Thursday, February 3, 2011

Wall Redo


When I saw Kasey's Photo Wall, I knew I had to have a place to display some of my favorite Blue Lily Photos. I used what I had in the house to go from this.....


to this...





I realize it's on a much smaller scale than Kasey's and cannot even compete with hers, but, as I said, I used what I had, some unused frames and spray paint. It is now a happy place for my eyes to land.
"Do not concern yourself with the questions, "What is art?" or "Who is an artist?" Everything is art. If what you see and do comes from your heart, you are an artist."
-Anonymous

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

7 years ago

Seven years ago today, a baby boy was born; 22 days later we brought him home and our lives have never been the same. Happy Birthday To Our Jedi, we love you!

"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes." ~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

A special note to E's birthparents, his first parents: Thank you for choosing to give your son the life you gave him. It is because of you that we have the opportunity to be his parents, a priceless gift for which we are grateful each and every day.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."

-Ambrose Redmoon

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Snow

Yup, it's still snowing here in New England. We have had at least 1 snow day per week for the past month and it looks like another is coming tomorrow. Yes, it is so very pretty, but so is the warmth and the sun. I think we're all craving a little bit of Spring right about now.


"When I'm stuck in a day that's gray, and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin, and say, oh the sun'll come out tomorrow" (or maybe the day after that!) -Annie


Whenever the sun decides to come out again, it will be a welcomed sight.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Lego Star Wars Party Part II


Here is the wrap-up of my previous post.


The invitation...
Inspired by this
post, where I got some of the other ideas for the party too.


The pinata...
First my disclaimer: This was our first attempt at a homemade pinata.




The are a lot of tutorials online and some specifically for the Death Star Pinata. We inflated balloons, tore strips of newspaper, dipped the strips in a mixture of glue and water and placed them onto the balloon.







We only had time to do two layers of newspaper, but it turns out that they were strong enough to withstand some hits with the light saber.



I deflated the balloons and then spray painted.





Then we loaded them with treats.







I didn't have time to put any effort into the final stage of decorating the pinata, so this is the pathetic end result. The kids didn't care and some even recognized it as the Death Star. Given more time, I would have used paint to add the details.



The kids loved helping with this project. E said "paper mache is my thing, Ma".
We'll have to make some paper mache Easter Eggs this Spring. I think I could get into that a bit more than Star Wars.





The cake....


I started making cupcake cakes 3 years ago and now it's my challenge every year to come up with a cupcake cake that fits the theme. Evan wanted a Millenium Falcon cake. The shape was not too difficult so we went for it. We found an image online and then Victor (hubby) created a template from cardboard. I put the cupcakes onto the template and filled in the big gaps with pieces of cut up cupcake.



Next, you frost all the cupcakes as if it were one cake and then get creative. I have to admit, I didn't have all that much fun with this cake. It was a cooperative effort between my mother and I and then Victor added some finishing touches. In the end, I really thought the cake came out good, but it took awhile for me to get there.






You can check out some of my other cupcake cakes here, and here. We serve the cupcakes with hoodsie cups so everything is really easy. Who doesn't like cupcakes right?


...and that's a wrap, all the highlights from the big 7th birhday celebration. Now to plan the next party for the Little Miss...



"I love any and all situations where you celebrate creativity."

-Brad Paisley















Sunday, January 30, 2011

Lego Star Wars Party PART I

When we finally decided on a date for E's birthday party, I had to kick it into high gear. Typically, I feel comfortable having a good month to plan for a party and toss ideas around in my head. This time I had barely 2 weeks...not really ideal when you have an almost 7 year who is counting on his mom to pull together an "awesome" party with a Lego Star Wars' theme. We managed to pull it together and I am pretty sure everyone had a great time.

E actually had 2 parties on the same day, a friend party from 10-11:30 playing laser tag and a family party that followed starting at noon. It was a LOOOOOOng day, but super fun!


As favors for the friend party, we made pool noodle light sabers. I found this idea online; search "pool noodle light sabers" for other how-tos.

After finding pool noodles during this off season and a trip to Home Depot's plumbing department, we were ready to begin.



We folded the noodles in half and marked where to cut with a marker. A serrated knife worked well to cut the noodle.






Using 2 pieces of shiny silver tape, I covered the bottom of the noodle.




Next, I covered the end (about 6 inches) of each noodle with the tape.


I added the details with the black duct and electrical tapes; every light saber was a little different.

We even threw a couple of pink ones into the mix for the girls....they were happy!






During the afternoon party, we played a game. E helped set it up. He pulled apart 16 lego mini figures and put 4 in each of four glass jars. Then he mixed them up with other random legos. The kids worked with a partner to dump the jar of pieces and assemble the 4 mini figures. The fastest team to put together the mini figures and stand up, won the game.







I intended on blogging all the details of the party in one post, however I'm ready for bed and this is just taking too long. So, I'm going to do it in two parts. Consider this Part 1

Check back in tomorrow for Part 2

**Updated: Click here for Part 2

“The Force will be with you, always.”
-Alec Guinness



I'm linking up with Heather today at Blessed Little Next.


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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Celebration

We've been busy over here celebrating the 7th anniversary of our Little Man's birth. Check in Monday for the complete party details.



"A winning effort begins with preparation."

-Joe Gibbs

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Towers and snow

With all the snow around here, what is a girl to do? Making toilet paper towers seems like a good idea to me.



Little Miss decided it would be fun to wear Mommy's sweater around the house.
Speaking of snow, we're getting another 8 inches tonight. I can't wait to see the sun again....it's been awhile.
"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."
-Andy Goldsworthy