Mother's daughter

There are some instances I am not 1000% ready to own it, like oh April 15, 2010  but days like today I'll own her quirks 1000%. Some people know my issue freaking awesome idea use of milk boxes for filing...see the top of the shelves. They hold file folders, cans or pasta for food storage, cloth diapers, pretty much everything perfectly.

Costco has also provided me with another amazing box, the blue spinach box. It's solid. The base is solid. The flaps are on the side so weight to the bottom is distributed to the sides and not through flaps in the base. The dimensions fit the depth of the closet but not the moulding, so it sits on top of allowing for airflow {because I think that's important for something}.

 See the room for airflow? The boys have had these for probably a year because Kate took the dresser when she moved to the basement. They were going to be temporary but I like free, the drawings, ease of use, the fact that I don't care if they get destroyed, the fact they they have climbed them and they haven't fallen apart, & that they have grooves so they stack like legos.

 Plus I've used them everywhere and the kids get it. They know where stuff goes and..... put their own stuff away.

 Now back to why this all matters. Today at Costco Grace spied a spinach box. She got giddy, so much so that the lady in front of us in line was amused at her wavering inability to restrain herself. After patiently waiting she scored three boxes and while I was upstairs getting my pinterest projects, boys destruction projects, Kate's dress repairs done she was in the basement doing this.

 {beaming with pride}

 Here's some close ups of her intricate tags.

 Love.

 :)

Here's one of what I was doing. I added hooks to the hair bow board for all their .  Isn't it awesome? That brown hedgehog bow in the middle... PS: I did the mock-"make a bow tutorial" way before pinterest was even born...was also a pin project.

It's exciting!!

My Real Brother

Miles - "My brudder at my cheese stick. Mom, he ate it. I want it. He ate it." {unconsolable}

Me- {Assuming it was out resident cheese freak} "I am sorry. Granty is a baby. I'll get you...."

I was interrupted with "No! My real brother!"

Me-"James?"

Miles-"Yes."

Me-"Both James and Grant are your real brothers."

Miles- {now mad at me}"No MY REAL brother James took MY REAL cheese stick"

Sorry! The poor kid is surrounded by freakin' idiots! :)

8 is Great

 If you have older sisters, it's just going to happen. You'll learn to cope.

 Be grateful. She could have  dressed you to match her.

 Kate with her matching paper doll at school.

 Daddy with his new grilling toy he got for his birthday. We need to rotisserie something.

Ok, on to the real post...
Grace had a lego birthday party. She was very specific that she like the minifigs and ninjago. Since black doesn't do well with foods, we leaned towards the minifigs for our party. They made minifig heads out of baby food jars. They had minifig races with the jar size guys and duplos and several other loge-ized games. We ate minfig cupcakes and lego crispy treats.

 They created their own wall of minifigs too.

 But their favorite part was a last minute idea. They had 2 minutes to build something and sit down. The first person started a story about what they built. When they we getting comfortable it switched to the next person. They ended up playing it five times.

 After the party, Grace got her ears pierced. It was a late night. I think we got home at 9:30.

It's like the freakin paparazzi. Look at all those flashes!

 Saturday she was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 We had Tucanos to celebrate.

It was a Graciepalooza. Eight is great...or at least turning eight is great. :)

Rad Kids

Grace is a Rad Kid. 

 She's even got  a certificate to prove it.

She participated in a Saftey Education program... reminiscent of DARE, but more about creepers than drugs.

  I just hope her skills are saved for bad guys not little brothers.

The Trash Party

There's about 5 good ideas on the internet for a trashman party. From that I've talked with my clients (J, M, & G) and discussed their budget (3 cents) and came up  with something they loved. Ya'd thing with all the 3yr old obsessed with trash men and trucks there would be more...stuff to work with.

This is what we did:

Oh wait... that's the trashman. We needed a shot for the cake.

He's pretty much awesome.

So are they.

We checked out all the books and patterned a cake after a real Waste Management truck.

Thankfully I had several beater-lickers to keep my supplies clean.

They however did not stay clean.

The boyos retained much of the creative control and {dictated what needed to go where} loved their truck.

Complete w/ caution sign.

Then off to Grant's trashcan.

And the piñata.

These are from here then photoshopped so so we could color them.

The boyos loved paper plate fly crowns but they didn't go over well at the party. 

Oh well. I had also planned trashcan cones. Green cones were perfect with chocolate melts as wheels but they melted before we used them...they just made for messy cones.   James didn't complain.


So, the party!The pinata was hung by Tony. I'm sad we didn't get a shot of his knot. I don't think he was a boy scout because that knot was one of a kind.The dump was filled with trash & the treat bags hidden carefully inside.The "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES MILES AND GRANT" banner organized and strung.The trash truck and fly visor crafting begun.The birthday Granty. (post cake)The birthday boyos, James and Miles. The destruction of his very own cake. He was timid at first but then dug in.Granty needed a bath once he finished his cake. Why not use the park drinking fountain?

 Uncle John was awesome and helped fill the trashcans....err ice cream cones, so I could watch Granty destroy. If you look, you can see the fly sugar cookies. There's a fine line, at a trash party, between fun and gross. I think we stayed on the non gross side. The pinata was strong. It even withstood an adult beating. It finally came down when one little guy couldn't take the suspense any longer and ripped it down.

Then the frenzy.

 I strongly suggest a dump (or whatever the theme dictates it be called) as an alternative or addition to a pinata for the little people. Same idea, less dangerous, pre portioned prizes. While the little ones were digging in the dump the bigger kids played a Toss the Trash version of Kick the Can and played some Trash Talking Basketball.

 The only BAD NEWS BEARS is that someone(s) {Abby & Amanda}reintroduced pets into our home. All the other presents were fabulous.

 

We are happy we got to celebrate three birthday boys with some of our friends and family.

Now with school starting Tuesday, we should probably get on that!

Stuff I saw after the party that would have been nice to have seen previous.

Saw these at Texaco.

http://www.candywarehouse.com/grabapops.html