Noah's 5th & Lydia's 3rd Birthday Party!

I cant believe it... another party, and another two children, each a year older, just.like.that.

Not fair. I want them to be babies forever.

*Que whining to Husband about having more babies*

The kiddos were super hero's for Halloween, as were most kiddos their age. So I decided to do a cute super hero theme for their party. The primary colors fit well in the Gymboree Play & Music, where we had their party, and the equipment easily turned into roof tops and sides of buildings to scale.

 

 

I invited Noah's class to his party, and much to my surprise 4 of his classmates came. It was wonderful being able to spend some time talking to the other moms, more so then the "hi" and "bye" in passing at school. One mom just stood with her mouth open- Her son had never went to a birthday party before and she just couldn't believe how well he was adjusting and how much fun he was having.

Let me back up the bus.

Its a little bus. And it has some really, really cool kids on it :)

Noah is currently in an SDDPre-K4 (Significantly Developmentally Delayed Pre-kindergarten 4 year old) class. We say SDDK because
1. its easier to say.
2. it sounds a whole heck of a lot nicer.
He is in a class of 8 boys, all on the autism spectrum with varying needs.

I have had to bow out of a party or two because of Noah's meltdowns, but in the last 12 months he has been doing really well. So I understand this mommy's amazement. I was able to put my guard down because Noah was use to the party's surroundings (Hes been to Gymboree many times) and there were a lot of familiar faces around him. All the special needs moms huddle together, with intense eyes on their child. As they talked to one another, rarely the woman's eyes would meet eachothers because they were watching their boys. It was something that I know all too well. Just as if we were at anothers gathering and I'm in constant panic mode as to "Wheres Noah?" "Whats he doing?" and "Where is he going?"

Briefly we were able to talk about healing, and the many forms it can come, but how the Healer is the same. We talked about practicing wisdom in helping and assisting our children. We talked about "THE BOX" society tries to stuff our boys into. It such an wonderful feeling to know the secret language of a special needs mom and speaking in that language about God's love, mercy and grace.

Lydia, my little SuperGirl, had so much fun running with all her cousins and friends. She's so smart, so tiny but so feisty. Her ability to lead FEARLESSLY at 3 years old is something to marvel at. I'm learning how to nurture and maintain her confidence without raising a brat, lol. She has her moments, but so far, so good :)

Ok, so I had put on the invitations for little ones to wear their super hero costumes. And to fit the theme, I decided to make super hero capes for the party favors. I am so stinkin' thrilled as to how cute they turned out!

Just some felt, glue and scissors and I was able to whip up some SUPER HERO MAGIC!

*Insert Holly doing the Cabbage Patch*

I also had a Spider Man cape and Wonder Woman, but forgot to take a picture before they were snatched up at the party.

I would say to not skimp out on some quality fabric glue. Felt absorbs the glue quickly, so you need something tacky and thick to hold. I wouldn't suggest using a hot glue gun on felt, as it can melt the fibers and show hard patches through the fabric. When cutting felt be sure you have some super sharp fabric scissors. I like Fiskars Heavy Fabric Cutters. The one thing that bothered me, as the perfectionist I am, was that I just couldn't seem to cut the fabric perfectly straight, The scissors did such a good job cutting that it was easy to veer off my patterns. I'm sure there's some trick to cutting felt that I have yet to discover, If you have one, do share!

Speaking of patterns- I didn't really have any. I just printed images off the web and scaled them to fit my capes. Here are some you can use:

Max California is a great sewing blog where I picked up these stencils:

(via Google images)

TO THE BAT CAVE!

For food we just had pizza, pop and cupcakes. What Noah and Lydia would eat every meal, every day, if we let them.

For tunes I was able to put together a pretty sweet song list on my Spotify:
(Download and enjoy!)
Super Hero Party Song List (Spotify)


In true fashion, I was way to busy to take any blog worthy photos of the party. But since the party, the left over capes have been getting great use at home:

Superman LOVES left over Birthday cake!

"Hey Spidey Girl. You wanna climb the Christmas tree and I'll fly up to save you?"
"SURE!"

All About Me

This school year started the adventure of being a room mom in Noahs Pre-K 4 class. This is the 3rd school year Noah has been in Miss Grimes class, and when I heard we were a few weeks into the school year and still no one had volunteered, I immediately signed up! Miss Grimes has been such a blessing to Noah and I was hoping this could be  a way to give back!

Now, do I have any idea as to what I'm doing? Maybe not! But the PTA and room mom brainstorm meetings sure do help! With Christmas around the corner I wanted to share what I have learned so far.

So, at the beginning of the year its the room moms responsibility to put together the class directory. This really is a great resource for parents, especially when it comes to mailing Christmas cards or birthday invites (you are not allowed to send either with your child into school). Here is the template I used:

Once all the parents filled their child's form out, I then made photo copies of each, making a packet for each family.

You will also need to know what each family is able to contribute to the class. You can not ask for money from your families but you can ask for supplies, snacks and their time. This is the form I used to help figure out who I could call based on the classrooms need:

I then made a form for the Teacher and each supportive staff to fill out (parapros, therapists, etc.) I also included a copy of these into each students classroom directory.

And then finally I thought it would be a good idea for the parents to help their little ones fill out an "All About Me" worksheet for their new teacher. I like this one:

Stayed tuned for more on my adventures of a first time room mom!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sophia Grace

As I get ready for Noah and Lydias Birthday party, I realize I havent posted Sophia's party pics. As you can tell, I dont blog in real time! Just when I can find some time!

My sweet Sophia Grace is now a walking, babbling, finger pointing 1 year old....
*sniffle*
Where does the time go?

Pirate Tooth Fairy Pillow

How is my child old enough to start loosing his baby teeth?! Its strange, I tell ya, to see my oldest child's teeth falling out, and my youngest child's teeth coming in. Both of which is making me a little emotional! The beginnings and the ends, all wrapped up into one!

Me: Get a grip, Holly, they are just teeth!
Self: I know... but my babies!!! My babies are growing up!

I wasn't prepared for the 1st tooth to fall out. I was working when I received this sad looking picture from my Husband:

Pathetic looking, right? With that single tear on his cheek... a little blood on his chest... And what do we do? We take a picture and then blog it to the world, HA!

Apparently this tooth had been loose, and Roman some how fell on his bed, hit it a certain way, knocked it out, and we are pretty sure he then swallowed it.

If you don't know my eldest child, let me tell ya, this was not an ideal way for this experience to go down. It turns out it was quiet traumatizing (in a funny way, of course) and He was not interested in talking about loosing his tooth... or the idea of loosing any more teeth.

So, to make this stage of life a little more fun, I was prepared for the second tooth to fall out by making him a Tooth Fairy pillow. Of course my Mommy magic (and the help of some money) quickly turned the thought of loosing teeth into something exciting for this big boy!

 The second tooth just hung in there, for what seemed like forever (a month). My little redneck son, missing his one front tooth was making me crazy. As that puppy just hung on by a stand I tried everything to convince him to just pull it out, but He wasn't having it. Then one day, FINALLY, we were brushing his teeth and out it came! Yippeee! The Tooth Fairy was on Her way! She had an IOU for the first tooth and was prepared to pay for the second!

When it comes to sewing projects, I am horrible about offering a tutorial. I do everything freehand and don't use templates. I did get the idea of a pirate pillow from Pintrest but offered my own spin on it :) So,  for this one I at least remembered to take a picture of the pieces I cut out. I wanted the pillow to either be hung on the door knob or stand upright on his dresser. So I made it complete with roots :)
(My dental assisting school colleagues will appreciate that!)

Romans Pirate Tooth Fairy Pillow :)
Complete with a bag, labeled "R" for Roman, that the Tooth Fairy can put Her gold coins inside!

I love how it turned out!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Halloween has now passed and the Super Hero costumes are all hung in the closet. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the Mall is already jamming Christmas tunes.....
BUT FYI: It's still Fall, Ya'll!

Roman and Noah are Batman and Robin
Lydia and Sophia are Super Girl and Spidey
Mom and Dad are just plan crazy

This and that from around the house :)

Burlap Pumpkins made by the one and only :)

Kitchen message board

Fabric leaves hanging from the chandelier

Simple: glass jars and a little bit of fall foliage

Yes, I like chalk board paint :)