watch out kindergarten

This morning was my son's preschool graduation! I can't believe he will be going into Kindergarten in the fall.  I am busy with typical year end events, but will be next week with a cute gift idea for teachers.

a pirate party

My son's fifth birthday was on Monday!  I can't believe he is already 5....  To celebrate we invited his whole class over for a pirate party.  It was a wonderful morning spent with friends.  Here are some of the details from the party.  I used a red and black color scheme and since the party was the morning I served healthy pirate snacks like bananas dressed up as pirates and cheese pirate ships! I had lots of activities for the children that included searching for treasure in the sand box, walking the plank, pirate sidewalk chalk, dressing like a pirate, and a bouncy house! There was a little something for everyone.

                                       The favors were pirate ship bubble bath and rubber duckies!

It was challenging to take pictures of everything while trying to set up and be the hostess!  It was a fun party to put together.  But, I hope you enjoyed all of the details.Now it's back to the craziness of the end of the school year.  At least I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

bloody mary bar

One of my friends went to the Preakness a few weekends ago and look what she brought with her.  It's a custom made "make your own" Bloody Mary bar!  She personalized all the glasses and put toppings in mason jars that she labeled with craft paper.  The Bloody Mary mix and vodka are on ice in the galvanized metal tub on the bottom shelf. So clever!  Wouldn't this be a fun idea for a summer brunch?!?

stars and stripes

Doesn't everything taste better on a stick?!?  These are some snacks I made for a party tomorrow.  I cut out watermelon stars and placed them on a bed of blueberries and also made some rice krispy treats that I decorated with red frosting and sprinkles.  I put both on some white lollipop sticks and added some patriotic ribbon to the watermelon ones. Both were easy to make and delicious for kids of all ages.  Hope you all have a wonderful long weekend filled with sweet treats.

that's a wrap

 

This was a gift for a new mom who also happens to be one of our neighbors!  I love the quote
"Mothers of Little Boys Work from Son Up to Son Down"  and since she had a little boy, and is probably not getting very much sleep, I got her some coffee....

 

And for the baby I got a little board book about going to bed and some new pajamas.  I used some chalkboard gift tags and stuck it all in her mailbox.

I have also used this quote attached to a coffee gift card for a new mom. 

the gift of an ordianry day

I recently came across this video clip, which is an excerpt from the book "The Gift of an Ordinary Day" by Katrina Kenison.  It makes me cry every time I watch it.  It got me thinking that I need to celebrate the gift of perfectly ordinary days.  After receiving a new camera for my birthday last year, one of my newest hobbies is photography. I love to take pictures and pick up my camera every day.  I thought that this is how I can capture the gifts of ordinary days.  I don't wait for holidays or special occasions to snap photos, I take them of everything that inspires me, food, flowers, the beach and always my children.  Just yesterday, my kids were outside playing and I grabbed my camera and took these shots. My son had been showing his sister what he had learned at preschool that morning; how to paint and color with dandelions!  Such a sweet and ordinary experience that I was able to capture on film.  The pictures are a gift to myself of a perfectly ordinary day.  "The memories I find myself sifting through the past to find, the ones I'd give anything now to relive, are the ones that no one ever thought to photograph, the ones that came and went as softly as a breeze on a summer afternoon."  May your days, even the ordinary, be memory making.

that's a wrap

Here is another example of a bathing suit and flip flops that we recently gave to a friend.  Sand buckets are great containers for gifts.  They generally cost close to $1 and are part of the gift, since children can use them to play in the water/sand or to organize toys inside. A little trick to make the bucket look full, is to fill the bottom with crumpled up paper and then just cover the top with paper shred.  The gifts will sit up and the bucket will look full.