Partying: Another Year

Wow.  It's been a long time since I blogged.  Like this is over a year and a half old.  But I found this in the drafts and wanted to go ahead and publish.  Will be posting much more updated info soon!

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All my babies are officially one year older!  Things have been busy.  So busy that it is March and I haven't acknowledged any birthdays or Christmas.

My excuse (and the truth) is that I've been busy.  All at once we fixed up a mess of a rental house and started working on our own (which we had to move out of while they work).  Then throw Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the usual busy-ness, and you might understand why blogging had to take a back seat.  But never fear: let me give you the recap!

We celebrated Paul's third birthday with another tractor themed party.  It was very low key, but almost all the family came out to celebrate, so we had fun.  Leah surprised us all driving a big tractor from the farm and gave Paul a ride.  

Hays and Clara had a joint birthday party.  The theme was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / A Celestial Ball."  Basically we decorated the house with stars of various kinds.  I liked the Twinkle Twinkle theme, Hays really didn't care, and Clara was happy as long as she could dress up as Sleeping Beauty (so it became a "Ball").

So, here's my Sleeping Beauty.  Sewn the DAY OF her party.  Why I didn't just buy a Sleeping Beauty dress?  I don't know.  Well, I do know.   But I'm not going to get into that. 

It was twirly, and that's what she wanted.  Hooray again!

My man Hays was delighted when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him.  Other than that, opening presents and even blowing out the candles wasn't on his radar.  My mom was a big help in getting all the decorations and food put together right at the end.  We had lots of balloons  - some helium, some regular - that really helped to transform the space.

On Paul's birthday, I did manage to get one photo worthy of framing (and Christmas card-ing).  Hooray!  Merry (belated) Christmas!

Partying: My Little Pony is Four

Clara turned four just five days after Hays was born.  We've been planning her party for awhile, so we were prepared.  She has been so excited for this party since... well, probably since her third birthday party.

I wasn't going to go all crazy with this one.  Her snowflake party gave me party planning burn out.  But I still wanted it to be special and fun.  She requested a My Little Pony themed party with lots of purple.  She also wanted it to be a sleepover.

We made the cake well in advance and froze it.  We also made cupcakes and cookies ahead of time.  While I was at the hospital, Clara decorated the cupcakes with my parents.  Clara helped me decorate the food table a few days before Hays was born.

 

Her favorite pony is Twilight Sparkle.  She dressed up as Twilight last Halloween.  Who'd a thought we'd get some more mileage out of that costume?

The idea with the party was that each pony wrote Clara a letter.  Each letter had a special birthday message with an activity for her.

Fluttershy wanted her to go meet an animal friend of hers outside (A horse that our neighbor (and family member, Gail) let us borrow for a few hours). 

Pinkie Pie wanted her to eat cake and open presents.  (This was the majority of the party.)

Applejack wanted Clara to pick up apples like a real pony (AKA bobbing for apples).

 

Rarity had nail polish and a candy necklace for her at the "Carousel Boutique."

Clara had to pin the tail on Rainbow Dash.

And Twilight Sparkle had a new book about sleepovers (not pictured... instead, I show you a picture of popcorn, which is essential to any sleepover).

Let me just say that the coordination of the letters with the activities was not as smooth as planned, in fact, I might describe the event as a chaotic mix of present opening and eating.  But Clara had a ball, and that's the important thing.

As far as the sleepover goes, Clara and Paul slept in their teepee-tent and sleeping bags.  My mom even joined them in there for awhile before moving to one of the twin beds in their bedroom. A big cheer goes out to her for being such a sport!

Halloween 2013

At almost four years old, Clara is old enough to enjoy Halloween.  She really wanted to dress up as a "My Little Pony," so here is my best attempt.  There is a really good step by step tutorial at this website.  I didn't make my own sweat suit -- that came from Wal-Mart, but I did the embellishments.  It all came together very quickly, with very little head ache (unusual for one of my projects).

 This is our version of the "Twilight Sparkle" pony. 

It was almost too hot to wear this sweatsuit -- you can never predict Halloweentime weather!  Clara got to wear her costume to a little "harvest fest" they had in town.  They had all kinds of candy (including cotton candy), inflatables to jump on, and face painting.  She was so sweet and excited the whole time, which just made the evening special for both of us.

 The next night she went trick or treating with her older siblings Patrick and Leah.  She had a wonderful time and came home with GREAT candy (lots of chocolate).  Sadly, Paul was not in the mood to wear a costume at all, not even long enough for a photo op.  Oh well... next year!

Partying: Snowflake Party

Yes, you read that correctly, another party!  Clara just turned three, and she requested a snowflake-themed birthday party.

I'm not going to lie.  This party was a lot of work to put together.  So much so, that I have vowed to not have such involved parties again.  As much as I enjoy doing them, the time that they take to plan and prepare make me neglect other things too much.  (Enough of that "Negative Nancy."  I want some party pics!)

We covered the ceiling with snowflakes to make it look like it was snowing.  I spent many an evening cutting out snowflakes.  Do you know that true snowflakes have 6 branches, not 8?  I think I grew up making 8-sided snowflakes exclusively.  Whoops.  Cutting them out was fun for the most part.  I also purchased two different punches that made a snowflake pattern.  I bought some silver snowflakes and some fun three-d ones (thank you after-Christmas sales).  My mom pulled through with some ultra-large laminated ones, some larger punched snowflakes, and some felt ones too.

I didn't serve much food because I planned on making a time-intensive cake.  A cake ball cake.  Now before you roll your eyes because "cake balls are so last year,"  I have NEVER even had a cake ball before, so I wanted to try them.  They're pretty easy.  I did have to bake four cakes to have enough cake balls to make my three-tiered cake.  The idea was for them to look like snowballs.  The tiers themselves are actually dummy cakes - they're make of styrofoam, covered in white fondant.  The cake balls are just stuck onto the outside with toothpicks.  Each layer had a different flavor cake ball.  Bottom: French Vanilla with buttercream rolled in coconut, middle: dark chocolate with mocha hazelnut and sugar crystals, and top: oreo with cream cheese.  I was so glad it turned out as I imagined and was not a trial and error ordeal like Paul's party.

I didn't get too into Clara's clothing, unlike her Hundred Acre Wood Party last year.  I did make her a tutu, which I explain on my other blog here.  Thanks to encouragement from my extended family, Clara did wear it, although she didn't want to at first.  Her pretty white dress was a gift from her Aunt Kay.

The big surprise of the whole party was that I bought fake snow!  It's called Sno-Wonder, and it's pretty cool.  (This is not a paid endorsement, by the way.)  I think it's related to the stuff that they use in disposable diapers because the powder they send in the mail expands to like eight times its size!  A teaspoon powder to a half cup water!  I initially thought I'd use a small kiddie pool to hold it, but that idea didn't work out.  So I bought four pieces of pipe insulation (which kind of looked like fun-noodles) and stuck them together in a circular shape.  Then I laid a white tarp down on top and filled it with "sno."  (See the upper right picture above.)  It really worked out wonderfully!  Clara was so thrilled when she saw it.  She played in it for no less than two hours straight after the party was over!  (Anything over 10 minutes is a good attention grabber for a toddler.)

She kept asking people if they wanted to touch it.  Ha!

Paul wasn't so sure about it at first, but he has come to like it.

The cool part is that it lasts a long time.  After the party my dad filled up our empty turtle sandbox with the sno, (so it wouldn't keep messing up the house) and the kids have been playing in it most every day since (over a week).

I made little "sno day kits" for everyone to take home.



One other fun activity was the pinata made from an ice cream bucket and filled with sno.  It was a pull-pinata instead of the traditional hit-it-with-a-stick type (I figured we didn't really need anyone, let alone Clara or Paul running around with a large stick hitting things).

After the pinata, we sang and Clara blew out her three big candles.

Then she opened gifts.

Then back to playing in the snow.

Of course she had to make a snow angel or two!

 

It ended up being a really enjoyable afternoon with family and good friends.  

Happy Birthday to my sweet three year old!

Parenting: Potty Training

I am afraid to write this post.  Afraid because I don't want to jinx it.  And I don't have pictures.  Sorry.  But, Clara's been diaper-free for almost a week.  Eek!

I am the first to admit that potty training Clara has been a difficult task, and I did not approach the process as prepared as I should have been.  Need I remind you of my other potty post?  Like this one from almost 18 months ago?  I thought that buying a potty, having the "Once Upon A Potty" book, and watching for her "cues" was all it took.  Naive.

A few months later I thought: she needs an incentive.  She needs some treats.  No deal.

Then a few months later I thought: she needs to be invested in the process.  She can pick out some underwear.  Still no deal.

Then a few months later I thought: I need help!

My advice?  Read some books about it first.  Be strategic.  Going with the flow (bad pun, I know) was and is slow and painful and expensive.  I checked out "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" from our library, and it actually made a lot of sense.  Its basic concept is have your child teach a doll (that can wet) to use the potty, then they will know how to go by them self.  I think if that was my first foray into pottying with Clara, we might have had more success, but it was not.  We tried that method, and she LOVED teaching her doll to use the potty.  She loved all the treats you ate during the process, but she wanted nothing to do with sitting on the potty herself.

So how in the world is she using the potty now?  Well, I'm not sure.  All I know is that she had two diapers that leaked in a short time span one morning.  As I was cleaning the floor from the spill, I told her, "You're too big for these diapers.  They can't hold all your peep (what we lovingly call urine).  It's time for you to wear underwear."  And by golly, she went with it, despite the fact that I had told this to her umpteen times before.

She's not 100% accident free yet, and I have her wear a pull-up to bed, but we're all doing well.  We've got a small potty seat, a little potty, a little potty at Gram's house, and a fold-up travel potty.  We've got a sticker chart on the wall with plenty of stickers to choose from, tootsie rolls, and animal crackers.  We have Dora underwear, "Punzel" underwear, plain underwear, and princess underwear.  In other words, the support staff is in place.  We have our fingers crossed.  While it's somewhat nerve racking to constantly check on her and remind her about using the potty, I know that this stressful part of learning will be a short span overall. 

The end is in sight!  Hallelujah! 

Kid Crafting: Handmade Wrapping Paper

The subtitle of this post should be: Entertaining Your Children On the Cheap (or something like that).

Clara, Paul, and I went to our first non-family birthday party a week ago.  Clara helped me not only wrap the gift, but make the wrapping paper. 

I thought it turned out pretty cute!  Now this is not any kind of original idea, nor is it rocket science how I did it, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

I grabbed a sheet of newsprint and asked her if she wanted to decorate it.  She was all for it.

She drew a butterfly and a rainbow.  We were going to a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" birthday, so her drawing was very appropriate (weird coincidence!).  Can't see them?  Let me help you.

After she finished, I busted out my new mini stamp set and using her markers, stamped on the "Happy Birthday" part.

We wrapped Pat's gift today using the same method.  Cheap + Amused Child = Happy Erin

Put it in your arsenal, Moms, if you haven't already... Christmas will be here before you know it :-)

Reflection at 7 weeks

Paul is over seven weeks old now.  He was ten pounds at his last check up (at one month); he had grown an inch and a half since he was born.

It has been such an adjustment now that there are two little ones in the house!  In retrospect, one child is so simple; two children are exponentially harder. 

My husband and I knew that we were spoiled with Clara - from the start she was a good nighttime sleeper, and really just an all-around healthy child with a relatively peaceful demeanor.

Paul is a different child.  Healthy? Yes, but quite demanding of my attention.   The swing that was the life-saver for me with Clara doesn't seem to lull Paul to sleep at all.  In fact, he's spends a maximum of about 10 minutes in it at a time before he tells me it's time to get out.  Paul wants to be held.  All. The. Time.  Thank goodness for the Baby Bjorn - otherwise I wouldn't get anything done!

Clara definitely loves Paul.  She wants to take care of him at the slightest whimper.  Oh, if only she was gentle!  A typical Clara-Paul interaction involves Clara nose-to-nose with Paul saying "Hey Paul, Hey Paul, Hey Paul..." over and over and over again until something happens to stop it (Paul cries, Clara tries to pick him up, etc.).  Pat says that Paul is getting "lots of stimulation, as long as he lives through it." 

 

 

Clara's made the transition to the "Big Sister Room."  She's been sleeping in her bed for almost two weeks now.  I can't say that she really likes her twin-sized bed, but she doesn't protest sleeping in it either.  I'm still working on finishing the details before I post photos of it, but I hope to have it mostly done in time for her second birthday (which is 26 21 (aah!) days away and counting!).