THE Party

So kinda at the last minute I decided Finley needed to have a birthday party.  I guess I started thinking about it and this was really going to be the last year she could have a party without having to invite her entire school.  Plus, she hasn't really had a party since her 1st birthday and to be honest that was more for me than her.

I knew I didn't want to just have a generic party for her so I headed off to Pinterest for some inspiration.  I came across the "rainbow" themed party which I thought was super cute but it just didn't seem to be the one.  Characters, no way.  Then I came upon a circus party.  I thought that was cute but just not perfect.  Then it came to me.  A carnival party!

This summer we went to a local catholic school carnival and Finley had a blast.  A few weeks later we went to the L.A. County fair and it just about blew her mind.

So carnival party it was.

I made some cute invitations using the template I found has here.  I changed up the wording a little bit and mounted it on some card stock with a little ribbon.  Sorry I had to blur out my address cause I don't want you all stalking me.

Food wise I knew exactly what I was going to do.  Super bad for you Carnival food of course.  Hot dogs, nachos, huge pickles, caramel apples, cotton candy, popcorn, etc.  The plus to this menu was that it was going to be super easy to make and set up.  Plus, who doesn't like hot dogs and nachos?

For drinks I decided on homemade lemon aid, cherry lime aid, and cucumber lemon water.  Yum!  I got the cherry lime aid recipe from here and boy was it good.

  

Look at those cute pickle bags.

 

The popcorn and "peanuts" (i used pretzels instead since there was a peanut allergy at the party) are in the red and blue little boxes.

 

I did just plain ol' cupcakes for the guest and a giant cupcake for Finley.  For the pedestals I just bought some glasses and plates from the $ tree and glued and sprayed painted them.  Super cheap and easy.

 

Ice cream cups with wooden spoons.

Now what carnival party is complete without the games?  We had the fish pond, ring toss, and tin can alley. 

I knew the parents at the party would kill me if I gave away real fish for the fish pond so instead I filled little bags with clear glycerine soap with a little sea creature imbedded in it.  You can see the little fishes in this picture.

 

More pictures of the games.

 

 

We even had a little make shift tattoo parlor.  One little dish was full of tattoos and the other was filled with water to put them on. 

 

My Favorite part of the party.  The prizes!  We gave out tickets that the kids could use to redeem prizes from the prize table.  Look at all that fun stuff.  Clown noses, bubbles, mustaches, pixie sticks, bouncy balls, foam airplanes, fortune telling fish, candy buttons, pencils, kazoos......you name it we had it.

I had originally planned to have the party outside but it decided to rain on our day so we moved it inside.  We had a couple of fun things planned for outside that we got to use the few moments it wasn't raining out.

My great husband painted this photo prop for me.  

 

 

 

 

Here's my funky photo booth.  I had to scramble at the last minute to find a place to put it because of the stupid rain.

 All and all I think fun was had by all. 

 

Lastly a HUGE shout out to my WONDERFUL friend Carrie who took all of these awesome photos.  Without her I would not have all of these awesome memories since I was running late and couldn't take any photos myself.  I actually like it better than if I did take them myself.  It's always great to get another fabulous photographers perspective on things.  

Thanks again Carrie!!!

Still here..

trying to keep my head above water.  I will be back soon with a post about Finley's fabulous carnival birthday party!

Did You Happen to Know...

that Ringo Starr stopped by my house a couple weeks ago?  Yeah, I couldn't believe it either.  He was a bit shorter than I expected though.

Even the Yellow Submarine showed up to pick him up.

 

Hoarders - Shoe and Cardigan Edition

Since the weather is getting a little colder here I have been wearing some of my cardigan sweaters again.  I usually get stuck wearing the same ones over and over again because I really don't have a great storage solution.  I keep thinking that I need to get a few more sweaters because I can never find the color or print I want to wear.

The other day I decided to stash away most of my shorts to make a front row seat for my sweaters.  I gathered them from all of my hiding places and realized I had way more than I thought.  Even after giving away 3 of them I still have 23.  Who needs 23 cardigans?  Apparently me.

Organizing the sweaters lead to organizing my shoes.  Talk about hoarding.  I won't even count them because I am embarrassed to even know how many pairs I have.  Granted I did work at a shoe store for 7 years but still.  One thing about my shoes though is that most of the are really great quality shoes that I have had for over 10 years.  I even have a pair of shoes my high school boyfriend Donny gave me for Christmas when I was in 10th grade.

For fun I thought I would of course take some pictures of my hoard to maybe embarrass myself into not buying anymore shoes or sweaters.  Who am I kidding?

Sweater Hoard - not counting 3 that were in the wash.

Shoe Hoard - some are tucked away in the right corner of the picture so you can't really see them.

 

 

Looks like there's room for one maybe two more pair in this drawer.

 

Here are the oldest pair I have.  The ones I got for Christmas in 10th grade.  I don't really wear them anymore.

 

Please tell me I am not the only hoarder around here.

 

Almost Four!

It happens to all parents I think.  The day when you realize that your baby is actually no longer a baby.  Their faces thin out, they become more independent, shoot they just look like a kid.

Finley is approaching her 4th birthday and I was reminded that I needed to do a video question and answer with her.  I love looking back at her previous ones and seeing how she has changed both physically and mentally.

Without further ado.  Oh, and she does have a cold in this so her voice is a little raspy.

 

Amazing

what a little paint can do.

I've been searching thrift stores and craigslist for a cheap storage solution for our laundry room with absolutely no luck.  The room isn't huge so initially I thought maybe I would put a small desk in there with a few drawers for storage.  Then I came to my senses because nobody is going to sit in there so why not get some type of cabinet.  Duh! 

The main reason I needed something in there is so I can put the computer printer on it.  Weird I know, but there really isn't anywhere else we can put it.  I put it in the living room when we moved in because that was the only spot that wasn't piled with boxes.  Ultimately I knew I didn't want it in there forever.

After searching for over a month without finding anything promising or cheap I finally remembered that I had stored an old dresser that belonged to my late brother in law in my moms garage.  Perfect and cheap.


This is how it looked in the spot when I brought it home.  So ugly.

 

I knew I wanted to paint it but I didn't know what color.  I finally decided to paint the body of it gray and the drawers alternating shades of blue.  I took a scrap of the blue floor tile with me to the home store to pick out the perfect blue.  I chose a paint sample with 3 shades of blue and had the paint expert mix them in those little sample pots of paint.  I had him make 2 pots of the darkest blue so I could darken one of them at home since I needed 4 blues.  At the time it seemed the easiest way to me.  At home I just added some dark gray paint to the little pot until I got the color I wanted.

Here is the final product.  I love the way it looks.  The colors fit in perfect with the flooring and the silver/gray washer and dryer.  I also plan on hanging 2 shelves above it sometime in the near future.

Halloween Swap

Since the time I was pregnant with Finley I've been part of this amazing, supportive, and creative group of women.  We all came together because we were pregnant at the same time with our November babies and have stuck with each other ever since.

Every once in a while we decide to do a arty/crafty swap where we make a little something for a secret partner.  We've done Valentine's Day, Christmas, Mother's Day, but never Halloween/Fall.

I love Halloween and all of the spooky fun decorations so I jumped at the chance to join in the swap.  The criteria this time was to send 2 small crafts and 1 sweet item. 

Here is what I made for my partner.  I counted each pair of clothespin dolls as 1 item.

Here's the sweet I made.  Peanut butter, nutella, white chocolate, oreo spread.  Oh my was it delicious.

The card I made and the cute box I put it all in.

All boxed up and ready to go.

 It is always so fun waiting for everyone to get their boxes and post pictures of what they got.  Here is what my super sweet partner sent me.


Cute little banner.  Perfect for hanging on our new fireplace!

Fun little napkin rings.

Oh, and the cute little felt pouches they each came in.

Finally, instead of a sweet she made Finley a cute little shirt.

There is talk of doing a 12 days of xmas swap like the one we did a couple of years ago.
http://elw12days.blogspot.com/ I think I may just do it because this one was so much fun.