This past weekend we had a very special 6th birthday party for Delaney.  She asked for an Alice in Wonderland party months ago and kept us on our toes for weeks with her party “vision.”  She actually asked me to watch the movie with her and take notes, so we could be sure to incorporate every little detail into her party.  This girl is serious about her parties!

I hope you’ll indulge me for a post or two while I share some of the details from her special day.  My husband and I, with help from the girls, made most of the decorations with basic supplies on hand – cardboard, paper, Sharpies, and paint.  Enjoy!

Guests were greeted at the front door by the Doorknob.

Inside, we put direction signs all around – this way, that way, up, down, yonder, back, etc.

In the living room, I covered the fireplace with whimsical tree fabric (these were curtains in Delaney’s bedroom at one time).  Above the fireplace, I hung a name banner {Printable Alphabet Bunting} and some bread-and-butterflies that I drew and painted on watercolor paper.

I glued googly eyes to the colorful daises, too {idea from No Fuss Fabulous}.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee were overseeing the present-opening area…

…while the Mad Hatter was busy with his tea party in the dining room.

Paper lanterns, made by my girls and nieces, criss-crossed the dining room ceiling.

The table setting included:

• woven paper placemats (more on those soon)
• turquoise burger baskets (Sur La Table)
• reusable plastic cups (IKEA)
• blue-striped paper straws (cdk designs on etsy)
• various teapots and vases filled with flowers

One of the girls’ Calico Critters became the Dormouse, with a “custom” felt vest and bow-tie.

Here’s a close-up of the cake.  Delaney wanted a three-tier cake, each layer a different flavor.  Cake baking and decorating is not really my thing, but I am happy with how it turned out.  The trick for me was lots of refrigerating in between layers and layers of frosting (from a can, by the way…).  Alice in Wonderland characters (Disney Store) and jumbo heart sprinkles were used for the simple decorations.

The party menu was very simple, filled with the birthday girl’s requests: peanut butter & jelly sandwiches (cut into teapots, butterflies & hearts), mini corn dogs, fruit salad cups, lemonade, and juice.  We also had Annie’s Bunny Grahams and Trader Joe’s Cat Cookies (which look a lot like Cheshire Cats!).

Speaking of the Cheshire Cat, he was watching the festivities from a tree outside…. I’ll be back tomorrow to share our party activities and more photos!

This sweet girl of mine turned six yesterday.

She loves chocolate milk, stuffed animals, and knock-knock jokes.

She is my collector – rocks, acorns, sticks, candy wrappers…

She doesn’t like tangles, anything mint-flavored, or the dark.

She loves to play games and do puzzles.

She is generous, patient, and full of giggles.

Happy 6th Birthday, Delaney!  We love you!

]]> http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/07/goodbye-five-hello-six/feed/ 6 http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/05/our-summer-list/ http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/05/our-summer-list/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 12:00:02 +0000 Amy http://lets-explore.net/blog/?p=864

Are you ready for summer?  It’s another unusually chilly morning here, but supposedly summer is on its way.  This Friday is our “official” last day of homeschool and then it’s Hello, Summer Vacation!  Our Summer List was such fun last year that we’ll be making another one this year – how about you?

{Originally posted June 2009}

I’ve seen lots of summer to-do lists popping up around the blog world, so the girls and I sat down and started one of our own. I divided the list into four categories: do, make, read, and go. I love all the ideas they came up with – it’s so neat to see the lovely, simple things they want to do.

Some of my favorites on the list: Delaney wants to go to a farm and see a pig and Natalie wants to further her origami skills. Since this photo was taken, they have added have a tea party, go to the art museum, and bake homemade croissants. I’m sure it will continue to be a work in progress throughout the summer! Today, they are completing the first item on their list – go fishing with Daddy. I’m off to enjoy some me time!

If you have made a summer list with your kids, or for yourself, feel free to link-up in the comments!

Happy Summer Playing!

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. (John Muir)

The girls made these sweet and simple marshmallow bunnies this morning – the making was just as fun as the tasting!

Way back in December, I saw a post at Planning With Kids showing how to make cute Christmas trees with mini marshmallows and white chocolate. We never got around to making the trees, and I planned to try making hearts for Valentine’s Day.  Well, that didn’t happen either! We finally tried it out on these cute Easter bunnies and it was a hit!

The girls helped me design a bunny head shape with marshmallows. To make the treats you just dip marshmallows into melted white chocolate (colored if you want) and make your design on a piece of wax paper. We popped ours in the fridge for 10 minutes and they were ready to eat or package!

We did lose a few ears when we peeled the marshmallow bunnies off the wax paper. Make sure you get a generous amount of chocolate on your marshmallows – about halfway up the side worked well for us. The girls declared them delicious! and I even managed to save a few for delivering to cousins this weekend.

Tonight we’ll color eggs and get ready for a relaxing family weekend. Wishing you a wonderful Easter!

Do you have a large collection of plastic Easter eggs like we do? When you have had enough fun re-creating Easter egg hunts around your house, here are some creative & easy ways to play with those eggs, even after Easter has passed. Enjoy! {Originally published March 2008}

• Egg & Spoon Race: See how far or how long your child can walk with a plastic egg on a spoon.
• Egg Toss: Toss plastic eggs into an Easter basket, a box, a laundry basket, etc.
• Surprise Egg: Put a small object inside an egg and give your child clues. After your child guesses your object, it’s his/her turn to hide something inside.
• Count & Deliver: Set out baskets or boxes with numbers attached to the front (or draw different amounts of eggs on an index card for each basket). Have your child count and deliver the correct number of Easter eggs to each basket.
• Sound Match: Fill pairs of eggs with matching objects. Tape them closed and have your child shake each egg and find the matches.
• Egg Roll Race: Mark a finish line on the floor with masking tape, or outside with chalk. Ready, set, go! Roll the plastic eggs and see which one crosses the finish line first.
• Missing Egg: Set out 3-6 different eggs. Talk about each one, name the colors with your child, etc. Then your child closes his/her eyes while you take one egg away. Then, guess which one is missing! Be sure to let your child be the “hider” too!
• Sort & Graph: Sort a basket of plastic eggs by color. Older preschoolers will be able to color in a simple bar graph showing how many eggs there are for each color.
• Treasure Hunt: Set up a treasure hunt with clues inside eggs hidden around the house or outside. Fill the last Easter egg with some candy or toy treasure!
• Save an egg carton and have fun loading and unloading with plastic eggs.
• Use the plastic eggs with playdough, rice, beans, water, paint. Try painting with whole eggs & halves.

Phew! Hope you have fun with these ideas. I’m off to plan a treasure hunt!

My girls have been looking ahead on their calendars to find the next holiday – guess it’s time to pull out some St. Patrick’s Day activities!

In the deep, dark archives of my teaching days I found this fun fill-in-the-blank book that you can make with your child, along with a happy little leprechaun to walk through the story.

1. Download and print the book. Cut the stack of pages in half (don’t cut the last page with the leprechauns!), put the top set of pages on top of the bottom set, and staple together.
2. Illustrate each page and choose words to fill in the blanks.
3. Color your leprechaun, cut out, and attach to a straw or popsicle stick.
4. Take your leprechaun through the story on his special walk!

(The book design is mine, but I’m not sure where I got that cute little leprechaun graphic – it was just a copy in my teacher stuff!)

Happy Playing!

After adding some painted details (we used acrylic craft paint) and sparkly white yarn, the heart necklaces are ready for gift-giving:

This year, we didn’t have a whole classroom to make Valentines for.  But, we do have some special family and friends that we wanted to send sweet messages.  It was pretty much a use-up-all-our-extra-stuff Valentine making event.  Pop-up cards were made, too!

The girls didn’t really need my help this year, which was exciting, but also a little sad…. Where does the time go?

Now we just need to agree on a sweet treat to make together.  Should we make the adorable Rice Krispy Treats shaped like Hershey Kisses or these yummy Peanut Butter Crisps or maybe stick with good ol’ fashioned sugar cookies?  We’ll see!

And, some good reading to get you in the lovey-dovey mood:

More Than Words: Simple Ways to Show Your Kids You Love Them (@Simple Kids)

8 Ways to Make Valentine’s Day More Meaningful For Your Family (@Simple Mom)

Happy Playing!

Today we had fun squishing, rolling, and cutting hearts made from air-dry clay.

We punched holes with straws, so we can give Valentine necklaces to some special friends – and we’ll keep some for ourselves, too!

We gently pressed in sparkly sequins – everyone agreed this was the best part!

We also made some little decorations and pendants, using rubber stamps to make impressions in the clay.

We left a few hearts blank so we can paint them tomorrow when they are finished drying (the air-dry clay takes 24 hours to dry).

You can find Crayola Model Magic at most craft stores.  I usually buy the Air Dry Putty at Discount School Supply – it’s a few dollars cheaper and works just as great!  My kids love the texture of the putty – it’s so lightweight and just different than playdough.

Tomorrow, we’ll show you our finished projects!

Happy Playing!

]]> http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/02/air-dry-clay-hearts/feed/ 5 http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/02/ladybug-valentines/ http://lets-explore.net/blog/2010/02/ladybug-valentines/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:24:47 +0000 Amy http://lets-explore.net/blog/?p=3020

These are the Valentine cards that Natalie made for her Kindergarten class last year.  She came up with the idea herself – pretty cute!

For the card background, she painted big pieces of paper with red, pink, and purple paint.  When they were dry, we cut them up into card-size rectangles.  You could also use extra paintings you have laying around!

Natalie cut hearts from construction paper for the bodies and heads, then used a heart punch for the spots.  Draw on faces and antenna and done!

On the back, she signed her name and taped on a lollipop.  After signing her name 20 times, she deserved a lollipop for herself!

The girls are still thinking about what kind of Valentine cards they want to make this year.  Do you do homemade or store-bought Valentines?

Happy Playing!