A Fairy Good Time

Jayci's birthday party was today. I had been planning it for about two months and working on the decorations for about 3 weeks. What? You think that is crazy? Well, it IS! I am crazy. I just can't help it. I love doing this stuff and I make mostly everything for them, so it takes a while to get it done. Anyways, I had this vision of exactly what I wanted it to be. We spent the week cleaning up the backyard and, this morning, I started decorating for the party. STUPID OKLAHOMA WIND is all I can say. I was literally so mad that I threw my tape on the ground, crumpled up one of the table cloths, and stormed inside. My kids just watched in horror. All of the decor I so lovingly worked on for WEEKS was getting blown away and all over the yard. So, I made a quick change of venue. We headed inside and me, in mean mode, barked orders at the kids and a poor, sick Nate who only had four hours of sleep in 48 hours. I had NOT been planning on using the inside, so I had been focusing all of my efforts on the outside. The inside was NOT party ready. Long story short, with everyone's help, we got it cleaned, decorated, and ready to go. And while it was not what I had planned or envisioned, Jayci and the girls loved it and couldn't care less. So, here, in random order, are the pictures and I will explain along the way:

 The girls each got a bag with a sparkly beginning letter of their first name on the front to color and decorate to put their loot in.

 We had grapes, Fairy Juice, "mushrooms", and chips to snack on during the party. The girls came in, picked out their fairy wings to wear, and got busy decorating their bags. They then painted clay pots to take home and plant their seeds in at home that were a part of their goodie bag. We then headed outside to play a game of Fairy Tag, complete with a freezing wand and an unfreezing wand. After tag, we headed back in and they decorated their own star wands with stickers and jewels. We played Musical Mushrooms, which was a huge hit. Instead of musical chairs, we played it with felt toadstools that I made. Griffin was super funny and refused to get off of his mushroom once he realized that he would be out without it. Then he said, "See, Mom. I'm not a loser anymore!" It was hilarious. The girls absolutely loved this game. After mushrooms, we made our butterfly terrariums. They were the Garden Fairies special pets that we sprinkled fairy dust on so they wouldn't need to eat any food.

They thought these were awesome and couldn't wait to put them in their rooms at home. The girls headed back out for a flower petal treasure hunt. Jayci and Treyton had spread the flower petals all over the yard (with the help of the wind), and the girls hunted around the yard to collect them (Jayci's idea:) We then had cupcakes and presents. Each girl got to hand Jayci their own present and that was fun. We then played musical fairy statues. I cranked up the music and the girls danced until the music stopped, when they had to freeze like a statue. They were surprisingly not shy. Emery loved dancing in the middle of the groupl A couple of the girls had serious moves! The moms started coming at this point and we just danced intermittently until all of the girls had gone home.

  

  The girls took home: their own fairy wings, a wooden wand, a clay pot, seeds, jelly bellies, and a butterfly terrarium. We decorated bags, painted pots, decorated wands, put together butterfly terrariums, played Fairy Tag, Musical Mushrooms, Musical Statues, ate snacks, cupcakes, drank Fairy Juice, and opened gifts. It was busy and FUN. I may have over-planned a little, since there wasn't enough time to do one of the crafts. But there was never a dull moment and  my schedule went pretty well on target! Jayci had a blast, Griffey loved being one of the girls :), and I loved getting to plan it.

Well, hello again.

Yes, it has been months since I have blogged. And before that, it was spotty, at best, for an entire year. Having a fourth has thrown me. And not only that, but having my older kids get into more activities combined with having another, more demanding little girl, has definitely thrown me! I've found myself much busier, crazier, and more prone to vegging on the couch when the night is done. I am not even going to attempt to play catch up right now. The best I can offer up is a post on Treyton's Lego Birthday party! We had it in Feb, two months after his birthday. It was SO much fun. I thought I should get this posted before we have Jayci's party next week and I blog about that. Hopefully I'll get Emery's november party up before then, too! Here we go:

 

I made loads of chocolate lego men. They were my favorite! I didn't go overboard on decorations, since 8 year old boys don't quite care as much as I do about ambiance. I cut out and ironed on little lego men onto canvas bags. The boys got to plan and decorate their own bags any way they wanted. It was a huge hit!

 

There are loads of lego printable things on the net, so if you want to know details, I am sure I can find them. I printed cute little juice box papers. But that headless lego man that we later played pin the head on? Yeah, I made that by hand, baby! I was pretty proud of how cute he turned out. There are the boys decorating their bags sprawled all over the floor. Some took ten minutes, others took 20, and then there was Brandt, who took 45. So funny! In true boy-style, a game of keep away broke out in our front room with full on tackling. 

 

We then served up pizza and drinks and turned on a Lego movie. About half way through, we paused to play some Lego charades. The boys LOVED this and were super adorable. There are their bags all drying, which I am sure took a full two days to dry. Sorry, parents. I did a super easy cake this year. I was so proud of myself for scaling back. After the cake, we watched the rest of the movie and then opened presents. Treyton got some awesome lego sets, so the boys divided into four groups and built the new lego sets together. They were so adorable. This age is so much fun and the boys are hilarious! Treyton loved his party and it was really fun and easy for me to plan.

I also want to get a blog post done about Treyton's amazing baptism. We had amazing family fly in and Treyton felt so special. Here is a little preview of the baptism set-up. I had a ton of fun putting this together, too. Some might see this as completely unnecessary, which is just fine, but it is something I love to do and something that my kids love that makes them feel extra special. The book I put together for his baptism was my absolutely favorite. You'll see (hopefully...).

Blankets for Newtown

Here is the info for all of those who would love to add to mine.  If you would like to add it to my package, you can either text, call or email me and we'll find a way to get it! ([email protected] or 540-460-3147) 

The blankets will need to be approximately 1.5 x 1.5 yards. They need to be made from fleece. The double layered, no-sew, tied together kind. (Here's a google image search to check out.) If you don't know what I'm talking about, or need more directions, I'm going to put a tutorial up on my blog next week. (We are making the blankets unified because we don't want one kid to feel like another got a better one than they did :D ) Please make sure the colors and patterns you pick are kid friendly. Bright colors, fun patterns. 

The more blankets you can make, the better. Every individual one is awesome, but if every person only makes one blanket, our contact in CT will have to open 800 individual packages. Yikes! That's a lot of time and trash on their hands. So get as many people involved as you can and ship as many in one box as possible! You'll be wonderfully surprised to see how many people you can get to help if you simply ask. The youth in our church decided to do a similar project. Only an email was sent out asking for fabric or helping hands. They had so many volunteers and fabric donations that they completed over 100 blankets in one day! 

The blankets will need to be shipped before January 11th to  

Quilter's Corner

312 Danbury Road 

New Milford CT 06776

*Please include a thank you note for them. They are being so kind and are going to receive almost 800 blankets!!! That's going to be a lot of work!

Please note that all this info is required so we can make sure every child has a blanket. Your blankets will not be counted if I don't have this info. I am going to be receiving a lot of emails, so please take the extra minute to be sure all info is included. 

Thanks for your interest! We are so grateful for your willingness to show these children your love. Please let me know if you have any questions and if you are still interested in helping!!!

Krista

P.S. The reason we are doing this is because after the Columbine shooting, many kids obviously had to go to counseling. Blankets were donated to the grief counselors and as the kids came in to meet with their counselor, they would grab a blanket and wrap up in it during their session. They could then take the blanket as a form of comfort. The plan at the moment is to have a blanket waiting at each desk for each child when their school opens again in January. (There will also be a pillowcase waiting from another group of women that are sewing them.) We hope each child feels our country's love for them as they wrap up in their new blankets. 

Summer in a nutshell

Well, obviously I have been sucking at keeping this thing updated. So, no more breaking it up into little posts. I am doing a big massive post for the rest of the summer. How do you like me now, blog?! Here it is, in pictures:

Treyton played in his first basketball league. He missed the first 3 (out of six) games, and all of the practices. That's okay. He tried his little heart out and really sucked! It was pretty cute to watch. He is now in the Winter league and has had 2 practices. We are excited to say that we are no longer super embarrassed! He really has improved a weird amount. Go, Treyton!

So cute in his uniform.

This is at the ball's apex...Just kidding. But it was really almost that bad. But he had tons of fun, and at this age, that is what counts.

I don't know why this pic is in here, other than it shows how Griffin is always lurking above Emery, ready to pounce at any given moment.

A new friend, Abby! The Rowlett's just moved from Richmond for anesthesiology as well and we LOVE them. They have Abby and then Jake, who is Emery's age. We love hanging out with them.

We tried out all kinds of fun hair dos to keep her hair out of her face during swim lessons this summer.

Jayci took a little dance class at Miss Ashlyn's house with her friends from church. Ashlyn is amazing and she had SO much fun!

The kids emerged from a quiet time like this.

They were being sleuths.

Just getting a little reading and snuggling time in.

They did a little final performance for the parents. Jayci had the time of her life.

This is what these two thought of it:

Sisters!

Treyton writing one of his MANY stories. He loves to be creative.

Jayci and Ashlyn. Too bad she can't teach all year round. She is amazing! Dang college classes and performances get in the way.

Getting bigger...

Swim lessons! This was the first year our kids have had them. Yes, late, I know. But who knew Treyton would be such a fish?! He picked it up so fast and was really good. He loves it and wants to do swim team this next summer.

He had fun taking the classes with his best buddy, Austin.

Jayci did surprisingly well, too. She picked it up fairly quickly and wasn't afraid to get her face wet by the end.

She also loved taking the classes with her friends Kenzie and Emma.

And I had tons of fun wrestling Griffin around on the bleachers trying to keep him from jumping in the pool. Oh, wait...Can't wait until this summer when he is old enough to take!

Just chillin...

Playing water polo.

Noodle races.

Griffin, up close.

Emery, up close and sweaty.

Good baby! It was so hot and sweaty in there that she just drifted off. Which was good, since I was wrangling the other one!

Utah- Part 1

In Idaho, there is so much built in at the ranch that we don't usually have to leave it to have all of our fun and keep in the kids entertained. That, combined with the fact that everyone was sick and nasty made for not too many pictures. In Utah, with people recovered and with going on so many day trips since my parents moved into a town home (which is actually very spacious and nice just not quite conducive to crazy kids) I have a ton of pictures, so I'll be breaking it up into parts. Phew! Long introduction, huh?!

Emery snuggling with Uncle Tyson while he watches as many TV shows as he can before moving to Nigeria 2 weeks later.

Treyton introducing his Woodruff cousins to Beyblading.

Emery loved my Grandpa Hart's shoes and kept trying to eat them!

After six months, look who finally decided he wanted to take a binki! Now she uses it whenever she goes to sleep and it is pretty awesome.

Some of the millions of cute great-grandkids with their great-Grandpa!

Playing at Liberty Park. I love that place!

I just had to. What the crap is that on her head?!!!! Yep, it was her hair.

The water was a bit cold for Griffey.

Chillin with Grandpa.

My best friend, Melynda, met us from Farmington at the park with her two little guys. Griffin had a crush and wanted to hold hands...with both Mel and Dax.

Eating our picnics. See that bruise on Treyton's shoulder? We were at a bouncy place and some kid shoved him off the side of the slide!

Tys, Diana, Logan, and Mason.

Cute little Logan!

Best little cousins Jake and Treyton.

Later that night we headed to Spanish Fork to my other brother, Kyle's, house. Roasting marshmallows and making smores is a family tradition.

Emery hanging out with Alexis.

Griffin ran the whole length until he fell at the end. Didn't quite grasp the concept of the slide.

Whereas Izzie insisted on being pushed the length of the whole thing!

Treyton was a master, though.

We went out front to find the two little ones just cruisin around.

After about an hour of Tys, my dad, and Kyle setting this thing up (which was HILARIOUS to watch), all of the kids hopped on and went at it! They all tried to sleep on it but only Treyton, Kyle, and Jake made it until 5:30 am.

More about our Utah trip to come later!