Donovan's Nursery

Donovan's nursery is finally coming together!  And he's just seven weeks old =) He won't be sleeping in it until he's too big for the cradle though so I'm not terribly worried that it's taken this long since it had to be built from scratch!  Yesterday I found the perfect Curious George wall decals that I thought had been discontinued from Pottery Barn Kids, and that gave me just the impetus I needed to finally start hanging stuff up in there.

In case you're wondering, yes the bed is backwards.  Serenity keeps climbing in it whenever I'm not in the room.  This way at least she's not trying to climb up the drop down side. 

I opened my brand new Silhouette and used it to cut out the letters for his name, and then I arranged the kites, Curious George Decals, and name letters on the ceiling.  I love how the ceiling angles, it makes it seem like the kites are flying right overhead! Look here for the tutorial on how to make the kites =)

I also dressed a little set of shelves in the hallway just inside the door of his room with all the adorable Curious George stuff I got from my wonderful shower, along with the personalized blocks and the awesome scrapbook with photos of our wonderful friends in it!

Now I just want to make a little reading nook in the corner, and buy a chair for nursing when we move back upstairs.  Much better!

Donovan =)

If it seems like this month has been a little slow on posting (and that all I managed to do was Serenity's third birthday party) here is the reason!  Donovan Zane was born on June 7th.  He's such a sweet and mellow baby, but of course we're much busier now that he's here!  I just managed to get birth announcements  in the mail and thought I'd share. They simply photos that I turned into a collage on Photoshop, and then printed as 4X6 photos at Target.  I managed to get the card made when he was less than two weeks old, but then it took another month for me to get stamps.  Sigh. 

Rainbow Tent Kits

Well I have gotten lots of response from the Rainbow Tent Kits I did as favors for Serenity's birthday!  Max and Frank voted them best goodie bags ever. =)  And I got some pics from my sister of her kids using them immediately!  So I thought I'd share a few pics of the tent kits in use:

Here is a link to the original tutorial that inspired me =) Mine are very similar to hers, except I couldn't find sheets that were cheap enough, so I bought a bolt of wide muslin and used RIT dye in my sink to make the rainbow colors.  I was in a hurry with the dye since I had to time it between feeding my newborn, so they look a little tie-dyed.  But for this I thought it worked!  I also used satin ribbon for the loops instead of cutting up knit.   The kits include three large pieces of muslin that I dyed into rainbow colors and sewed loops to each corner.  I got clamps, clothespins, rope, suction cups and flashlights from the dollar store to complete each kit!

Rainbow Party: Food

Food

My sister very kindly offered to make all the food, since she knew I’d have trouble managing it with my newborn baby boy in tow.  Plus she’s an amazing chef!  She made lots of rainbow food, including a rainbow fruit pizza!  I found these little insulated lunch bags at the dollar store that were perfect to hold picnic lunches for all the kids!  We stuck with simple sandwiches, rainbow goldfish, and fruit for the kids lunches.  Oh, and rainbow colored Gatorade to drink.  Adults got a choice of Marinated Italian Veggie sandwiches, Chicken Salad or Turkey Wraps.  Then we of course had rainbow fruit and veggie trays, and colorful chips and salsa.  The desserts were lemon and strawberry cupcakes with bright rainbow icing, and a rainbow fruit pizza!  Desserts are our favorite part of birthdays, and these were particularly tasty.  =)

Serenity's Photobooth Birthday Present =)

At this age I don't really feel a need to buy presents for Serenity, she gets plenty from her grandparents and other family, and we go all out with the party fun, so I like to make her things for her gift.  This year, I decided I want to make her a photo book with pics of all her family and friends in it!  I thought it would be most fun if we had a crazy rainbow photobooth at her birthday to get fun pictures of everyone.  It went so well!  I think people had fun playing with the props, and I got a lot of cute pics!  I had rainbow hats, a feather boa, a chalkboard that my Dad made for messages, and a rainbow picture frame that I painted.

She loves looking at the pictures already, I just have to get them together!  I also plan to photoshop pictures of people who weren't able to attend the party into the photobooth.  I'll post pics of that when I figure it out!

The photobooth itself was made just like this tutorial for the puppet theater, except with larger pvc and a bigger scale. 

Rainbow Party: Favors

Favors

The favors might have gotten slightly out of hand this year.  I’d already started collecting rainbow things, like Skittles, the rainbow dancing streamers, and jump ropes, when I came across a tutorial for a build your own tent kit.  Well, that was absolutely perfect with the rainbow tent I built for the party, and I knew Serenity would love to keep building rainbow tents at home!  So I made one for each family.  The kits include three large pieces of muslin that I dyed into rainbow colors and sewed loops to each corner.  That makes them easier to hook together!  I got clamps, clothespins, rope, suction cups and flashlights from the dollar store to complete each kit!  I hope all the kids have a blast building their tents!     

Rainbow Party: Games and Activities

Games and Activities

Serenity’s favorite show of the year was probably Dora and Diego, so I thought I’d include a little game of Animal Rescuer.  I bought a few dozen inexpensive stuffed creatures from Oriental Trading company, which we scattered around the yard.  I hid the green and orange animals in really challenging spots and told the older kids that they were just allowed to find those, which made the game exciting for everyone.  With the help of some binoculars the kids could hunt for the animals, and if they wanted take them home to the rainbow tent.  I thought Serenity would probably want the animals to go to sleep on the pillows that match their color, she loves to put her animals down for naps.

I also collected a lot of backyard games that were rainbow colored that we already owned, including kick croquet, mini Frisbee golf, a parachute with colorful beach balls, and a ball pit with rainbow colored balls.  I also bought rainbow streamers for the kids to run around and dance with.  We ended up having a rainbow parade at the end with all the kids dancing around with the streamers. Such fun!

Fishing is a tradition on birthdays in Eric’s family, and we have done it at all Serenity’s parties.  My dad built us a little wooden dock, we put prizes out on a blue tarp for a pond, and we use a fishing pole we made out of bamboo.  The kids absolutely love this game, and get so excited for the prizes we get at the dollar store! 

Rainbow Party Decor
Rainbow Games and Activities
Rainbow Favors and Tents
Rainbow Photobooth
Rainbow Picnic and Food
Rainbow Slide

Rainbow Party: Serenity's Present

Present

For Serenity’s birthday present this year I want to make her a photo book with pictures of all of her family and friends.  I made a photobooth out of pvc pipe, and draped it with aqua satin.  I collected all kinds of rainbow accessories, including a jesters hat, another rainbow hat, a feather boa, sunglasses, a chalkboard with rainbow colored chalk to write birthday messages on, and a frame that I painted with a rainbow.  I plan to take a picture of just the photobooth as well and photoshop in pictures of family members and friends that couldn’t make the party!  

Rainbow Party: Decor

Party Decor

Serenity’s third birthday is all about color.  This year she has shown a definite affinity for color matching.  She likes her clothes to match, from her dress, to shoes, socks, and jackets.  She would be pink or purple from head to toe most days.  She likes her food to match her plates and spoons.  She likes her nightgowns to match her bedding.  Once she even collected every single yellow toy in the house and put it into a huge yellow tent she made from a piece of fleece fabric.  And so, the theme of her birthday is the rainbow.  =) 

Another of her favorite things is to play in tents, whether real or ones made from blankets.  So I decided to build a huge rainbow tent for her in the backyard.  This will give us some shade, a definite bonus with the hundred degree weather we’ve had lately!  I considered building the tent out of pvc pipe, but then I found this great carport thing on Amazon for just 100 dollars for a 10 by 20 tent with a cover!  I couldn't have bought fabric for the cover for that, so I went with it!  My great friend Jack picked up a bunch of satin fabric for me and I basically made curtains to hang on all the poles to create this rainbow tent!  I LOVE how it turned out, and the shade was so worth it.  I don't know how long the tent will hold up, but we plan to use it all summer in our backyard as well so we'll get even more use out of it. 

I covered the grass with canvas carpets that Serenity helped me paint, and I sewed rainbow pillows.  We had a nice picnic lunch prepared by my sister to enjoy in our fabulous tent! 

With the help of my Dad we turned the slide into a rainbow.  It fits the theme and made for a cute photo op!

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Here are links to all the rainbow fun!

Rainbow Party Decor
Rainbow Games and Activities
Rainbow Favors and Tents
Rainbow Photobooth
Rainbow Picnic and Food
Rainbow Slide

Picnic Lunches!

Rainbow Birthday!

The big party is tomorrow!  I’ve been working on it all month, which accounts for the abysmal lack of posts here ( well, that and my one month old baby =)  I’m typing one handed here, but I have a quick sneak peek for you!  I found these insulated lunch sacks at the dollar store in bright rainbow colors!  Just perfect for our rainbow picnic!  I dressed them up with labels with the kids names.  More fun to come soon!