Making a Robot Factory

So here is the decoration low down for the robot party. Remember those boxes that I was supposed to turn into something fabulous? Okay well, this is what came out of it.

NOW there are far less box robots produced that I had planned, but a prego girl can only handle so much spray paint!!! So decoration idea number 1 is using old boxes, some paint (whether it be craft, spray, or house) and turn your old cardboard into a bunch of robots. These robots were created with spray paint in the colors of the party and then detailed with craft paint. Add some craft foam for arms and you have an army of robots.

Decoration idea number 2 was to make the house look like a "factory" by putting cogs all over the place. My cogs were cute out of paper plates and craft foam. The plates by far are the cheapest (well if you get them at Walmart) but you can't always find all the right colors, in comes the craft foam. I free handed mine, hence the lack of perfection. Cut out tons of cogs and place them in all the rooms you want to decorate.

Number 3 was not my shining moment of pride, but it works...and could be done better. We had a robot factory where found robot parts were put in a little slot and then each child went in a "door" and came a robot. It is so easy to make rooms, rocket ships, factories, okay anything really, out of plastic table clothes and craft paint. Just tape it up to a wall and POOF you have an instant party decoration or game.

And Lastly, number 4 was the decorating of the table. Again, using plastic table clothes from Walmart is the cheapest and easiest way to set up a table. I used one for the bottom and folded the other for the runner. Then I just had cheap plates and napkins in the colors that matched the party. Using candy to decorate is also a fun cheap way to add something to the table. I used licorice in coordination colors (thank you Amish Country).

So there you have it. Pretty stinking easy and cheap. All it takes is a little time and thinking outside the box.

Nothing Like a Robot Cake

What do you get after 8 hours, 6 different jars of frosting dye, 1 pkg of fondant, two hands perma dyed, arthritic old lady hands, 10+ trips back and forth from the fridge to harden frosting, blood (cut myself with serrated knife), sweat, and tears?

Mmm...Robot Cake

Not too shabby hey?

I took on this bad boy all by my lonesome this time so don't look too close at the star tipping job. I did not think it would take me as long as it did, but alas I finally finished the sucker at 3:00 in the am. I wish I could say that I went to bed after that, but the party prep required more of my attention party pictures to follow later.

Five Years Ago

Five years ago I officially became a mommy. Cole was definitely an answer to prayers and has added joy to our life ever since. He is definitely the right kid to pave the way for his other siblings. He leads, he teaches, he encourages, he takes care of AND of course he bosses, he manipulates, he takes advantage of his oldest status.

He amazes me every day. He makes me laugh every day. He makes me cry some days. He makes me tired most days. Occasionally he even has me questioning my sanity. After five years of days like these, I ask myself the cliche question, "Where has the time gone?" and then the terrifying thought comes, "How fast is the rest of the time going to go?"

So for today I will look at him and see the big boy he is and remember the tiny one he used to be. I will imagine him getting even smarter, even handsomer, even saucier, even more spiritual BUT I will try to live in the moment and be grateful for my now 5 Year Old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE! We love you!

Heart Strings to Apron Strings

Shout out to my sister Natalie who after one of my pregnancy bad days and a blubbering phone call bought a plane ticket and planned a trip to see me. Pregnancy bad day (at least that one) over, crying ceasing (at least temporarily) and trip here and gone. To Natalie, you rock. Thanks for brightening my days, hanging out with us awhile and pulling on my heart strings.

I Heart You

With Natters here we decided to take on the making of an apron. We were supposed to do it together, but in my excitement at figuring out how to make my first apron, I pretty much took over and let her iron...what a nerd I am. We picked out some cute fabric, asked a few questions to some of my sewing friends, and then relied on my "winging" it skills to finish this very cute if slightly imperfect...don't look too closely apron. I can only imagine what I will be able to do with some skill and training under my belt.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

It is February, which means I've got lots to do. Cole's party is in full planning mode. It isn't going to be as crazy as last year, but there is still a lot to do. I finally got out his invites. YEAH. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the outcome. He decided (ok I talked him into it a year ago) to have a robot party. Different ideas for the party have come and gone. A couple of weeks ago I came across an idea to make invitations that look like robots. Thank heavens I had plenty of cans on hand (thanks to new years resolution to care about planet more and recycle).

They were pretty easy to make. You just need cans, craft foam in colors you like, hot glue, and then paper for invites. After a failed first prototype, the end result was born and then replicated.

My only question in the end was whether or not to have legs, it was decided they were not necessary and so I left them off. Good news though Cole woke up the next morning, saw them and then first thing he said was..."They don't have legs...well they must have wheels then." Thank heavens he didn't notice the lack of wheels.

Here is my final creation:

Next on the List-What is this going to be used for?

For those of you who already know- no telling!

Unsupervised

Sorry no pictures with this post...you will understand as I go on. So due to new responsibilities at church and the new art of couponing, I have been giving the boys a little more play time in their rooms. Today I added preparing a preschool lesson on to my to-do list, so I was even more preoccupied. Now I will have you know that all the doors were open (the boys in Cole's room and me in ours) and I was trying to listen for any sounds of destruction, but that did not stop what happened from happening.

I had been asking Cole to get himself dressed for about 30 minutes. Every 10 minutes or so he would run down the hallway missing one more piece of clothing having added none to replace that which was lost. Without me noticing, things had grown relatively quiet. Then BAM, Cole runs in my room butt naked yelling that Jack has taken off his diaper.

So here I am processing, Cole obviously missing all clothing AND I was going to shortly find Jack missing clothing as well.

I enter Cole's room with a skipping, naked Cole and see a laughing naked Jack, binkie still in mouth and discarded diaper thrown down, bouncing up and down on Cole's bed. Well of course my first instinct was to bust up laughing, so then the boys laugh and start chanting "I'm naked, I'm naked". Great now this is going to be a game.

Eventually I got Jack clothed and Cole slowly got dressed himself. It is a shame it couldn't have been a candid moment, but short of photo shopping some leaves over certain areas I just didn't think it would be appropriate. BUT I am sure you can all just picture it!