Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I scream, You scream

No, though the title may suggest as much, this post is not a colorful depiction of our school-morning routine. Happily, it is a photo-full account of Beans's ice cream themed birthday party! With minimal commentary.... Hooray!

I always intend to post our theme parties here, but then I get bogged down in detailing the budget, locations of products, my general philosophy of parties and motherhood and the meaning of life. This time? Here's the party. And here on my Pinterest board, you can find a collection of the sites that inspired our party.

Enjoy!

The Invitations: We were all set to painstakingly make our own invites using multiple sheets of scrapbook paper and oodles of glue. Then we found these. On clearance. 10 for a dollar. Thank you, Hobby Lobby.





The Decorations: Beans helped with all the decorations this time around -- she is five, after all.











The Games:
In addition to ice cream themed coloring pages I had waiting when guests arrived, we also played pin the cherry on the cone and used our Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker to create crazy flavors that only a five-year-old could love. Hint: lots of mix-ins.



The Food:
I like the 2-4pm party because it isn't a meal time, which makes for easier food planning for potentially choosy eaters. We served fruit and cheese and crackers. And cake. And ice cream. With toppings. Lots. Of. Toppings.



And yes, those are Babybels and Bugles.



The Cake: We had some game-day challenges with the cake -- primarily humidity and poor time management. Still tasted good.



The Favors: Originally, Beans wanted to have a gumball themed party. (seen here.) Then she decided on ice cream, but was stuck on these adorable favors. (seen here.) They were so cute and easy (and cheap!) to make, we decided to include them anyhow. The kids were each able to take home a pint-sized container of ice cream they made during the party and load each gumball machine with his or her desired toppings.









And that was that. A fun time was had by all. Minimal ice cream was dripped on the floor. And Beans thanked me for the "very best party ever." Win, win, win.

Your turn?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Every Heart Beats True




I didn't get the skirts done in time for the contest, but I did get them done in time for our Fourth of July celebration! Here's how it went down.

He: bought and assembled a grill with minimal swearing.
She: sewed three patriotic skirts with a moderate amount of swearing.
We: grilled a delicious marinated flank steak with only celebratory swearing.

Two out of three girls went with their Dad to see the fire works. Tater and I stayed home where she spent the hour shushing the "works." Awesome.

And lest you think all our photo sessions produce such sweet results....




And here's what the littlest does while you're corralling the two older sisters.


She harvests veggies that needn't yet be harvested. (And gets bitten square on the forehead by a nasty mosquito. Silly me -- I forgot to spray DEET directly into her face. )

Monday, May 23, 2011

Skirting the Issues

I am a terrible blogger. And a self-proclaimed Facebook Failure. Really. I receive hate mail from Facebook for having neglected my "friends" for so long. But truthfully, if I have 30 minutes to myself in which I might actually be able to form coherent sentences, I find a hundred other things to do with that 30 minutes instead of blog. (to be fair, I usually find a hundred other things that need to be done in that 30 minutes, find myself to be totally overwhelmed at the prospect of so much unfinished business that I spend the 30 minutes wandering aimlessly from room to room bemoaning the state of my home.)

Regardless, I've (re)vowed to post hear more frequently.

(crickets chirping)

For real.

To that end, I've committed myself to a sewing competition. Because nothing instills a desire to blog like the opportunity to detail one's failings at yet another endeavor. Uplifting, no?

I'll be joining these lovely ladies for this exciting adventure.

Wish me luck! I know you'll be holding your breath....