Pirate Party

I'm sitting down now after everyone has fallen asleep and necessities completed for a moment of quiet.  Meanwhile, our neighbors twin boys seem to be having a graduation party into all hours of the night.  It makes me remember to appreciate this stage right now and all the beauty of it, while still being excited for their futures and the joy yet to come. 

Having your firstborn age half a decade will get you to thinking about these things I suppose!  My eldest is the most amazing, smart, gregarious, loving little boy I know and I just love how he's never met a stranger, only new friends.   He has a real heart for people and a matter-of-fact way of thinking that is so fun to see mature with him!  My miracle boy. 

Okay, enough mush, let's get to the party!  It's often been done before, but he picked such a fun theme this year: pirates!  I wanted to post this to share our joy of the day as well as our take on the pirate theme for any looking for inspiration. 

THE GAME:
Yes, there was only one, but it was kind of several mixed together.  Also, it was nearly a hundred degrees that day and no one wanted to do much more!  We went on a pirate challenge/treasure hunt.  Basically,  we had a bottle on the table with a call for pirates on it and instructions to follow the clues to several different destinations and complete the pirate tasks at each one so that they could prove their pirate-ness.  I tried to write them in rhyme (though it didn't always work) on coffee-aged paper with burned edges.  Their tasks included walking up a gang plank, tying figure eight knots (great guide for many knots from Survival Life), (foam) swordsmanship, (cardboard) anchor tossing, and sail hoisting!  Then the final station's clue came with a map of the property and an X marking the spot where they had to dig up the treasure chest (full of dollar store compasses, ocean stickers, necklaces, rings, doubloons, etc. in an old tool box). 

setting out to find the first clue

Reading the Rhyme

 

Tossing the Anchor (they had to work together each time and make sure one member of the crew had the other end of the rope "tied off to the ship")



Hoisting the sails

Divvying up the loot 

THE FOOD:
Shark Bait (Goldfish) and Cannon Balls (Malted Milk Balls)

Port Holes (the last one!)

Octopus Lagoon Veggie Tray (Now sinking and missing a few legs!  Just go for this example by Denna's Ideas)

Ropes and Gummy Sharks

Treasure map cake












THE DECOR:
We flipped over our fishing boat for seating and set out a basket of pirate dress-up items.  Behind the house I used pavers to mark out the outline of a ship deck and in the middle placed a weighted fence post.  To that I lashed a few branches to hold the sail to the mast.  And that was pretty much it.  Because of the heat we made sure to have the kiddie pool full and sprinkler going.  I love outdoor birthday parties!  I did print out some coloring sheets for the very little ones (but our crayons started to melt in the heat!), "What's Your Pirate Name" and a Mad-Lib type game for the adults.  Bonus: These cute invites! 

To all who came I want to say a huge thank you!  You made this party such a joy for him and he was nearly overwhelmed by the love shown him.  Seriously, the entire next day he was basically in a daze! 

One tuckered pirate

*Note: most of these photos were taken by my dear mother-in-law, Dena Kelm.

Tea for Two: A Party in Blue

Tea for Two

We are already a full week into the new year!  And we’ve only had one official day of any sort of book learning as far as preschool is concerned.  But we’ve gone on several outings where they’ve learned by experiencing first hand!  That’s always my favorite, anyway!

One month ago my daughter turned two!  I love seeing her little personality and preferences come out!  I get to know who she is more every day!  I wanted to share with you about her tea party for anyone else who might like the ideas, but everyone was very much is the Christmas swing of things afterward that I decided to hold out until now.  One of the things our little lady loves (and often demands) is tea!  Though I let her have a sip or two of my Irish Breakfast Tea at times, she has a box of mint tea and berry tea of her own that she savors.  So naturally a “Tea for Two” party suited her to a “tea” =)

I scoured the thrift stores for old tea cups and saucers for a couple months.  I love how they’re all unique and some of them are quite old and lovely!  Most of them I was able to pick up for a dollar a piece.  It’s possible I was a little crazy offering real china to six children under the age of 5, but they all did great with a little parental assistance!

Blue is this little wildling’s signature color, so I worked it in as much as possible: blue and white balloons everywhere, blue tablecloth with lace overlay, chair cover, her clothes, and cakes and candies.  I made a three tiered serving tray out of plastic ware from the dollar store and used doilies, paper plates, and napkins from there as well. 

 Her little birthday crown is simply made from a length of lace and homemade mod podge (Online instructions here)

As for the food, we had cucumber (delicious recipe here) and tuna sandwiches, tomato ricotta mini quiche, apple rose tarts, and pirouette biscuits.  I attempted to make petit fours for her cake.  Basically I made a white cake from this  amazing recipe, cut tiny squares, doubled with a blueberry filling in the middle.  Then I covered with fondant and painted tiny pictures of her favorite things (horses, mountains, and flowers) in blue tinted sweetened condensed milk.  I really love how they turned out! 

We had a couple activities including the Tea Bag Toss(throwing tea bags through a giant tea cup)! I also sketched out a tea set outline for the children to design their own china pattern.  If you’d like to use this, the blank template is printable here! 

She ended up having the most wonderful time and continues to talk about it almost daily!  It may not have been perfect, but it was inexpensive and memorable and I’m quite certain our little lady felt like a princess for the day! 

 

Fynn's 15 Months (Already!?)

Didn't I just have my birthday party?  Hm, oh well I guess a lot has changed with me (Fynn) lately!

1.  I walk pretty great!  And sort of run, too!  It's my favorite thing to do!

2.  Summer was amazing!  So much to see and explore!

3. I love my family!  Immediate and extended!  I give pretty awesome bear hugs!

4.  I'm eating whatever Momma and Poppa are eating.  I've really developed a taste for soup, Lorenzo's salsa, wild cranberries and the ice cream that Amma and Appa gave me!

5.  I don't talk a lot, but I do love my sound effects!  I regularly say "Boom," "Crash," Rawr," "Vroom," and a variety of animal noises!

6. My favorite toys are trucks, trains and balls

7. I LOVE Sunday School!  It's my favorite part of the week!

8.  I don't like to sleep.  I might miss something.

Gotta go for now!  There's exploring to be done!  I'll be a year and a half soon enough and give you another update!

Puppy Party!

We celebrated Fynn's first year with one of his favorite animals: dogs!  His clancey was the only real dog there, but the theme was fun.  We had...

Hot dogs, of course,

Puppy Chow,

"Pup" corn,

"Pup" Cakes,

and "Leashes!"

Fynn loved his decorations, too.  His eyes got all wide and he kept pointing to everything.  And, as expected, the baloons were a hit, too.  Such fun celebrating his arrival into our life!

One Year Old!

I'm a whole year old!  My birthday was on the first, but we celebrated on Saturday because we had some other stuff going on.  Poppa told the mine he wouldn't work so he could celebrate with us!  Some of my friends came over for my Puppy Party.  I sure wish I could have had everyone over, it was so much fun!  This is what it looked like.

So here's what's new with me:

I've taken a few steps, but am pretty shaky still.  I get around great with crawling!

I love to toss ball back and forth with Momma, play with trucks, play the piano and guitar, take things in and out of containers, and love to ride on my rocking horse, Copper.

I talk a lot, but my most recognizable words are Mama, Dada, cat, dog, fish, and chicken.

I want to eat whatever Momma and Poppa are, and enjoy spitting my food out as much as I do tasting it!

Most of all I love being outside!  I cry whenever I have to go in.  The only bad part is the mosquitoes.  I'm building up a strong tolerance.

 P.S. here's my birthday present:

Laughter

It's the best medicine...