birthday parties

what a day!  selah's 4th birthday party!  

so much fun - for me... and for her too i think!  

i love planning a party for my kids.  

i wonder how many more of these themed style parties i'll get to plan?  

so far we've had 

backyardigans (e-3), 

purple (s-2), 

flowers (e-4), 

little einsteins (s-3), 

rainbows (e-5), 

and today was dinosaurs (s-4)! 

i was tempted to ask emery today after the party was done, 

what she wanted for her next party, 

but i thought it would be best to hold off on that.

i'm a little crazy when it comes to birthday parties.  

truth is, i put a lot into them.  

about 2 months before the date, my brain starts whirling.  

first task is having the girls choose the theme they want.  

then i design an invitation with theme and colours in mind.

after that, it's on to dollarama and michael's for ideas for crafts and goodie bags...

there's also a great liquidation place near hear that 

usually has something surprising that fits my theme perfectly!  

and what did parents do before the internet - so easy to get great ideas for cakes and games online.  

purple sparkly dinosaur cake

when planning a party i think the main things to focus on are: 

games, crafts, cake, goodie bags and decorations 

(having a colour scheme makes all of those even more fun!).  

yes, it takes a lot of time, but for me the planning is energizing and fun. 

the key to success is lists...lots of them!  

to buy list.  to do list.  to plan list.  you get the idea.

and my favourite thing to do with a party is throwing in a few unexpected decorations 

(eg. origami dinosaurs).

a glimpse of some pre-party setup

oh, and something that i've had at every party so far 

(thanks to judah) 

is peanut butter chocolate chip sandwiches 

(cut into a fun shape: stars, flowers, hearts, dinos...).  

they seem to go over well!

i couldn't pull off these parties without judah.

on party day, he gets the girls out of the house for a couple hours so i can set up,

and he willingly does any job i ask during the party.

thanks hon!

more pics of the actual party will come another time.

hard to play mom and photographer on a day like today...

thank goodness for my friend catherine!  

gymnastics

 selah has been doing gymnastics since she was 18 months (is she really almost four?).

 most days she loves it!

 the trampoline is her favourite part.

 she tells me that balance beams are her least favourite - though she used to love them.

 at the final class of each session the parents get to come in to the gym for a close up view.

on that day each child gets a lollipop (selah's other favourite part of gymastics!)

i'm so glad she gets to have these fun experiences.

it will be interesting to see what selah chooses to keep doing next year, 

as her time for extra activities will be limited with school.  

so far we've been doing gymnastics, dance, swimming, and library programs.

in the spring she starts soccer...i think she'll love it!

what was your favourite as a child?

purple

purple.  it's the colour of choice around here (for one little girl in particular).

selah's love for it started before she was two.  

she was just drawn to purple.  

at that time we didn't have many things in our home that were purple, so she took whatever she could find:  a purple marker.

she slept with a purple marker for a while there.  

during her second birthday party she held on tight to her purple balloon.  

from age two to three, she kept purple june close by at all times.  

from age three to almost four it's been a purple pony named starsong.  

i thought it would be a stage, like when emery was in love with tyrone from the backyardigans 

and wanted to be called tyrone all the time (age 2).  

apparently this love of the colour purple goes much deeper.  

so it had to be done - we painted the girls room purple!  

painted friday, trim and set up on saturday
big thanks to nan who had the girls for a sleepover so we could surprise them!

when selah saw it - she was awestruck and then said 'sank you' in a quiet voice...

the name of the colour on the chip is dignity =)

tonight she asked if her room could be purple forever!

dino time

this is the design i created for selah's upcoming bday party:

front

back - minus a few details

(sorry but if you're not 4 - you're not invited)

sleepover

last weekend emery had her first sleepover.  

here she is all packed up - ready to pose for a pic and continue counting down until it was time to go!

she was so excited when she left our house.  so excited when she got there.

so excited to tell us about her time when we came to pick her up.

fortunately everyone else from the sleepover house was in great spirits as well.

according to emery - she stayed up til midnight and almost all night.

(her friend's mom had a bit of different take on that story).

kudos to those who are willing to host a sleepover with 5 and 6 year olds!

sounds like they all had a wonderful time.  

i'm not quite ready for that yet - but i hope i can give emery and her friends 

an equally exciting event when that time comes!

a frog and his drums

there was this frog who had many drums.

he liked his drums very much.

he thought that it would be nice to have more hands to play those drums

he came to preschool one day to share.

to share his drums.

there were many little hands at preschool.

every pair of hands had a drum to play.  

the frog was hoping for a drumming circle.

the little hands obliged.

the little hands had so much fun.  they felt so alive!

the little hands were happy and so was the frog.

the frog was glad that he shared his drums.