A Very Hungry Caterpillar Inspired Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to my little guy!

Papa Murphy's cheese pizza with pepperoni, mushroom, olive, and bell pepper caterpillars, with basil leaves.

funky but fun...a hungry caterpillar balloon

Leaf wine charms and straws.

Arranging cupcakes

Voila! Jellybean eyes/nose, gummy worm antennae and chocolate chip feet.

Butterfly favors.

We kept it small...just some family friends, but I still wanted to make it a bit special. I like to be frugal so this is what we ended up with...funky but fun. He had a blast and didn't end up falling asleep until around 10:30!

Pinterest was a major help in getting creative along with the clearance wall clings we found to decorate the windows...they are now on his bedroom window. Once we choose the theme it was hard not to get to carried away...so many fun ideas but we focused on keeping it frugal and fun.

The original plan for the head of the caterpillar was a doughnut with red sprinkles but when I went to pick it up from the store (I pre-ordered to make sure I would have it) they had made the wrong thing, a rectangle instead of a circle...annoying. I tried to come up with a fix by just getting another doughnut but they "were out" of any circle doughnuts! They offered to let me talk to the manager and my thought was..."what is he a magician?" Hearing sorry from another person is not going to change the fact that you messed up something really simple. Then she said "well do you still want it?" Really? Come on! Sorry for the rant. :)

So I went home to try and come up with a solution...I made a little cake I thought would work for the head but after it was done it just looked way to big so I just used another cupcake and turned the extra cake into a sun. We used those new frosting's that you choose the flavor and add it to it. We used Mint Chocolate Chip to get the minty green color. All the kids were happy and all in all it turned out great. I cannot believe my little guy is 3!

The tulip festival 2012

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pure beauty

ducky races

My silly little guy was giving me a slow motion kiss

driving the John Deere, sound effects and all

We had an amazing adventure...we headed off for the tulip festival this morning with my parents, hoping for no rain. It was beautiful, the little guy had so much fun. They have so much for the kids, ducky races, slides, bouncy house, tire swings shaped like tractors/horses, tractors, and even a train with the cars painted into cows! Its shocking seeing so many tulips in bloom at the same time and we were not even there for the craziness. It looks like a lot in the pictures and it is but there are still fields and fields waiting to bloom. The little guy had his first carnival (festival) food, a hot dog, us adults had brawts instead. He took a short nap in the car ride home and we spent the afternoon in the wood shop helping grandpa with his project. A great day!

DIY Easter grass: updated

My mom found this great idea at Carissa's Creativity Space. Its really easy, fun for kids and cute! Basically you are growing wheat grass so you could also add it to a smoothie when your done using it for its cute purpose. Its so quick to grow, the first and second pictures were only taken a day apart, and this morning its even taller. We made two to place on the table for decoration. The little guy really enjoied helping.

So here we go:

Buy some wheat berries, we got them at Fred Meyer's bulk section. We soaked them for a few minutes before we "planted" them. Spread at least a half inch of moist potting soil in the container you plan on using. Then sprinkle soaked wheat berries over the top, we placed cling wrap over the top to keep the moisture in. Make sure to give it air though otherwise you might develop mold. Keep them moist but not soaking. In a few days they will sprout and start growing. Check out her post for more info.

Beco Baby Carrier love...

I have been wanting a good baby carrier for a long time, I finally got myself a Beco Butterfly II a couple months ago. I love the Beco Butterfly II because I can still carry my toddler who is over 30 pounds comfortably. It seems weird to purchase a baby carrier for a 2.5 year old but it will hold up to 45 pounds. We shop at a bulk store that doesn't have carts, pretty hard to carry bulk items and a 2.5 year old but now he can just ride on my back. We love hitting farmers markets and boy does it help to just keep the little guy on our back. I really love that it has a lining between him and I, it makes putting him on easy by myself, plus it makes it easier switch person to person without taking the child out. I'm sure its going to be a big help on portland public transit in the future. I recommend one for any momma!

Homemade Baby Shampoo

Today I am guest posting on one of my fav mommy blogs, Mama Loves Papa! Go check out my homemade baby shampoo recipe!

Halloween style

Super Grover and Daddy at Treat Street downtown

I want more candy (even if I don't really get what is going on right now).

The other option...I do love chickens!

We had fun this Halloween because the little guy was finally old enough to kind of understand what was going on. I made him a Super Grover costume as requested and my mom sent him a chicken suit. He loved the chicken suit so much that I figured that is what he would end up wearing but he decided to be Super Grover to my surprise! I was happy because it actually took quite a lot of work to create the helmet (which he wears as much as possible now).

We all went to Treat Street downtown (craziness) and got a little candy (we only did one block since he so little). After it got dark we also went to three of our neighbors houses...I threw together a gypsy costume and the doctor dressed as a fat chef. We had a lot of fun and I can't image how next year will be. I hope you all had a great Halloween. We are linking up with mama loves papa for Small Style!

Carving a pumpkin with the little guy

He didn't really want to carve it or even help get the gucky/seedy stuff out.

grrrr...the pumpkin is going to eat you daddy!

OMG...don't get me pumpkin!

The end result...Thanks daddy for "helping" me carve my first pumpkin!

The pumpkin seeds are toasting up right now...we will have a yummy treat soon! I love Halloween!

Halloween used to be my favortie holiday...

and I won't lie...it kind of still is. I really cannot choose between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. My reasons for loving Halloween have changed a lot. I used to love it because I would create awesome costumes, most of the time I would plan months in advance! Then I would spend the night, well the Saturday surrounding Halloween, out with my honey!

Times have changed and I must admit I love it just as much. I still get to create awesome costumes...one for the little guy and one for me. My honey (the doctor) now plays his music every year on the Saturday surrounding Halloween (some year I will make it to see him). Plus we get the fun of being parents and seeing the little guy in his silly costume(s) all excited to go trick or treating.

As silly as this sounds the real reason I started to write this post is because I found the candy corn! For some reason I love this stuff but only at Halloween. Any other time I get sick even thinking about it. What a silly thing to get me writing...right? It reminds me of quick writes in high school. :)

homeschooling a preschooler

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We are taking our time to decide if we will be homeschooling or public/charter/private schooling the little guy but I wanted to start something with him at home to challenge him a little more. I started searching on the Internet and got a bit overwhelmed to be honest. This is what I finally came up with. It is very simple and easy but it gives us a focus for the week.

simple and easy...cork board with pockets

I put together a cork board with pockets for each category, which I will change out each week. We will focus everything(reading, puzzles, coloring, crafts, etc.) on the five things of the week. The category: Things we do everyday will of course not change. I plan on showing it to him on weekdays (we've started with three days a week) and then we will go on with our day. I will use it to focus on those things...pointing out the circle if it circle week for example.

Categories

Things we do everyday: brush teeth, listen, clean up, make our bed, get dressed, go potty, eat healthy, sharing, etc. I added this so we have a daily routine that he can look at and check off as he goes. Plus it enforces good daily habits.

Letters: A-Z adding three words for each, I choose some words he didn't know and some he knows but doesn't pronounce correctly.

Numbers: 0-20 adding the number in dots below. I just found this website that has printable letter and number flash cards, after I made them all of course.

Shapes/Colors: square, diamond, star, circle, rectangle, oval, heart, triangle, crescent, green, blue, red, yellow, black, white, brown, purple, pink, orange, and grey.

Animals: I came up with 26 (how many letters we have) that we had at least two examples of at home (from a book, toy, in the back yard, etc.).

Themes: up/down, tall/short, hard/soft, hot/cold, day/night, little/big, family, feelings, farm, jungle, transportation, body parts, plants, ocean, music, neighborhood, weather, emergency personal, forest/river and meals/utensils.

Sub-themes: birthday, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, and seasons.

Most programs have you do 26 to go along with how many letters but I plan on rotating the themes and using the sub-themes the weeks surrounding the holiday, weather pattern or season. I also felt that we should work on things he needs to know not add extras to make the amount work out.

Two websites I found helpful in creating our program:
Letter of the week
Our preschool homeschool

I also got a lot of help from my mom, who ran a daycare when I was a child. So far we are starting our third week and he seems to be really enjoying it. I have already noticed a few things that he has learned and a few things he is now pronouncing better. I will also post some of the crafts, science projects, games, etc. we come up with along the way.