kirstencan

Monkey's 3rd Birthday

He had a good day.

Donut Picnic in his room.  Just the two of us.  It may be a new tradition.

The obligatory '3' shirt - I had a hard time getting a photo of it - he doesn't stay still often...

I love having the kids make wrapping paper.  Thomas made the cool face - it had 5 ears.

This was a piece that I couldn't bear to use as wrapping paper, so I hung it up.  I would ask Thomas which sound came next - and he wrote it.  So sweet.  All the letters are there ... just not in straight lines and with some D's in between. ;)

Monkey was an excellent helper decorating the cupcakes.  Thomas had come up with the idea that Monkey should have a LEGO cake - so we made cupcakes (I so love birthday cupcakes now - and way easy to sneak a few gluten-free ones in there) with LEGO fruit snacks on top.  Monkey built towers with them, while I played with sprinkles.

A game (or two or five) of Hullaballoo helped pass the time until the grandparents arrived for a yummy dinner.

And all that mattered:  He had a great day.

Monkey's Birthday: Change of Plans

Today Monkey is three.  I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone!  He is such a cool, funny kid.  He's now three going on 13.  He's my prince - jedi knight - super jumper - comedian - monkey.  He is so funny and I'm so glad I'm his mom!

(better/mushier post last year - and I might be able to come up with something better later - right now I'm trying to figure out our day!)

I like to make the birthday really revolve around the birthday kiddo.  I came up with a list of things that Monkey likes to do - and that was our agenda for today.  No errands, just fun. 

Until Thomas woke up in the middle of the night with croup.  Now he's home from school, which is fine - but throws off all our plans!

***********

Breakfast:  Donuts - still on, but complicated.  We usually keep Thomas' gluten-free donuts in the freezer, but the store has been out of them recently, so so are we.  We were going to eat them after he went to school - so now we'll have to sneak them?  I feel bad about that, but Monkey picked out his donuts at the store yesterday - so we already have them.

Playdate with friends at the park  canceled due to weather (it snowed yesterday!  Eighty degrees Monday, snow Tuesday...)  and now I can't ask the little boys over to our house either.

Out for Lunch  Thomas' diet doesn't allow for going out to lunch - I'll have to make Monkey a corndog.

Library  Nope

Pick up some balloons  Nope

Frosting cupcakes

Feed the ducks on the way home from the bus stop  Now we're not going to the bus stop  - plus the weather and Thomas being sick.

Dinner, cake, and presents with the grandparents  Hopefully still on.  Monkey insisted on hot dogs for dinner - so we'll grill and I'm making yummy baked beans.

Okay, so now I need to think of some Monkey-centric home-based activities for today!

• Star Wars (in progress - he chose Episode One)
• Watercolors?
• Playdough?
• Legos
• Lightsabers
• Make a new wooden train track set up
• Reading lots of books
• Computer time
• Maybe Aladdin or Matilda (new fave movies)

I let him open two gifts (his new 3 shirt and new Charlie and Lola books) this morning - I'm going to be tempted to let him open everything early just to make the day special - I'll try not to, though.

Anyway, happy birthday to my little guy - I hope you still have a good day!

The Squeal heard round the world

Today I am 32. 

That number always reminds me of my mom.

When I was learning my multiplication tables, MY mom was 32.  She was 8x4.
That's how I remembered it - and something about all the numbers being even or something makes them happy numbers.

And now I'm 8x4!  Life is crazy.


Alternate title for this post:  I have the best husband EVER. 

Not only did he take the day off of work so I could craft all day (which is THE perfect gift and he didn't need to get me anything else!), he got me...

Are you ready?

A Print Gocco!  Woo hoo!
I have joined the ranks of the Gocco-printing! 

Now, you must understand that printmaking was one of my favorite classes in college.  I've saved the instructions for making my own light table and stretching my own screens.  But that takes too much space and time right now.

I saw the Gocco in Readymade a few years ago and was drooling over it.  But at that point supplies were harder to find, and the Gocco's fate hadn't yet been decided.

So, recently I've been a little teensy-bit obsessed with getting one, and was saving up my pocket money.  Somehow Aaron caught on to that.  Hmm, it could be the constant looking at Gocco prints on flickr, or the videos on youtube.

We're not usually big gift-givers, so this is HUGE!

Alright, I've done my homework, but I'm going to check all the directions, and then get printing - and later sewing.

I'll have things to show tomorrow for sure - Happy Day!

Birthday Etc.

Thomas did have a great birthday - thank you so much for your Happy Birthday wishes for him!

While he was at school, we decorated (he would NOT have wanted to go to school if the place had been decorated the night before, and I don't blame him!).

The birthday bunting looked great flipped to the 'boy' side (I thought).

Princess made leaf print wrapping paper, and Monkey and I made some with markers and stamps.

The cake was my lamest ever - but at least the frosting covered up the chunk Monkey took out of it!

This cake didn't want to come out of the pan, so I wasn't about to try and make it!  I just used some of those Star Wars picks like we used for Princess' birthday - not impressive, but Thomas liked it, even if he mostly played in it with his new playmobil guys rather than eat it.

 

This year was a very low key birthday for him. He is often exhausted after a day of school, and he had school the next day, so we didn't want to make the party too involved. And it was easier for me, I must admit. :)  Just us and Grandma and Grandpa.

(Last year's much more detailed party (CARS theme) here if you're interested.)

Oh, and last weekend he had a sleepover at Grandma's house, and they took him to Build a Bear - luckily my mom took lots of photos for me.  Here he is insisting on carrying everything out by himself.  What a little man.

 

P.S. Has anyone else watched the NOVA show about epigenetics?  Wow.  It was interesting, and by the time they were talking about research into autism I was hooked, of course.  They have also studied how being nurtured as a baby affects your genes, your adult health and the health of future generations. Really fascinating stuff.

High Five!

Is it just me, or are there a LOT of birthdays around now... I never knew November was so popular...

So, yeah, it's Thomas' birthday, too.  He is FIVE today!  It's been a little weird, as it's the first time one of my kids has been away for the day (school) on their birthday.  I wish I could spend the day with my little (big) guy!

We sent him off to school with his birthday donut (gluten/dairy-free, of course) and Aaron let him listen to No Cars Go (Arcade Fire - his favorite song IN THE WORLD) repeatedly on the 45 minute drive.

I packed a cupcake in his lunch, along with a note and a race car party napkin (it's the little things, right?).  We also sent in some GFCF cookies to share for snacktime.

I always get a little extra-sentimental at Thomas' birthdays.    Maybe it's the progress he shows over the course of a year.  Some things come so easily to him, like laughing, finding joy in things around him, and snuggling.  Some things don't come as easily for him, and while it's hard to watch him struggle, I marvel at how strong he is and how far he's come. I like having a day to just celebrate him.

So we brought one of his balloons to the bus stop to pick him up, and the kids are now watching Star Wars.  Because it's his day.

Happy birthday, Buddy!  I love you and am so proud of you!

(Like his shirt?  I was going to make him a number shirt like Monkey's, but decided to trace and applique his hand shape on instead - because you only have one High Five Birthday.  I about poked my fingers through sewing through all those layers, but it was worth it!  And it came home in his backpack because he got it wet at school and wanted to change.  So now it's in the washer, and hopefully it will be dry before the sun sets so I can get a decent picture of him in it!)

Birthday Crafting

First up, I made this little flower brooch - modified a little from Blair's tutorial.

My mom wanted it to go on Princess' birthday dress - that she made of course!  She asked what kind of dress she should make, and Princess asked for a white dress with a blue sash - she had been listening to a version of 'My Favorite Things'. :)
I love the dots.

...

Here is the "Darth [Princess]" cake.  She wanted a Darth Vadar cake (I have my mom's old cake pan) but making it 'realistic' kinda freaked her out - so joking, I said we could make it all pink and purple - and she loved the idea!  I think it's pretty funny. 
It would have been more pink and less white, but I'm trying to use less food coloring.  I didn't make it gluten-free, since the pan has so many crevices I didn't think it would work, so I just got out some gluten-free cupcakes from the freezer (for Thomas) and added these quick little Starwars picks (printed from starwars.com).

...

Here is our birthday bunting!  I originally thought it would just be for the dining room window, but for some reason I cut out too many flags, so it ended up being enough for the window and the mantel!  Perfect.  I bought the balloon fabric, the rest is stuff I already had.

(Don't judge me by my dining room curtains!  They're okay, but very not me.  They're from the previous owner and one of these days they'll be replaced! :)

And here's the cool part...
See the back?

It reverses to 'boy' fabrics!  It has lots of blues, reds, and greens.
So this is our new birthday decor for all birthdays! I love the idea of reusing this, and it looks really fun!  We'll see a whole new look come November for Thomas' birthday.  I did end up putting a layer of muslin in between the flags, too - so you wouldn't be able to see through to a different pattern.

Thank you for the birthday wishes for Princess - she had a great day, and will be dressing her dolls and playing Playmobil all day.  I doubt I'll see her much.
Maybe if she gets hungry... there's always leftover cake!

Birthday Lists

It's my girl's birthday today.

I related to Beki's post on her daughter's birthday because my Princess has always seemed older than she is, too, so her birthdays don't come as a big shock/sobfest.  Which is good.  Because there is definite tear-potential on these days for sure! :)

She is super excited, although she'll have to wait until after dinner to open presents.  And she keeps telling me that it's a big day for me, too - as it's the day I became a mom.  True.

As you know, she is a total bookworm.  She has the most amazing/hilarious vocabulary.  I've been keeping a paper at the top of the fridge to jot down words/phrases that she says that aren't so 'six'.  I thought I'd share a small taste of what living with my (now 7yo) Princess is like - these are all things I've heard her say over the past couple of months - she uses most of them regularly:

Surely
Shall
By Jove
'twas
'tis
hereby
journey
scare her out of her wits
shan't
out of earshot
I must have calculated it wrong.
spill the contents
I fear she may be coming down with the measles. (referring to one of her dolls)
I like his boyish face. (referring to Luke Skywalker)
Just a titch
Speaking of...
I stole down the stairs...
Bread with JAM, mind you!

(Now go back and read them with an affected British accent!)

And, since we know she really enjoys making lists (we got her a day planner to keep them in for her birthday! :) here is her plan for the day:

1. Have donuts in bed (see photo)

2. have a relaxing bath (we made a trip to Bath & Bodyworks to get her some new shower gel and lotion)

3. get dressed in shirt and skirt

4. play playmobil

5. read Narnia

6. ride bike

7. eat lunch (spaghetti with cheese has been requested)

8. watch a movie (she's been debating this one for a couple of weeks - it'll probably be 'Thoroughly Modern Millie')

9. play computer

10. get dolls dressed

11. fix dolls hair

12. paint a picture

13. play with Claire

14. have dinner (chinese)

15. change into party dress

16. put on necklace

(Now, I don't have a bike, and I'd change the lunch menu, but otherwise it sounds like a pretty great day!  Maybe I'll copy this for my birthday next year...)

So, Happy Birthday, Princess, I love you so much.  Right now she is daintily eating a yummy donut in bed and reading her new 'Archie'.  The boys won't leave her alone this morning (we've already sung to her 3 times!), and so Thomas is sitting in her bed looking at a book, too.

Tomorrow I'll show you a little birthday crafting that has happened lately! :)

Princess' 2006 birthday

This week my little girl turns seven.  SEVEN!!!  How did that happen?

We'll be holding just a small family party for her - I think we're going to start doing the 'every other year' thing for parties. 

I've been thinking a lot about last year's party.  Last year, just a couple of weeks before I started this blog, we threw the cutest tea party for her sixth birthday - wanna see?
...

Looking around for her invite to snap a photo of it, I found this little painting I put on the door, and the little 'guest book' we had for the girls to sign.

(The invite of course required it's own photo shoot - lugging dolls, tea set and mosquito netting outside...)

My mom gave Princess her doll, Violet, and made matching dresses for them - I love this picture when she's waiting for the party -just lounging on the beanbag (sans tiara and gloves - I kid you not).

The table setting:  I usually never buy the 'theme' plates, cups, etc. but they had the tea party line on clearance right before her birthday so I got the plates.  The pink trays are made from paper plates (an idea from Martha Stewart Kids, I believe) with doilies on top.  The table center is dotted swiss, borrowed from a friend, the buckets (from my brother's wedding) hold (fake + cheap) flowers stuffed with tulle.  The girls loved the teeny white paper cups filled with pastel skittles on their placemats.

And we always do placecards.

We had PB &J finger sandwiches, ham + cheese wraps, chips, zucchini bread cut into heart shapes, and lots of cookies.  Strawberry lemonade was the 'tea'.

I'd wanted to find little cups + saucers that the girls could take home, but no such luck, so we used what we had.

We balanced books (Nancy Drews!) on our heads, played a cooperative musical chairs game (SO fun!  You take chairs away, but no one gets out - so you end up with everyone piling on people's laps), had a manners lesson, made paper fans, and played 'freeze dance' to 20's music.  The girls were asked to wear a dress and bring a doll.  So they danced with their dolls and it was hilariously fun.

The pink monstrosity of a cake is supposed to be a tea table.  I made a 10" instead of an 8" as I was missing one of my 8" pans.  HUGE cake.  Then the recipe I tried for fondant (to really look like a tablecloth) totally didn't work, so I just frosted it.

The week before the party Princess and I spent a naptime making these white tissue paper flowers.  We hung them from pink ribbon everywhere.

It pretty much looked like a pink explosion.  Which was perfect.

I threw in some white doilies, too.


Anyway, the party was very pink, very cute, very fun.
My favorite kind of party - I spent VERY little money on it - practically nothing.  Just put in some 'creative hours' and voila!

I still love looking at these pictures...

Birthday Recap

Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes for Monkey!

He had a great day.
(He spent most of it in his cape - and this little '2' shirt I made him).

.

Monkey has been talking for months about having a 'Pooh & Lumpy' cake.
Months.
Then, last week he started talking about how he wanted a 'Mater and the Ghostlight' cake (!), or a Darth Vadar cake.

Luckily, I was able to talk him back into the Lumpy idea - which was probably the easiest to make!

(and of course, it's gluten and dairy-free, so Thomas could eat it, too).

Princess helped by making the little cupcake flags.

Monkey found the powdered sugar and announced "I like sugar, Mom!"

(Well, of course you do!)

Mom made his birthday crown and we got Monkey some helium balloons.  I was going to separate them and put them in different places, but he had such fun playing with them (and carrying them around for most of the day) and the ribbons got hopelessly tangled up - and that's okay.

Yesterday I took 347 photos.
I wish I could share all the good ones!

Okay, gotta go play some Mr. Potato Head and eat some cake for breakfast!

My Baby is Two!

Today is Monkey's 2nd birthday. 

The time has FLOWN!

This weekend I whipped up a cape for him.
He's been wanting to be 'Super Bunny' - which
is from a Max & Ruby episode.  My kids don't
really know much about Batman, Spiderman, etc.

(Star Wars, yes...)

I am so grateful for this kid.
He is so happy and funny.

We got pregnant with him right before Thomas
started acting wild (which happens with a lot
of autistic kids around 18-24 mos. We had no
idea that there was anything 'different' about
Thomas at that time). 

We've joked several times that it's a good thing
Monkey happened when he did or we might not
have had him at all!

Oh, I'm so glad we did.  He is a joy to
be around.

• I love how he says 'Wee Haaa!' when he's on the swings.
• I love how he says 'Deyicious'.
• I love how he experiments with plurals, like "Fish, fishes, fisha-es" to try and figure them out on his own.
• I love how when you ask where something went his standard reply is: "It flew away" or "It fell in the water".  Which never makes any sense at all.

• I love how he has to have any snack in a bowl.  Don't try and give him even 2 raisins without a bowl, bag, or napkin to put them in.

• I love how he calls almonds 'acorns' and won't eat them unless you call them that, too (a nod to Totoro).

• I love how he loves the garden so much that it's an insult for him to find out that Aaron was working there without him.

• I love that he loves fruits & vegetables.  He'll eat anything and loves it.  Very unlike my other two.  His current favorite is Clementines - 'Peel my Cemenkine?'

• I love how he dances - he's got such rhythm!
• I love going shopping with just him.  We just talk away, and he's hilarious.
• I love that he knows a wampa monster from a rancor monster (Star Wars)
• I love how his hair is finally growing in - except those front corners...
• I love how even though he's definitely the skinniest of my kids, he's still chubby enough to kiss thoroughly.

If you ask him if he's a Big Boy, he'll
angrily say 'NO!  I'm a Big Baby!'

That's okay by me,
Happy Birthday to my big baby.
I'm so glad you're here with me.