Hello Kitty Party

This year I kept the girl's birthday party really small. Last year I think I invited anyone who had ever met the girls, plus all of my friends since we were celebrating my birthday. My house was sort of trashed after last year and so I decided to just keep it simple. We only had cupcakes, ice cream, and games. The girls had a blast though!

I found Hello Kitty stickers and backed them with pink or white construction paper with a toothpick in between.

Ice cream bubbles! I thought these would be perfect for favors since we were having real ice cream too!

Shan and I used different colored table cloths to decorate.  Definitely a pinterest idea!

Before kiddos ravaged the cupcakes and ice cream!

I love this picture of these 2nd cousins.  Also love little Xavier getting into mischief behind them by standing on the table.

Instead of buying a pin the tail game I just bought a Hello Kitty poster and made bows out of thick ribbon.

And of course, the pinata!

 

A great time was had by all!

Hello Kitty Pinata

This thing literally took Shanny and I hours to complete.  It was gorgeous!  The cheapest pinata I could find was $19.99.  I figured I could make one for less than that. 

I bought this off amazon for a little over $4.  I could not find this balloon at any party store or Target/Walmart.  All hello kitty mylar balloons were either round or included her body.

This is after 3 layers of paper mache.  I used the ads sent to me in the mail cut up in strips and the paste is just equal parts water and flour.  So this step was free!

Plan A was to actually paint the pinata white and then paint on the features.  Its a long story, but I accidentally ran over the pinata with my car.  Here she is stuffed, duct taped and pull strings strung at the bottom.  White duct tape was $3.

After I popped the balloon I kept it so I could trace where to put the nose eyes and bow.  I started with the pink bow.

I ended up using 5 packs of tissue paper, which cost around $7 total.

Chris had to pose as Hello Kitty of course!

So all in all, it cost me $14 to make this pinata!  Not bad!  That doesn't include stuffing it though- I probably spent another $10 on little trinkets and candy.

Preschool Graduation

Gianna and Elia's last day of preschool was Thursday.  Gianna also "graduated" that day.


First day of school in January



Last day of school in May.

This is how they always enter their preschool: hand in hand!

The pre-k 4s and 5s sang lots of songs.  Sorry its blurry.  I cried through the whole thing!

She was so proud of herself!

Celebratory cake

Sweet G

Elia's teacher, Ms. Allie

Mother's Day Weekend

Our family had a pretty fun weekend!  It started off with Chris and I's first Ranger's game of the season.  Uncle Patrick babysat while we double dated with Sam and John.  Then everyone came back to our house to barbecue and play Settlers.

Mother's day was good too.  Chris let me sleep in and the girls helped him make breakfast for me.  After church we spent most of the day doing yardwork.  Just like last year, we are trying to do a lot to our yard for the girl's birthday party.  We are extending our patio with some flagstone and getting rid of some dead trees.

This is where the extended patio will be. 

When Gianna saw them doing this, she said mom, look at all those brothers working together!

Mothers Day Tea

Today the girls had a mother's day tea for all the moms.  Gianna was super excited becasue she helped her teacher make the blueberry muffins.  Earlier in the week her teacher asked G different questions.  Gianna infrormed her teacher that I am 20 years old and that my favorite thing to do is clean the house!  Not so sure about the whole clean the house thing but I sure do it a lot so I guess that shows I like it!
Elia's tea was cute too.  I got a pretty sweet plant from her.

Passing the Time

I think one of the hardest things for me as a SAHM is waiting for Chris to come home. Once the girls are awake from nap time and have had a fight or are whining about how hungry they are after they have already had a snack, it is time for Daddy to come home and work his magic. So we get creative and do what we can to pass the time.
 

Very intent on her new skill- cutting!

When Chris calls and says it is going to be extra late, you lay out a blanket, pop some popcorn, and watch Land Before Time.  The scene where Mother dies gets me every time!

May Crowning

Today my mom's group had a May crowning. This is May, the month we honor Mary! So all the little ones got to take a rose to put in a vase near a statue of her. Gianna was at school so it was just Elia and I. We got a little dressed up too! Here are some great pics of her, with her new haircut too!

 

Very intent on getting to the vase!

Haircut

I finally had Elia's hair cut.  Chris was pretty disappointed I got it cut so short, but it will grow out!  Here are some before shots:   

Here she is reading to "my guys" as she calls them.  Notice that is Fredbird, the Cardinals mascot. 

Side shot, right before we left.

She got a sucker afterward.  I want to say that they cut 4 or maybe even 5 inches off in the back,

 I washed her hair later and there were no snarls AND she didn't screech once when I brushed through it.  Can't remember the last time that happened!  More after pics to come in other blog posts!

Starbucks

Anyone else taking advantage of the 1/2 off Frappacinos at Starbucks this week?  I think the promotion goes until Sunday!  We went Sunday afternoon, and they even made free samples for the girls.  Love me some white chocolate mocha with an extra shot or 2 of raspberry.  Mmmm Mmm!

They kept the cups to bring home. 

Taylor and Madison's House

My cousin Kevin, his wife and two little girls moved out here from Atlanta in January.  They moved to Trophy Club and bought a beautiful new house with a pool!  The girls get so excited when they know we are headed over there.  This was the first time we swam in the pool, and it was so fun!  We usually stay for dinner and hang out until bedtime when we go over there.  I foresee a lot of nights in Trophy Club this summer!

Do you see the gorgeous pool in the background?