The birthday cake!

I promised you all that I would show you the AWESOME cake that I had made for my friend Julie's 40th surprise birthday party! Here it is! Couldn't be any cuter, right?? If you are in Central Florida, Prudence is our Fondant Queen! www.glassslippercakery.com

Here we are walking up to Dexter's when she realized the patio is filled with all her friends and they yelled "Surprise!" So fun! Here are a few pictures from our fun evening!

What a fun party!! She had a great night and I so enjoyed being able to help her celebrate!

Starwars Party Ideas

A friend of mine asked me for ideas for a toddler Starwars party. I held one for my then 4 year old a couple years ago but must admit I did not do too much in regards to Starwars as it was a water party. BUT, my invitation was cute! Here is a photo of the scrapbook page it is on above, pardon the flash glare. It says

Four years ago,

in a galaxy

far, far away,

Jedi Carter was born.

Now you too have been chosen,

to train to become a jedi.

The starwars mission

will take place in

the Galaxy of Torcaso park on August 6th at 2 p.m.

Water Training is required

So future jedis

must wear waterproof stormtrooper

uniforms

It is your

destiny . . .

to come to

this party.

If you have seen the movies, you know this is the format of the opening lines and all you do is keep changing your font as you go.

Our party was at a little water park so I gave out blow up swords found online that we called "lightsabers" and for a 'goody bag' I wrapped each child's trinkets in a big blob of tin foil and then gave them each their "astroid" as they left. They loved that actually! And of course we did a cake with a starwars theme. Otherwise, they played in the water.

If you are doing this at your home, you could plan for "jedi training" and set up lots of different Jedi centers whether it's a craft or a game. There is Starwars music so get it on your ipod and having it playing during the party or at least as they enter!

Some center suggestions would be:

• Make a lightsaber (cut pool noodles in half and use different electrical tape for the handles) or decorate a lightsaber if you buy basic ones
• Some type of race but have them be rockets or pods or something Starwars inspired. They could pretend they are a ship and give themselves a ship name.
• Lightsaber training. An adult teacher them different moved and gives those moved fun names.
• Duel with darthvader. An adult in costume or a punching bag with a mask.
• Play Stormtrooper says using their lightsabers. Having an adult in costume would help make this exciting. Stormtrooper saying to raise your lightsaber with your right hand, etc.
• Make their own name tags with Starwars stickers
• Alien face painting
• Pin the Saber on the Jedi
• pinata but have them use their own lightsabers
• Astroid hunt--wrap candy in tin foil and play just like an easter egg hunt or make it harder for older kids with clues

Okay, those are just a few ideas since I have ALL the time in the world while I'm sitting here watching Faye rain, rain and rain on me! If you ever need birthday party ideas, I'd love to share but I will tell you that THE experts are at http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/ ! Basically, anyone who is proud of a party they threw writes out every single thing they did. It's hard to sort through it all there is SO much information but if you can tolerate reading a lot, you will find great ideas!!!

Kiersten

Autism is a myth

This is my son James and he is on the autistic spectrum. It's just something that "is" and isn't much discussed. Well, until this morning when I heard my boys fighting. James was yelling at Carter. Carter was speaking calming but he was obviously annoying James. So I called them downstairs to discuss what was going on and James begins yelling "Carter says autism isn't real". Carter interrupts and says no, "I said autism is a myth. I just don't believe in it". I asked why and he then explained how you can't see it and it's not on tv so it's not real. Oh boy. So then I started listing other medical terms that they will grow up learning about and asked if they are real like heart disease and lung cancer and diabetes. My point was for them to say they weren't sure so that I could say 'they are real and just because they aren't on your tv shows doesn't make them not real' but diabetes caught me since they apparently know all about this from a Jonas Brother? Anyway, I explained to Carter that this is something that James was born with and it's part of his brain and you can't see it. They both wanted to know how to make it go away. Good question. I guess I'll need to provide some more information for Carter and it's no wonder James struggles with his friends at school when his own brother doubts this confusing 'thing' that you can't see.

James is the sweetest 9 year old ever and had so much fun making a gingerbread house at Aunt Kim's last December. I don't remember this little girl's name but she is one of Kim's friend's daughters and she was SO sweet and friendly to let James help with her house. There is nothing I think parents can instill more in their children that the ability to accept other kids for what they are and be a friend regardless and this little girl was a prefect example of that!

It's a Pirate Party!

While I'm talking about parties and a treasure themed PTA event, how can I not show you my treasure cake for my son's Pirate Party! Again, this is a while ago, I think 4 years ago. FIRST, you must realize which twin is typing here. Kim is the baker/caterer/master of all things food. I'm the crafty girl who sews! I have my talents but it's not in the kitchen. Designing a kitchen, that's me, using it's appliances and tools, not so much. Oh, here, I'll show you this. This is my hood in my kitchen--doesn't this tell you I don't cook??



It says "Kiersten's Kitchen, -chef wanted".


Okay, so now that I've prepared you correctly that you should not have any expectation from me in the kitchen, I hope you will appreciate the only birthday cake I have ever made! Here is my treasure cake!



See the crack through the treasure chest? I hope you think it was meant to be there. But it wasn't. I had a friend over through the entire assembly and she had to take over a few times as I couldn't even spread the frosting without getting crumbs in it. But the vision was all mine! I am GOOD for a vision but BAD for actually executing anything that has to do with an oven!

Okay, three posts in one day! I'm so proud!!!

Kiersten

PTA Welcome Back Teacher Breakfast

So I'm in crazy mode right now with my first event for PTA this year. I'm such a sucker with volunteering that not only did I agree to take on this very busy position for the 2nd year but someone else really really wanted to do it and I, along with my partner Kay, put our claim on it and insisted we do it! We are a little crazy like that.


So next week is my first event for the year. It is a tough one because it is before school starts and I have to juggle my kiddos while cooking, decorating, setting up and cleaning up! We do our first event around the school's theme which is "Wild about Reading" this year. There are many directions that you can take the theme "Wild" but the school is going with the Camo/wild outdoors theme since we live in a rural area. I'm having fun with that theme and will show you that once it's over and I have pictures!


Last year, the theme was "Reading for Treasure" and here are a few pictures of our set up. The treasure boxes are from my son's bedroom and the map I made in front of the TV with some ink pads and a marker. The boat belongs to the school's past principal who passed away from a long fight with cancer the year before. It meant a lot to the staff that it was worked in to the start of their first year without her and it was a nice touch.
Here's another view of that area showing the oars. The flowers were in black plastic as they had been in the boat but we had to take some out. Kay grabbed paper towels from the bathroom and wrapped them--talk about quick improvising!

We set up a coffee bar elsewhere but the rest of the drinks were at one end with the hot food at the other. Here is the entire table. The little boat by the drinks is filled with tea and cocoa packets and topped with a tray of mini marshmallows.


Each table was reserved for a grade level or a group within the school as this breakfast is a meeting as well. We couldn't do a treasure theme without giving each teacher and staff member a little something so I made 70 of these tags. Making one was easy but I was regretting it by the end of this project-it took me hours! They loved them though so it was worth it!

I'm excited that next week is my last year of serving breakfast so early the week before school starts but am also looking forward to a fun year with this position. Kay is awesome and we work great together and it's a great school so it is worth it!!

So perhaps instead of writing about this event, I should be working on it? I work great under pressure so I'm sure I'll keep blogging!


Kiersten

Spongebob Square Pants Birthday Party

I have started using Creative Memories Memory Manager and LOVE IT! It makes organizing your digital photos very easy. I am finding pictures that I haven't seen in years and now they are at my fingertips. There are things that are very "pre-blog" but I thought they would be fun to share so I figured, why not? One would be some simple ideas for a Sponge Bob Square Pants Birthday Party. We did this for my son James several years ago.

The kids craft was "Make your own Sponge Bob!" We set out yellow sponges, pre-cut yellow pipe cleaners, googly eyes, black pompoms, black marker and felt in brown, red and white. You'll have to decide how easy you want to make it. If the kids are young, it is helpful to precut the felt for the pants, shirt and tie and an adult should then perhaps be in charge of the marker! All these items are quite simple and easy to grab! We premade one for an example and then let them at it--it amused them for quite a bit and they all loved taking them home!

At another table, we had premade star sugar cookies, frosting dyed in pink, green and purple and mini M&Ms. What's all this for? Their own Patrick of course!!! We set out a very high end container for them to use to hold their Patrick, coffee filters! Just like the Sponge Bob project, I premade one for them to use as inspiration. Some tried to make Patrick, others just loaded on the frosting and M&Ms and ate it. Either way, it was a hit!

This took up the first hour while everyone arrived and mingled, then we ate and the kids played and we ended the party with a cake and pinata. Simple but with a few fun, unique things and the party was a hit!!!

Kiersten

In my spare time . . .

I love a good event! For that reason, I decided that I'd love to throw parties for free! Yes, if you are a busy body Mommy, you have probably guessed it, I am Hospitality Chair for PTA. I actually co-chair with someone who is awesome and that helps but it is still lots of work.

I love a great theme! For this year's Teacher Appreciate luncheon, we decided to do a Mexican Fiesta! So what does a busy working mommy with little spare time for this decide to do? That's right, build a margarita bar! Of course! Luckily, I have a builder for a husband so I will admit, I just designed the structure and he built it for me. Our favorite employee is amazing with a saw and 2x4's so this was a nice break for him. Then I spray painted it and shopped for fun stuff to cover it with a Viola, Margarita Bar! We had a 'bartender' there throughout the entire 3 hour event serving regular and strawberry 'margaritas' along with lemonade. It was lots of fun!

I and my awesome partner are taking on this position for one more year and then I will need an easier job!!

Spooky Food!!!

I had lots of fun making food for the halloween party we attended! Here is my gooey snake (pie crust filled with provolone and turkey sitting on lettuce) and spiders on sticks (hard one-- chicken nuggets with spider rings and ketchup). As you can see, whereas my twin has a high talent in actual cooking and baking, I excel more at presentation! I managed to turn frozen nuggets into something that kids and adults alike thought was so cool! One little girl was scared to eat it and we had to explain what it was. Both were big hits and so simple!

Kiersten