who likes to rock the party? we do.

remember when the girl turned 6? it's still her birthday month so i still have posting rights.

when i was a wee lass i remember how awesome it was when your birthday party fell on your actual birthday. BEST DAY EVER.

and that second picture moment when you see your present and it's exactly what you were begging your mom for at that cool toy store in laramie but she said "no why don't you get one of these little thingers instead?" and then you kind of forgot about it so you're surprised after all? yes, wonderful. the day is starting out well.

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party time

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while last year our theme was pretty specific (kitty unicorn butterfly party) this year we just went with "lots of colors and you get tickets"

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so upon their very excited arrival, they got a bag for their tickets. only it had a coin hidden inside so they got to play the claaaaaw while we waited for everyone. no one cried.

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then we had some ticket stations. with some expert ticket station helpers. my #1 party girl (and youngest sister) hanna. best cousins of all (sorry other cousins) eli and olivia. and the matching game child whisperer (again, no one cried) nichole (the neck-tied boy's mom)

station 1 was drawing. here's what we drew. they're still up.

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next station included lego-extraordinaire eli directing marshmallow toothpick building. he's good. those little boys have something nerdy to aspire to.

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station 3 was the hat making station. everyone got to pick the trim color on their party hat and glue the glitter letter on with hanna. no one got stapled.

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station 4 was me. get your picture taken and record a video message to the birthday girl.

probably won't post it because then i won't get to it until next year but the highlights were that aaron thinks lily will be an iron chef when she grows up and 3 boys predicted that lily would marry them.

of course everyone got tickets at all 4 stations. but we needed a couple more to get to the magic birthday number 6. so we split into groups to play:


and classic matching

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also i wore my party shoes.

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so once you had collected at least 6 tickets (luckily everyone did) you earned the right to participate in the present opening game. i explained that since lily would get to open so many presents today, we wanted to give just one present to one of our friends. and that since it was wrapped in transformers paper it would have to be a boy. i was amazed that everyone just solemnly accepted their fate at this point.

we started music and passed a ginormous box around until the music stopped and the luckiest boy ever got to open a big huge present. only inside was a little boyish prize and ANOTHER BOX! and it was wrapped in princess paper so it must be for a girl this time!

repeat.
repeat.
repeat.
repeat.
repeat.
and keep repeating.

it was a birthday miracle that i was able to round up 10 boxes that fit inside one another. all the way down to a baby ibuprofen box. so each kid in fact did get a prize and get to open a box. it was fun. most of them were convinced the game would stop around box 6 and the rest of them would be out of luck. zach finally won a pirate compass in the tiny box and yelled victoriously that it was what he always wanted.

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at some point we had some snacks. don't remember. lily requested mini hot dogs and chocolate dipped strawberries. that girl has class. also popped some popcorn (not in the microwave even). i think that was also a highlight.

lily requested this wrapping up game earlier but then wasn't in the mood so we used volunteers.

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don't judge. we spun the bottle to see which present she got to open. whichever friend it landed on got to hand her their gift. and they were wonderful and there was lots of shrieking and a few mentions of the words pillow + pet.

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candle time.

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our birthday cake was rainbow birthday cake pops. which she'll be more grateful for when she's the mom and stays up late molding and dipping tiny cake blobs. like i am for my ice cream cone cake and wooden bead painting crafts and sleepovers.

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happy birthday, lu

spinach artichoke dip

i think i've got it set so that if you just regular click on the picture it will download the good version. like the one you'd want to print. so you can actually read it on day when you're in the mood for some deliciousness. none of this right-clicking funny business. we like it on lightly toasted french bread.

once you've made it once or seen it it's pretty obvious, but i guess i should say that you just mix it all together with a mixer probably and put it in a pie plate-sized dish.

click to download

Evanston Bountiful Baskets

Evanston friends!
Who like fruits and vegetables!
And money!

Lots of you already know all about Bountiful Baskets. Go do some reading if you don't.

I've been in contact with the actual people in charge. Sally even of Sally and Tanya, yep that's famous. And some super helpful people in our area.

In order to get this going I need your help.

We need a list of at least 40 of us that are excited to participate (now is the time to comment, you stalkers) And tell your friends. And their friends (well, as long as their friends live in Evanston. or want to come here Saturdays to pick up their awesome stuff).

Also as the site leader I am going to go train at other sites that have already been going. I'm planning on getting this done pretty quick. I need backups to come train with me though! Backup people don't completely have to be to all 3 training sessions that I'm going to. I can finish training you in Evanston once I'm official. But I really want at least someone to come with me to each.

Right now this is my plan (unless times change or things come up):

Saturday April 2 in Kemmerer
(week A, volunteer time is 10:15)

Saturday April 9 in Lyman
(week B, volunteer time has been 11:45...if it changes we might have to see what works)

Saturday April 23 in Lyman again

We'd need to be there a bit before volunteer time. Pickup time is an hour after that and lasts for 20 minutes. There's probably some clean up time after that...but that's what we're going to find out!

Will you come with me? Please? I have a sweet van. And we'll go to lunch.

If you do want to join me in Kemmerer this week, go ahead and order a basket from them since we'll be there anyway. It's in Lincoln county.

One more reason for you to come:
Do your kids look like this? He's already downed 2 big macs, people.
(ha ha, just kidding. Isaac you are cute and I needed a picture)
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Let's get bountiful baskets going and they'll be as happy as this:
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"Thanks, mom!"

**hey anonymous who's been in contact with bb also, who are you? have any of your people started training yet? where is your site? (i've heard of 3 that different people have gotten approved but they really just want people trained before they'll pay attention to you and start making calls) i agree we just need to join up and get this thing going. i don't care who does it but i'm tired of waiting.

is that a giraffe with a neck tie?

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this is not so much a tutorial as it is a thanks-family-for-the-birthday-money-now-i-can-cut-out-rad-stuff

i got a super crafty cutting machine that makes me want to bury all my scissors in the dirt and start using "x-acto" as a curse word. anyone who i've made use one of those in the past, i owe you.

so i experimented today with the elephant. probably going to do some bonus stitching on it but seeing as how it's on the red vines-dino dan watching-just woke up from a late nap boy, i'll probably save it for later.

also how great is it when your friend then comes over and chooses a polka-dot giraffe which i was excited about already and then busts out with "do you think we could put a neck tie on it?"
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this little neck-tied giraffe has opened up a whole new world of ideas. bow ties on weiner dogs. buttons for dump truck wheels. googly eyes on anything! lily best watch out or the butterfly shirt she designed is going to get some tiny mustaches next time she takes it off.
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six

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when she woke up on her birthday she told us she was an inch taller than the night before.
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while i'm not so sure about that, i am sure that she is:

1. the sweetest big sister in the history of the universe. "mom, when i look at max's face it's just so cute that i just want to always be nice to him and share my candy" she used half her birthday money to buy him a thomas toy and acted like it was for some other kid the whole time we were at the store to trick us :)

2. a kindergarten phenomenon. she's all over reading, spelling, first place in kindergarten art contest, hermit crab walking in p.e., telling me her favorite color is now rosado, searching for box tops in any kitchen we're in and proving that she knows what exclamation marks are for when she's reading!!

3. a tape master. she'll disappear into the art room and work away using paper scissors + tape and come out with these amazing sculptures. a working pirate chest. safety goggles for me when i was working on the tile. a leprechaun trap.

4. an awesomely healthy kid. she picked out a treat to bring to her class on her birthday. hostess cupcakes and sweet peas.

5. enthusiastic! as a baby, enthusiastic probably wouldn't have been my word choice. she was enthusiastic about screaming. now that she's grown into herself and her sensitivities and her being able to communicate that her socks are driving her crazy, she's just delightful. it makes me happy to watch her squeal with excitement over fairytale bingo or the fact that i cut her turkey sandwich into a heart.

6. nice. just plain nice to people which is one of the most important things you can be.

p.s. i really have been working on birthday party pictures. how about tomorrow?
p.p.s. want to be my friend on pinterest? oh my, it's fun.

100 day

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100 days of helping her find clothes in the morning. no jeans, please. doesn't like wearing dresses with snowpants unless it's a fancy day like your birthday or we're going to disney on ice after school. could care less if her socks match but they should feel the same (both polka dots or both stripes)

100 days of wanting a cold lunch. it happens most of the time. 70% of the time turkey and cheese. 30% pb&j. always buy white milk at school.

100 days of picking you up by the kindergarten playground. most of the time max stays in the car and listens to sesame street tunes and all of the time you say 'I see my mom!' and run into my arms.

100 days of worksheets. whenever you have a shape or letter that needs some simple coloring-in you fill it with rainbow stripes or tiny hearts.

100 days of missing you. is it summer yet?

valentines day party

before I write about lily's birthday party I wanted to put up this one we planned last minute for valentines day. yes, we like parties. lots.


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let's not talk about that spelling mistake ok? i stare at a lot of kindergarten spelling these days.
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