A Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

We celebrated Anja's 3rd birthday last Sunday. Since she doesn't really have a group of friends yet we just did a family party. I was a little concerned she'd be disappointed since the week before we celebrated her Nana's birthday and Anja asked where all the people were. Thankfully she was so excited for cake and presents, that she didn't mention anything about the lack of guests.

About a year ago I found a package of Eric Carl birthday decorations and bought it thinking that I wouldn't have time to hand make decorations for EVERY birthday party. At first I wasn't crazy about the theme (I tend to shy away from bright colours), but as I planned her party it really grew on me and I ended up really liking it.

Since I didn't have to make the decorations for this party, I had time to make some outfits for my girls. I used old t-shirts to make Anja's dress & flower clip and made her legwarmers from some knee high socks.

I used the left over fabric from the t-shirts I used for Anja's dress and decorated a plain blue onesie for Isla. I also made her legwarmers out of knee high socks.

We celebrated her birthday in the morning (because Anja was too excited to wait) and had pancakes before cake. I added green dye and we made them into Hungry Caterpillars.

This amazing cake was made by Tanya English. Anja was so excited when she saw it. Check out Tanya's other fabulous cakes at her facebook page what-a-character cakes. And if you'd like to contact her about making you a cake you can email her at: whatacharactercakes@hotmail.com.

You know those cute pictures where kids pose with their hands nicely folded under their chins? ...we tried.

She LOVED her cake and was so excited to blow out her candles.

Even the inside of the cake looked pretty.

Buzby's piece of cake.

Pin the Tail on the Elephant: I taped some fabric inside an animal mask to make a cute blindfold.

Happy 3rd birthday to my beautiful girl!

My New Year's resolution for 2012

2012 is here in 2 hours! So, I guess this means it's time to make resolutions. There are many things I'd like to improve on this year ...I'm not going to list them all, but one of my resolutions that I think will be fun to commit (or TRY to commit) to is the following:

Only buy the absolute minimum when it comes to clothes for the kids. I've been going through boxes and boxes of clothing that they have outgrown and selling them (...the clothes, not the kids). I'm sure they did not need so many articles of clothing and it seems so wasteful! So this year I am determined to simplify. My resolution is to reuse fabric from our clothing rejects. I have a few boxes of clothing in the basement that are waiting to be turned into something new and useable. I'll still buy jeans, shoes, and anything that's too hard or time consuming to make, but I'd really like to make the rest.

This past year I have made a few outfits for my kids using fabric from my basement stash. Anja recently acquired her dad's old sweater that I refashioned into dress. I used this tutorial from the blog Make It and Love It.

So, now that I've shared this resolution I feel the pressure to follow through. ...Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... Happy New Year everyone!

Homemade Play Kitchen

Anja and Isla got a play kitchen set (made with love by mommy and daddy). I fell in love with this kitchen. So, I begged my husband to build it and I did the painting, sewed the curtains and made the hardware choices. We were able to make the whole kitchen for about $125, which considering how much the plastic ones are, I think is a pretty good deal.

They LOVE it!!!

Jellyfish in a Bottle

In the middle of November we had a couple of weeks that were very cold. Taking 3 young kids out in that kind of weather is not fun, so I tried to find some new activities we could do indoors. I came across "Jellyfish in a Bottle" from Bhoomplay's Blog. My kids LOVE underwater animals. You can probably find everything you need for this craft at home: plastic bottle, plastic bag, string, water and food colouring. I had to make most of it myself as it was a little too hard for them, but the most fun part (adding the food colouring) can be done by the kids.  My pictures don't show the jellyfish very well, but check out the jellyfish on Bhoomplay's Blog.

Quiet Bags

I FINALLY made quiet bags for my kids to take to church. I've been meaning to do this since my oldest was a baby (& he's almost 5 now). I used this tutorial from Zaaberry to make kid-sized messenger bags. I had a hard time picturing how big the bags would be before I made them, and if I were to make them again I'd make them a few inches bigger. Other than that, I'm happy with how they turned out.

I added pockets to the inside (instructions for this were not included in the tutorial) because I wanted to keep their snacks separate from their toys.  I used their favourite granola bar as a guideline for the pocket size.

Step 1: Cut out 2 rectangles for flap and 2 rectangles for pocket. Sew around edges leaving opening for turning. Clip corners.

Step 2: Turn rectangles right side out, iron, and sew along top of pocket and bottom of flap. Sew on velcro using a zig-zag stitch. (I cut my velcro in ovals just because I like how it looks.)

Step 3: Sew sides and bottom of pocket to centre of lining. Place the flap so the velcro matches together and sew along the top attaching flap to lining.

View of flap when open

Finished pocket

Baby's 1st Birthday Party

So, the baby of our family has turned one. I find all of her milestones bittersweet since we will not be experiencing any of these milestones in our family again. (Yes, I am done having babies! Our family is complete with 3 beautiful children, except for maybe the unavoidable dog in the distant future!) I was quite stressed planning her party because I wanted it to feel just as special as our other children's 1st birthdays. But, I just don't have the same amount of time to plan as I did with the other two. That being said, in the end I was very happy with how her birthday turned out.

I decided to plan the theme of her party around her birthday outfit. I found the patterns for her outfit and shoes in Amy Buttler's "Stitches for Little Ones".  After making her outfit, I used the colours from the fabric to pick out cardstock and make some decorations.

The inspiration from the party hats came from the blog "girl.inspired."

This was my first attempt at cake pops. I should have practiced more before the party! I used a pumpkin spice recipe. It called for pumpkin to be mixed in with the frosting and I think I added too much pumpkin. The cake pops were falling off the sticks as soon as they thawed. :(

I "upcycled" a shirt from Value Village to make hair accessories for the party.

For the wall behind her highchair I displayed photos of her from every month since she was born. I found the idea for the paper bag flowers from "aplaceforusblog"

We had to strip her down after she demolished her cake. I was happy I had taken of her birthday outfit and just left on a onesie. It was completely ruined from the chocolate.

Felt animal mask party favours

All partied out!!!