Dinosaurs & Rainbows

Max had his sixth birthday party this weekend! Can you believe it? He's getting so big.

As is his usual, he requested a specific theme for his birthday party. This year was Dinosaurs & Rainbows. I can do that! He also invited his entire class... so I had to plan on approx 12 RSVPs and their parent(s). No problem... yeah. Slightly intimidating.

I did a few things to achieve this:

• ordered a bag of 72 mini dinosaurs for favors
• bought a freakin load of candy
• filled the crockpot with hotdogs and bought five bags of various chips
• had my friend Erin with Sweet E's make me some banging rainbow dinosaur cookies (which double as decorations when plated)
• put out a bowl of multi colored mini marshmallows (huge hit!)
• rainbow streamers
• dinosaur themed table cover and rainbow themed plates
• made dinosaur egg cake pops (like making regular cake pops but elongate one end of the ball so it's egg shaped before dipping)
• made a dinosaur dig cake with a skeleton inside! I'm really proud of this one, it turned out great, and the kids thought it was fantastic!
• as favors I made 21 dino egg pinatas. Paper mache + small balloons + spray paint + those mini dinos and all that candy + approx three hours of my life = EXTREMELY HAPPY GUESTS. Seriously, that was their favorite part of the party. I had them each choose one, then on three they smashed. It was glorious. The story behind why I would do something so ridiculous as make 21 egg pinatas? Well, Max REALLY wanted a pinata for his party, but it was eating at his sense of fairness that only one person would win. So his solution was that everyone has a pinata! Very fair, but I don't know if I'll do that again. It was easy, but very time consuming. In retrospect I didn't need 21, but the RSVPs were sketchy so I wasn't sure of the head count. In the end each guest got two (except Max) so it was doubly awesome for them.

I don't have pics of the pinatas, sorry. It was down to the wire getting those done, and by the time I remembered, they were smashed!

can you see the dino skull?

How about now? Can you see the skull?

The reveal! An Albertosaurus!

Photo Booth Art

I'm gonna eat you up!

Who doesn't love a good photo booth collage? I adore this one of Max and I so much I had to turn it into art!

A piece of scrap wood. scrapbook paper, watered down white glue, and a printout from the computer, and I have a fun and pretty display piece! AND it cost me nothing since I had all of the materials on hand!

Do you have a series of photos that you love but don't know how to make them look like they came from a photo booth? I highly suggest using PicMonkey. (I have no affiliation with them, other than I just really love their editing program) Using the collage option, choose the Ducks in a Row option from the left toolbar, selecting up to five spaces. You can leave it horizontal, or use the rotate tool at the bottom to make it vertical. If you want to change the background to black, click on the artist palette icon on the left toolbar. Once you've entered your photos, you can open the collage in editor and play with filters and such, which is how I set mine to black and white and added the black fading at the edges.

Holding Love

I Love You project #2 - Holding Love

a ribbon loop stapled on back to hang it up

This project requires more adult participation than I Love You to Pieces - but don't be scared!

I started out with some scrap pieces of wood, though you could use canvas, poster board, or paper as a background. I covered the board with pretty paper and slightly watered down white glue a-la decoupage. Then it's a matter of layering on the photo, adding hearts or other embellishments, writing with marker, coloring, or whatever makes you happy.

The part that makes this the most-est special? Those hands/heart. Tiny hands! Like a heart! <squeal>

How did I do it? Two step process - first trace the child's hand on scrap paper and cut it out to make a hand stencil. Fold a piece of nice paper in half, nice side in. THEN trace the hand stencil onto the nice paper with the thumb and index at the crease, making sure that the tips of the index and thumb hang over the crease by just a smidge. That'll make the fingers connect. After you trace the hand, adjust the line between the thumb and index to make a smoother half-heart shape. Cut it all out, and you'll have adorable hands/heart!

I Love You to Pieces

With Mother's Day coming up, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite I Love You projects.

First up is I Love You to Pieces! Simply cut out a large heart, and then fill it up with bits and pieces of pretty paper, magazines, stickers, washi tape, etc. Max LOVED this project!

Max's Beans

I'm so proud of my kid. :) I cleared out the spent tomato plants from the pots on the patio, let him pick out some seeds (I pre-chose packets that would do well with a late-summer planting), and he planted the seeds all by himself! Green beans, a very good choice. I was prepared to explain to him how to plant seeds, but imagine my very excited surprise when he told me how to plant seeds! I guess all of that monologue that I did while gardening with him paid off!

Look at those gorgeous, healthy green bean plants! Seriously, I'm so proud. :)

Super HeroGauntlets

Now, what super hero costume would be complete without gauntlets?? Exactly.

The easiest way to make them is to cut a little glovette from the sleeve of the shirt that you made the cape from - but often the sleeves are too big in circumference for little hands. So, to size it down, you can tie a seam!

Fold the fabric in half and cut a rectangle. Cut a thumb slit on the folded edge, and fringe the opposite edge. Then tie the fringe together, and you have gauntlets! I left the fringe on mine long, but Max likes his short and edgy.

Capes

Capes are really easy to make - just take an old shirt, cut up the sides from the bottom, angle in toward the collar, then cut around the collar and that becomes the neck hole for the cape. I snip the collar in the front and add a snap or velcro for easy release.

Usually I just use a shirt that already has a fun design on it (yes, we have a lot of capes around here!), but this time I drew on a spider web... Because Spider-Man is Max's favorite. :)

Super Heroes!

Max LOVES to play super hero. :) He would wear a cape all day, every day, if possible. And most days, he does!

I shall sneak up on Super-Max...

Oh no, he got me!

Strawberries - A Wordless Wednesday

Dentist (and Bribery)

Turns out Max's inhaler has decalcified his front teeth a teensy bit. Nothing to worry about, but they recommended us to a pediatric dentist to get an x-ray and a second opinion, just in case.

I've been promising Max a soccer ball for ages, and combining it as a reward with a good trip to the dentist (perhaps a bit of bribery) was an obvious solution. Not that he needed the reward/bribe - he was a total rock star and couldn't have been better behaved or more enthusiastic about going to the dentist! Such a charmer. :)

we got a softball while we were there...

french fry walrus strikes again (after the appointment, of course)

Popsicles

Beating the heat is easier with popsicles. I love making them at home with molds, then I can control how much sugar is in there! This particular batch is raspberries, bananas, banilla yogurt, and a bit of juice. Max highly approves. :)

Frozen in ice cube trays, they're also a nice addition to iced tea. :)

Dentist!

Max had his first dentist appointment! I'm so proud of him, he did a great job. :)

Construction Cake

We celebrated Max's third birthday a few weeks ago - complete with a construction cake. :)

Easiest cake ever. Seriously. If you have a kid (or grown up) that likes dirt and/or construction, you must do this.

Make a chocolate cake. Flip it out onto a pan, then break it, crumble it, smoosh it, pile it up. Top with some chocolate frosting in creative ways, add a few piles of rocks (chocolate chips), accessorize with a bulldozer and candles, and you're done! It was a huge hit. :)

I can see this working really well as a groundbreaking cake, as a gardening cake, as a worms cake... so many possibilities. And no pressure to have a perfect cake!

Eggy Pancakes

Along the lines of pancakes, Max's favorite way to have pancakes is Eggy Pancakes with fruit on top. Yay for tasty, balanced meals!

Lightly scramble an egg in the pan until just set, pour pancake batter on top, and cook until pancake is done. Top with fruit of choice, and a bit of maple syrup. I pre-cut his pancakes for him (less mess...), otherwise it looks much more like a normal pancake. :)

Staycation & Rest Time

What with the transition out of the old job and into running a daycare, I'm taking advantage of the time to have a bit of a staycation home with Max (hence why I haven't been around much lately). I don't have full enrollment yet, but instead of freaking out about it, I (finally) realized that it's a great opportunity to relax and have Max-Mommy time.

And what with the intense humidity and deluge of rain every day, all of the house projects I'd planned aren't going to happen (there's no way paint will dry in this). Instead, we're getting a bit more creative with our time - including rescuing a couple of friends who'd run out of gas.

I'm also working on getting Max used to a weekday schedule that doesn't include naps. So far, so good!

Big Boy Bed!

Mr. Max got an exciting new present this weekend - a big boy bed! He was quickly outgrowing his toddler bed, so he has now upgraded to a twin. :)

We spent a morning taking apart the toddler bed frame, which was an extra thrill since he got to use tools, and then we hauled the new mattress up and got it all set up for him. It'll stay on the floor for now while he gets used to the new sleeping space, then we'll get it up on a frame.

He picked out the sheets himself (he loves orange).

My Big Boy

Max will be three soon. This excites and terrifies me all at once. It's little things now that I'm trying to remember, like -

He has amazing bed head - he gets this from me.

He has giant feet - he gets this from hubby.

Sensory Play

Sometimes you just need to play with lentils.

Superhero Big Boy Underpants

Big boy underpants are even more awesome when they're Superhero underpants. Because even Green Lantern goes potty.

Cowboy Hat!

It's a good day to be a cowboy with a green hat. :)