Monkeyin' Around

In my world, October is our Birthday Month. Between my family and Sam's we have 6 birthdays in the stretch of time between Sept 30 and Oct 16. SIX! Not the least of which is Kaitlyn's birthday (on the 14th), which has been part focus for the last few months. I can't honestly tell you how early I started planning her party, but it was probably sometime this spring. You know me, the planning and prep is my favorite part. And since Kaitlyn decided on a Monkey theme barely one week after her last birthday, I've had plenty of time to gradually piece it all together. And now it's time for the final preparations.

I'll do a big post after the party, but I thought I'd share the invitations with you now. These little babies are going out tomorrow, provided we can figure out who some of the people are that she wants to invite (anyone else have this problem with their kindergartener? She plays with kids every day at recess and on the bus but for the life of her cannot remember their names. That is, if she has even remembered to ASK their names).
I paper pieced the monkey face, making up the pattern as I went along. Not bad 'eh? He kinda looks like a bear but hopefully the pokey-out ears and the Monkey Around statement inside will tip them off to the theme of the party.

I also whipped up a card for Kaitlyn, because I loved this image. My friend Callie introduced me to the Dustin Pike images and I'm in love! I enlarged two of his other images for part of the party decor...but you'll have to wait to see those.

Harvest

Have you been watching the leaves turn colors? We've been marveling at that for a few weeks now, at least up on the mountains. I'm happy to say the trees in our yard are still green. I love the temperatures we've been having lately (70s and 80s I think) and the slight crispness in the air. But I'm really not wanting the leaves to fall off or the temperatures to drop and force us inside.

I do however, love to decorate for Fall (second only to Christmas...and maybe Spring). This harvest board is another one I made with Audrey during our marathon project day. I just finished it up yesterday and am wondering where I'm going to find space for it! The creative credit goes to Audrey's friend and neighbor Jen, who is about as crafty as they come. She was also good enough to provide the handles. Thanks Jen!

Linked to:
-Fall Inspriation Link Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

Witch's Hat

Fall! Yay!
Can you sense the forced enthusiasm? Oh good, I fooled you! :) I've been trying to get into the fall spirit but for some reason it isn't quite working. I even got all my fall decorations out this week and...nothing.
I am, however, excited about my most recent projects. I got to spend the whole day yesterday with my friend Audrey. This used to be a regular thing for us, but it's been harder and harder to coordinate schedules. So I was really excited when we finally managed it. And the day didn't dissapoint. I had a great time. Ty had a great time playing with her son (and they were surprisingly very well behaved and happy the whole time - bonus!). Kaitlyn had fun playing with her grandma (who was in charge of picking her up after school). AND we managed to get a lot done, despite the fact that we fully completed only one of our 5 projects for the day.

These witch's hats were my idea - or as close as I get to an original idea in this age of blogs and great crafts stores and tons of creative women. Since our (my Saturday Girls) visit to see the witches at Gardner Village last year I have been enamored with all the wonderfully fun and decorative hats everyone was wearing. But I can't really stand to wear hats, nor am I all that great at dressing up so I was having a hard time convincing myself to make one of my own. But when Audrey and I were discussing projects, this came to mind and we decided to turn them into centerpieces instead of hats we could wear. And I am very happy with how they turned out.

She just doesn't have a bad side, does she? :)

You'll have to wait to see the rest of our projects. I need to buy some more paint and stain and get them all finished...stay tuned!

Oh, in case you want to recreate these yourself: We used an inexpensive costume witch's hat and stuffed it with floral foam and some paper to give it shape. Covered the bottom with cardboard to hold everything in. And attached the embellishments with straight pins and hot glue.

Linked to:
-Fall Inspriation Link Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

Word for the Year

I ran across this idea about a week ago on Ali Edwards blog and fell in love with it. The concept is to identify a word that represents what you want out of the next year. The word I chose is ENJOY.
As in:
-enjoy the process. I have a tendency to move from one project to the next without really taking the time to enjoy the final product or the outcome of my last endeavor.
-enjoy the little moments with the kids. We all know that they grow up way too quickly.
-enjoy my husand. This translates specifically to Date Night, and to making sure that I don't take him for granted.
-enjoy all the daily stuff, even if this means grinning through the hundredth load of laundry for the week or that awful job of scrubbing the toilet because at the very least I will be enjoying the feeling of a clean house...eventually :) This is how I spend my days. I not only want to accept that but to be happy with it.
-enjoy good health - I was glad I was finally able to incorporate my word for the one resolution I am trying to get myself very motived for - losing this dang baby weight! And hopefully I will soon be able to say that I enjoy the way I look/feel in my clothes.

To remind myself of the word for the year I have chosen to display it where I will see it often. I altered some wooden letters (photo above) that are now sitting atop my kitchen cabinets. And I made some small signs that I have attached to my refrigerator and my bathroom mirror.

It says:
Enjoy [en-joi´]
(v.) To take satisfaction; to live in happiness.
(v.) To receive pleasure or satisfaction from.
(v.) To have the use or benefit of: enjoys good health.

And as luck would have it, the word of the year is also the theme for Tip Junkie's Talk To Me Tuesday. So be sure to check that out.

Dump Truck Birthday Party

***This post has been moved and reposted on my new blog.  Check it out HERE!***

Magic Elves

Meet Tinsel and Twinkle. They are the little elves that Santa sends to our house in December to keep an eye on the kids for him to make sure they are being good. (I love this little trick of Christmas - makes my life so much more pleasant when I have something extra to keep Katy in line) But we need to keep an eye on the elves too because each night they find something new to keep them busy, and sometimes get into mischief! This will be our second year hosting the elves and Kaitlyn is very excited to see where she finds them each day.

They showed up on our doorstep this morning with their passports, a letter of introduction/instruction from Santa, and their report forms that will be given to Santa on when he pickes them up on Christmas Eve. Kaitlyn's response, "Well, then we'd better be good!"

I have to admit that this year I wasn't totally prepared for the elves yet. The first of Dec just kind of crept up on me and Sam actually reminded me last night that they were showing up today. So I was secretly getting the letter written and updating the pastports while Katy was watching a cartoon before bed last night. Then the seldom experienced but very gratifying moment when I showed everything to Sam and HE WAS IMPRESSED! :) He even told me that our kids are lucky to have such a creative mom! Sorry - just had to share because a lot of the time guys just don't "get it" and I was impressed with him for expressing those sentiments.

Here is my Elf Schedule
1-on doorstep w/
-letter of introduction
-passport
-report
2-crumbs all over, hiding in laundry room by mini vac (Didja know elves live off crackers and water??)
3-in stocking w/ coloring pgs*
4-in kids’ closets
5-in living room with Ty’s bday presents
6-making breakfast (on counter, in cupboards)
7-under K’s bed
8-watching a movie w/ popcorn, blankets, new DVD?*
9-in hall w/ paper snowflakes*
10- left note on computer
11-in car
12-making cookies - dough in fridge, one in cupboard
13-TBD
14-TBD
15- in kitchen/living room w/ craft project*
16-in bathtub (clothing trail?)
17- in freezer with ice cream
18-reading books in Ty’s room w/ new book*
19-tree
20- in Katy’s room having a cotton ball snowball fight
21- outside - can see them from windows
22-my room
23- living room/kitchen w/ thank you card made out letters from newspaper
24-Katy’s room? Outside? Under the tree?
**have ready and waiting by the cookies and egg nog for Santa to pick up


I can't remember where I first saw this idea but for those of you that are interested, I did get a lot of inspiration from http://www.organizedchristmas.com/. They even have the reports, etc that you can print out. Just look for their Magic Elves section.

Update (12/13): I am adding a bit more information due to lots and lots of emails asking for more! I am happy to give you even more if this doesn't get you off to a good start. Feel free to keep emailing. And if you do implement this be sure to let me know!

Here are a couple of links that will give you ideas on how to "explain" the elves showing up. http://magicalholidayhome.com/elves/?page_id=33
And though I can't find it right now, I think the letter I put with the elves last year (to start the tradition) must have looked something like this http://magicalholidayhome.com/elves/?page_id=32 Be sure to look all around this site - it has tons of cute ideas!
Someone has also started up a Magic Elf profile on MySpace LOL.

I have also found that there are some "package deals" that you can get a set of elves along with a book about their story. Just do a search on the internet for Elf on the Shelf or The Night Before Thanksgiving (I think this is the better of the two).

And I meant to tell you - I had the devil of a time finding stuffed elves in the stores last year. (this was long before I stumbled across the package stuff, but I think the elves I found are cuter) So you may just want to skip the search and go directly to Amazon.com to buy your elves :)

Dump Truck Birthday Party Invitation

If I had to list Tyler's favorite things, a dump truck would top the list. In fact, it was one of the first words he learned to say. I think he's drawn to them because his grandpa has one, and he is a BIG fan of grandpa! :) So anyway - I picked dump trucks as the theme for Tyler's upcoming birthday. I struggled with ideas for the invitations for a few days but this is what I finally came up with. The whole things is paper pieced (yep I did the pattern myself!) and the back "dumps" to reveal the party info below it The wheels are on Pop Dots for a bit of added dimension. The front reads: "Tyler is 2! Dump everything and truck on over for a party!" And along with the party info inside I made sure to say it was being held "at the Caldwell Construction site."

I did some surfing last night and have pretty much completed the planning for the party. I have to say, there are TONS of cute ideas for construction parties out there and I just may have to do this theme again when he's old enough to participate in some of the activities. But for now I'm keeping it simple - and will tell you all about it after his birthday when I will of course have some cute photos to include.