Birthday Decor

 So....I am finally getting around to sharing about Kennedy's party!  For the family that lives out of state - here is what you missed!

For the camping theme I went with the colors orange, red & turquoise.  I was able to print that adorable birthday sign from this great site here at eighteen25 blog.

For the main food table I covered it with burlap and put small logs/stumps around.  Thanks to Jeff for cutting them up for me!  On the one above is a photo of Kennedy just a few months old.

I made edible acorns for a little snack!

We had some outdoor snacks! Grizzly Bears (gummy bears), Snakes (twizzlers rope), Catch of the Day (swedish fish), Fire Logs (pirouettes).  The kids also had hot dogs & chips and we later roasted marshmallows for s'mores.

Quick little display for the table! I took an 8x10 frame, took out the glass and put in some scrapbook paper (that matched the theme colors perfectly!) and adhered a wooden letter "K" to it!

For the mantle I went simple.  I purchased scrapbook paper that matched our themes and colors.  I punched out scalloped circles and regular circles and layered them.  Then I was also able to find some super fun camping/outdoor stickers to place in the center.  I also got a large letter "K" and covered it with matching scrapbook paper.

Here is a close - up.  We were able to re-use these on her thank you cards!

This was just a quick banner behind the food table.  Again, scrapbook paper and then some awesome American Crafts letters!

Polar Express Party

 As I said in one of my last posts, we have been doing MANY fun things found on Pinterest.  When the idea to host a Polar Express Party popped into my head, I had only given myself less than 2 weeks to pull it off.  So I went straight to Pinterest and searched for fun stuff!  If you want to see my Pinterest board about Polar Express, you can find it HERE.:

As with any shindig or holiday, Kennedy wanted to help "decorate." So we had 4 signs to make sure everyone knew they were at the correct place and that they could find the basement theater.  :) Love that girl.

Being that I am who I am, we just HAD to do a craft. Well, not just one craft....THREE crafts.  Yup.  TEN kids on my kitchen floor with paint, glue, buttons....FUN I tell ya! Thank goodness for my mom friends that get their hands dirty and helped out!

Poor Quinn....she wishes she could make a craft too...

It doesn't look too bad afterward, right?!  I just put a vinyl tablecloth down and taped it in place.  It is so nice to just roll up the mess and toss it when they are finished.

These were 2 of the crafts.  Each child was a given a bag as they entered the house.  It contained all the items they needed for the crafts, plus their Golden Ticket and a Silver Bell just like from Santa's sleigh and the movie.  For the first craft, each kid got a bulb ornament.  I had previously written their name and 2011 on the bottom.  I then put brown paint on a plate and walked around so each child could dip their thumb in it.  They stamped their thumb on the ornament once or twice (or ten+ times!) and we let it dry.  While they watched the movie I drew in eyes, antlers and painted red Rudolph noses on each.  The popsicle tree took the most time. Kennedy and I pre-painted the sticks and I cut them to the correct lengths. I basically showed them a model and said "Figure it out - make a tree and decorate it!"  It was funny to see them try to put the pieces together and then glue them.  Decorating is always a blast, too!

This was the last craft.  Each child got a rectangular piece of foam.  I drew what was supposed to be a Christmas light wire on each piece.  On a plate, I had poured various colors of paint.  I walked around and let the kids dip their thumbs in the paint of their choice and press their thumbs to make the lights.  

Aren't my sweeties cute in their matching jammies?!  You know you must wear jammies to a Polar Express Party!  They wear them in the movie!!!

Next up....SNACK TIME! 
I made some homemade hot cocoa in the crock pot...not so good.  But we still had a hot cocoa bar with yummies to put in the cocoa.  I made a cookie dough dip from Pinterest...yuck.  But the kids loved the marshmallow pops, the oranges, the snack mix and eating marshmallows plain.  After the snacks it was movie time!!!  I was so tired by then I forgot to take photos of them actually watching the movie!  Oh well!


And I can't forget! I had printed out a game for the kids to take home and play with their families but I had run out of time to laminate them. Yes. I own a laminating machine.  Go ahead. Call me a dork.  Anyway, my dear mommy friend Janet laminated them while I finished their Rudolph ornaments.  Phew!  That party was a lot of work!  But totally worth it all. And  Kennedy wants to do it all over again next December!  Will it be a new tradition?  Check back next December to find out!

Quinn's Party - AGAIN!

Quinn's 1st Birthday Party - Take 3

As I was editing photos from the party, I realized I didn't take many. :(  I only snapped Quinn with a few guests and only have a few of her opening gifts.  Bummer.  Thankfully some family members have sent me the photos they took at the party!  Phew!  But I am sharing the few I do have. 

Quinn's Grandpa & Grandma Janke made the trip down from Iowa!  Yippee!!!  (Doesn't she look tired in this photo?!)

 

Great Papa Henry came to help her celebrate!!!  Doesn't he look great for 96?!

Also in attendance were Grandma Lori, Great Grandpa Keith & Great Grandma Phyllis, Mema, Papa Lou, Aunt Kate, Uncle Jason and cousins Logan, Elijah and Zia. 

Kennedy and the boys were great help when it came time to open gifts!!!!  Quinn was actually quite interested in the presents!

 

This doll was a favorite of Quinn's - she was soooo taken with it!  She rocked it and rocked it and her face just lit up!!!  The doll has a magnetic soft binkie that she loves!

 

 

Finally it was cake time.  She was NOT interested. AT. ALL.  Jeff kept trying to put some in her mouth but she would spit it out!  He put her hands in the cake and she didn't like that either!  Oh well!!!  Maybe this will mean she won't have a sweet tooth like Kennedy and me!  *wink*

Thanks to all the family who came out to celebrate Miss Quinn's big day!  We still can't believe a full year has already come and gone since she entered our lives!  We love you to the moon and back sweet girl!!!

Quinn's 1st Birthday Party - Part 2

Part 2 of Quinn's 1st Birthday Party!!!

The rainbow theme was everywhere!! Another big thanks to my mom and Kennedy for helping to blow up all those balloons!!!
I sewed the rainbow bunting that is hanging below the balloons. I really wish I would have gotten a closer shot of it. I plan to use it for lots of future birthday parties!!

I made this balloon wreath for the front door. It was super simple to create! This is another item I plan to use for many future parties!!!

Here is a photo of the entire rainbow food table! (Don't worry, we did serve regular food as well!!) The large white tray on the right side of the table eventually held cut up fruit...in rainbow colors of course!

Here is the fireplace...and the spot where little Miss Q opened her gifts!!! I sewed the streamers together...yes, a bit overboard maybe. But I took two long sections of streamer and ran them through my trusty Singer and tried to ruffle it a bit. I love the look AND they are so sturdy they can be re-used for another party! :)

The bunting with Quinn's name was another fun sewing project! I adore how well it turned out..I just wish I would have used a capital Q at the beginning of her name! ;)

Here is a close up of her name bunting... I haven't worked with felt much in the past but I think git may be a new favorite of mine! I love how forgiving it is!

My last sewing project was Quinn's birthday shirt!!! I just made it super simple to match with a tutu she already had. She was a happy girl the entire party!!!More photos of the birthday guests and the birthday girl will be coming soon!!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Quinn's 1st Birthday - Part 1

Quinn is ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a very nice party with lots of family - the best kind of party!!!!

Here is a quick rundown of some of the decor! We had a rainbow theme!

Polka Dot Balloons!!!

Kennedy created party hats for herself and her two cousins!!! I was so proud of her!

Kennedy also made her own rainbow decor and displayed it down the walls of the front hallway! She loves a party!!!

The food had to be rainbow of course!!!!!

Rainbow Twizzlers.....

Rainbow Cupcakes (the inside was rainbow, too). Can you tell the tops are clouds with rainbows on them???

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I just happened upon this nifty cupcake holder on clearance at Michael's. It worked pretty well!!

Glow sticks, candy coated pretzels in various colors, pixi stix, M&Ms sorted by color, and JellyBelly jelly beans sorted by color! A huge thanks to my mom and Kennedy for hand sorting all those colors!!!!

I have much more to share...but it will have to wait until the next post!!! Thanks for checking in!!!

More May Photo a Day!

May 22nd
Are these 2 not the cutest?!?! We attended a baby shower for our friend Stephanie and Jeremy. It was a very fun time! Quinn and Alijah are finally getting old enough to show some interest in each other. Quinn kept trying to grab his hand...it was pretty cute!!! BTW, Alijah was born the day before Quinn!




May 21st
Soccer!!!!!!!!!!! I love this action shot of Kennedy's kick! This week's match up was fairly even - other than the fact that the pink was super aggressive and physical! After getting shoved and pushed numerous times I told Kennedy to go ahead and shove the girl back! But luckily she didn't need to! Only one game left!


May 20th
Jeff's office had a "Carnival" to raise money this Friday! They really went all out and had a great set up! There were MANY carnival games like spin the wheel, balloon darts, rubber duckies, ring toss, face painting, tattoos, fortune telling, a cake walk and more!!! Kennedy even played a game and won 3 goldfish (which is an entirely different story!). In the photo below, Kennedy had just won the cake walk!!!!! She chose a chocolate Kahlua cake! She actually tried the cake walk again later and won a 2nd time! But I think the best part came later in the weekend. We didn't tell her at the time, but she had won 2nd place overall for number of points from the games. She ended up with $100 in winnings! We had been watching about the devastation in Joplin from the F5 tornado. When Jeff told Kennedy she had won all that money, he asked if she would like to give some of it to the people in Joplin that had lost everything. She enthusiastically said "Yes!!! All of it!!" What a girl!

May 19th
Today was Field Day for the Kindergarteners. It basically entailed lots of silly relay races. It was super fun for me to watch all the kiddos try their best to skip, balance things on their hands and heads, scooter on their tummies and scooter backwards! It was a hoot!!! And the kids had a blast!

May 18th
Birthday Party!!!! Sweet Catie had her 6th birthday party at Zonkers!!!! Most of my photos didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea. That is Kennedy in the last car with Adam's little brother, Aaron.


May 17th
Do you remember the nest outside our front door? Well, there are babies! Can you see it's fuzzy head peeking out?!?!


May 16th
Kennedy's class has a bear that travels home with the kids and then they write about it. Today was Kennedy's 2nd turn to have Mr. T-Bear. She wanted me to photograph their fun together! We have many photos of T-Bear now...going down the slide, playing in the playhouse, hiding in the bushes.....at least it kept her occupied for awhile!


May 15th
Birthday Party! This time it was Lily's 6th birthday party! It was in the gym of her mom's school and they had an inflatable! Kennedy is the one jumping while some of the kids curled up on the floor!


May 14th
Babies!!!! This is mama bird and you can just barely see the baby's beak in front of her!!!

Photo a Day thru 2/16

Let's get started!!!

February 16th
Today is just a shot of the gals wearing their matching Matryoshka doll shirts!!! Kennedy LOVES to match with her sis! And this shot was her idea!


February 15th
Kindergarten stuff! Kennedy plowed through her Kindergarten sight words and is working on the 1st grade words. She would much rather read a book than read a list of words (who can blame her) so we make slower progress through these! But I am sure she will have them down by her 6th birthday!! We just got the results from her Kindergarten reading assessment and I must say we are MORE than pleased! What a blessing it is that she has such a sharp mind and passion for learning - it will serve her well her entire life!


February 14th
Valentine's Day! Kennedy and I made these cute little number from scratch! I found a recipe online and changed it up a tiny bit. We took them to her school party but I think the kids had been eating so much gunk already that half of them were thrown out! Oh well! The process of baking was fun!

February 13th
My sweet, sweet girl showing off her NEW big girl smile! I seriously get teary eyed when I see those two holes in her mouth!!

February 12th
Landen had his 6th birthday party - a pajama movie party! Kennedy fully enjoyed lounging with her friend Nathan! Aren't they cute?!


February 11th
Kennedy actually lost her second tooth on February 10th. She was spending the night with her friend Taylor! So we decided the tooth fairy probably didn't know where Taylor lived and we put it under our pillow the next day at home! We have a Tooth Fairy book that tells all about tooth fairies and why they collect teeth - it is a sweet story! It even came with its own special velvet bag to put her tooth in under her pillow - it makes it easier for the tooth fairy to find it! *wink* The back of the book lets her chronicle the loss of her teeth and has a page to color in each tooth as it falls out!

February 10th
I just have to share this one....I could just eat her up!

February 9th
Tummy time! It is not her favorite for sure! She makes quite a few crazy faces to show her dislike for it!

February 8th
Family movie night! It was our second time seeing it - but it is still cute! Kennedy really loves movies about dogs!!!!