Candy Land Birthday Party

Okay so I have to pat myself on the back for Brayden's party.  It was simply adorable.  It's kind of crappy, and stupid, that I spent probably 200 hours working on a party that lasted for three hours.  But whatever.  I'm glad I did it and won't regret any part of it.  I still wish I had done more for Kien's first birthday.  I didn't get some pictures of some cute things, like the gift table and the lattice-display with banner that had a blue background (it was just a vinyl tablecloth behind the lattice) and instead got a pic after the tablecloth already came down.  I also didn't get a picture of the "lollipop" with the awesome "Rainbow Pass" arrow on it that pointed the way to the party.  Oh well, I did get lots of other great photos.  Great memories too :)

Brayden's cake, banner, and my family

Giant CANDY Pinata

Kien with a slice of cake from the top section

bottom section of the cake

This was hanging above the gift table with a blue vinyl tablecloth behind it, it was totally adorable.  I wish I got a picture of the whole set-up!

Rainbow family

I made everything, I worked hard but it paid off. The next party pack that will be hitting my Etsy shop will be this Candy Land set.  As soon as I finish the thank you card I'll get the whole shabang listed. 

I got a lot of new experiences out of this. Like doing such a HIGH cake! I always layer, but normally I slice a "normal" 10" round in half and just throw something between those two half-layers. Also I made this frosting from scratch, it's the BEST cream cheese frosting ever and it's thanks to my mother-in-law for giving me her recipe.  Also I mixed up the colors of the rainbow when I was putting the colored cake in layers, and then I tried to slice the baked cake and fix it, but it really didn't matter in the end.  I greased the wrong side of the spring-form base :P. I spilled mod-podge all over the kitchen floor.  All the stress I put on myself made everything EXTRA humorous.  I have WAY too much candy left over, but I am pretty optimistic that Walmart will take a bunch of it back. OH and the pinata, I paper mache'ed it for weeks and finally got it shaped and decorated how I wanted it, coated the whole thing with glitter paint, and hung it outside to dry.  That night was the night that this desert decided to RAIN.  I had a smooshy soggy dented up and ripped pinata four days before the party.  OH WELL! I set it to dry and then taped the ripped part and glued the tissue paper back on.  It was still soft so I knew that when it got hit it would wither break quickly or dent and NEVER break.  It lasted through all the littler kids and girls, and then it broke before any of the big boys got a whack. The kids don't care if they hit it, they just want the innards.

Catch-all Catch-up

I know I've been failing at contribution to my blog, but I have a damn good excuse.  MY WRIST HURTS! My doc says I have tendinitis. I say it's painful.  I've been wearing a brace and it's been helping but today I got cocky and thought I could do without it.  Bad move.  My brace is currently in the dryer so I'm still without it and typing is probably going to aggravate it more.   But I miss my computer-world :). 

This week has been fun. Kien was getting sassy at school and on Tuesday crossed the line (running in the library- GASP!) so I popped him up twice a day with the homeopathic remedy "Sulphur"-something-or-another and grounded him from his favorite things; legos, iPod, and DSi. He had to be an angel Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in order to earn back his iPod for our road trip to Hilo tomorrow (Saturday) morning.  The cringe whenever I think of Hilo as a "road trip" because the 1-1/2 hour drive should hardly qualify as a road trip but being as how we live on an island, my kids must be deprived of such luxuries of a true road trip. When I was 16 I drove from Minnesota to California (via Texas); THAT was a road trip.  At 14 years old I went motor-homing (is that a real verb?) with my grandparents for nearly a week all around Wisconsin and maybe in to Michigan. I was young and stupid and didn't pay much attention to where I was, and I regret that now.  Back to Kien; he was perfect the rest of the week and I am so thankful; I couldn't handle the "road trip" to Hilo at 6:30 AM with Kien NOT having his iPod. He is a talkative little know-it-all.  Not the greatest combo when sleep deprived and carsick.

SIDEBAR: homeopathic remedies are always my first go-to choice for anything.  I know it's debatable and that a lot of people think it's bogus, but it has worked -- and continues to work -- for me and my family all the time.


I saw the coolest soap dispenser on Pinterest, so obviously I had to make one for Kien.  The soap dispenser cost $6 from Target and I already had clear hand soap and Lego pieces I took from Kien's billions. Kien loves it and I'm so impressed at how adorable it is in his bathroom!

In other news, I decided to do Brayden's first birthday party with a CANDY LAND theme.  It's going to be completely adorable and I'm loving my ideas and how creative I can get with it.  I'll have a TON of pictures after the party.  His birthday isn't until April 29th, so I have a couple months still.  Just looking forward at the fun ahead.

Going to ice my wrist,
Lyn

Kien's shark attack BIRTHDAY BASH

 
It was over a month ago that my little big man turned five years old. He chose a SHARK themed birthday party. Well, he originally asked for Shark Boy and Lava girl but how was I supposed to decorate for that?! So when Kien said "sharks" I stuck with it and had a blast. His party was two days after my last day of work so I had to stick to a very tight budget. In other words-- NO budget for decorations. Now, understand that no decor was not an option for me or my style. That said, check out what I did for decor, mostly all made on the computer and by hand with supplies I already had! I'm so proud :)

I bought a few things for the goody-bags (bubbles, goggles, pencils), blow-up sharks, and balloons. The cake had white-chocolate shark fins swimming on the surface (OH YEAH I also bought a silicone shark-fin mold which I'll reuse for ice cubes the next time kids come over), and a shark-bite out of the cake.

 

"WARNING SHARK SIGHTED Keep Out" and "WARNING KIEN'S BIRTHDAY Proceed With Caution" signs were posted all over and the inflatable sharks were hung from the tent. I used the bottom of empty water jugs as bowls to be filled with goldfish, and glued a Styrofoam piece to the inside so I could stick my mini-signs in to it as a centerpiece.

 

And I can't leave out the paper mache shark pinata! I am very proud about my special* happy smiling shark! It was tough enough that all the kids got to take good whacks at it, and Christian the 8 year old got to really beat at it and was only stopped on time so Kien could finish it off.