Under the Sea

This year, M wanted an Ariel birthday party.  I decided to do an under the sea theme with Ariel added in wherever I could (using whatever we had in the house, or whatever I could make).  She absolutely loved it, and I'm pretty excited with how it turned out as well. 

 

As a warning, this post is going to be photolicious!  Seriously.  Lots of pics here.

 

 Made her a special party hat for the occasion.

 

All decked out as 'Ariel'. 

 We had a treat for lunch... fish, and mac n cheese goldfish.

 

 I reused a bunch of older handmade decorations so I didn't have as much work to do for decorating.  The clouds and pom poms are from Baby A's first birthday, and the raindrops are from my sister's baby shower.  Scrap fabrics are great for other bits and pieces... like Ariel's rock.  Also... toys.  I used all of M's Ariel type toys in the setup.  She was happy to get them for me.

 And now for some of the food...

 I attempted to make the popcorn pink without making it 'sweet', but it didn't turn out quite as hoped.

 Ariel in a jar... you can see the main cake as well.  LOVED how that ended up!

 Blue jello with gummy fish inside.  The fish tasted weird in the jello, but it was a fun experiment.

 

 Some décor, again reusing a few pieces from previous birthdays. 

 I seriously LOVE these oyster cookies!  I wanted to go cheater on this and just buy some round cookies and put icing and yogurt raisins in them, but I couldn't find any cookies that would work besides the ones that already have icing inside them... but I wanted pink icing, not white.  So, I made spritz cookies as pumpkins and used those instead.  More work for me, but those are some TASTY cookies!

 M loves all the foods... and was very intrigued by the 'goldfish bowls'.  Funny thing, I made only 10 (same number as I did for A's 1st birthday rainbow jello cups) and while last time I had jello cups left over, this time they were gone within 10 minutes.

 

As an added bonus....

We had a surprise for everyone.  We found out what our baby gender is this time, and I decided to leave a 'clue' inside the cake.  So, since all the décor was blue (sea) and pink (coral) already, I told everyone to check the inside of the cake for the icing color that would tell them the gender of the baby...

 It's going to be a GIRL.

 

This is the punch.  I love bulk barn as it was the only place I could find blue powdered juice crystals.

 

 
 
 

Opening presents.

 

 We had a lot of people in our house.  I need to seriously consider inviting less people next time as I get overwhelmed quickly by it all!  I love having everyone over, though!  Such a dilemma.

Time to blow out those candles!  :)

 

M had a great time, and she just loved everything!  She makes decorating all these things for birthdays so much fun and so rewarding.  I love how excited she gets!  We leave a few of the decorations up for awhile after the party is over, but not many. 

As for that cake... it was GONE!  ;)

 

Happy birthday, my little M!  I cannot believe you are 6 already!

You have such a giving heart, and I love watching you grow and learn!  People are your passion and you just thrive being around people.  You are gentle in spirit, giving me hugs when you can see I'm upset, and you notice even the littlest of things, commenting politely about them and making those around you feel all the more special for you noticing (like new glasses, new haircuts, furniture that has been moved...).  I am looking forward to watching and learning more from you as the years go by... but don't let them go by too quickly, please!  You seem to be growing so fast and I just cannot understand where the time has gone to!  I love you, M! 

 



Renos and Lists

Anyone who knows me already knows I love lists.  There is something super satisfying about ticking off those little checkboxes beside an item I've done.  I recently started doing my lists again... but for another reason.

Renovations!

I get pregnant, and I need to renovate... I know, it is crazy predictable already.

Anyway, baby #4 needs a room, and currently M and Bram share a room, Baby A is in the nursery, and our master bedroom can be divided into two rooms if needed.  Well... it's needed.  M and Bram NEED separate rooms already.

So, I devised a plan.  Our basement is perfect for playing, but it is ill used, needs some overhauling, and fixing.  Also, the 'play room' has no windows.  Bad idea.  And I recently found out, it has mould.  Really bad idea.  So, over August I removed everything from the main areas of our basement.  That was crazy, seeing as I needed to find new homes for it all (and toys... oh the toys, toys, toys!).  This is all part of a process I am doing to attempt to work out more bedrooms in the house... and space.

I am currently in the process of ripping out that basement wall.  And I'm realizing I have some severe limitations.

I have a respirator.  I wear it when working with paint, and in this case, mould.  The mould is dry, and we have now removed a bunch of it from the wall, however there is more wood housing the mould that needs removal, and I've been told that I need to 'hire' or 'borrow' a couple of men to get that job done.  My mom (bless her!) came over today to help me rip out some plywood sheets I just couldn't do with the tools (and limited strength) that I had.  I am happy to say that those plywood sheets are now GONE!  Yay!  All I have left for removal within the room before the 2x4's is the actual mould areas (due to carpet that was removed from that room years ago... years even before we had kids).  I seriously should take a picture right now... that room does not look the same!

My plan was to keep most everything simple, remove that wall, prime and paint the concrete, the panelling that was down there (brighten it up a bunch), and then hang a curtain to hide the utility area.  Put up some shelves (bolt to the floor joists above, or have counter/table areas as well), use the linoleum that we still have kicking about for the laundry area and just 'tape' it down (double sided, heavy duty... but I'm not using glue!), and finally have a 'clean looking' laundry area.  And I wanted to paint the floor and maybe add some of that indoor outdoor grass.  Something that wouldn't cause moisture buildup issues.  It is, after all, a basement.  After that was done, I could move toys downstairs, have the kids sleep in another area of the house while we finish up some things in their current room before moving all our stuff in there and making that the master, then modify our current room into two bedrooms for the two of them!

So... I made THE LIST!

I thought it was a pretty good list.  I broke all the tasks down into manageable bits, then put those bits into a chart according to week as I only have so much time before this baby is set to arrive, and I want these things done before December so I can use that month to focus on Christmas.

However... things kinda fell flat.  I am NOT able to get this wall down myself, and while I was good at keeping up with things for awhile, I am far behind right now (due to many different circumstances as well).  I am now at a point where if I want to get back on track, I would need to get rid of the rest of that wall, scrub the walls and floor for painting, fix the cracks and holes in the floor, and kill the mould using bleach (on the concrete... wood will be removed) all this week. 

Want to know what else is up for this week?  My daughter's birthday.  Yup... that means cake, goodies, and decorations on the main floor, not to mention still managing all the main household tasks and the farm financials.

So... I'm beginning to wonder, looking at my list, if it was even such a good idea.  Usually lists get me raring to go... but this one is depressing me. 

So... I made another list.  (Don't look at me that way!)  This one is my daily task list.  And weekly task list.  One that will contain all my appointments (I am forgetting everything) and a number of items I wish to do during the week that are not put down according to 'day'.  If I can find time to do them after all the daily and regular weekly tasks are done, I will be working on them.  If.  BIG if.  It is hard to believe how much time is taken up with the regular little daily things needed to keep this household running!  But it is at least nice to see what I am doing, and that I'm not 'useless' because I cannot do the huge items as fast as I want to.  It helps me feel a little better about things.

Mom, you hold my respect for all you did when I was a kid!  I really had no idea!

Oh, as a bonus, because of said list, I finally put up some frames that have been waiting on my shelf for well over a month now.  I also finally did some dusting again, and cleared out a few 'hot spot' zones in my dining room/living room/kitchen due to having a '15 minute house tidy' on my 'just before bed' section of the list.  That way, the kids aren't making it look crazy again!  ;)  It is helping.  I don't feel so stressed in the mornings now that my dishwasher is run, the dishes are clean, the house is tidy, M's lunch is made, and the kitchen is clean when I get up!  Yay!

I am so not a morning person... but being a list person seems to be helping me make up for that.  ;)

Baby Shower Idea - Washcloth Candies

Cute little socks made into flower bouquets or even a corsage, diapers turned into cakes, all manner of cute baby things transformed into something a little bit different for a celebration of birth... these are the cute touches that add to baby showers just that little something.  Some people may not notice them at all, but that is ok.  It's about the mom, and the baby, and sometimes that little extra detail just adds a special something.

Since most of the items we did for the baby shower we found on pinterest (and then modified to our own liking), I will not post tutorials on them here.  However, the little washcloth candies I will!

I'm sorry the picture isn't very good.  I didn't actually take a closeup of them.

These are super simple to make!  I bought a pack of four baby washcloths from the local Dollarama.  I needed one for the diaper 'tricycle', so I turned the rest into these little candies.  First... a list of what you need.

Tools:
Scissors

Crafts:
Pack of washcloths
cheesecloth/tulle
ribbon

That's it.  Since the washcloths came packaged in white tulle already, and I saved the packaging from the sets I bought for the cloths I bought for cloth diapering, I just used those!

Take the cheesecloth and cut it to about 5 inches by 8 inches, as many as you need.  It doesn't have to be exact.  I just took two sets of the packaging from the cloths and trimmed off the seams, then cut the bottom open.  Just be sure that they are big enough to wrap around the coils of cloth with a bit of overlap.

Roll the cloths into a 'snake', and then coil them from the center outward to look like a little lollipops.  If you need to, you can stitch a little handstitch on the outside piece to hold it together.  I didn't find this necessary.

Wrap the tulle around the cloth circle.  You can do a stitch here to keep it closed, or tape it to hold 'for now'.  Take your pieces of ribbon and tie into bows on the tulle that is on the ends to make it look like the wrapped cellophane on candies.  Fluff the tulle after tying.

You're done!

Since the Dollarama cloth set came with a ribbon on the packaging, and I kept the packaging from the previous sets I bought, I just reused all the packaging from two sets to wrap these up!  I even took the seams I cut off and used them as 'ribbons', as they looked totally cute and old fashioned to me. 

A Blue Baby Shower

Back in March, we had a baby shower for my sister and her sweet little boy.  It ended up happening later than we would have liked due to there being so many babies born into the extended family in the year, as Baby J was over a month old already, but it worked out.  I was in charge of making the cookies and a number of the paper decorations.  I ended up going a little overboard in some things... I blame Pinterest.  (I thank God for my husband who helped me pack everything up as I had to bring it all to the church that morning with the kids in tow and he was still in the barn!  Felt a little crazy that morning, and was so glad I wasn't in charge of cake, only cookies, which are much easier to transport!)

 

Sorry about some of the photos being 'smudged'.  I took a number of pics before realizing that my son had played with my camera lens.  Again.  After cleaning it earlier that morning.  Sigh.

 

 The table you come to upon arriving.

 

I have ALWAYS wanted to do a diaper cake, and since I saw this little beauty on Pinterest I just HAD to make one!  I kind of wanted to do a guitar (since my sis and her hubby are very musically talented) but I had more of what I needed with this.  Since I was in charge of the diaper notes and had to buy the diapers anyway, I decided to do a diaper 'bike'.  Vroom vroom!  ;) 

Another adorable pinterest idea was for those who arrived to write little notes on the top back of the diapers with markers.  Silly things, lovely things, whatever they thought would cheer up the parents during late night diaper changes.  I took some cereal boxes and dressed them up with scrapbook paper and fabric inserts.  I was hoping these would also be good for in the nursery for holding diapers a little more cutely than the giant bags/boxes they come in.

Another idea I got at some point (remember when I said 'overboard' I wasn't kidding, as I was only to do the diapers, cookies, and cake decoration initially) I decided to make a guestbook picture frame.  I cut out over 50 little tiny hearts, brought some coordinating colored pen Sharpees, and had glue there for guests to sign a heart and place on the tree.  Before they left, I inserted the glass into the frame.  The little sign on the bottom has baby's name and the date of the shower.  And the tree I cut out of scrapbook paper so it would be well defined against the blue (their room colors were blue, brown, and white). 

My sister-in-law was in charge of the decorations for the food table.  She bought balloons and streamers, and we dutifully hung them all as a backdrop for the goodies.  My mom made cakes, and gluten free cakes as well since my sister and a cousin are gluten intolerant.  I made cookies and they were also gluten free.  I put a sign on them that apparently everyone but my sister noticed.  I sent some home with her, and it took awhile for her to be convinced that she could indeed eat them.  My daughter LOVED those cookies. 

The cake my mom made, with a little baby clothes line that I made at home. 

 

I love to do this sort of thing for almost all the baby showers I am part of.  The cookie tray has footprints that spell baby's name, sometimes weight (if enough room) and date of birth.

 

 The table again.  I love all the tablecloths my mom and SIL brought!  There was still more food to be put on the table, mostly done by both my mom and my SIL.  Four cakes, a veggie tray, fruit tray, coffee, cookies, and punch.

 Another extra I saw on Pinterest.  A 'shower' for the gifts.  Lots of gluing on fishing line for that one.  Packing it without tangling was an interesting endeavor.  And they got so many lovely gifts!  I adored all the hats and cute monkey onesies and outfits!  <3 p="">

 My mom made blue 'ducky' punch! 

Her nieces, helping my sister open the gifts. 

 M was really wanting to buy a gift for her cousin all on her own, so she saved a little money and found something to buy from the second hand store.  Then she really really wanted me to make a 'closet' for a card.  'A paper closet, mommy, with baby clothes inside' (I think she really liked seeing the little onesies and sleepers I was cutting out for the cake topper).  So, we did.  My sister was very excited about it, haha.

 And of course, the guest of honor!  I was lucky to get a pic of him on the floor when he was not being held, that little boy was snuggled by so many during the shower!  *love*

Here you can see the guestbook with all the little heart leaf signatures on it.  Oh, and tiny washcloth 'candies'.

I know this is late, and you are already half a year old, but we love you, baby J!  We can just see those gears in your head turning, and you smile so easily!  You always look thoughtful!  I look forward to seeing you grow!

 

News!

So... seeing as I haven't been updating as I should, I have more news! 

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V

 

That's right!  Come January, our family is growing! 

We decided to wait to tell everyone until Father's day... when I was just over 9 weeks pregnant.  Honestly, this is the longest we've ever waited to tell close family.  We always told right away, but this time I wanted it to be a surprise.  Also, since I had virtually no symptoms (unlike with A where people were guessing already), I figured we could pull it off.  On the Saturday, we had some fun dressing up in Star Wars 'costumes' for daddy.  M was Leia, and Bram wore his Vader shirt.  We had cinnamon biscuit rolls for breakfast.

 

 Our family picture.  I'm wearing one of my husband's many SW shirts as I do not have any.  Baby A has a 'Stormpooper' onesie.  Haha... so cute.

 

We told the kids on Saturday evening, and M is very excited!  She says she hopes it is a boy.  Bram also is hoping for a boy because he 'doesn't want another girl in the house'.  I'm sure he'll love the baby regardless of if it is a boy or a girl, but I did find that kind of funny.

 

For the 'announcement' for my dad, I had a bit of fun.  Enter the paper oven.

Kind of unassuming, seeing as I like to bake with the kids often enough.  Inside, however, is the tell tale message!

 

 He picked up on it right away!  I don't know if you can see it, but the 'due date' is also on the clock on front of the oven.  1:16.

 

I did something a little different for my Father in law.  Cupcakes!  There are 4, and on the top of each one is the name of one of the kids, with #4 saying 'baby'.

Since we are on the topic of Father's day, this is the breakfast that awaited my husband for when he would get inside from the barn.  We had already left for church.  Under the 'blanket' is his present from us, and each of the cards the kids colored.

I made these and hid them from him.  I was going to actually make icing for the drawing, but decided I just wanted to use the chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips.  The one on the left says 'You r a Trooper Dad' and the one on the right is supposed to be a trooper helmet.  He figured it out, and that is what matters.  :)

So, that was our fathers day (yeesh... two months late.  I seem to be playing bloggers catch up right now, haha).  Things have been busy here, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates.  I need to just take time off facebook and update more often, haha.

Hope you've all been having a great summer!  I can't believe it is almost over already.  :(