Lego Birthday Party!

I think it's about time I get a post up here about Kid's Lego Party!

We had a blast! It wasn't complicated and it wasn't very structured. Basically the kids just played a lot between presents and cake.

The decorations were very inexpensive and simple but I loved how they turned out.

I went to the local dollar store and I bought a couple plastic, disposable table cloths, blue, green, yellow. I also bought packages of paper plates that were the same shades.

Then I hung the table cloths on the wall, all together, and taped the plates on so they looked like Large Lego's. I LOVED the effect and received a number of compliments. I only used a few plates for each "Lego" and was able to use the rest for the party food.

If I had a printer (How do I not have a printer??) I would have printed out the word "LEGO" in my Lego font and pasted it inside each plate.


For weeks before the party I was saving empty boxes. When we finished off the pop tarts or the spaghetti noodles or the cake mix I tossed the empty box in a basket for later.

I purchased two packages of construction paper (also at the dollar store) and a few rolls of tape. I then wrapped all of those empty boxes in construction paper. J's cousin came over one night and helped me cut out a staggering number of little circles and we taped those onto the boxes.

Viola! Lego's!

They're not perfect but they turned out really cute! I used the basic Lego colors, orange, green, blue, red, yellow and black.

It took a lot of tape to put these together, for a couple reasons. One, the tape I bought was cheap. Two, Construction paper is stiff. Three, I wanted to make sure it stayed together.

I cut out little pieces of thread, tied them in loops and taped those to the back of the boxes. This took a LOT of tape because the thread slipped right out of some of them. Here you can see the massive tape use in those pictures.

Anyway, I used the thread loops to hang the Lego boxes from the ceiling.

Again, I LOVE the way these turned out. They took a LOT of time and a LOT of cutting of little circles and taping them on but it was totally worth it!

The cake.

Originally I had intended to just make a basic rectangle cake and add either cupcakes, marshmallows or Oreo's to the top to look like a Lego. But, for some reason I wasn't really into that idea. Then, one day while surfing the web I had an epiphany.

I baked two box cake (Yes, I used the box) mixes in round pans. When they were cool I shaved off the rounded top so they were all flat. Then I piled them on top of each other with layers of frosting (That I made myself.) in between them.

I used the rounded pieces that I had cut off for the top. I simply cut a small circle out of the middle of them and stacked them as well.

Looking at it when it was done I sort of wished I had made another cake mix to make it a little higher. But, either way, I really like how it turned out.

While surfing Pinterest (I'm addicted) I came across what looked like a great idea! It was harder than it looked but totally worth it.

I purchased about ten stage 2 jars of baby food. The cheapest I could find was prunes at $.40 a jar. I also grabbed some applesauce. (Kid ate a couple of jars of the applesauce. Haha.)

Most of them I just poured out. I washed and dried the jars and then took half of them outside and sprayed them with yellow spray paint. It did not cover as well as I expected. After about fifty coats (OK, I exaggerate a bit, but just a bit.) I decided that spray paint wasn't really the way to go. The rest I (my SiL also helped) painted by hand.

I then drew faces on them with sharpie markers.

I had some sort of brain lapse with the one that's second from the left. Oops, sorry, upside down Lego head.

I filled them with Skittles and gave them away as favors. I didn't want to part with them, they were SO CUTE.

I had another use for the spray paint as well. I cut the top half of a pizza box out, made a stencil (I can't think of another word, ugh) type thing of a Lego head and taped it to the top of the pizza box. I sprayed (fifty coats, again) of paint on there. When the paint was dry I hand painted black around the edges and cut a hole in the middle. I added a stick so it could be held up.

Lego Kid!

All the kids had their pictures taken with a Lego head.

I acquired a couple boxes, taped them together in the middle, covered them with another table cloth (red) and pasted a few plates to it. One giant Lego.

I put it near Kid for a picture but later moved it outside to greet guests.

The orange thing on the floor is just another table cloth.

Well, that's basically the party. Very inexpensive decorations for a very cool effect.

Now, is anyone having a Lego party in the near future? I have a LOT of "Lego" boxes that I'm about to just toss out . . . It hurts a bit, they took a lot of work.

I'm not kidding . . . Anyone interested?

What Did He Say?

Kid: Mom, do you know what a crap is?

Me: What??

Kid: A crap.

Me: What????

Kid: When you go in the water and your leg hurts, a crap!

Me: A CRAMP!


Kids!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Happy Tuesday!! Are you feeling random? I sure am! If you want to share your own random or just read others, grab the box and join the fun at Stacy's!

1. Today is Kid's birthday. He is five years old today. That's a whole hand! That's a big deal!

2. Our McDonald's is money hungry or something. Every other McD's has Small, Medium and Large iced coffee's. Our McD's has Medium, Large and Extra Large. However, the XLarge at our McD's is the same as a large at any other McD's. Strange.

3. I ordered an extra large iced coffee this morning. At the window I was handed a "medium" (Which, at any other McD's would be a small), umm. I said, "Did I not order an extra large?" She told me that the other lady only put medium on the display. However, she traded it out for an extra large. Extra large for the price of medium. Nice.

4. I planned to put a Sean Bean (because I love him) movie in my DVD player today while I do laundry and party prep. However, Syfy had other plans. There is a Destination Truth marathon on today. LOVE this show. Josh Gates make me happy. :)

5. Taking Kid to school today I saw a man at a stop sign. He was in a very nice black car and wearing a suit. You don't see a lot of guys in suits around here. There's just not a lot of jobs that require suits. I miss seeing guy (and girls) in suits. When I lived in Pennsylvania there were suits everywhere. Where, oh where, is civilization?

6. Lion King 3D tonight? Maybe. It's possible we'll try to go this afternoon for Kid's birthday. Since his party is Saturday we wanted to try to make this day a little special and not just like another day.

7. I made cupcakes last night for Kid to share with his class for his Birthday. There were Very happy kids when I walked into that classroom this morning.

8. On that note I'm going to gain so much weight. Cupcakes, Birthday cake, birthday party food. Around here the "Holiday" season starts with Kid's birthday. Kid's Birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

9. Party on Saturday, then guess what? I can start the Autumn/Halloween decorating! SO Excited!

I think that's enough for now. I don't want to bore you any longer. Have great Random Tuesday!!

Six Word Saturday!

Six Word Saturday! Join the fun over at Cate's awesome blog. Just click the box and be transported there, it's effortless!

Kid's party in One week! Help!

Happy Saturday!

Kids: To Invite or Not To Invite

Kid is turning five.

Five?

Five.

Wow.

I have a question for the Moms (and Dads) out there. How old were your kids when they started inviting a bunch of friends to their birthday parties?

Up until now Kid's birthdays have basically been family get togethers. But now he's in school.

Although, to be honest, he goes to a private school that only added Kindergarten this year (and at the last minute) so his class is very small and there is only one other boy besides Kid.

Then there's church. Girls there too. Poor Kid is surrounded by girls.

So, do we invite his one boy friend from school and the two girls from church (and OK maybe the little neighbor boy) or do we just do a family thing again?

I have to be honest that my hesitancy about inviting so many is because A. Our house is SMALL (and family is already coming) and B. A bunch of new kids means they're going to bring their parents (I would imagine) and my social anxiety may not be able to deal with such things. Haha.

I really don't know what to do. Maybe we should just stick with the family and the cousins.

OK, and MAYBE his best friend from school.

Sigh. Decision making is NOT my thing.

Random Tuesday Thoughts!

I have not been random (on this blog anyway) in far too long. Today, I shall be random once again. If you would like to be random as well you can click the box and link up over at Stacy's place.

1. September! I. Love. September!

2. Amazon has some free kindle books. This has resulted in my "To read" pile growing far too large.

3. Speaking of my "To read" pile, I've GOT to get my hands on A Clash of Kings. Must know what happens next!

4. Dear George Lucas, Cut. It. Out. It was PERFECT the way it was. STOP changing things!

5. Realized that Kid's birthday is a week away. This means his party is less than Two weeks away! I'm not panicking, not at all! Where's my towel!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

6. If you have any awesome suggestions for a Lego birthday party I'm all ears. (Well, all eyes I suppose.)

7. Ringer starts tonight. I'm sort of excited to have Sarah Michelle Gellar back on my TV.

8. Pinterest rocks! I found a website that suggested making pancakes in mini muffins cups, in the oven. Perfect. No turning, no flipping, just baking and eating. (Bonus if you add chocolate chips and pumpkin!)

9. What's your favorite creepy book to read for Halloween?

10. I love my New England Patriots. Yeah, Baby!

I may have more but I'll stop now. Hey, at least they were all short.

Bonk, Bonk, on the Head

Dear Blog, I'm so sorry I abandoned you. I have no excuse.

Around here life has being going on.

Kid is having a fantastic time at school.

I received a call a couple weeks ago from his teacher. She told me he was outside running around, hit his head and had a huge knot. She wanted to let me know in case I wanted to come get him.

She put him on the phone.

Me: Hey, Baby, what happened?
Kid: I was running, at the park, and I looked backwards and ran into a pipe.
Me: Are you OK?
Kid: Yeah.
Me: Do you want Mommy to come get you or do you want to stay at school?
Kid: I want to stay at school.

His teacher texted me a picture of the knot on his head. It was indeed huge. But she told me that as soon as he was done talking to me he was already asking to go play. He's a tough little thing.

 This is after the knot had gone down quite a bit.

P.S. Virtual cookies and 1,000 internet points if you know where the title for today's post came from. :)

My BABY!

According to the public school system here in our town you must be five years old by September first to attend Kindergarten.

The Kid will be five years old on September twentieth. Nineteen days too late for Kindergarten.

So, we looked into a private school that J's cousin attends. However, we were told that they did not have Kindergarten. This was right around the end of the last school year.

Last week I found out that the school had decided to add Kindergarten this year. So, I called them. I spoke to the Kindergarten teacher. Ms. Hanna. She told me that they were not accepting students based on age but on where the student was academically. So, we made an appointment and the Kid went to test.

We took a tour of the school. Older buildings but still nice. Big classrooms. Large grounds and lots of run around room. Then, the Kid took his test.

After, she told me she had a meeting and she would call me and let me know.

Now, I didn't know whether I should try to convince the Kid that it would be OK if he didn't get to go. (Because he was already very excitedly telling people "I'm going to Kindergarten!") Or, should I be freaking out about school clothes, and school supplies?

Fun Fact: They start school AUGUST FIRST!!!!!!! (PANIC!)

Ms. Hanna did call me back that night and told me she would be happy to take the Kid. She said he did well on the test, listened very well and understood all she said to him.

She has a small class since it is a private school and it's the first year for the Kindergarten. The Kid will be surrounded by girls. (Help! Haha Just kidding.)

Now I really get to panic. Did I mention they start August first????

Also . . . My Baby!

 (This is a photo of a photo, that's why the grainy.)

I wish I knew how old he was here but I'm thinking just a couple months.

He's going to SCHOOL!

This was on the way to take his Kindergarten test. 

My BABY is going to Kindergarten! He is SO excited!

Now. Pencils, crayons, paper, glue sticks, lunch boxes, lunch, clothes, shoes, etc, etc, etc . . . Help! :)

To Pre-School or Not To Pre-School

Agh! Help! WHEN did my Kiddo get this old? (Actually if he was born three weeks earlier he could go to Kindergarten this year. *Sigh*)

I am currently sitting here with a Pre-School application in front of me and I'm stressing.

I would just forget about pre-school altogether (I never went and I turned out OK) but I know my Kiddo. I know that he needs to get a feel for some classroom structure before he heads to Kindergarten and begins to terrorize his teachers.

I did find one Pre-school that I would Love for him to be able to attend but it's really expensive and we just can't do it. Not even close.

What I really didn't want was a five day schedule. I would much rather him go for just a couple days a week. I mean the Kid's going to be in school for a LONG time! Why add an extra year? But, the only places I can find around here (My town is pathetic!) are five days a week.

We went in to pick up an application the other day and he got very excited when he saw all the kids. He's been asking to go to Pre-school ever since.

So now, here I sit filling out this application and not really feeling peace about but not really knowing What else to do!

Mommies! I need your help! Pre-school success stories? Pre-school failure stories? Yea and Nay votes for Pre-school.

P.S. I feel very disconnected and as though I've been rambling. I apologize for that.

Cats! Cats?

Overheard in my house -


Kiddo: Daddy, can we go outside and play?

J: No, it's too cold outside, you'll get sick.

Kiddo: Daddy, cold doesn't make you sick.

Me: Kiddo, what makes you sick?

Kiddo: Cats!


Well, in his defense, cats do make him sick. :)

Scavenger Hunt Sunday! (On Monday!) III

For the past couple weeks I've been linking up over at Ramblings and Photos for Scavenger Hunt Sunday. I'm going to link up this week too! I'm not sure that I'll make it for the next couple weeks since we'll be in Pennsylvania but for today, I'm here!

If you want to know what it's all about grab this box and find out!



The prompts this week were 1. Motion 2. Waiting to Click 3. Fashion 4. Animals Perspective and 5. Many. I've been busy this week so some of these aren't really what I wanted but a couple of them are favorites so I suppose it balances out!

1. Motion

A car in definite motion. I snapped this one riding along the freeway. In case you couldn't guess this is not one of my favorites. It is, however, one of my last minute photos!

2. Waiting to Click

You have to wait for that perfect time when snapping a sunset. Not too high, not too low.

3. Fashion

Another one of my least favorites. Not exactly very "fashionable" but lots of clothes! I was working on packing for our trip and snapped a quick picture.

Stay tuned. The next two I really like!

4. Animals Perspective

I. Love. This. Picture.

Taking a picture from an animals perspective was interesting. This is what it must look like to a cat or a dog when you are about to pet it. I even did the black and white because of the "Dog's are color blind" thing. (Who decided that anyway? Did someone interview a dog??)

Anyway, this is my favorite of this week!!

5. Many

The Kiddo has tried to pack his rock collection to take to show Grammy more than once now. I told him that there was no way those rocks were getting on the plane but we would take a picture to show Grammy. So, here it is. The Kiddo's rock collection. Many many rocks!

So, that's it for this weeks scavenger hunt. Like I said, I was a bit lazy with a couple of these but for me the "Animal's Perspective" picture makes up for it. I really love that one!

I hope you have a great day!!

Shopping Cards

Here in Oklahoma, as well I'm sure in other areas, we have gas pumps at our Walmart. They typically have the cheapest gasoline around. But there's even more incentive to purchase your gasoline at Walmart.

You see, if you go inside and put some money on one of these:

Then you get three cents off per gallon. I know three cents doesn't sound like much but lately . . . it adds up!

Anyway, we get these gasoline cards and sometimes I reuse a card but more often than not I'm in a hurry. I run into the store, purchase a card and head for the gas pumps. I empty the card at the pump and toss it in my purse.

What I'm left with is this:

A stack of empty gift cards in a pocket of my purse.

When I notice this pile of cards, do I throw them away? No way! Some of them are really cute! Of course that's not why I don't throw them away. I keep them because occasionally there are times when you're stuck somewhere boring with a four year old.


Four year olds like to play with things. They also have good imaginations. You see, a stack of cards like this could also be a . . .

A pretend deck of cards. Or . . .

Supplies to build cute little buildings. Or . . .

They can fight each other! (That's a poplular one among the boys.)

See? A four year old can do a lot with leftover shopping cards.

They're not the best toy on the block but they do well in a pinch. I'll keep that stack of cards in my purse.

How Did You Know?

Let me set the scene:

The Kiddo is playing in his room. I am in the living room. Then I hear a jump on the bed.

Me: Don't jump on the bed.

Kiddo is still playing in his room. Soon I hear another jump on the bed, although this one is quieter.

Me: I said don't jump on the bed.

Kiddo: How did you know??

Me: Because I'm smart.

Kiddo: Don't be smart.


When he says "How did you know?" I'm always tempted to say "Because I know EVERYTHING!!!" Followed by some form of maniacal laughter . . .

But I don't want to lie to him. Haha. You know, or scare him. Haha. It's still fun this way.

Indiana Kiddo

A couple weeks ago the USA Network aired ALL the Indiana Jones movies.

Now, the Kiddo has the Indiana Jones Lego XBox game. So, when I saw that the movies were on I waited for a part that I knew was in the game and called the Kiddo into the room to watch. That was it. He never left the room after that.

My FOUR year old sat through almost an entire Indiana Jones movie. (Scary moments edited by Mommy's "Close your eyes" warnings. Or I changed the channel.) Then later he spied another one of the movies. Once again we watched almost an entire movie. THEN, he discovered that we have them all on DVD!

Ever since he's been begging to watch Indiana Jones. Now, I don't mind him being an Indy fan but I can't just put one of those movies on for him and leave the room. Not yet anyway. But, one day J told the Kiddo he would watch one with him. They watched Indiana Jones and Raider's of the Lost Ark.

The Kiddo loved it. He watched the whole movie.

A little while later I was watching the Kiddo. He had two toys and he put one of them on the arm of the sofa. Then, he did something with his hands and quickly switched one toy for the one on the sofa. He began to walk away, then he stopped, turned around, looked up and took off running.

I watched a couple times trying to figure it out before I asked what he was doing. He told me he was getting the statue and running from the ball. Ahhhh,

I watched more carefully and he was indeed mimicking Indy as he contemplated the weight of the idol compared to the bag of sand, switched them and was then forced to run from the giant boulder.

He even hummed the Indy theme song as he ran from the boulder.

Who needs a TV when you have a four year old to entertain you!?

Germies!

The other night I was sitting on the sofa watching the Patriots annihilate the Steelers (GO PATRIOTS!!!!!)  and I noticed my throat feeling a bit scratchy.

That night I woke up a few times during the night with more scratchy throat symptoms. I've pretty much felt icky every day since then. My throat and my  nose and just feeling blah in general.

Well, yesterday afternoon I had a soda and the Kiddo wanted a drink. I told him not to drink from my soda because I wasn't feeling well and there were germies. He didn't want germies so he left it alone.

Later, I went to do something and when I came back he'd obviously forgotten all about the germies and was happily sipping on my soda. I said "What are you doing?"

He said "I was just thirsty, I'm sorry."

Of course I wasn't mad at him or anything but I did ask "Don't you remember what I said about my soda?"

Suddenly a light went on. His mouth fell open and his eyes became large and he said "Germies!"

The poor Kid sat on the sofa pouting and miserable for a long time after that. I asked him what was wrong and he replied sadly that now he had germies and he didn't want them. Poor thing.

He sure did catch my germies. He had a horrible night last night and woke up with a fever and a blah feeling this morning. Hoping for a Swift Recovery!

Allowances

Did you get an allowance when you were younger? How much did you get? Do you have kids? Do your kids get an allowance? How old were your Kids when you started giving them an allowance? How much do you pay? Are you tired of my questions yet?

I never got an allowance when I was a kid. If I worked, I got paid. My Dad believed that I wouldn't learn the value of money if it was just handed to me and I didn't have to work for it. You know what? I'm okay with that.

I plan to use the same basic idea for the Kiddo. He'll have a list of chores. If they get done, then he'll get paid.

The point of my post is this: How young is too young to start paying my Kiddo?

The Kiddo already helps me out around the house. He always helps me empty and load the washer and dryer. He helps fold towels all the time and he helps change the trash bag. I'm considering starting to pay him a bit.

Obviously I don't plan on paying him like ten bucks a week or anything but something. It would be a good way for him to start saving a bit and he would be all excited to get money for his bank.

So, remember all those questions from the beginning? They belong here too. Thoughts?

Booster Band

We have this thing at our church called Booster Band (I'm really not sure why it's called this).

It's a time during church on Sunday morning when all the Kiddo's get up in front and have fun singing some Kiddo songs. They love it! It's really cute too.

The first song they always sing includes the words "Bring someone with you."

This past Sunday our Pastor had the brilliant idea to ask the Kiddos if they wanted to bring someone. Of course they all said yes so she told them to go get someone to bring with them.

 . . .

Right about that time is when I started hyperventilating. Okay, no, not really but I wasn't very comfortable.

I do NOT do well in front of people. I do even worse when I'm supposed to be singing in front of people. However, I don't think the Kiddo knows or cares about that. And as I sat there and shook (Ok, I wasn't REALLY shaking) I saw the Kiddo come walking up the aisle towards me.

He stopped a row away and started waving me towards him with his hand.

What was going through my head? "I'm going to have to have a conversation with this Pastor of ours. And then of course tell her that we'll be finding another church!"

Alright, I'm just kidding. Also, I didn't have any breakdowns or anything and I lived through it.

But, I never want to do it again!

Snuggles

A couple weeks ago on a Sunday morning the Kiddo and I had to get up early and take J to work so we could have the car to go to church.

We drove J to work and when we came home we crawled back into bed. We didn't have to be up yet, so why not? I let the Kiddo hop in bed with me.

We lay there for a while and I though the Kiddo had fallen asleep until I heard his little voice next to me.

"Mommy?"

I said "What, Baby?"

"Would you snuggle me?"

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I love my Kiddo! I sure am going to miss it when he stops saying stuff like that.

Random Tuesday Thoughts!

I've been missing Random Tuesday for a long time. Today I thought I would hop back in. If you want to participate in Random Tuesday or, if you just want to read about it then click the awesomely random box below and pop over to Keely's blog!

1. It's been so long since I've done Random Tuesday I'm not sure I remember how to be random . . . I think I'm off to a good start.

2. Our cable company was not nice to us. We didn't get the CW Network. I called once and asked about it and the lady had NO IDEA what that Network was, she had never heard of it or any of the shows I mentioned (90201, Smallville, Supernatural, Gossip Girl). Anyway, I e-mailed and asked if they planned to add it because I wanted to watch Supernatural and J likes that silly show Smallville. I guess I wasn't the only one because we received a card in the mail letting us know that by the end of the day on the 30th (TODAY) we would have the CW Network! Yay!

3. Saturday J and I went to Trek Expo in Tulsa and I got to meet Mark Sheppard! *Squee* J met Laura Vandervoort from Smallville and V. We also got to listen to William Shatner and Michael Dorn (among a few others) tell some really great and fun stories. I'm going to try to write a blog post on the event. Mainly so I can remember it later.

4. When did The Kiddo get so big? My baby is growing up. I like him at this age, it's fun but . . . WHERE'S My Baby?!!?

5. I LOVE McDonald's Iced Coffee. It's one of my favorite things in the world. However, I can't go buy one everyday. I do have rent and groceries and bills to pay too. So I started making my own iced coffee at home. It doesn't always taste exactly like McDonald's but it's still delicious and I'm enjoying some right now. Much cheaper. Sometimes, I still grab a McDonald's coffee though.

6. I started messing around with painting a bit. I think I may snap a picture of my favorite one (Already two people with grabby hands for that one. Feel bad to sell it to them though, they are family) and post it in a blog.

7. Alright, I think I'm done here for now. It's been so nice playing Random Tuesday Thoughts again! Have a great day everyone!!

1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .

Occasionally J's XBox acts up and we have to turn it off, wait and turn it back on.

Sometimes it's while we're trying to watch Netflix. I'll turn it off and count to ten with the Kiddo and then turn it back on.

Well, the other day the controller wasn't working to turn it on so I told the Kiddo to push the button on the actual XBox to turn it on

He walked up to the XBox, looked at it and proceeded to count 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . all the way to ten before pushing the power button.

I found this funny. I guess he thinks you always have to count to ten before you turn it on.