Thrift Store Finds

Here are a couple of my favorite things from a visit to the thrift store a few months ago: 

First, this mask.  I believe it was intended as wall art, but how could you not try that thing on? 

The lesser-known Inca God, Flame Boy!

Then there was this thing, found among the cookie jars.  I can't imagine what it could possibly be used for, except to scare small children.

Getting Squirrely

The kids have been getting a kick out of following their grandparents' plight to keep the squirrels out of their garden. Originally, the kids would be alerted by their grandparents to the squirrels' presence. The kids would subsequently run out of the house, arms waving, and yell kidscenities (obscenities for kids) like "Get outta hear, you dang squirrels," until the offender ran away.

Since the yelling and chasing does little more than delay these rodents' inevitable presence in the garden, their grandparents have resorted to using a live trap for the animals. Once a squirrel is trapped, it gets taken on a 15 minute car ride out to the foothills and is relocated and converted from a garden squirrel to a prairie squirrel. Pretty sure there's a bit of a food-gathering learning curve, but these guys are nothing if not resourceful.

He may have gone in the cage a scavenger, but he'll leave the cage a hunter.

It takes a staff of many to relocate a squirrel.

During these squirrel antics, Cara had suggested that we try to shoot the squirrel. "If you shoot a squirrel, are you going to skin it?" I asked, knowing full well that she is not made of the stuff that is required to kill an animal. She quickly replied, "No. I'm going to deep fry it. Duh." 

My Minnesotan daughter, ladies and gentlemen.

Restaurant Capers

While playing restaurant, Cara was the waitress/cook and Connor was the customer. After pretending to have eaten his plastic food, Connor picks up a toy gun and said, "I'm a robber. I eat for free."

And then Cara took the law into her own hands. 

Crazy Hair Day 2013

After Crazy Hair Day last year, we got a wonderful suggestion from my mother for what Cara could do the following year. Yes, we were planning one year in advance for an event that no one really participates in at her school any longer. So?

Well, about a month after last year's Crazy Hair Day, my daughter went and did something that, while completely selfless and generous and incredible, totally put a crimp in that plan. She donated over 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love.

So, it's getting close to the end of the school year (Crazy Hair Day is on the last day of school) and we toss around a few other ideas. But my mother's idea had been stuck in our brain for so long, we thought we'd try and make a go of it with the length Cara's hair was now.

My daughter is about as much of a morning person as I am (especially now that she's in the pre-teen years), so we wanted to do something where some of the work could be completed the night before.  Even with her ends having been dyed purple the week before (just for fun, and only temporary), I think it still turned out pretty well. 

Thanks for the idea, Mom!

Night-before prep

Rainbow side

Rainbow and cloud

Mario Birthday 6.0

My son has had a fascination with all things Mario for years. So, when I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, his answer was no surprise.

Now, you'd think that, since we did a Mario birthday party last year, having the same theme again would be a piece of cake. Um, hello. I'd like to introduce myself to you. I'm the one that likes to make things complicated.

First step, the invitations. Since I don't have a color printer (and I REALLY like to cut), I set out to make Mario faces out of card stock. A quick template made from a Google images search, a download of a free Mario font, and I had these guys made up in no time.

Once the invitations were sent, we got to work on the party itself. Connor had some specific ideas about things that he wanted at this party which made the planning go that much easier.

If someone would have asked me, "What's a party without a pinata?", I would have breezed past the fact that it was probably a rhetorical question and answered "A safe party!" But then I saw those pinatas that you pull on strings to open instead of swinging a bat and my brain stopped thinking of checking our homeowner's policy and instead started trying to come up with a creative pinata-esque solution.

We ended up taking a wine box (thanks, Costco) with dividers, large pieces of yellow cardstock, tissue paper, and a computer printout of the Mario question marks.

Since Connor was the genius that came up with the idea of covering peanut butter cups as well as Oreos with gold foil to make gold coins, he was nominated to help bring his vision to life. We picked up the gold foils in squares from our local cake & candy supply shop.

? Block Pinata

He tried to break a cookie so he could eat the "accident".

Our pile of gold coins

All filled up and ready to punch!

The next thing I went to work on was the fire/ice ball toss game. I cut out some Goombas, Koopas, and a Piranha Plant with card stock (much like with the invitations) and glued them to some old water bottles that I had filled partially with dried rice. For the fire and ice balls, just come craft felt and more dried rice after consulting my friend, Google images, for a fireball pattern.

Bad guys ready to be taken down.

I am lucky enough to have other creative people in my life. If I didn't, the pin-the-M-on-the-Mario game would not have been possible. My talented friend, Phaedra, drew freehand on a large piece of poster board and copied the Mario head from our invitation. After a few letter M's cut out, this portion of prep work was done.

And a party wouldn't be complete without a pinata party favors. We picked up some foam visors and crowns at the craft store, some white craft foam, and some adhesive jewels and made Mario and Luigi hats and Princess Peach crowns.  One of the things I did reuse from last year was the sticks from the chocolate mustaches. This time, I just used foam sticker mustaches and put them on the sticks. The wands were foam flower and heart stickers and some extra ribbon I had on hand. (Yes, I know Princess Peach doesn't have a wand, but not one of the girls complained about accuracy, so there.)

The favors on display.

Connor fills the treat bags.

Now, it was time to decorate. Cara requested to be a part of making the Boo balloons, so I let her take on this task herself. She found three Boo faces to copy and drew them freehand with permanent marker on the white balloons that I bought at Target. Once those were completed, we just used thread and tape and taped them to the ceiling of the living room.

Hiding Boo

Scary Boo

Banner reused from last year.

Games were set up. Decorations were in place. Treat bags were filled. And the cake was made. All that was left was party time.

It's Mario Party O'clock!

We started out with the games. While it seemed that all of the kids enjoyed the activities, I would probably look toward having more games where all of the kids got to participate at once. Everyone did very well taking turns, but not all 6 year olds are big fans of waiting.

Each kid had an M to try and get on Mario's hat.

Fire & ice ball toss.

Punch the ? block pinata.

I should add that this version of the pinata worked wonderfully! Since the object was to punch a hole in a section of the box, the targeted hitting was much safer than the indiscriminate swinging of a stick while blindfolded. Plus, each child had their own section to punch and, therefore, their own amount of candy. No one had to elbow anyone else to try and get to their candy. If I were to do a pinata again, I would definitely look for another one I could work similarly.

We did end up heading to the nearby park to burn some additional time (and energy) and we still had time for cake and ice cream, presents, and treat bags.

Star Power cake.

Another successful Mario birthday party!

Thanks to my helpers and a huge thanks to the parents of these amazing kids. It's because of them that Connor has some really great friends! 

They're Not Called "Greenies"

Me: "Did you take the brownies out of the oven?"
Cara: "Yes. I tested them and they came out fine."
Connor: "I hope they're sneeze-free!"

Mother's Day 2013

When Craig and I were at the hospital during Connor's birth, Cara and her grandmother planted petunias along side our garage.  When we came home, our path up to the house was lined with flowers.  For months, the petunias thrived, continuing to bloom until the snow stamped them out (and even then, they hung on until the snow was serious about sticking around).  Seeing the flowers each time we arrived home was such a sweet reminder of that day, that I wanted to continue that in the following years.  Mother's Day seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do so.

I should note that I am NOT one of those people that find the act of planting particularly relaxing.  I garden for the same reason I vacuum: It's a chore that needs to be done. The first Mother's Day we did this, Cara and I spent hours in the yard, cleaning out the flower bed and then planting our carefully-selected petunias.  Each time I passed the flowers, I was reminded of that wonderful, sunny day spent with my daughter.

The years following, however, I could never really get the kids to participate in this activity.  Either one kid was interested when the other one wasn't or I'd find myself yelling "come back here" and "aren't you going to help" over and over again, thereby taking all the fun out of our annual planting.  Finally, I had resigned myself to the fact that, if we were at least in the yard together, that was going to count as a day well-spent.    

Since I wasn't pressuring the kids to help, I was routinely asked to watch them or find something for them or referee one of their arguments. After quite a few hours of outdoor time, I told the kids I was going to go inside for a shower. I was dirty from the other yard work I had busied myself with and just plain tired from the "watch me's" and reffing duties. I guess I really was not destined to get the petunias planted this Mother's Day.  

After I was cleaned up and refreshed from my shower, I went out to check on the kids.  Little did I know, my Mother's Day elves had something in store for me. 

Chalk from the heart.

"You like how I remembered the apostrophe, Mom?" - Cara

Petunias planted by two amazing kids.

These flowers will be yet another reminder at how lucky I am to have such wonderful children and what a blessing it is to be able to call them mine.