Happy 5th Birthday & Owen Says...

Owen is 5!  This year we had a simple birthday.  We invited friends over for a playdate and made cupcakes.  The boys had a fun time playing and frosting cupcakes together. 

Both my boys seem to be growing up so fast.  Michael is almost taller than some of my friends already.  So, in effort to remember...

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The other day Owen said, inquisitively.  "Daddy is a worker.  He has tools.  But he doesn't USE them!?"  (Such is the life of an academic, they have tools but they hardly use them, lol.) 

Owen has a million stories about the "centipede spider".  This is a mythical insect who is always changing & morphing into Owen's newest idea.  Sometimes he lives under the barrel cactus.  Owen is obsessed with the barrel cactus.  He loves to see them, read about them and has a toy (train) that he says is a barrel cactus that he "plants" outside and waters. This Spring because of all his talk about cacti, we bought him a little one to take care of.  He loves it and has figured out just how to touch it without getting hurt.

His favorite movies right now are all about letters. We found some at the library that he has been carrying around with him everywhere.  Today, my boys and I started reminiscing about little things that have happened in our life together.  I showed them old pictures here on the blog and realized how thrilled I am to have this space to record our family.  I haven't been blogging much lately and I want to change that, but however life twists and turns we have such a beautiful record of our love here. 

Happy 5th Birthday Owen! 

9 years round the sun...

On your Birthday, the 24th of December. (I'm a little late in finishing this post)

Dear Michael,

You arrived on Christmas eve nine years ago and you were and always will be the best Christmas present we could have ever hoped for. Today you are a strong, tall beautiful boy with soulful chocolate eyes. You are sweet and sensitive and loving.  I love that you tell our life long friends that you love them and give them hugs and extra hugs when you see they are upset.  Though when boys your age are around I have to remember to not brush your face affectionately or reach out and hug you.  This is a new revelation, this needing to be a little separate from Mom. I so celebrate all these little milestones that you are growing up good and strong. 

You love playing Legos, dressing up in play clothes and being imaginative with your brother.  You won't admit it but your brother is your best friend and buddy.

You are smart and love to learn anything about nature, animals and science. This year you found swimming as a new passion.  You were terrified of pools at the beginning of summer, you wouldn't let me teach you. We had many conversations about facing fears in life and by the end of the summer and a swimming camp you were swimming like a fish and learning all the strokes.  How proud I was to see you boldly swimming back and forth across the pool, knowing that it wasn't just a new skill learned but one of your first fears met and faced down.

You met a soul friend.  You met him at a museum, began talking about Legos and never stopped.  His father and I looked at each other and said "I guess we need to get them together".  You also experienced him moving away and the sadness that comes with that.  Now you keep in touch with him through letters, email & phone calls.  Calling friends, what a new revelation!  I love overhearing your short conversations, mostly about your newest Lego creations.

A few days before your birthday you had some best buddies over and a birthday sleep over.  You asked for lavender cake and said it is your favorite.  You boys actually fell asleep quickly and woke up way too early, exhausted but so happy.

It's such a privilege to be your Mom.  I love you with all my heart!

Strawberry Boy Birthday Party!

Thank you for your condolences about my Gram everyone.  She was/ is a special lady.  ( I say is because I know she still exists somewhere.  Death is not an ending to me.  I know in my heart these loved ones live on.) Her passing was expected yet I was surprised at how much I grieved for my time with her as a child.  She was/is a pretty fun Grandma.

Anyway, on to Owen's Birthday party!  We decided to make Owen's 4th birthday a strawberry party because when we bake or even talk about baking he always asks for a strawberry cake.  I have never made one, so he was thrilled at the suggestion of a strawberry party!

I made all of his Birthday ring decorations except for the two snails, which are from Armadillo Dreams.  The snails are for play not decoration, but they still looked pretty darn cute on Owen's birthday ring,  Here is his happy storm gnome because he arrived during a thunder storm.  His strawberry, the number four, a moon because we sing, "I see the moon and the moon sees me...", a sunshine because he is a summer babe.  And a star because his favorite song when he was just learning to talk was, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". 

My dear friend had this vintage strawberry fabric in her stash.  I fell in love with its quirkiness.  My husband says is looks like a "70's acid trip".  To which I replied, "but it's so ugly, it's cool, it's vintage."  And he said "yah, leprosy has been around for awhile too but you don't want that."  He's going to just love it when I haul out this table runner and eight napkins every summer season!  What do you think?  Quirky vintage or "leprosy"? 

A little felt strawberry mobile.  I love that we can keep all of these things for next summer's seasonal decorations. 



An easy strawberry burlap banner.  My friend just happened to have this strawberry stencil lying about.  The burlap coffee sack material was left over from my covered studio boxes.  Miniature clothespins hold them to a hemp string with curly green hemp string tied between. 

We had five boys at the party and boy were they thrilled with the balloons.  We had a few easy and fun activities planned.  They sailed ice boats on the hot sidewalk.  Inside the ice were little frogs to play a leap frog game.  After that they made wire bubble wands and bubbles with homemade solution.  Then out came the sidewalk chalk.  Lastly I had coloring pages printed and a new box of crayons for them to take home. I printed cute Jan Brett cursive letter practice sheets in the boys initials amongst other Jan Brett color pages.

I baked two cakes.  The first was a strawerry flavored cake that came out disgustingly sweet with an odd texture.  I know this because one of the cakes fell out of the pan in a crumble. This was a really fun way to spend the evening before a party, let me tell you!  The above was my second attempt, this time a yellow cake with yummy chocolate icing and strawberries on top. My friend also brought a strawberry pie.

We had hamburgers, brats, olive & sweet pepper pasta salad, asparagus potato salad,  cilantro pesto pasta, chips and salsa verde, strawberry spinach salad, fruit and veggies.  The kiddos ate well on brats, veggies and fruit, strawberries in dirt chocolate pudding & yummy cake.

Strawberry spinach salad. I took this photo early I guess because it was so colorful.  Later I added feta cheese and almonds. 

Owen loves his new mama made strawberry boy crown.  And yes he was fully dressed when everyone arrived and somewhere along the way both of my boys lost their shirts. It has been about 106 degrees outside so who can blame them, right?

Owen told his friend he loved him & gave many hugs and kisses to everyone. He was very excited about all of the presents, a play doh truck, a wooden semi truck, a wooden tool set and work bench.

A bow and arrow & quiver set by Backyard Ballistics on etsy. 

A pair of wings was the last present to open.  He asked, "Can I fly with these!?!" and went racing out the door to test them.

 

My Dad sent him this Superman cape which he slept in the first night.  We had a bonfire at the end of our party for about 5 minutes before a huge wind and rain storm came up.  Yes, it stormed and poured rain on Owen's birthday, just like when he was born.  A fitting end to our evening. 

Until next time...

Strawberry Party Preparations...

Serious party prep is under way for Owen's strawberry themed birthday party. I'm a little nervous I'll never get it all done.  The crafty stuff I always enjoy but the cleaning, cooking & baking often sends me to Frazzleville!  Praying for peace & harmony & a hefty sized dose of energy.  Can't wait to show you it all completed, in my head it looks beautiful. 

Shout out to Felt Path for the inspiration behind the above crown.  She made a lovely crown that is on my Pinterest party board, "A Shindig, a Hoopla".  Her little boy fairy is much cuter.  I made the toadstool cap into a strawberry cap, (hmmm, messy cap, right?)  and added my strawberries and greenery. I kind of find this crown funny because snails like to eat strawberries so I think this little Berry fairy is saying "Ok, eat a little and then move off, Mr. Snail".  He has to protect the berries, right?  Or perhaps he says, "Eat away friend, these are abundant for your use". I digress, clearly needle felting for hours has addled my brain.

What are you working on lately?

When the Cicadas came to town...

If you're in the East or South/East, I'm sure you are seeing and hearing the Cicadas!  Or perhaps they're dwindling now?  I don't know why but I'm fascinated with these guys. Maybe it's because I don't live where they do!

Anyway, my bug crazed boy, Michael and I have been looking into them. We found this site and this site. This site that offers a recipe for sauteed Cicadas in butter, Mmmm. Let me know if you try that one!  This stunning  video on Vimeo is not to be missed.  And of course the free story, Maggie the Patient Cicada,  from Sparkle Stories! (It's so good we listened to it twice.)

I decided I had to make a Cicada birthday doll.  How fun to remember the year the Cicadas came to town.  He turned out fairly creepy, ( though maybe a little cuter than the real thing) perfect for a bug crazed guy like mine.  Or maybe you have a bug crazed girl, can't leave them out.  

So, have the Cicadas moved into your neighborhood?  Me and my boys would love to hear your stories!

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Don't forget to enter the Little Woodlanders giveaway of a life cycle of a frog learning toy! 

DIY, Felt Birthday Ring Decorations

I've been wanting a Birthday Ring for a long time now, I finally splurged and bought one! I found my ring at Joshua, on etsy. I love the Grimm's wooden decorations and I plan to buy a couple of them but mostly I think I will make our decorations. 

Owen's fourth Birthday is coming up, so I've started to think about what decorations would be meaningful for us.  I immediately thought of strawberries oddly enough.  Last year around this time, he had a dream and in his sleep he was saying, "sawberries, sawberries", over and over. When he woke up he asked for them with such urgency!  He gets so excited at the mere thought of strawberries & he often asks me to make a strawberry cake (something I've never made).  The other day I asked him if he wants to have a strawberry party with a strawberry cake.  He was thrilled at the idea & I'm thrilled too, I think I like strawberries just as much as he does.  Though the strawberries of my youth are the tiny sweet ones we used to pick ourselves!  Eeeek, love them!

So my first handmade birthday ring decoration, for Owen, is a strawberry.  I think that is the best thing about making your own decorations, you can make things you may not be able to find anywhere else. 

I've seen a couple of great posts on how to make your own decorations, this one at Rhythm of the Home, and this at Old Recipe for a New World.  Mine is a little different.  For the support I used wooden parts I can find at a Hobby store.  I use 3/4" x 5/8" Spools & 3/8" x 2 3/8" Tie Rack Pegs.  I glued the wooden parts together, using wood glue. Then I cut out the strawberry & leaves out of wool felt. I embroidered little strawberry seeds and then blanket stitched the two sides together over the wooden support. 

Lastly, I sewed the green leaves to the top, sewing the top closed as I went. Easy, peasy! It fits a little loosely, that doesn't bother me.  I think I may try a couple of wire support ones as well though.  More Birthday Ring decorations to come!

If you use this little tutorial to make your own Birthday Ring decorations please link back, I would love to see!

Until next time...

Eight Trips Round the Sun!

Michael is 8 years old! 

Michael with best buddies Liam & Morgan (in war paint)

Where have the years gone? Seems like he was just this size!




We had a small celebration for him yesterday. I don't have many pictures of it as my camera just doesn't seem to like my home.  So I"ll have to describe it.  It was a winter wonderland theme.  We made marshmallow snowmen. 

We decorated with blue & white ribbons, bells & paper snowflakes.

We ate lasagna, pizza for the children & New York style cheesecake for all.

We were supposed to make Jack Frost dolls but they boys were too busy playing to be interested.
So my friend Monica and I crafted them.

And here's my big boy today. 8 years old!  We love you Michael!

Until next time...

Construction Truck Party!

Owen is three & to celebrate we had a little party.  Owen is all about trucks right now.  One of his favorite things to imagine himself as, is a "worker".  (As he likes to say.) He has a construction hat & vest that my Mom made and he just loves it.  So we decided to have a construction truck party!

I love making favors out of paper cups.  I bought the above cups at the dollar store.  All I did was use a hole punch and tie a handle on them with string. They have chocolate animal crackers (dirt) gummy worms, homemade chocolate suckers & toy construction trucks.

Chocolate dipped pretzel rods are in the dump truck. Yah, I wasn't going for healthy here.  I found these great eco-trucks at Magic Cabin.

Here's the other "earth" moving truck.  I found all of these ideas & more on Pinterest. There is a little fruit in the back if you noticed.  I set out sticks to skewer their own melon & fresh pineapple.  Always good to have stabbing utensils at an all boys party, right?!!  Fun, but think twice about this idea!

And here's the Birthday cake, which is an orange, chocolate zucchini cake with Ganache frosting & Oreo cookie dirt on top.  Yum! My cakes are not usually all that pretty but they are ooey, gooey, good!  Here's the recipe. 

The boys were thrilled with their trucks.

Owen loved his presents.

The party ended with water balloons & fireworks.  What a lucky boy to have his birthday so near the fourth!  Our good friends brought the fireworks and the men had a great time with their fire & the boys loved watching.

Owen & Papa.

 

It was a good day.  Happy Birthday my little Owen!