Lesley's Painting Party {6th birthday party}

More than anything, Lesley wanted a painting party for her 6th birthday party.  I looked around, but couldn't find a place that would host an event for about a dozen 5 and 6 year olds.  I wasn't willing to travel far from home because I really wanted all her friends to attend and knew if we picked a location too far from home, it would be unlikely for them all to attend.

 

So, I convinced Jason that we could just host the party at our house!  Why not!?  Surely it would be easy enough with girls that age, right?

 

Well, I won't say it was easy but it sure was a lot of fun!

 

We tried to keep things pretty simple, but even just the basics take some planning and effort.  We wanted to keep everything in the basement since it wouldn't be a big deal if paint or food got spilled down there.  So, we had to tidy up, and organize tables for the event.

 

Lesley wanted to paint a rainbow so we went with that as a theme, rainbows and painting!  Above you can see our attempt at making a rainbow to block off the section we didn't want the kids to go into.  It actually turned out pretty cute honestly.

 

My birthday banner was perfect since it had the basic colors of the rainbow.  We also made a "pin the pot of gold" on the rainbow game.  I knew that the girls would not likely paint for the full 2 hours and we would need some other things to keep them busy.  We also had some coloring sheets and then of course the toys in the basement were good entertainment.

 

We provided a rainbow of fruit for snacks, complete with Hershey's kisses for the pot of gold.

 

Lesley has a fantastic group of friends in her class.  I really do love all of them.  I wasn't sure if the parent's would stay or go, but all of them ended up dropping off the girls for the 2 hour party.  It may have been best that way since the party was a little chaotic - 11 girls (one was sick and didn't make it), paint, and 2 adults.

 

As we suspected, some girls really thought through the process of painting and took their time and others worked "efficiently" and moved on to the next color quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

Leah was just one of the girls at the party.  At one point, Lesley looked over at Leah's painting and whined "Leah is a better painter than me.  Boo."  It was funny!

 

Let's just say that Lesley was one of the girls who rushed through the painting.  :)

 

 

We sure had lots and lots of colors around that day!  It was cheery!

 

 

While the canvases were drying, we moved on to the next project which involved cupcakes and frosting...and sprinkles!

 

The frosting was a bit difficult to spread (a certain Daddy didn't listen to Mommy when prepping the frosting..."it doesn't need more milk"), but the girls didn't mind too much.  They sure did consume a lot of Skittles that day!

 

The pin the pot of gold on the rainbow was pretty fun for the girls.  They all wanted multiple turns so I take that as a success!

 

I purposely decided not to have a prize for the "winner" because I didn't want to have to pick a winner.  Only a few girls asked about it, but diverted the question and all was well.

 

Lesley got a lot of neat, and random, gifts.  You could definitely see how the girls had purchased gifts they would have wanted.  As they should!  I didn't really get a list of who purchased what so our thank you notes were pretty generic.  That's what happens when there are only 2 adults "controlling" the situation.

 

At the end of the party, we still had a little time before the parents were coming to pick up the girls and it got kind of crazy.  They managed to sneak out the basement door when Jason was spraying the finished paintings.  At that point, they were chasing balloons around the backyard, rolling down the hill, and screaming/giggling/laughing like crazy.  Letting them take the balloons outside was a terrible idea!  So windy!  Upset girls when they would blow away.  We had to walk around the yard and pick up the pieces of popped balloons after everyone went home.

 

And, I have never counted to 11 so many times in such a short period.  I was so afraid one of them would get lost!!!  I finally rounded them up to get a photo of the whole group.

 

I was probably never so happy to send home a playdate.  :)  They were all happy, Lesley was thrilled with how the party ended, and the parents loved seeing the rainbow canvases and coloring pages.  It was a lot of work for us and we were nervous how just the two of us would pull it off, but we managed.  We may not have family in town to be part of the birthday celebrations, but we make do and I think we are making some pretty good memories for the kids.

 

The aftermath....Who cleaned up the mess at the end of the day?  Leah of course!  This girl, she just loves to clean anything and everything...and it's amazing!

 

Little brother....Where was Levi during this chaotic adventure you ask?  Well, Buster Pants was the perfect little boy.  He feel asleep about 5 minutes before the first guest arrived and sleep like a rock until about 5 minutes after the last guest departed.  Could not have worked out any better!  We had hoped to get at least an hour nap that overlapped with the party, but was even better than that.  I think this was key to our success!

Learning from the expert {Grandma Nancy}

When Grandma Nancy was here back in February, she helped us get her sewing machine set up and even had enough patience to help Lesley try sewing some bunting for her room.

 

 

Really, she was sewing on an extra, not needed piece just for practice.

 

I hope though that she gains some confidence (and I gain more PATIENCE and TRUST to allow her) and can make some of her own sewing projects.

 

I told my mom and Jason last week that I now have a fabric problem.  I.e. I'm not so good at measuring and knowing how much fabric I actually need for my small projects so I end up buying extra.  All that extra fabric has turned into a stack of colorful pieces that will need to be used.  My mom suggested making quilt blocks and then eventually putting a quilt together.  Good idea!  And, I hope Lesley can help me with it too!

 

This is completely random and I think uploaded with these other photos by accident, but.....this was when we celebrated my birthday and were taking some photos.  Levi unfortunately has seen me use my phone a little too often and that night he was insisting on taking photos of Lesley and myself.  It was so cute and hilarious!  He would hold it up and give a big "cheese" trying to poke at the camera to get a snapshot.  Little boy is just too cute some days!  Smarty pants!

Leah's photoshoot

The girls LOVE to get ahold of my camera and take photos.  I find so many random snapshots of the windows, the floor, the walls, etc.  Most are deleted immediately....but this day, I found the following....

 

 

Apparently Leah and her baby were doing a photoshoot for Lesley.

 

These crack me up...this is totally a Lesley pose.  She must be teaching her little sister.

 

Even some interesting angles shots.

 

Silly girls!  I'm so thankful they have not yet dropped my camera.

Science exhibit {Space}

The Science Museum has a special exhibit "Space: An Out-of-Gravity Experience" so of course we had to make a trip for our space loving, future astronaut.  Lesley was thrilled!

 

 

The exhibit itself was maybe not quite as impressive as our kids had hoped, but it was still a great family day.  There was a lot of facts and knowledge that were a bit over their heads and the didn't quite have the patient to read all the details.

 

Perhaps the biggest hit was the replica space station that was like a doll house.

 

The kids were obsessed and absolutely loved playing with the space station.

 

 

Leah with all her little astronauts.  :)

 

 

We opted not to watch the "Journey to Space" IMAX presentation that day because we didn't think Levi would sit through it.  And, we knew Jason would have a day off over spring break to take the girls.  It was a good decision because lunch was nearing and naptime would shortly follow.

 



 

Great day for the family!  So happy we bought a pass to the science museum!

Sledding {Last snow adventure of the winter!}

 

We were quite surprised when 9 inches of snow came down the end of March!  It had been so warm and "spring-ish", then bam....SNOW!

 

It was a lot, and it was chilly for a few days, but the ground had already warmed up so the snow only stuck around for a few days.  Just enough time to let these silly snow birds sled a few more times down the hill.  And, since it wasn't bitter cold, Mommy and Daddy weren't upset about having to go outside.  The snow melted quickly and we are ready for spring!

Levi's shoes

 

Little brother is always trying to be like his sisters.  The other night, I found him with a set of their ballet shoes on.  Too funny!

I mean, who wouldn't smile at seeing these spaceships and ballet shoes together.

 

The girls definitely think he should be in ballet class one day.  Daddy and Mommy are thinking soccer, but we'll see.

Lesley's first love letter

At the most recent parent involvement day, another mother came over to me asked if I was Lesley's mother.  After a quick response, she pulled out her phone to show me a photo.  "Kaiden came home with this note the other day."  I was a bit fearful of what she was about to show me....

 

 

...apparently Lesley has been writing love letters to her friend Kaiden.  Ha!

 

I do remember her talking about Kaiden frequently for a little bit, but never really thought twice about it.  I kind of assumed he was at her table or in a group for the time being.  I guess he was actually her "love interest" for a few weeks.

 

No new photos or updates from Kaiden's mom, and Lesley doesn't really talk about him much anymore so I guess this first time crush has passed as quickly as it arrived.

Funny Levi

He loves sitting and riding in his lego wagon about as much as he love to play with the legos.

 

 

He especially likes it when his big sisters pull him around the house.  Thankfully they are pretty good drivers and he rarely tumbles out.

 

 

Playing peek-a-boo is also pretty fun for him.  We love this silly guy!

Levi's Makeshift Sand Box

With the nicer weather, Levi has been wanting to go outside....a better word might be demanding.  In fact several days he has come in the house through the garage door and headed straight for the back door, pounding on it and laying down in front of it if we don't pay attention.  Big tantrums folks!  A few nights we just let him out on the deck to play while the rest of us eat.  Trying to get him in the high chair was a waste of time and it was most difficult to eat when he was just inches away screaming and pointing at the door.  Eventually, he would come inside and eat his dinner, after dark anyway.  So, we eat in shifts these days, Levi being the late/last shift all by himself.

 

 

I started out by just putting the tub with sand, but he was quickly making a litter box for the neighborhood cats under the deck. So, I added the pool to catch what he was dumping out.

 

 

I think this will have endless hours of occupation this summer.  The deck is pretty big and there is a gate to keep him locked in.  He also loves watching the neighborhood kids playing behind our house, and tries to yell at them and wave.  Pretty cute!  Our little boy keeps growing up!

Eventually he put the chair inside the pool so he could sit and scoop/dump. 



He just has so much fun playing in the sand.  Bath night every time he is out there playing!  I have a feeling he will need showers/baths every day this summer.  He just loves playing outside.



I'm sure the neighbor's think we are crazy since he is playing in a pool when it's still only in the 50's.  It is funny to drive up the street on the back side of the house and see the pool up on the deck.