Qiana's 2nd Year Old Birthday Party

I can't believe Qiana is 2! Her little friend party was so fun and hopefully memorable for her. She was so fun to watch as they were opening gifts. (And yes, they... little kiddos are the best at helping their friends open gifts. It makes me smile. :) Qiana was mesmerized and (sniff, sniff) so happy to be with her friends! Every single gift was a a slam-dunk too, because not one has been neglected since the party.

(Don't you just love the landscaping of weeds and more weeds?)

And if you're curious about the logistics....

After seeing a bunch of ideas online, I realized (at the urging of a friend) that we could throw this awesome birthday party for Qiana with little preparation (her birthday was 5 days later) and a minimal budget. Granted, hardly any of these ideas were my own but kids don't care if it's a copycat party... it's just a fun time to celebrate.

These gummies did not last long....


Leftover flowers from a wedding I did that weekend.












Simple activities to keep them entertained:

My tips for an easy (and cheap!) birthday party:

1. Create any props (i.e. pin the caterpillar on the leaf, food labels, invites, etc.) yourself in Photoshop (a worthy investment.) Save them as .jpg files and upload them to a website like Ritzpix.com as a photo. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you can print them out as 3.5x5" photos (full color, mind you... saves a lot of printer ink) for about $0.06 each. I like to double mine up onto one card. Printing the caterpillars, the food labels, both favor tags, the banner and the lacing cards ended up costing only about $3.00, and I didn't use up all of my printer ink by printing it myself. (Also, the glossy finish on the photos is great, especially if they are going to be around food--practically water-damage-proof.)
2. Start clipping coupons you find in the circulars for places like Michael's, or JoAnn's. Even if you just use it on something like a package of wooden dowels like I did for the cookie lollipops, a 40% coupon could save you over $1... and the small savings add up.
3. Look to use things you already have around the house for decoration. I didn't want to go to the store to buy yellow crepe paper & poster board for the sun over the mantle, so I searched through my fabric stash. Make things you already have WORK.
4. Food: choose a time in the day when your guests won't be expecting a meal. "A party is a party" so even if you just serve things like appetizers or desserts, they will enjoy it. This particular party was pretty simple. Cut up fruit, a cheese and sausage platter, and cupcakes. I actually had ordered a dozen cupcakes at the bakery, but canceled the order and decided that I could save $6 by making them with a mix I already had in less than 40 minutes... easy, cheap, and totally worth it. Granted, you would have to have things on hand for that route to be enticing (i.e. mix, ingredients for frosting, food coloring, and decorating supplies.)
5. Get inspiration from any knickknacks, excess "stuff" in the house (in my case, Crayola crayons and pipe cleaners from recent Back To School sales,) and color-coordinating objects (containers, decorations, table linens, etc.) A lot can be born from a quick search through your "stashes" and the PILES WILL DIMINISH!
   

Memories

Whenever I hear on the news that there was a house lost in a fire or tornado, the first thing I hope is that everyone was able to escape safely. The very next thing that comes to mind is "I sure hope they were able to save their journals, pictures, etc." I recall the time when our house was broken into and our computer--containing pictures and numerous amounts of memories--was stolen. I feel sick to my stomach every time I think of those things. I know it's not the end of the world, but when I think of my children growing up without many physical memories of their past, I am saddened. I love seeing the pictures my parents took of us children when we were younger. It helps me remember those days.

Why do I even bring this up? Well, our external hard drive crashed, which contained every picture we have taken for the past 2 1/2 years. I was actually in the process of uploading them all to the internet when it happened! Luckily, I was able to create a few online albums, but the bulk of the pictures may not ever be recovered. For me, this is extremely difficult to come to terms with, but at the same time I am very grateful for the good ol' blog that has helped me track at least a little of our history in writing and photographs. And, some other good news is that I have not erased all the current pictures on our camera, which contains pictures from the entire month of September. In fact, I'll post them to keep this blog happy. In the meantime, I'm crossing my fingers that the Computer Geek currently working on recovering the data from the hard drive can save something (and don't worry, that's really what he calls himself.)

Union Fort Service Activity

We were able to participate in a service project with our Spanish Branch two Saturdays ago and it had to be one of the best experiences we've had with organized service projects. There was a huge turn-out of over 60 people from our little branch; about 20 of those people were children, who actually helped in a big way. We all met at the church, received instructions for the proceedings of the service project and made our way to a community health center. Once there, we all started clearing out weeds, unwanted trees and bushes, as well as worked on other landscape projects. It was amazing how helpful the little Primary children were, despite how hot it was outside. Siena and Qiana dragged pruned branches to a huge deposit pile in the back of the center for about an half hour, and the rest of their time was spent clearing out weeds. Afterward, as we were driving home, we asked Siena how she felt about helping others. She said she was happy and felt good. I loved having them along for the learning experience and hope they remember it.

HERE is a link to the Facebook photo album.

Super Nanny, Where Are You?

Siena has been randomly singing the melodies of both a J-Lo song and a Britney Spears song. Where did she even hear them enough to learn them?! I am officially FREAKED OUT to be a mom of girls. Does anybody know of a good nunnery? I'll be needing that soon (say, between the time she is 8 and 21 years old.)

I'm just glad we've avoided the Justin Bieber train so far. I need her to stay a kid for a bit longer.

Luckily, my faith in her innocence was restored the other day when she cried out, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MARBLES?!?!" I laughed a little and asked her where she learned that phrase. She responded, "That's what Woody says."

On an unrelated note:

I, uh, read this somewhere and thought I would post it. (Keep in mind that it couldn't possibly be me who wrote this.)

I need help with my young toddler. EVERYWHERE & EVERYTIME we go run errands, to whatever store and for however long, she will scream and throw a HUGE tantrum. I have no clue how to handle this. I speak firmly, I follow through with threats, and I give her incentive to calm down--all to no avail. I can't just leave her in the car while I run into a store for obvious legal reasons, although I've really been tempted to lately. ;) I don't know what the next step is. ANY ADVICE?!

Sincerely,

Miserable Mother in the Produce Department