Friday, December 23, 2011

The Gift


Made by Milan in preschool.  She had such a proud look on her face when she gave it to me, it made me cry.  She'd been talking about making a snowman for a few weeks, but I had no idea just how sweet it would be.  It's not even Christmas, but I know I've already received my favorite gift!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Picture With Santa 2011


Do you think something doesn't seem quite right with this picture?  Perhaps you've noticed my oldest child is missing?  After waiting in  line for 30 minutes, Milan bailed on Santa.  Flat out refused to go near him.  Which was kind of funny because she spent the entire 30 minutes we were in line-- waving to him, pointing at him, clapping her hands and jumping up and down with glee.  Paloma wasn't exactly thrilled, but she tolerated it.  James and I were disappointed to have Milan missing from the picture, but we're already laughing about it!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Daddy's Little Helpers


Enough said!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Oh Christmas Tree...


Last week we put up our big tree.  Today we put up a special little tree for Milan and Paloma.  It is small, has colored lights, and is covered with plastic and felt ornaments.  The idea behind this tree, is they are allowed to touch and move around (to their hearts content) the ornaments.  Hopefully they won't be so obsessed with the main tree, and I won't feel so bad saying "no, you can't touch that"!  They had a great time decorating their tree, and spent a good part of they day hanging and re-hanging the ornaments.
















Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Milan's 4th Birthday - Part Three


Last weekend we celebrated Milan's birthday with a small, Hello Kitty - themed party.  We invited just a few of her friends from preschool.  I made the decorations and cupcakes, ordered pizza, played a few party games, and we had ourselves a Hello Kitty party!

No, I did not make these cookies...wish I could say I did!





But I did make the favor bags...


and the birthday banner...


and the centerpiece...











and the cupcakes and cupcake toppers...








As we waited for all of our guests to arrive, I had a small table set-up with Hello Kitty (HK) coloring pages and crayons.  It turned out to be a pretty big hit.


Once the party started, I applied HK tattoos to the birthday girl and all of her guests.


We played a couple of rounds of HK bingo








My chosen craft for the party was sand art.  Milan loves to do sand art, so I thought the other girls would have fun doing it too...and they did!  If Hello Kitty is not wearing a bow on her head, then she is wearing a flower, so we filled flower shaped containers with the sand.

















Next up was throwing a bean bag (made by me), into HK's flower garden (also made by me).  I had a perfectly sized cardboard box which came with Milan's Calico Critter house.  I painted flowers on it and cut out the center of each flower.  During the party, I had the girls line up to take turns tossing the beanbag into the holes.











Our last activity was a pinata.  I didn't really like the idea of 3 and 4 year olds swinging a bat around (even without the blindfold), so I chose a pull string pinata.  The idea was for each girl to take a turn pulling a string, one of which, would trigger the pinata.  Milan went first, and pulled so hard, the pinata just kind of ripped open.  Fortunately, the other girls didn't seem to notice that they didn't get a turn, everyone was too busy trying to grab the little goodies off the floor.








After the games we had lunch of pizza, fruit (a blend of blueberries and raspberries), pink lemonade, and of course pink cupcakes.  Milan still doesn't really care for cupcakes, but she has started eating the frosting.


These next photos, James captured of Paloma enjoying a cupcake after everyone else had left the table.  She figured out her own little way of eating her cupcake!  :)  Remind me to sign this girl up for a pie eating contest next summer!





































After everything was said and done, I think the party was a success.  Milan and her friends really enjoyed themselves.  Personally, I thought it was still a little stressful and a lot of work for a small party, but each time I think of the smile on Milan's face, I know it was worth it!