights, black lights.  Don't tell anyone....   I was starting to have fun with all this.  GASP!

I think I pulled it off!  It was after Trick or Treat so it was dark.  A few games on the driveway like monster bowling, (which used 2 liter pop bottles filled with rice that had pictures on them and a pumpkin for a bowling ball.)  A bean bag pumpkin toss.  Throwing things = pure enjoyment for 9 year old boys.  A costume contest.  Food.  Running around the yard (which was like a bathtub after raining all week) in the dark = unplanned but priceless fun for 9 year old boys.  Sorry, moms, for the dirty shoes and mud up their backs!

The little ones stayed warm in the house, no running through the yard for them! 

Bobbing for apples was such a hit, most of the kids had never done this before.  Once they got past the "Ew, gross, we are all sticking our head in the same water?  What about germs?!?" panic, they bobbed and giggled and bobbed some more.

The cherry on top: we turned the garage into a maze!  I bought black plastic sheeting from Lowe's and with the help of my dad, a staple gun, tons of duct tape, strobe lights and black lights, we totally transformed the garage.  The kids LOVED it!  There was only one dead end, but it was dark and the paths wound around the garage and some of the strobe lights made scary noises.  The kids were scared to go in at first, but once one brave kid did it, they went through it over and over and over.  And over again.  And again.

Luke and Emma named the entrance and exit.  Perfect!

Around the first turn.  The entrance was a long hallway that got darker and darker... 

At the second turn.  Looked a lot better without the flash of the camera.  It really was pretty dark in there!  These skulls have built-in strobe lights and there was a black light above them.

More strobe lights and a black light down this hallway.  The arrow led to this:

The only dead end, with another strobe light and scary music.

Getting close to the exit, I tried to trick them :)

Black plastic and bats hanging from the ceiling. With another strobe light.  Right before the exit, there were several twists and turns.  Nothing too dramatic or scary, but it was a hit!

I had Maze Rules posted outside the maze.  #1 Rule: No Running.  They didn't listen.  One dad was quite happy to hide in the maze and scare the begeebers out of the kids, so they'd all come running out screaming.  The maze got knocked down eventually, but just on the one side.  Emma's friends were excited once that happened because the maze wasn't as dark then.  Way to make lemonade out of lemons, girls!

I made up a story about a mad scientist who was trying to make a Halloween monster but something went terribly wrong and all he had were monster body parts.  The kids felt the body parts in a bag but had no idea what they were.  Heart = water balloon.  Brain = spaghetti.  Finger = hot dog.  Eyeballs = grapes.  Tongue = banana peel.  I heard, "Oh disgusting, gross!" every time.  Shrieks of disgust or enjoyment, not sure which.  And I couldn't believe I had 19 pairs of eyes on me.  The. Entire. Time.  I didn't know if I could keep the focus of 9 year old boys and 6 year old girls, but I did it.  Score one for me!   To end the story, I shook a bag and made a big deal about how difficult this little bugger was being but I thought I finally had the moster back together and I pulled out - Elmo.  The kids were hysterical!  Perfect. 

Didn't get many pictures of the food, people were coming while I was still setting stuff out.  We had moster much (popcorn), cupcakes with candy corn on top (too cute), black bean dip that looked like a spider web with sour cream piped on top (and a black plastic spider in the middle), monster bites (mini cheese balls rolled in shredded cheddar with candy eyes stuck to them), chocolate covered pretzel rods, hot dogs, apples & caramel dip, hot apple cider and hot chocolate.  (Both drinks were a bigger hit than I imagined they'd be.) 

 I also had a Trick-or-Treat Candy Bar.  (You can see it in the buffet in the background.)  It was NOT a hit.  I guess they got enough from Trick-or-Treating, I can not believe how much I have left.  Ugh. 

My little Trick-or-Treaters, before the party started. 

All in all, not a bad party.  In fact, it was kind of fun.  Maybe, just maybe, I'm looking forward to next Halloween for the first time in a long time. :) 



Trunk or Treat

Our church had Trunk or Treat tonight.  The cars park in the church parking lot, decorate their trunks and pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters.  They think there were about 550 people there!  It was a rainy, cold night. Brrrrr.  I wish Halloween was in the summer! 

Truth be told, I wish every day was summer!!

And so... the theme of our trunk:  the beach.  My sister-in-law and I turned her trunk into a beach.  With lots of plastic accents, we made it happen.

Sis-in-law to the left with her Hawaiian shirt over her hoodie and gloves on!

Me behind Mario in my grass skirt and bikini top - over my sweater and winter coat!  

There were lots of creative ideas:  Alice in Wonderland, The 60's (they carried around a sign that said, 'Bare Feet, Not Arms' - hysterical!), The Duck Hunters, Cowboys, Shrek.  Plus lots more.

The best part of the night:  the Golden Gourd Contest.  All the trick or treaters voted for their favorite trunk.  And the winner was.....  Drum roll, please...... Us!  I think it was only because everyone who walked past us sighed, "Oh, I wish I was there right now."  We brainwashed everyone into a win!  ha ha.

I mean, look how gorgeous this award is.  

If I didn't know what it was, well....  I wouldn't know what it was!

I forgot to take pictures of the kids in their costumes, ugh.  What kind of mother am I?!?  Hopefully I'll remember on Halloween!

Making memories. Every year.

Every year since we graduated from college, we have gone to Lake Erie for Memorial Day.  We go with a big group of our college friends.  Now everyone has kids and some of the kids are almost college-aged.....  Wow how time flies.  That doesn't seem possible.  Weren't WE just in college?!?!?

We had great weather this year - maybe the best weather ever.  We stay in cabins right on Lake Erie.  This year for the first time I walked all by myself on the lakeshore looking for lake glass.  It was nice to have that quiet time all to myself.  Of course it was also nice to see our friends, some of which we only see this time every year.  The kids love it - and look forward to camping for months.  Sometimes they even talk about it all year.

It will be interesting to see what happens as the kids grow.  Will the kids be lifelong friends like their parents are??

 

All dressed up and nowhere to go

I love Christmas. I love the meaning behind it. I love the decorations. I love the idea of cuddling on the couch with hot tea or hot chocolate. I love good cookies and a good cup of coffee.

I love the Kohl's ad. It has these cute little dishes for a cute appetizer Christmas party. I want that party! Nevermind the fact that a bunch of mini foods would take way longer to prepare than one big meal... And nevermind the fact that since Christmas and New Year's both fall on weekends this year, that means there isn't time to entertain with fun little foods.... And nevermind the fact that I don't have cute little dishes for the cute little food that I haven't made...

But the idea sounds fabulous. Pair those cute little foods with some martinis or other fancy drink and I'd be Good. To. Go. Ahhhhh...

But for now, I guess we're just all dressed up with nowhere to go.