halloween

we had a busy halloween this year. miles and i were so happy to get to enjoy it with the kids because last year we missed it. we dressed the kids up as characters from peter pan. mason was captain hook, dahlia was tinkerbell, and connor was peter pan.

in the early afternoon we went to my church where they had a huge fair. there were games to play for candy and some carnival rides. we met the rest of my family there. bodhi and zena played games with dahlia while mason took a nap in the stroller. he was being tired and cranky so we let him sleep. the fair was really fun. i wish we would have planned to be there longer. the kids wanted to go on rides but there was not much time before we had to be off to our next destination. we decided to skip the rides and just let them play on the church playground for a bit.

after we finished playing we headed over to our friend kristi's house. she and her husband had a huge crowd over for pizza and salads before going trick-or-treating. i was surprised how many people were there. things were pretty chaotic through dinner and trick-or-treating. i really didn't get any pictures of our day. i was having a really hard time keeping track of everyone. their neighborhood had lots of people trick-or-treating. it was crazy. big crowds at all the houses. the kids loved it. it was a long day and miles and i were so happy to get home and put on a not so scary movie (zombieland) and relax. happy halloween.

peter pan

i sewed connor's halloween costume. of course this was started two days before halloween, and finished on halloween eve. he is going to be peter pan. so cute. mason wanted to be captain hook and dahlia wanted to be tinkerbell so i thought peter pan would be a perfect costume for the trio. i found this cool tutorial on make it and love it. it looked pretty easy so i decided to just make it myself.

all the supplies were bought at joann's for less than $15.00. so good. i did end up buying pants from target though. i didn't think it was worth it to make my own. the top is made from fleece which is the easiest fabric to use ever. it doesn't unravel when you cut it. it also feels like a nice soft blanket so connor will love it. i also sewed a belt, knife, and hat from some felt. i did have a little trouble getting the right size for the hat. the first one i cut was too small. the pattern doesn't give any measurments so you just have to try it and see. the final step was to hot glue in the feather and i was done. so easy. i think the costume is adorable. i can't wait for him to wear it.

connor is one!

no way. no way is my sweet little baby one year old! that is just crazy. i have to admit we did not do much to celebrate his real birthday. we already had the big party for him so today was spent at a friends party and carving jack-o-lanterns for halloween. i don't think he even noticed. i did give him a cupcake and we sang happy birthday before bedtime.

he is getting cuter and cuter every day. he is 19 pounds 8 ounces, and 27.5 inches tall. what a doll. he is not walking yet and will only stand for a couple of seconds before sitting. that is just fine with me. i like him crawling all around. he does do the cruising thing around the kitchen from chair to chair or around the coffee table. my mom and dad got him this cute dinosaur push toy and he loves it. he can hold on and walk all over the living room with it. he just thinks this is hilarious and laughs and laughs. so funny. as far as talking he has said mama and dada, but that is about it. i just adore him. happy birthday baby connor!

bowling

we went to a really fun bowling party for my sister's boyfriend today. there is this tiny bowling alley called montrose bowl that you can rent out for parties. they rented it for two hours. the party did seem a little rushed with only two hours to bowl, eat and have cake but we had so much fun. the bowling alley is very old school and has the full retro vibe with no automated scoring.

it was the first time that the kids ever bowled. they loved it. they put the rails up on a couple of the lanes for the little kids to make it easier. dahlia still had trouble throwing the ball hard enough to make it down the lane but she had a great time trying. mason, zena and bodhi were loving the bowling. they also had a little craft station set up where the kids could color and make little felt bears or beaded bracelets. so cute. i was sad when the party ended. i will have to keep that place in mind for a future party. happy birthday doug!

bats and scarecrows

pumpkin carving time. we let dahlia and mason art direct the carving and dahlia requested a bat while mason wanted a scarecrow. whatever happened to just carving a face? i tried to convince them that a jack-o-lantern needed a face but they were having none of it so we gave in and carved the bat and scarecrow.

i was impressed with mason. he rolled up his sleeves and dug in to help clean out the pumpkin. this was a great improvement over last year where he wouldn't touch the pumpkin guts at all. he was still very concerned that his sleeves would get pumpkin yuck on them and ended up just taking off his shirt. dahila was no help at all. she thought carving the pumpkin was too messy. i always thought cleaning all the guts out was the best part. so fun to get your hands all slimy. i thought they turned out pretty good, though i still think a face would be better.

space party for connor

we did it. we had connor's first birthday party. oh my gosh. there was a serious mad dash to get this one ready in time. i usually have a glass of champagne while i am setting up for a party but there was no time for champagne. i was running around like a crazy person hanging decorations, setting up drinks and plates, cooking, and cleaning. we were still putting out the table decorations when people started arriving. i had trouble making up my mind whether to set up the tables inside or outside. we went with outside and it was a good choice. it didn't rain and even got a bit sunny.

we had a ton of people at this party. we like to make a big deal for the first birthday and invite all our friends and relatives. it was fun to have everyone over. we did a space/rocket theme. we tried to keep the decorations simple but for some reason everything took us a very long time to make.

we made papier mache planets that we painted and hung over the dining table. this was an insanly long project that i blogged about here. we also painted wood rockets for the table tops and i sewed a birthday banner just like the banners i made for mason and dahlia. to entertain the kids we made bean bag toss game. miles constructed the bean bag board out of wood and painted it while i sewed the bean bags from this adorable rocket fabric. we also set up a craft station where the kids could color robots and rockets or make a door hanger with their name on it. i don't think we put the craft station in the right place. there were not very many kids that did the crafts. they were too busy running around and playing.

we had tons of food. my sister came over thursday and we made lasagnas. we had four different types: veggie, beef, turkey, and a mushroom lasagna with a cream sauce. we also had an antipasto platter, spinach artichoke dip, green salad, fruit salad, and buttered noodles for the kids. it was a feast.

miles and i made the cake. we were going to order a cake but our favorite bakery portos does not make whip cream icing any more. ugh. they let us down so we decided to just make our own. we made a yellow cake shaped like a rocket. this was so last minute that i really didn't have any idea how to decorate it. i ran out of time to do any fancy piping on it. at the last moment i decided to make white chocolate letters spelling connor's name on the top. i think it worked out pretty good. it could have been better but really i was just glad to have something to serve.

connor loved his cake. he was so excited to eat it. i think he had a great time at the party. he loves lots of attention. after most of the guests had left we let mason and dahlia open his gifts and play. miles and i agreed to babysit for jen, ray, and christina so bodhi and zena stayed the night while their parents went to a halloween party. it was a party weekend. thank you so much to all my helpers and all our guests. it was a really great celebration.

why did i do this?

jen, miles and i made these papier mache planets for connor's first birthday party. jen found the instructions online and they sounded easy enough. blow up a balloon, paper mache, paint, done. easy. ugh yeah. these little planets ended up taking us a whole week to make. they were not hard to make they just took forever.

we blew up balloons in various sizes for the eight planets and then coated them with a layer of papier mache. we used flour and water as our paste and dipped cut newspaper into it. this part of the project was so so messy. just yuck all over. jen quickly proclaimed after the first layer that this was not the craft for her. it was easy enough except you had to let them dry and then do two more coats. three coats in all. the fact that it was raining outside did not help us. it was taking a very long time for them to dry. we had to let them sit near the oven over night. i would turn the oven on to let it warm up and then turn it off and put the balloons near it. they still had to sit over night between each coat. finally it was time to paint. miles did the painting. he would paint a solid coat and then go back with a sponge brush for detail. he got a little carried away with earth. i didn't think we actually needed all the continents painted. hmmmm. finally the whole thing was coated with a spray satin finish. and threaded with fishing wire to hang. they look great and it was a pretty inexpensive project but really, i could have just bought inflatable planets for $20.00 and saved myself a week of work and mess.

unless you have lots of time and love to make a mess while crafting i would say skip this project and just buy some planets instead.

the pumpkin patch

it's pumpkin patch time. christina and i took all five kids to the pumpkin patch on saturday. we have gone here every year. this year we didn't stay very long. it was raining just a little bit and the kids were cold. i think they got too cold because they insisted on eating snow cones. brrrrr. i do think the cold was a huge improvement over last year where it was over 100 degrees. i like the fall weather much better.

the highlight of this visit was the face painting. dahila got a heart, bodhi got a spider and zena got a pumpkin. mason didn't want to get his face painted. he was content to just pick a pumpkin. he picked a really tall skinny one. i was trying to convince him to pick one that is more round but he kept going back to the same one saying "this one." so we have a tall skinny pumpkin that will need to be carved this year. it will be fun to carve it. i love carving pumpkins. yay for the pumpkin patch. the holiday festivities have begun.

mason is five

so today is mason's real birthday. miles and i took dahlia and connor with us and brought cupcakes to his kindergarten class. i made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. i had just enough left over pirate plates and napkins from his party so i didn't have to buy any more. i drew some lines and a large x on the cupcake to make it look like a treasure map. i thought they turned out cute. and in true last minute me fashion i was piping the last cupcake 10 minutes before we needed to leave the house.

i loved visiting his class. oh my gosh, the kids are all so adorable. i don't know how the teacher does it. she had the whole room filled with 24 five and six year old children sitting quietly and listening to her. umm i could never accomplish that with just the three of my kids. i was literally staring in awe thinking she is super woman.

the teacher gave mason a crown that said i am 5 and we all sang happy birthday. then he got to choose someone to sit with and they all got to have their cupcake. mason of course chose his new best friend andrew. this cute little boy that looks just like him. they are less than 10 days apart in age and have the same little beatle haircut. i loved watching him interact with his friends. it was just adorable. after finishing their treat it was time to go home and they all lined up by the door to sing a little song before walking out. oh my gosh. i wish i could spy on them everyday. crazy cute.

as for my little man mason. he is just a doll. so sweet and mushy. he still insists on giving us lots of hugs and kisses. he is still a little on the small side. he weighs 36 pounds and is 42.5 inches tall. i have become quite sentimental watching him lately. he is such a loving little boy. he is definitely not in a hurry to grow up and that is just fine with me. i like him just the way he is.

space party invitation

the birthday party invitations for connor's first birthday are done and in the mail. whew! miles and i were up late printing and cutting them last night. i think they turned out so nice. i am going with a retro space theme. it should be a fun one.

pouty girl

i had dahlia try on her new christmas dress. she was happy to try it on for me but not so happy with posing for the camera. the picture still made me smile though because she already has that beautiful girl pout.