No longer!! He has figured out how to play with out help and actually uses a little strategy!
Gotta love those games that everyone can play together!! Good Times!
He had so much fun painting this!! We had to go to Michaels to get just the right shade of blue for the base - and I think we used every single container of glittler glue that we had in the glue bin. "A little more of this one......just a little more of that one" it was fun to watch him put on the finishing touches.
The pinata in all it's glory - young son thought it was the most beautiful pinata he had ever seen :o)
Our whole crowd helped to get ready for the party. The 5yo planned the party - he told me what activites he wanted and how the cake should be. It was really pretty cute!
First up - See how many times you can hit the balloon before it touches the floor.
Balance the bean bag on your head and try to walk around. When the bean bag falls off you are frozen until a friend comes over and picks it up and places it back on your head all without their bean bag falling off.
OR.....you can just hold it on your head to solve the issue of gravity!
Instead of a goodie bag with lots of little things in it, we purchased a small, simple lego kit for each of the boys to put together as one of the activities and also for the take home gift.
I found these cute "Happy Birthday" bags for the boys to color to catch the candy from the pinata. I was surprised at how much these little guys liked to color :o)
Heeeeere's the birthday boy trying his hardest.
And again.....
And again!
Better bring in the reinforcements!
Instead of a traditional birthday cake, young son wanted to have his friends decorate their own cupcakes. Young son helped to make the cupcakes (his is bigger) and we just put out frosting, sprinkles and some M & M's
Gotta Sing!
All the kids had a blast!
Even young son, who usually does not like big crowds! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUDDY!
I saw this idea of a wrapfolio in a magazine and knew right away that it was perfect for him. He loves to "write" and draw. So I decided to make him one for his birthday. This actually looks nothing like the magazine picture. The one in the magazine is gorgeous - it has strips of fabric and is quilted. My original idea whas to find several pirate themed fabrics and cut them in strips and copy the magazine. I found lots of pirate fabric at JoAnn Fabrics in the clearance section and was all set to purchase them and then thought about it for a moment.......if I cut them into strips, a lot of the motifs would be obliterated.....I didn't really want to do that. I decided to just use two pirate fabrics - one for the outside and one for the inside and I found a red fat quarter to use for the pocket. I was all set!
The picture above is the outside of the wrapfolio. I think my son will totally love it!! The picture below is the inside. What I failed to think about initially was that the pocket would cover up most of the inside fabric. What to do?????
As you can see, I just cut out the pirate from some of the left over fabric and appliqued it to the pocket before it was all sewed up. Worked like a charm and is kind of cute.
This wrapfolio does not close completely because the pad of paper I chose is a wee bit too big - so next time I will either make the wrapfolio longer or choose a smaller pad. This will work perfectly for today and I think my son will love it!!
I had to include the picture from the magazine. See how beautiful these are? Eventually I will try out one of these - probably for holiday gifts. This pattern is in the February 2010 issue of Crafts 'n Things. The designers are Sue Bleiweiss and Terri Stegmiller (www.twocreativestudios.com). Just in case you want to know :o)
I couldn't believe how much of it there was!
Isn't the new haircut adorable?!
The pattern is knit in five strips of 7 squares each. Then the strips are sewn together - very easy and straight forward. Well.......I ran into a little bit of trouble when I decided to change to overall size of the blanket. Originally the blanket would be 50 X 58. I wanted to wind up with a blanket that was more the size of a traditional lap quilt which is approximately 60 X 72. Soooooo, I knit up a swatch, measured, did some rudimentary math and was on my way. I didn't measure after the first square was done, nor the 2nd, nor the 3rd, nor the 4th, nor the 5th - by the time I was part way through the 6th square on the first strip, I was beginning to think that maybe this was going to be a little longer than I had intended - did I measure?? NO! I happily continued on my knitting way totally enjoying the pattern and the changing of the colors. As soon as I was beginning to get tired of one color, I got to change up the colors and all was good. Now I bound off the strip - my husband says, "WOW, that is really long." I layed it on the floor and we measured the length - a Whopping 991/2" long - no way am I gonna take it apart and knit it smaller - it is just going to be one. really. big. big. blanket! Maybe I should join my 4yo who will enter Kindergarten in the fall. It appears I need to brush up on those math facts.....
I tried to get a closeup of the stitch pattern and color
The colors are pretty accurate. What is not apparent are the bobbles.
There are tiny little bobble looking things created by knitting in the stitch one row below. Overall a very pleasing pattern to both look at and knit.
This is strip #2 - looks much the same as strip #1, but the order of the squares are different.
From the side. I really like how fluffy it looks and feels.
The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun. I chose this yarn because it is soft and I can wash and dry it which is a must in a house of 5 kids, multitudes of friends, and a dog.
The kids always want a pinata for their parties and this one is no different. Above is the making - I place a netting of twine in between layers 2 and 3 for added strength and also so that it is easy to make a handle to hang it from.
The 7yo and the 4yo painting the pinata - look at that concentration! Must get everything exactly right :o)
Still working.....and working......and working.....they love this part. It was nice of the 7yo to let her younger brother help. I was worried she might want to decorate it all on her own.
The finished product-the 7yo side-she was so thrilled and it was quite strong-it took a few rounds through the line to crack this thing open. Only 3 more birthdays to go before then end of March.........
