Royal Wedding Extravaganza

Here's to the Royal Wedding! I'm letting JA stay home from school tomorrow (it's just kindergarten, right?) for a Royal Wedding Extravaganza, complete with royal activities planned for the entire day. I made her an invitation that she will receive tomorrow morning. Then she has a coupon book with tickets that she can cash in throughout the day for eight different royal activities. She doesn't know exactly what I've got planned, but she knows something is going to happen. She just keeps skipping through the house asking for hints. I love that she is as excited as I am. (Of course, I realize that I encourage that excitement just a tad.)

Here's our list of activities and a link to the source of some of the royal fun!

• Baking scones


• Decorating a wedding cake


• Decorating fancy lady hats


• Coloring royal wedding sheets


• Doing royal pedicures


• Writing and illustrating a wedding book


• Creating wedding bouquets


• Coloring and cutting out paper dolls

Not one who misses a thing, JAtold me she wanted me to wake her up in the middle of the night so she could watch all the TV coverage of the wedding. Love that! So she and I will get a super early start in the morning. Maybe I should go to bed now?!

Dear Toy Story,

You are a life-saver. Let's start at the beginning...

Today has been a very busy day, beginning around 3:30 when the rain and wind woke me up. I had to tee-tee. Once back in bed, I couldn't go back to sleep. Wes was tossing and turning. Neither one of us could go back to sleep. I had asked him to wake me up this morning at 5:45. So at 5:00 right when I was beginning to doze again, he shook me and said, "Didn't you want me to wake you up at 5:00?" Ummm, no. So we tossed and turned until I finally got up at 6:15.

I had 14 sandwiches to make this morning for JA's Harvest Party. And since we were trunk-or-treating, I thought it would be fun to make pumpkin muffins for the grownups.

At 7:00 the kids woke up. At 7:23, Wes asked me what time we needed to leave. I told him no later than 8:10. I think his head spun around three times. All of us were still in jammies and the kids were just sitting down for breakfast.

Snow White had to get dressed and her mother could not go dressed as the "mean old hag" from the book. And as much as Jack wanted to wear his Woody costume, his class wasn't dressing up. That took some serious convincing this morning.

We were in the car pulling out at 8:12. That was good enough.

So after the trunk-or-treating and the Harvest Party, I went to get an oil change in my car. I waited for almost 1 1/2 hours. Hungry. Mentally making a list of everything else I needed to do. Reading an "In Touch Weekly" from back in February. Talk about old news.

Went to Walmart to start Christmas shopping. And I seriously couldn't concentrate on what I was shopping for. Amazingly, Strawberry Shortcake had a Spider-Man body. And the Hot Wheels were riding on My Little Ponies. All the lights were brighter than usual, sounds were louder. I had to get out of there. I took a detour to the magazine aisle, got a Christmas magazine instead and took myself out to a quickie lunch until the 2:00 pickup.

After we got home and sorted through the 12 lbs. of candy accumulated this morning, I got out our dear friend, Toy Story. Bless you. We laid out a pallet, put on our pajamas and snuggled up for about 45 minutes. Woody and Buzz, you allowed me to close my eyes for some sweet peace.

I think I would have fallen asleep had it not been for a foot to the face when the mean dog came on.

PS: I think all Toy Story merchandise should come with a GPS option. I would upgrade in a second so that all our Woodys could be located with the push of a button. They're just that important at our house.

Our First Fort

Today the rain came. Not just your average thunderstorm. It was the rain that Forrest Gump talked about - "Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath."

Seriously, I was almost s-c-a-r-e-d. (I am so used to spelling that word so that I don't translate that to my children, one of which is a born scaredy cat.) Turns out that a tree snapped in our yard, I know Wes is anxious to be the lumberjack he's always dreamed of being.

Anyway, at about 3:20 today, we lost all power. It was the third time this week. And while I've gotten used to it, I had two kids who were stir crazy about 4 minutes into it. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but it was so dark outside, we couldn't see a thing inside without the flashlights.

Since I have been feeling 100 times better today, I morphed into "fun mom". I asked the kids if they wanted to build a fort. You probably could hear their hooray's wherever you live. It was a mighty fine fort, if I say so myself.

So there we were, crammed into the fort with blankets, pillows, three of Jack's bees, an enormous Hello Kitty, three flashlights and a couple books. When I noticed the lightning, I covered all four little ears and then waited for the thunder to come and go. As they were all cuddled up, Jordan Ann asked if I would rub them. So I did and then started singing Christmas carols. I think I sang every song that came to me - Away In A Manger, Rudolph, Jingle Bells.

Right as I was finishing up Deck The Halls, Jack proudly let out a huge fart. (Poot, pass gas, booty noise, these words do not describe the noise this child made. So, I'm sorry if you are offended by "fart".) He started belly laughing. JA was in hysterics. I was laughing at them laughing. Why are bodily functions so funny for a two and four-year-old? I'll never know.

But it was funny today, that's for sure. We played fart...um, fort until the lights came back on at 5:00. A very long afternoon, but so, so much fun!

Fall Kelly's Kids Party

Who?
You, particularly if you live nearby.

What?
Kelly's Kids Party, adorable children's clothes

When?
Sunday, July 19 2:00-4:00, come & go

Where?
My house (Let me know if you want to come and I'll get you directions.)

Why?
Because we love to dress our children and enjoy cute clothes. Plus, no one's looking at us anymore, so why not dress your children instead?

the pinata

Wes and I had such fun making this pinata for Jordan Ann's party. But I think the kids had more fun trying to break it. The instructions we were following told us to use 4-5 layers of newspaper. We were tired after three. Imagine how hard it would have been with all 5 layers!

We ended up having to cut into the bottom so the bigger boys could finally break into it. Out poured the goodies. I think everyone ended up taking home something fun from the pinata.

I know you can buy these at party stores everywhere, but if you need one for your own party, try making one. It was really easy and although it probably would have been something JA would enjoy, we worked on it at night after she was in bed already. Each morning when she woke up, she was excited to see how the pinata had transformed overnight. Maybe next year she can get her hands dirty and help with it.

Crazy for Cupcakes

It's official. She's four. The Cupcake party that she asked for the day after she turned three and that I've been thinking about ever since was so much fun!

We had cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes on Saturday morning. With our friends over to play, we had the best time celebrating Jordan Ann's birthday.

I made the cupcake cake using the best pan from Williams-Sonoma. Those adorable cupcake bites came from the Bakerella website. (Unbelievable, that lady.)

The most fun, though, was the pinata. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.

Thank you, friends, for coming. And if you weren't here, we missed you! We'll do it again next year. :)

Smocking, Paper-Mache and a Turtle

We're getting ready for a cupcake party around here! Starting with the outfit. Because everyone knows you need a new dress for a party. But due to the fact that it's almost 90 degrees outside and we're having an outside party, my original plan of JA wearing the pink dress I smocked was a little unrealistic.

So out came plan B. Last Friday, I decided to start smocking a cupcake outfit for the occasion. I've been at it nonstop. (You can ask my husband and laundry basket!!)

I finished it just a few minutes ago. I can't tell you the sense of accomplishment when I took the smocking threads out, saw the finished product and tried it on JA. It's just what I wanted.

Onto the next project. Wes is even helping on this one. We're making a cupcake pinata. (I realize that right now, it looks like E.T. But eventually, it's going to resemble a cupcake.)

Not sure what the birthday girl is going to think about this one, but at least we'll have some little boys at the party to smash it. If that doesn't work, I've given Wes permission to get out his golf clubs.

Last but not least, this little guy heard we were planning a party. I don't think he's a welcome guest at all. (Yes, that's the ENTRY to my garage.)

Choo Choo Cookies

I wanted to give something other than toys for the party favors for Jack's party. (Besides, what mother would want her kids coming home with a train whistle? You can thank me later.)

I really wanted to give Thomas the Train trains as party favors but have you looked at the price of them? Times the number of children at our party. Equals not in my party budget.

So I settled for train cookies. I had a ball making these, figuring out how to make royal icing that hardens this century and then bagging them up cute.

My children loved the broken ones. So did my husband. Oh, who am I kidding? I loved them, too.

I'm No "Ace of Cakes".

Are you familiar with that show on The Food Network? I've watched it a couple of times and thought to myself, "what's the big deal?" Yeah, well. I now have a new-found respect for people who bake and decorate beautiful cakes.

I decided to try my hand at it for Jack's party. While shopping online for plates and napkins, I found this cute train pan. I read about it, looked at the pictures and thought I would add it to my cart and see what I could do.

I wanted to do something for his party that was different than the typical cake that matches the napkins or cupcakes (saving that for his sister's cupcake party). So a train cake it would be.

I wrote last week that I had a cake dress rehearsal to see how it would turn out. So glad I did. I ended up making several adjustments and figured out that I was decorating the cake backwards. (Only I would do that!) So decorating the cake for the real deal went much smoother.

I think the most fun was mixing all the icing colors. I felt like I was playing with grown up playdoh.

I wish I had taken pictures of the process for you. But honestly, I was so nervous, that I didn't have the forethought to do so. Instead, here's the finished product.

My Dear Boy is Two

Yesterday was Jack's big day! He's two years old and I can hardly believe it. Where is the time going? (I feel old just saying that line!)

We had such a fun train birthday party yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect, windy, but nice. All our friends came. Everyone took turns riding the train and the kids played. I know mine had a ball.

I successfully baked and decorated a train cake. And didn't trip as I walked it from the dining room (where it was hiding from my nosey children) to the back patio for the party. I think I held my breath the entire time. I'll post details about baking the cake in a separate post.

Jack has a love affair with balloons. So today after his two year checkup at the doctor, we played outside together and he carried balloons around and had a blast doing it. Who knew balloons were so fun?

(I have uploaded 170 photos from yesterday's party. Needless to say, I'm dying to share them. I'm creating a photo album on the Kodak Gallery like I used to (for those of you who weren't in the loop back then, I used to email pics out once a month for more than 2 years!). So, leave a comment and let me know if you want to see them. Otherwise, I won't bore you with all these pics!)

Happy birthday, my sweet little boy!

Easter From A Child's Eyes

We had a wonderful Easter filled with several egg hunts, parties and lots of candy! Here are a couple of pictures from a fun Easter Egg Hunt hosted at Mati Claire's house. (You can click here to see more details from Carrie's blog.) And every last detail was arranged at this party. Carrie, her mom and sister thought of everything.

Although my attempt at a decent a group picture was just a joke, I think these pictures tell the story of this fun Easter party nicely.

Kelly's Kids Party

I'm hosting a Kelly's Kids Party on Sunday afternoon. If you're interested in coming (and are local!) please let me know. It's a "come and go" from 2:30 - 4:30. I'd love for you to come.

These clothes are just adorable. I've been flipping through my catalog and have more pages dog-eared than not. Oh no!

Plus, these Sun-N-Sand sandals are $28. (Last weekend, I saw them at Stride Rite and Shoe Choo Train for $33.50). I think we have these in every size and the white and red ones that were JA's are now Jack's. They're great!