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Sunday, October 30, 2011

THE Lego Party!

Isaac's incredible Lego party was held on Saturday - and I must say it was one of the best parties I've done.  I was frightened about having 18 small people in my house on a day that was forecast rain, but in the end, the sun shone, the smalls were beautifully behaved and more importantly Isaac had a really nice time. 

Here's a little rundown of the party. 
Prepare yourself for photo overload!

Party guest were welcomed by our balloon wreath on the front door.  Inspiration from Pinterest of course!  And an easy to follow tutorial is this way.

The birthday boy with his baby sister in their lego man t-shirts made by me.  I bought cheap plain t-shirts from Big W, Target and Best and Less (all on sale) for these.  Each party goer got one in their party bag.  They were a little bit of work tracing, cutting, ironing on and sewing! But totes cute, yes???  I used this lego man as the template.
The gorgeous threesome - or should I say foursome if we include Miss M's teddy getting a showing!  (incidentally this teddy belonged to daddy when he was a baby so he's looking good for being over 40 years old.  matilda is obsessed with him.)

The Cake!  His legs are a little wonky but he is such a sweetie - yes?  For this I used the same template as the t-shirt lego man just enlarged a wee bit.  I baked a big slab cake then cut him out of that.  I have iced him with coloured buttercream icing and then iced the top of the cake with what I like to call 'playdough' icing (cant think of it's real name at all!!!)  Available from the top shelf of the cake aisle in the supermarket it's just like playdough!  It dyes easily too.

And no - the cake wasn't as heavy as Isaac is making it look!
Because Isaac's actual birthday cake turned out small I made these lego cupcakes as a back up.  Each small person ended up taking one home with them because I'd already 'sugared' them out by the time we got to cake!  The cupcake toppers are just lego stickers from the Lego City Sticker book (available from Target, Big W) stuck on cutout circles, laminated with a lolly pop stick on the back.
For the kids party table I was able to borrow some tables and chairs from Isaac's kinder (there has to be some benefit from being on the committee for the last four years!).  We stuck with yellow, red, blue and green for a colour theme and carried that through the tablecloth, plates, napkins and balloons.
The husband making an appearance on 'le blog' along with my tuckshop arm!!!!
I swear and declare I will never be making gingerbread men again!  Toooooo much hard work!  My lovely friend ended up icing them for me because I was totally over looking at them once I'd baked them!  Cookie cutter came from ebay a wee while ago.  It also included a lego lady which Isaac wouldn't let me use.
I simply could not go past the lego man bunting!  They inspired a number of different things for the party!  Super cute and totally FREEEEEE pattern ready for printing!

Clearly my boys already have waaaaay toooo much lego!  I poured it all out onto a bed sheet and when the party guests arrived they got to sit around build at their leisure.  Easiest and best activity ever.  They kept coming back to this over and over again which was totally fine by me!

Another party game we loved was the Lego Spoon Race - just like the egg and spoon race but with lego!  I was lucky enough to steal some very useful and helpful teenagers to assist in party game co-ordination and I highly recommend this as a way to stay sane!!!
Some of our gorgeous girly party guests trying to scoop out some lego with their spoons.

I have used the FREE Lego printable men here for Pin the Lego Label on the Lego men.  Officeworks was my best friend during the course of party planning for all my printing and enlarging needs!!!  Poor Isaac - the label is supposed to go on his t-shirt buddy, not his head!

Have houseguests, make them work for their beds!!!  This is my mum and MIL serving up lunch production line style in my too-tiny-for-a-five-member-family kitchen!  I kept it simple with chips, nuggets and little boys with some fairy bread thrown in for good measure!

You cant really see very well here but I also made Lego Water.  I just peeled off the water labels replaced them with coloured paper then sealed it with a lego sticker from the Lego book I mentioned earlier.
After all that food, everyone needs a run around in the sunshine!  I had my helpful teenagers hide bunches of these cut out coloured lego men around my garden for Lego Search and Rescue.  I used the same template here as the t-shirts and the cake.  And yes, I did end up with a blister from cutting out 50 of these men!!!  The kids just ran around the garden collecting as many as they could.  Game wise, it didn't last for long but the kids loved it anyway.
I spy a blue man!
Now I had been reliably informed that little boys don't normally like to sit and colour, but I had kept them pretty busy up to this point so they were happy to sit for a while and design their own lego men on the one's they found during Lego Search and Rescue.
  Our last party game was Lego Bingo which I initially worried they would be bored with but they all loved it.  I had them work in pairs cause I didn't have enough boards to go around everyone but this worked out well in the end as some of the older party guests helped the younger ones.  Again, this was a totally free printable I found! 
We pretty much did birthday cake after this and a mad run around outside before I sent them all home with their party bags.  I may have splurged a little bit on those and sneakily added in a lego minifigure into each one after I found them on special at the toy shop (don't tell my husband!!!) and in the end a party bag is not a party bag without some kind of lolly so a small box of smarties may have been slipped in as well!!!
What do you think? 

In all seriousness this was one of the best parties I have had and definately the best party I have had at home!  I think the secret is being super prepared and organised.  Steal some reliable teenagers to help play with the small people and pop some useful grown ups in the kitchen so you can be the busy party person without worrying about the hot food.  Close all the doors to the rooms you dont want small people in and put away or hide toys that you dont want them to play with!

You can find more lego party inspiration on my Pinterest board.

Hope I didn't bore you toooooo much with my Lego Party Love!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

This week I'm grateful for...the best party ever!


All my babies dressed in their lego party t-shirts before the event! Not great picture quality cause it's from the phone but I did take all the party pics on my normal camera so I should have some other better one's to share later!

I'm ducking in late this week to being grateful!  Just wanted to say what a fabulous Lego party we had today for Isaac.  Cannot believe how perfect everything was!

I'm super grateful that it rained all night and came out mild and sunny at party time!
I'm eternally grateful for Grandma's and Nanna's and good friends who scurried around in my kitchen so I could run the party games and such!
And I'm overwhelmingly grateful that Isaac has such gorgeous wee friends who behaved themselves beautifully!  Not one fight and no tears amongst 18 small people!

Will be back in a day or so with a comprehensive Lego Party Post!  In the meantime, head on over to Bron's and share some grateful love!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

My creative space....

I am currently mired in what can only be described as Lego Party Prep Hell!

Who thought it would be a good idea to make lego men gingerbread????  Gingerbread dough is the devil to work with and I cannot tell you how many of these guys got rolled back up again before I finally worked out a system for baking without breaking!


Basically - roll out your dough, press your cookie shape into it ensuring you wiggle it in nice and hard so that you cut right through the dough to the baking paper underneath.  Carefully remove all the excess dough then use kitchen scissors to cut around each shape so that what you eventually end up with is lots of lego men sitting on their own individual pieces of baking paper! 
Time consuming - yes! 
Uses lots of baking paper - yes! 
 Not needing a mental institution every time you transfer an uncooked cookie to the cooking tray only to have it break apart on you - yes!

This is the only food prep I have done so far... and the party is on Saturday.  A day which is now forecast to have all day rain and thunderstoms.  And I have 18 children and their parents arriving at my house for 2 hours.  And between now and then I have an induction program to attend in the city for my new job, after school swimming, classroom parent help, a Transition Prep session to attend, balloons to pick up, party tables and chairs to collect, an entire house to clean, a birthday cake to make and back up indoor party activities to think about just in case that weather forecast actually comes true! 

And my inlaws are staying with us...for two weeks...in our house...for two weeks...staying right in the room next to our bedroom....for two weeks.

Far more (and less whingy, whiney) creative peeps hang out here on Thursdays.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Isaac is 5

26 October 2006
Isaac, five years ago I gave birth to your adorably large self!  Our second boy, now our middle child, you are quite the character. 
You love nothing more than making yourself and everyone around you laugh, primarily with toilet humour.  You love cuddles and would trade your sister if it meant you could sleep with us in our bed every night. 
You think about things a lot, ask questions about everything and are currently obsessed with your birth story and associated photos!  You can scoot like a demon, build amazing lego creations and are quite the self-talker when playing with your toys.  I love nothing more than sneakily listening to your chatter when you are playing on your own. 
You simply cannot clean up after yourself!  Apparently your legs get crazy and bored at the exact moment your room might need tidying up or the 700 pieces of lego that you have spread all over the house need picking up.  You find it impossible to walk more than 5 metres at any shop but can play forever at the playground.
You are a great little brother most of the time and a great big brother most of the time.  People seem to be drawn to your cheekiness, your dimples, your smile and you have found the loveliest little group of friends at kinder.
We love the little man you are turning into and I'm so proud that I got to be your mum.
Happy birthday gorgeous boy.  We love you forever.

Two totes terrific things for Tuesday!

I got a job!!!!

You may or may not know I am a primary school teacher by trade but after I had Oscar (7 years ago) I went on maternity leave and am yet to return.  In those 7 years two more sweet smalls came along.  So with three little people, a husband who travels frequently for work and all my potential babysitting family members in Tasmania, I am not really an attractive prospective employee!

Since I can only do weekends and late nights I had been looking into some Christmas casual work and heard today that I got the one I wanted!  Yay for me!   Double yay that it is in a ladies fashion store that I frequent and as an employee apparently gives a substantial discount!

Second good thing - love winning bloggy competitions and I had this parcel of leonine goodness arrive late yesterday.

Thanks to Joni at the Diary of Joni and Anya.  My kids are in Lion King Heaven!  And so am I!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Incredible Crochet Art

First spotted in the current issue of Frankie...






And I thought granny squares were hard!




Sunday, October 23, 2011

Christmas Countdown...

Do you know that there are only 62 days till Christmas???

Does this send you into wild panic or is that just me???

I really wanted to try for some handmade goodness this Christmas but am not sure how much I will manage with so few days to go!  Last year I crocheted a bunch of Pip's Christmas baubles to attach to each person's pressie... they may just get a repeat!

And I also joined up for this today....



Fabulous.


Friday, October 21, 2011

Crazy Cousins and endless houseguests!

We have houseguests at the mo... our sweet girl cousins from Hobart are staying for a few days and Matilda is totes in love with them... and she is hard girl to please!

Any attempt to photograph them all together results in this...





They leave on Saturday and my in-laws arrive on Sunday... for two weeks. 

Yes.  Two weeks!!!!!!

I am also planning mass birthday and party celebrations for my middle boy who will be five next week!

Yes. Five!!!!!!!

So I'm here but not really if you know what I mean. 






Monday, October 17, 2011

Guest posting!

I'm so excited... I have a guest post up at the moment with Emma at Frog, Goose & Bear!

Go visit and I'll teach you how to make this outfit...

OMG - look what just arrived from America for me!


I ordered one for me and one for my sister! The postage was a little expensive but I took Chantelle's advice, emailed them asking for cheaper options and lo and behold they sent me a code to get $25 off.  As a bonus the planner included the rest of this year too so I can start using it right away!  I plan on taking it to my kinder committee meeting tonight and filling it all in with my busy life whilst pretending to listen to riveting conversation about policy review!

And yes, they are totally personalised stickers just for me to give out on gorgeous gifts!

Milestones

I'm sure normal families celebrate normal baby milestones - rolling, sitting, crawling, walking.

In this house though, it's all about hairy milestones!

First hairclip! (And first teeny red leather shoes!)

First successful pony!


First double ponies!


And of course, the grand finale of hairy milestones today...

I give you the double braid!!!!

I know it is has wispy bits, is crooked and will probably not last the day... but it's braids people... BRAIDS!

My baby doll is growing up.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Crochet School!

Ever wanted to learn how to crochet????



American terminology I'm afraid but she does give UK/Australian terms at the same time, and her video tutorials are really clear and helpful.  I've been watching and picked up loads of tips to improve my own crochet skills.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

My creative space... Whale Softie for Mirabel



Clearly I had too much time on my hands this week!

That's my whale swimming across my not yet finished ripple blanket!  Don't look at it tooo closely cause I think I stuffed up the pattern - my hills dont look quite right and I think I have been crocheting into the wrong spot but I have done too much now to turn back... plus I dont think the almost-five year old is going to notice!


More information about Softies for Mirabel.



Other creative spaces.

Just noticed - this is my 300th post!  Yay me!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

10 things

Julie from Mama of 2 boys has invited me to share 10 things about myself with you that you may or may not know already. 

So....

  1. I am living in fantasy world at the moment that exists with me wanting to turn '40 in France'.  I have four years to save and am tempted to open a bank account named exactly that.  I want to go by myself - no husband, no kids - and just wander the streets soaking it all in.
  2. I tutor small people who are not my own, helping them to read and write.  I am eternally patient, kind and non-grouchy.  Something I find well-nigh impossible to be when attempting to help my own child to read.
  3. I am not very good at keeping secrets.  Dont tell me anything you dont want my sister Tania to know...or my friend Kate...or my husband.
  4. I have never washed the windows on my house or cleaned the skirting boards or dusted the little ledge they create.  The thought of doing such a thing renders me braindead.  I wait for my MIL to visit and she does it for me.
  5. I have 144 apps on my iphone.  I maybe use about 10 of them.
  6. I have two degrees, one of which is an Arts degree from the Uni of Tasmania with a major in Sociology and a minor in Philosophy.  I have never used this degree for anything.  Although I have kept one philosophy textbook on my shelf called 'The Meaning of Life', a statement it does not really answer but I feel like the presence of the book itself indicates to others that I might know what it is.
  7. I have not worked in 7 years.  Technically I am still considered to be on maternity leave from my primary school teaching position.  I think this lack of working may strongly impact on my number 1 up there... no money equals no savings in that '40 in France' account!
  8. I find most teenagers scary and intimidating.  Where do they get all that confidence from????
  9. I may have told you this before but my husband does the majority of the cooking in our house. 
  10. I am addicted to blog reading.  It is replacing my magazine addiction.  I have so many blogs in my Google Reader that some mornings I wake up and discover 100's of new things sitting there ready for me to read.  I cant believe I waited so long to become a part of this online community!
I think I am supposed to dob in some other lovely blogging mates to share 10 things about themselves as well, but in doing the rounds I've noticed a few of my favourite people have already done this.  So if you would like to share 10 things about yourself with us, leave a comment below and we'll all come and visit you.

Friday, October 7, 2011

This week I'm grateful for...



Two weeks ago I was grateful that school holidays were about to start... today I am grateful they have come to an end.  I am officially done with parks, playgrounds, lego spread from one end of the house to the other, paper craft, texta on my carpet and non-stop requests for food.

I love me some routine and cant wait to get back to it all next week!

What are you feeling grateful for this week? 
Go give her some love!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

My creative space...

I have pledged my obsession with Pinterest on previous occassions.  At the moment it is my go-to source for party inspiration and when I saw these gorgeously colourful balloon wreaths I just could not help myself.




(as an aside - I used to be able to embed images straight from pinterest onto the blog but since they rejigged pinterest when I try to do it now it asks for a width and height of the image and since I know nothing about codes and whatnot I really dont know what to put in those boxes.  Anyone come across this... and know what to do about it???!!!)

I have decided they are the perfect tv craft - mindlessly sitting there watching Glee pinning balloons into styrafoam is quite therapeutic!



Grab your bags of balloons and a bunch of pins...


...stick the pin through the neck of the balloon so it flops both ways and simply pin it into your styrofoam wreath.


Clearly four bags of 45 balloons is not going to do it so some more will be purchased tomorrow.


But look how pretty it is.  And with two parties at our house coming up soon, it's the perfect party front door treatment I think!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Wordless Wednesday... four days away.

I feel like I might be photo bombing you today... Sorry.












And of course my favourite shot has to be poor Isaac's bumcrack.  Lucky he's only 4 (almost 5!!! eeek) and oblivious to it!



*I feel so blonde... I actually posted this yesterday and spent the whole day believing it was Wednesday!  Whoops.