Avery's Third Fiesta

After weeks and weeks of rainy rain rain, we finally got a little sunshine just in time for Avery and Faith's third birthday party last weekend. The beautiful, crisp weather set the perfect scene for our outdoor fiesta.

A few weeks ago, Kris and I found our invitations on Tiny Prints and just had to have them.

Unfortunately, they didn't show up until a couple of days before the party, so we had to send out e-vites.
Boo.
Boo, boo, boo.
BOOOOOOO.

Because we paid for them, I'm putting them on the blog.

Here's what they looked like.
Mostly. Give or take some info.

Cute, huh?

Too bad no one saw the actual invitations.
Boo. Boo, Boo, Booooo.

Anyway ---
Kris and I loved the little Dora on the invitation so much that we decided to dress the girls in matching felt appliqued t-shirts.

I couldn't leave Little Charlie out, so I made a Boots shirt for him.


We decorated the park gazebo with tissue pom poms, paper chains and mexican banners in light and dark pinks, orange, lime green, and turquoise.

The paper flowers that Kris and I created turned out really cute!

And it only cost us 4 hours, around 55 cents per flower, and a few grey hairs from the stress of trying to keep our kiddos distracted while we worked.
Worth it.



Our special guest, Dora, arrived 30 minutes into the party.

As she walked across the lawn, the kids literally RAN to hug her.

Avery was a little shy, but thrilled that Dora was at her party.

After greeting Dora, the kids were each given a backpack for a special adventure.

Faith's momma, Kris, and I ordered white backpacks from Discount School Supply.

Kris dyed the backpacks purple for the girls and orange for the boys. Then she hot-glued felt for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth.

How cute did they turn out?!
(Was it worth the purple fingers and cramping hands, Kris?)


After the kids were given their backpacks, we gathered everybody around Dora for their "Big Adventure".

Each of the kid's little backpacks contained a few things to help with an "Adventure" with Dora.

FYI: I searched all over the internet for different Dora party ideas and came across the following activity here. It was a huge hit with the kiddos.

Dora opened her backpack, took out her map, and showed the kids the three destinations for their "Big Adventure".



Then, Dora told the kids to take their Spy Scopes out of their backpacks to help them look for "Cupcake Mountain" (the playground slide).

After their climb over Cupcake Mountain, Dora led the kids across the Silly Snake Pit (plastic snakes on the grass)

Finally, they made their way to the big surprise (a wrapped box under a tree).

Dora told the kids to take the whistles out of their backpacks to wake up the sleepy bear on top of the present.

Then they all opened the present to reveal The Big Surprise: A pinata!

We took the Pinata to a tree and let the kids take turns hitting it.

After the Big Adventure, everybody had nachos from the nacho bar.

Then, it was time for CUPCAKES!


and presents!



The BIrthday girls had a blast partying with Dora.

Now it's time to start planning Charlie's 1st birthday celebration NEXT MONTH!

a little sneak peak...

With Avery and Faith's birthday party right around the corner, I've been up to my eyeballs in tissue paper and more tissue paper.

Kris and I spent 4 hours making these lovely little gems the other day.


Not difficult, but definitely time consuming.

David said, "You know it's craft night when the house looks like this"...

For the last couple of weeks, every night has been "craft night".

I love parties. Love them. Love them.
At least, that's what I keep telling myself...

I'll be sure to post pictures of the party next week (and maybe even a tutorial for these flowers). I'm off to make some paper poms...

Hey, You Guys!

Um. Can I just ask a question?

What the heck is wrong with Casting Directors these days?

I'm just wondering which genius decided that these guys looked even remotely like High Schoolers.

Especially the rotund guy in the hat and the guy in the lederhosen.

Argh.

These are the questions that keep me up at night.
Sad.

party planning

Avery and her little friend Faith have birthdays within a month of each other, so Kris and I decided to do a joint birthday party in October for the girls.

Faith has a serious obsession with a certain obnoxious, back-pack-wearing cartoon character....and while not quite as passionately dedicated as Faith, Avery entertains a certain amount of affection for la niña desagradable. So- it looks like we'll be having a Dora Fiesta Party in a few weeks.

(By the way, Did I impress you with my Spanish-speaking fabulousness? Don't I sound intelligent? Well rounded? That, my friends, is why I love Google)

Cookie Cutter parties make me a little sad in my heart - and thankfully, my friend Kris feels the same way. We really didn't want to do anything too cheesy, fabricated, or mass-produced.

The thing is, lofty, snooty ideals are all well and good until reality slaps you in the face. Reality in the form of a cheesy, fabricated, mass-produced cartoon character.

We definitely have our work cut out for us.

In an effort to de-cheesify the event, we've been doing a bit of el research-o.

Top priority:
Getting Dora to come to the Fiesta.

I found a company here in town that sends costumed characters out to birthday parties.
For a nominal fee and your firstborn son, you get a bunch of balloons and 20 minutes of hang time with Creepy Big Headed Dora.

Budget constraints - not to mention affection for my firstborn son - prompted me to forgo that option.

On to Plan B:
Find a fun, outgoing, monetarily motivated teenager or college girl to BE Dora for us.

I did a little recon at church and found the perfect sucker volunteer. Mission accomplished.

With the victim secured, I moved on to the search for the perfect Dora costume.

I did some Ebay searching and found a super fancy deluxe wig. I also found some orange shorts on clearance at J.Crew (yes. Dora will be stylin' at the soiree) and rounded up the infamous pink t-shirt.

Side Note: Our Dora will be wearing a little longer version of the T-shirt than the Nick Jr. one. No belly bearing at this three year old party thank-you-very-much.

Once the Dora 'Do came in, I just had to try it on.

Y'all - I literally laughed out loud in the bathroom as I looked at the loveliness that was me in that crazy wig. And because I have no shame, here 'ya go:

Muy Bonita, No?

(Can you stand the smartness, people? This post is oozing with it. Smart, smarty, smartness)

For the Decorations, we found a little inspiration at Style Me Pretty

and another cute inspiration board at Wedding Bee:

At Brenda's Wedding Blog I found this:

Clearly, budget and time constraints won't allow us to do things as elaborately as the wedding inspiration boards I found, but we figure it's a good place to start.

Wedding blogs are insane these days. I wish they were around when I was planning my wedding 9 1/2 years ago.
I didn't even have a computer then.
Wow.

Anyway -
That's what we've got so far. Lots more work to do... Lots.... and since I'm currently quarantined to the house, looks like Etsy and the debit card will be my new best friends.

Adios, Amios

an unwelcome guest

Look who came to visit our house this weekend.

Yep. We've got the Pig Flu.
Not everyone... just Avery.
Bless her heart.

She's doing ok. Drinking lots of liquids, taking Tylenol and Motrin, and resting a lot.

I, however, am losing. my. mind.

How many episodes of Dragon Tales does it take for a sleep-deprived, natural-light-deprived, shower-deprived Mommy to go insane?

I'm not sure, but I may find out very soon.

I've Lysol-ed everything in our house (multiple times), washed clothes and bedding, and given the bathroom a good scrubbing and bleaching. Even Avery's toys have had a nice bath in bleach water.

I'm pretty sure I have Chemical Pneumonia now.
I think I've also managed to burn off the entire epidermal layer of my hands from over-germ-x-ing.

So far, no one else in our house has the Flu (that includes little Charlie).
Although at our $50 Dr. appointment today, we discovered that he does have Double Ear Infections again.
Lovely.

Looks like we're going to have some fun times over here for the next few days...

Maybe I'll get lucky and bust out of this sicky house once David gets home from work. We seem to be running a little low on Lysol and bleach...and lattes.

If you see me wandering around the grocery store aisles, be sure to say "hi".
I'll be the unbathed, bleary-eyed chick wearing the snot covered t-shirt.

what'd you say?

Sassy McSasserson lives at my house.

Did you catch it?
She said, "I don't like Mr. Chuck (a local kid's t.v. show on PBS), Mommy. He's too cheesy."

She then proceeded to open the pantry and grab any snack that her little heart desired.

Oh goodness.

three years

Three years ago, I was given a beautiful gift.

This precious little bundle of pink sweetness

is now a precocious, feisty, loving, smart, adorable little girl.

She makes my heart feel like it will just burst with all the love it holds for her.

Happy Third Birthday to my Francie Pants.

something blue...and brown

This is my latest banner - created for a sweet, precious, amazing friend who will be having a baby boy very soon.

One day, I'll actually give it to her... If we can ever manage to catch up with each other!




I made this one with my handy Cricut (shocker).

I used the Mini Monograms cartridge to cut the squares, and then the Simply Sweet cartridge to cut out the letters and safety pins.

For this banner, I also figured out how to use the Outline Feature to make my letters pop a little more.

I say this all the time, but I'm pretty sure that everyone in the world needs a Cricut. That and clean water. And shelter. And maybe some food. But that's it.

Oh and just FYI: I've recently discovered that buying the cartridges on Ebay saves sooo much money. Cartridges can be up to $80 at Michael's and Jo Ann Etc - which is definitely a Budget Buster for me. And just totally wrong.
Totally.

Instead, I've been "sticking it to the man" by buying a cartridge a month on Ebay for no more than $25.

Oh yeah. Kiss it, Michael's (But I still love you. Don't be mad at me. I'll see you soon.)

busy busy

I don't know about you, but for me, the summer draaaaaaaaaagged on like crazy.
No preschool.
No money.
No break for Mommy.
and no sanity.

The last couple of weeks, however, have been a total blur.
Busy isn't even the word for it.
And honestly, I'm liking the busyness much better than the boredom.

I did a whole lot of hanging out with this little guy.

Look at that little man. 9 months and sporting a 'stashe already.
I'm so proud.

And took Avery to her first gymnastics lesson.


The cuteness was almost too much to handle.
I seriously giggled through the entire lesson.
She looked like such a big girl, but so teeny tiny at the same time.

We went to some high-class eating establishments with our high-class kiddos.


Lovely.

And took the family to watch a baseball game.


Charlie was beside himself with excitement.
Avery loved it too.

Until she saw the team's giant mascot.

It took quite a bit of convincing to help her understand that the giant bird/man wasn't coming to get her.
I finally told her he wasn't allowed to come up to the stands. That did the trick.

You do what'cha gotta do.

I helped this cute girl woman move into her very first dorm room.

Oh the excitement of starting a fresh, new chapter in life! Can you see it in her face?
Seriously.

And- oh my goodness - I made my first applique ever at Craft Club.

In true Jennifer fashion, I've become officially obsessed.
I'm appliqueing everything.

It's almost as bad as my obsession with the Podge o' Modge.

And last week, I celebrated the first day of Preschool with these little guys.

Evidently, this is Charlie's favorite spot in his classroom.

After his first day, his teacher said, "Charlie loves the mirror. Well, all the babies love the mirror... but Charlie REALLY loves the mirror."

Oh goodness.

Last week was also my first day back to the Preschool in 9 months. I'm so excited to be teaching a few days a week. It's divine. I seriously love it.

Life's been busy, but I think I'd take busy over bored any day. There are not many things in this world more frightening than a bored toddler.
Health Care Reform?
Swine Flu?
Yeah....
A bored toddler is definitely more scarey.