Countdown to Christmas

This year's Christmas party contained a small miracle.  All THREE of my children spoke to Santa.  Patrick even HUGGED him, and Kaya sat on his lap (Tommy still preferred Mrs. Clause).  No one cried.  And then, while I was still in shock, something else miraculous happened - they all looked at the photographer and smiled (mostly). At the same time (gasp).  Oddly, after Kaya asked for a Doc McStuffins doll, and Tommy rattled off his Lego request, Santa forgot that Patrick had not yet told him what he wanted.  Good thing the kid is persistent. Patrick also asked Santa how he ate "with that thing".




Meanwhile, Tom and I moaning and groaning about our elf.  We are only into day three of hiding the thing and I already wish it was time for him to return to Canada.

Erie 2015

We made our annual beach trip to Erie, PA this year, although we went in August, later in the the summer break than we have braved in the past.  We lucked out with beautiful weather and hot, but not uncomfortably so, temps. 

This is by far my favorite shot from the trip (which earned it a place on this blog's header).  The beach was in no way crowded Saturday morning, so the kids had a chance to take turns flying our kite. 

My favorite beach day was actually a beach evening.  We arrived in Erie around 5:00 and picked up Chik-fil-a on the way to our hotel.  The kids ate quickly, then we loaded up in the car for a quick look at the beach.  since we weren't going to be there long, we headed to Beach 10, our favorite, more isolated beach at the far end of Presque Isle State Park.  The light was amazing and it was just the right combination of not too cool and not too warm.  We told the kids NOT to get wet since we were just staying a short while, but I don't think Tommy heard.  This was him 2 minutes into our arrival. That wave did not end well for dry clothes.

 I thought Kaya would be just like her brothers and remain terrified of the water until she was 3 or 4, but after a few fearful glances, she got was all about the waves and getting her feet in the water.

 We booked at the Residence Inn attached to Splash Lagoon again, because we remembered it being nice from a previous stay.  We like having two separate bedrooms with a common living room for these trips so the kids can be put to bed while we watch a movie.  We just borrowed some kitchen chairs to make a bedrail on either side of the bed for Kaya and she slept like a rock.  The boys shared  the other queen in that room. 

 Perhaps we over-packed buddies.  Perhaps.

In short, we probably won't stay here again.  It has slipped a bit beyond its peak.  The HUGE jetted tub in the kids bathroom was broken (a big disappointment after we spent 20 minutes filling it up) and breakfast was so-so. 


We woke up Saturday,  had our so-so breakfast, then hit Beach 7.

We bring the kite each year, and Tommy was old enough to take a turn at the flying too.

My Aunt Janet was in town for a girl's weekend and set up her blanket right next to ours.  The kids loved playing with her.

Our last day we broke out the old boogie board that has been hanging in our garage for the past 7 years.  All the kids loved it, especially the princess.

Overall it was another fantastic trip.  Goodbye until next year, Erie!

Kaya's 2nd Birthday Spectacular

This clown turned TWO.  And, if on cue, is now happily employed full time as a terrible two tantrum thrower.  She won't ever just get in her carseat in the car.  She bites (mostly just Tommy, and he probably deserved it, but still).  She tells me not to touch her all the time, for fear I will help her with something.  She calls us names (like goopy schloopy head) that her ever so considerate brothers taught her.  Today she called me Goopy Head as I carried to timeout in her room (for biting Tommy).  I cannot believe how much more independent this third child is.  I found her sitting on the floor perusing the Lego catalog the other day just like her big brothers.  She is a girly girl, but also loves engaging in battle with her jedi light saber.  She talked the WHOLE way home from our Erie trip while her brothers slept.  She has been healthy and seizure free since May (well, except for an E.R. trip for some stitches).   Happy Birthday, K.

We decided on a circus/carnival theme for Kaya's 2nd Birthday at the end of July.  I gambled on nice weather and decided to set up a bunch of carnival games in the backyard and invite a few of her little friends.  I may have gotten a little out of control with my theme. Shocker. I stuck with red, aqua, white and gold for the colors.

The invitation was from Pear Tree Greetings-

I started off with some plywood I had cut down at Lowes (they do 12 cuts for free).  I painted them white then painted the names of the various games on them (I was already thinking that all these games would make a second or third appearance over the next few years).

I borrowed this lovely idea from Three Monkeys Studio (http://www.threelittlemonkeysstudio.com/diy-animal-mason-jars-tutorial/).  Instead of starting with regular sized mason jars, I found some oversized ones in the kitchen jar section of the Super Wal-mart, and some large plastic animals in one of the toy department aisles ($2/animal).  I wanted some large enough to hold either prizes or candy.   I used super glue to fasten the animals to the lids (worked perfectly), then scoured the city for the Rustoleum Glitter spray so highly recommended in the blog.  I finally found it at Home Depot and purchased two bottles for something like $8 each.  What the blog failed to mention was that I needed LITERALLY more than 25 coats to achieve the final result.  next time, I will prime the animals with a metallic gold spray paint, THEN use the glitter spray.

Anyways, one bottle covered just these three animals.  Keep scrolling to see why it was worth it...

I ended up using them to hold prizes.  We have a built in shelving area in our basement, right off the backyard.  It was the just right spot to set up the carnival prizes.  There were actual tickets at each game, and the parents were given instructions to just take whatever tickets they wanted after their child played.  Most of the kids were 3 and under, so there was no keeping score.  Prizes were then labeled 1-4 tickets.  I got the prizes primarily from the Target dollar bins, the Dollar Store, and the Walmart birthday party section.  The mini plastic animals I ordered from U.S. Toy at the recommendation of Three Little Monkeys Studio after I figured out they were the best deal.  I used some for prizes, and then used the rest on another favor (keep scrolling) . The popcorn boxes you see at the top were from five below (10 for $3 I think).  I filled them with a mini beach pail/ mini sand shovel set I also found at Five Below for $1/each.  I threw some yellow tissue paper on top and they doubled as decorations.  The white wooden shelving with the dividers came with the numbers already stenciled on them.  I found them at Michaels for 75% off!  They will find a permanent home in our house. 

 So worth the zillions coats!

We lucked out and had lots of sunshine, but it was 85 degrees, so we had the candy table and cake inside, as well as the house open for playing if people just needed to cool off.  There was a no-sew circus tent hanging from a tree in the shade.  Check out the directions at http://www.littlemissmomma.com/2012/07/circus-tent-tutorial.html.  It was in fact, pretty easy, just as long as you do it after your toddlers are asleep so you can lay out the tulle without them "helping".

We had seven game stations:

#1
Duck Pond - Hands down the favorite with the 3 and under crowd.  I ordered two dozed rubber duckies from Oriental Trading Company, glued magnets I picked up at Michaels to their heads, and drew black triangles on their underside to serve as the winning ducks.  I did a test float after I glued the first magnet on, and the duck floated great.  Unfortunately, 30 minutes into the party they were tipping and not floating upright.  Turns out they had a teeny, tiny hole in their beaks which I should have sealed with a dot of superglue.  As soon as water got in, it was all over.  The kids still had fun with the fishing poles (painted dowel rods from Michaels with magnets superglued to nut rings, tied on the end of the string).  The wading pool I already had.  Yes, Kaya is wearing a smocked circus themed dress (Love, love, Zulily).

The Photo Area - I bought wooden lion and zebra masks from Michaels and painted them bright colors.  There were clown noses and an inflatable bar bell from Amazon.   The polka dot fabric was from Joann's.

#2 Plinko
I ordered this from Oriental Trading Company for around $20?  It was really cute.

 #3
Ring Toss
About three weeks before the party I spied the vintage Seven-Up crate with original bottles in it at my sister's house.  She kindly lent it to me for the party.  I used kids bracelets for the rings.

 #4 Spray Away
I painted a scrap piece of wood white, drilled holes along the top, and pounded in golf tees.  Add a few plastic ping pong balls and a squirt gun, and viola! This game will not work if it is even a tad windy, as the balls roll off at the slightest breeze before the kids can shoot them.

#5
Knock 'Em Down
Cans covered in scrap book paper I already had.  Easy.

 #6
Bean Bag Toss (far left front in picture)
A Party City find. 

#7  Fish Bowl Pong

I painted a wooden crate from Lowes white, and added 6 fishbowl vases from the Dollar Store.  I put a cut out paper fish in the bottom of each vase.  I think it would have been even better with real water in the vases and plastic fish in each one, but I thought of it too late.

This circus lion photo prop I plagerized from an Etsy shop who wanted $150, plus shipping.  My artistic abilities are limited, but I drew it out and painted it in one night.  The wood was one of the cuts from my $18 sheet of plywood.  Tom screwed it into a thick, heavy piece of wood scrap we had in the garage so it would be free standing. 

I decided this would be a sugerfest for the kids, so we served no food except the cake, soft pretzels, candy, and popcorn.  We borrowed the popcorn cart from Tom's parents and had popcorn bags from the dollar store (10/$1).  I bought red, aqua and white  tulle from Joann's on sale for .75/yard and used it to make a canopy on the ceiling. I had the tablecloth from Easter, and it matched perfectly.  I scored acrylic apothecary canisters from the Super Wal-Mart after searching unsuccessfully all over the  internet.  They were hiding back in the craft section by the cake baking materials.  There was cotton candy (Dollar Store), Twizzlers, rainbow sour gummy candy, Smarties, Skittles and Circus Peanuts (I searched high and low and could not find any that were processed in a nut-free facility, so I had little allergy alert signs

The cake is the same rainbow layer one in Patrick's birthday blog post, and was a big hit again.  I stumbled across these two elephants at Marshalls two months before the party and knew I would find use for them somewhere.  The ticket rolls came from U.S. toys.

 The other plastic animals went towards another take home favor - the Mason jar idea from Three Little Monkey's Studio again.  This time I purchased normal, wide-mouth mason jars with that had the traditional two piece lid.  I bought one-piece plastic lids for this project because I wanted to put sprinkle circus animal cookies in each, but something went wrong.  I could not get the animals to stick to lids.  I tried sanding the feet and the spots on the lid like I did for the oversized mason jars (which came with one-piece metal lids and stuck like champs), but nothing worked.  I tried three kinds of crazy glue and a hot glue gun.  I was able to get them to stick just enough to finish the project, but most popped off before people even made it out the door with them. Next time I will buy regular mouth mason jars and one piece metal lids.

The animals were painted with Rust-Oleum Gloss Seaside Paint/Primer spray paint and needed only two coats two coats I think.

 Kaya has never been to the cicus, but boy she had fun.  All the games are reusable, and I see another carnival in our future...