Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Mary Poppin's birthday party

Come join us as we look back at Sienna's Jolly Holiday 3rd Birthday Party!

We celebrated Sienna's 3rd birthday 2 weekends ago and had the party at this wonderful train park in Scottsdale with an almost Mary worthy magical carousel and everything! The down side to the practically perfect location was having to get there at the crack of dawn to reserve your spot, so from the wee hours of the morning that I opened my eyes til the last guest was gone it was Step In Time!

So please pardon me for the picture quality here... hosting 3 year old birthdays in a park is a little crazy without even trying to take pictures, but I'd say if you love to laugh then keep on scrolling for some fun and goofy pictures, plus a few pretty good Mary Poppins theme party ideas if I do say so myself!

First there were costumes....

Mary Poppins (scandalously pregnant) and Jane

Despite the particularly warm, sunny day of 75, "Jane" stayed in costume all day and for, well, I do believe she still thinks she actually is Jane.

I don't think we helped by letting her call her brother Michael, although he was more interested in drinking his first CapriSun than dressing up like Mary Poppins characters.

In case you don't think I'm a bad enough mother for giving my 1 year old a CapriSun, I made sure that everyone else had spoons full of sugar to help the medicine go down.

Sienna actually helped me make these out of melted white chocolate and red sprinkles! Super easy and the kids LOVED them!


Next, what would a Mary Poppins' party be without umbrellas?

I found these PERFECT while umbrellas from the Oriental Trading Company that you can actually decorate yourself!

I had to admit that these didn't go exactly as planned... I wanted to make ruffles to sew along the bottom of each one like a real "Jane" umbrella would be out of a water-proof shower curtain, but you can't do every good idea you have I supposed! Even still, I think it's a nice token or tuppence for everyone to take home!



Don't worry the boys had fun at this ultra girlie fest too!


I laid out long strips of butcher paper I've been saving since I stopped teaching for just the right occasion, such as, needing long "side walks" for the kids to draw magical chalk pictures to jump into.

That, and the really cool real KITES (also from the Oriental Trading Company) that they got to decorate themselves too!!

Then after we decorated them....

You guessed it!!

Let's go fly a kite!


Up to the highest height!

And send it soaring!!

It's been a week since the party and the soundtrack only played through 2 or 3 times during the party, but I still find myself singing silently in my head all day :)


And finally, last, but not least...


We finished off the day with Funfetti Penguin cake for all!

It's supposed to be the Jolly Holiday penguins with the menu...

Don't laugh, it was the best I could do with limitations of frosting, food coloring and trying to involve a very excited almost 3 year old!


Sienna had been begging for a Mary Poppins theme party for months and months. When I couldn't persuade her to go for something like Strawberry Shortcake or a little easier, I started hunting all crafty corners I know for Mary Poppins theme party and ideas and was quite surprised by how little I could find online.

I did find this ADORABLE professionally photographed party that set the bar far higher than my highest kite would reach on a practical budget. But if you're looking to do a Poppins Party I recommend checking it out for some more fancy ideas...


Such as these scrumptious candied applies, but I decided our age group wasn't the best for something like that... or, adorable as it was the real tea set for that matter!


Now, truth be told, there was one other tiny little part for the party that got left behind, because I simply ran out of time! But I think it would've been so cute and easy that I just have to tell you about the cute little carpet bags I was sewing for all the party favors!! They just didn't get done in time... but can we still say it was the thought that counts??

All things considered I'd say the party was very
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Quiet is bad

I never thought I'd say that!

But I'm learning quickly that no noise, means trouble with an almost 3 year old...

Silence

"Sienna... where are you?"

Little mouse like squeaks of noise in the kitchen


Grab the camera, who knows what you'll find in that kitchen!


CAUGHT!


"Sienna, what are you doing?!!"

"Mama, I just eating a snack"

Frantic searching around the kitchen for the rest of the unopened 16 oz crate of blackberries

"Sienna, where are all the blackberries that were in there?"


"um... I just put them in my tummy"

"ALL OF THEM?!"

"Um, yes, I did it!!"

Mouth gasps open with blank gaze of disbelief.

How did you find them in there?? Geez, how long was I in the bathroom!??


"Sooorrr-reeey Mommy"

Surprisingly no stomach ache to teach her a lesson..

But what's even more surprising is that Mommy didn't learn her lesson about the quiet thing either, because a few days later I walked into my bedroom from doing the breakfast dishes to find this...

"Sienna, what are you two doing in Mommy's make up box?!"

"Um, I'm playing make ups nicely with Jonah and he likes it too!!"

Oye, I think I learned my lesson this time. Bring my camera when I'm going to catch my kids in trouble??
No, no, quiet is bad. Quiet is bad.


"You aren't supposed to play with Mommy's things. Let's get out of my room right now and play nicely with your toys!"

"Oh, and, uh let's just not tell Daddy that Jonah liked playing make ups too."

Needless to say these little darlings have been making it a difficult to sneak away for any quality sewing time lately! So I decided to use their momentary (if only that were true) mischievous streak to take my machine in for it's tune up.

So no sewing for me this week until my machine get's out of the shop, but I do have a really cute dress I made over Christmas to share.... soon :)


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Wrist cuff pin cushion love is in the air

Who doesn't love a homemade gift??


Not many people I'm learning after my first year of this crafty mommy blogger thing and I felt like the pressure was on just a tad bit this Christmas to dish out some personalized presents for a few a lot of those homemade gift lovers in my life.

Yikes!!

Luckily, there are some very creative, crafty bloggers out there who have the same brilliant ideas that I do with frequently much easier ways to make them!

I had the idea to make wearable pin cushions for some of my crafting partners in crime over here and just knew that I'd stumble upon the perfect, quick and easy tutorial if I just keyed in the right words...


And voila!

Before I could say the words I stumbled upon a tutorial for these adorable wrist cuff pin cushions over at Keyka Lou!

I had everything I needed at home to make these.... a little velcro, small amount of coordinating fabric, string and a big button. I even recycled a plastic baby food lid to put under the flower to block my wrists from those pesky long pins...

It was so quick, easy and inexpensive that I decided to go splurge on some fancy iron-over pins to match the fabric!!!

I'm so glad I did, because wasn't that just the right finishing touch for a little gift!?

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