Monday, April 30, 2012

Birthday Inspiration

Dear Danny,
Some pictures from your party...


James got overwhelmed and checked out...


The cake was a lemon cake, with lemon curd between the layers and a strawberry buttercreme frosting.  It was delish...


And enjoyed by all...


I got some nylon rip-stop strips at The Scrap Box and we tied them around rings to make "wind socks"...



We also planted "magic beans" in peat pots and I found little wooden handled shovels at the *gasp* Target dollar spot for the kids to use and take home.  I forgot to take a picture of the planting station, but it looked really cute.
Then we did the play.  Mattie was the ticket taker...


He was also in charge of working the light and Joseph was in charge of sound (he played the overture on his violin and the harp for the golden harp part.)

I made these little leaf pillows for the kids to sit on during the show and they got to take them home...



I saw these clouds here on Pinterest, but I can't find the original source so I don't know exactly how this person made theirs, but I made mine buy cutting out three identical cloud shapes from cardstock and sewing them together using four or five big stitches and regular thread.  Once I sewed them together, I bent out the pieces to make them 3D...


I hung them on the ugly lamp above our table and also from the ceiling going down to the basement with blue washi tape.
At first I planned on doing a golden egg hunt with some wooden eggs from Palumba that I spray painted gold...


But then after I got the idea to make the wind socks I thought it would be too much, so instead I put them in a basket with a cloth over and then let the kids reach in the basket as they were going home.  Some of the kids were completely amazed at what they pulled out.  So sweet.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Friday, April 27, 2012

Danny on the eve of turning three

Dear Danny,
A snap-shot of you right now...

Bumember= Remember
Song of the Wainbows= Somewhere over the Rainbow
Minion Fawcon= Millennium Falcon
Dark Vader=  Darth Vader

You gave up your pacifier one week before turning three.  You can ride a scooter, tell stories, and you play well with your brothers...


Here you are playing Legos...


Something you painstakingly made a few months ago (you have since moved into making ships...)


You love dress up...  


You love sweater vests (because you think they make you look like "Han Sowo)...



 And here you are on the last night of being two...



Tomorrow, your party!  Happy Birthday sweet Dan-Dan.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

More preparations for Danny's party...

More puppets...


Decorations...


The screen...


Decorations going down to the "theater"...


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Getting Ready...


Here are two puppets that I cut this afternoon for Danny's shadow puppet birthday on Saturday.  Only about 12 more to go.
(They're Jack and his Mother.)

Saturday, April 21, 2012

I went out to the resale shop yesterday to find an outfit for James to wear to Joseph's spring recital and found this little gem...


I like the old fashioned look.  And check out the little french knots that make up the sheep's fleece and the little birds flying over...


I also found these little patent crib shoes for three dollars...

So I felt like the thrift store Gods had smiled upon me.  But that was just the beginning.  I stopped at this garage sale...  and it turned out to be the Garage Sale Of My Dreams.  This mother saved all her son's baby clothes from the late seventies/early eighties.  And they were all in such good condition!  I can't wait to see James in these...



 Everything was twenty-five cents!  The apple pants and the star shorts are two of my favorite pieces...



Several of the pieces are cotton, but a lot are polyester.



Health-tex, always a favorite of mine...


She loved overalls as much as I do...




Here's James modeling my favorite of the overalls.  He'll probably out-grow them by the time Spring is over...





Thursday, April 19, 2012