Happy 4th Birthday, Nathanael!

In honor of my middle child’s fourth birthday, we had a Fire Truck birthday party for him last weekend. His actual birthday was yesterday, but Mondays are no good for holding parties :)

Thanks to Pinterest, I may have gone a bit overboard with the party decorations. now I have to think of how to top this one for Kahlen’s next birthday!

It started with the invitation:

I used the Cricut Cartridge Everyday Paper Dolls for the fire truck, axe, fire hydrant, and hat. I used the Create a Critter cartridge for the flames. It was actually my husband’s idea to make an aperture out of the fire truck window so we could see Nate from the front and inside. It’s on a 8 1/2” x 4” blank so that it will fit inside a regular mailing envelope.

After that, I found a YouTube video on how to make the cake simply yet perfect for what I wanted:

Fire Truck Cake courtesy of Family Fun Video

Then I went looking for some game or activity ideas and found this great tutorial on how to make a pull string piñata.

Also, a ton of the fire truck / fire fighter themed parties that I saw were held actually AT a fire station. I didn’t think this would work, until I just called them to ask. We were planning on having it at a park that is right next to a fire station anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right? Well, they said YES (as long as they weren’t out on a call, of course). Turns out, they were on a call when we first tried to go over there, but we were flexible about it and just came back after we saw them pull back into the station:

Nate said this was the best part!

I also found some great decoration ideas for a banner, food and cute signs, and cupcake designs. Naturally, me being me, I had to make all of those things. By hand. *sigh* sometimes my crafty side gets the better of my practical side.

The banner as it's hung up at my house. I didn't get a good picture of it at the party :(

"Matches" - Pretzels dipped in red melting chocolate. "Fire Truck Wheels" - Oreos. "Fire Hoses" - Licorice, both black and red. I also had some gluten free candies because one of his friends has a bad reaction to gluten.

The cupcakes. The red rope ones were lemon flavored and the flame ones were chocolate flavored. I also made the cupcake wrappers by cutting them out with a template first, then using decorative scissors to cut the tops. I then stuck on the little decoration on the front, which I also made, since I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for.

I am so grateful for good friends. I tried to do the flames, but I’m just not that skilled at decorating cakes. So I called in one of my best friends and she did them for me. Thanks, Melissa!

So, how did everything turn out? GREAT!! I think that Nate will never forget this one :)

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Nathanael!

~S

Countdown to Christmas 2011

If you’ve been around here awhile, you may remember the Countdown to Christmas Advent activities I did last year. Anyway, I decided to do something similar but not quite the same this year. I feel like Kahlen is still a little young to do anything more serious, and I did incorporate several activities that explain the true meaning of Christmas as well as the spirit of giving that I’d like to instill.

I’ve recently joined Pinterest as well, which has been slightly distracting, but overall a good thing. I’ve been pretty good about not spending too much time there, but it is very tempting. Anyway, I found a bunch of great Advent activity ideas and resources, so I combined them and made my own, cause that’s how I roll.

Here’s the links to the ones I used parts of:

• My finished product looks very similar to this one
• But I got my numbers from here
• And several lists of activities can be found here, here, and here.

Tada!

Here’s my activity list (link goes to ones you can actually print, already formatted to 2”x2” squares):

1. Make a Christmas Star paper chain
2. Christmas Symbols Lapbook
3. Get Christmas Pictures taken
4. Find and decorate a Christmas tree
5. Make and mail Christmas ornaments
6. Look at Christmas decorations at the mall
7. String popcorn garland for the tree
8. Make Christmas Cards for friends
9. Make a new ornament for the tree
10. Watch classic Christmas cartoons
11. Sing at Church
12. Bake cookies and give them to neighbors
13. Drink hot cocoa and watch The Polar Express
14. Minivan Express
15. Library Storytime about Christmas
16. Nativity Coloring Book
17. Celebrate Kahlen’s Birthday
18. Make paper snowflakes
19. Read or Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas
20. Christmas craft(s)
21. Wrap Christmas Presents
22. Play “Don’t Eat Pete”
23. Read “A Special Place for Santa”
24. Go to the Christmas Eve service at church
25. Have a Merry Christmas!

I printed them on 2”x2” squares and taped them inside like this so that once we do an activity, we turn that day inside out so we can see all the activities we’ve done. I used just a bit of tape so I can rearrange them if I need to.

Okay, supplies I used:

• Large glassless picture frame (I picked this up at a thrift store over a year ago, has so many uses!)
• Scrapbook paper in several colors/patterns. I used four different papers to provide variety, but you really could use all the same paper. I also didn’t want to go buy anything, so these are from my stash.
• Mini clothespins (from Joann’s)
• Ribbon
• Staple gun (you could use tape, but I like it to be nice and sturdy)
• Glue or tape (I used my Scotch ATG, but anything will work)

How I did it:

• I actually used my Cricut Expressions and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut out the shape I used for each day, but a rectangle would have worked just as well. I used the bookmark and then folded it in half and folded the top part down so it looks like a present. But, seriously, a long rectangle would have worked just as well.
• After I had the bookmark shapes all cut, I printed these numbers and cut them out with a circle cutter at about 2.5” (scissors would have worked too).
• I taped the numbers onto the bookmarks I had already cut and folded.
• I laid out my activity cards on the floor and figured out when each one would work best for us. Some are better on the weekend, some have a specific date, and the rest were “fillers”. Then I taped them on the inside of each of the folded cards with just a bit of tape so I can rearrange if I need to.
• Next, I stapled ribbon onto the frame. I did not measure, I approximated, and it worked out just fine. If you are more of a perfectionist than I am (which is not hard), you might want to actually measure so you don’t end up with a gap at the bottom like I did.
• Finally, I just pinned all the cards on to the ribbons, hung the frame on the wall, and voila! A cute, somewhat simple, advent calendar!

Since my posting has been sporadic anyway, there are no guarantees that I will post every single activity, but I’ll do my best. Geez, I’m already two days behind! Gotta go take some more pictures of the things we’ve done already…

~S

I included a lot of links in this post, but none of them are affiliate links so I won’t be benefitting in any way from you visiting said links. I just thought you might like to know what I was talking about :)