Russian Space Dog Birthday Party...

Alternately titled  {DOG} ROCKET to RUSSIA party as a nod to the Ramones album.

So the E- cousTWins turned 2.

 In an effort to remain original while having a 'dog' themed birthday party... I combined their mutual love of dogs with an awesome vintage Russian space program ad I found.
Bam.  3 themes for the price of 1.  Be still my heart.

April 14th turned out to be the WINDIEST day in Central Texas history... I'm guessing while I was praying for no rain... someone else was praying for gale force winds.  The party still happened... and no one was sweating but me.

Details (Pictured above) Explained:

Party activities:
Rocket test-launch: using the best. toy. ever. and my new 'go-to' birthday present!
    Pre-flight check up:  Lily's idea.  toy doctor kit and stuffed dogs.  done.
    Moon dig simulation: plastic pool filled with sand and 'moon rocks' (foil balls)
    Space Race: rolling dog toys labeled with Russian and US flags
    Anti-gravity training: bounce house (one of those cheap second hand purchases that keeps paying for itself)

Party Food:
Cocoa Kibble: Cocoa Puffs
Dog Bones: Scooby graham cracker bones
Puppy Chow:  with this recipe but substituted Crispix for Chex... because Kellogg's is good to Mr. Olson.
Potato Rounds:  a nod to the Russians. thank you pinterest for this recipe.
with copycat Chuy's Creamy Jalapeno: (got me through a pregnancy outside the Austin City Limits)
    1 c. mayo
    1 c. buttermilk
    1 HV buttermilk ranch packet
    2 Tbs. diced green chiles from can (more or less for desired heat)
    A few fresh cilantro leaves... if you've got them
    Combine in a blender until smooth.
Fruit with cream cheese fruit dip
Party Punch: listed on Pinterest as the best. punch. EVER!!!... it was good... but not the best.


Cake:
Buttercream frosting: found here with Wilton sky blue icing color and Wilton black spray color and Wilton white sugar sheet cut into stars, planets, and comets.
Moon: Rice Krispie treats molded into a mixing bowl and craters hollowed out with a melon baller. I meant to cover it in grey fondant... but didn't have it in me after the other preparations.... so I sprayed it with the remaining Wilton color spray.
Rocket: paper towel roll with a cone cup top and a pronamel toothpaste top burner
Dog: Schleich toy


Homemade touches:  (all super time consuming... and ruined in seconds by the WINDIEST day in history... but such is life.)
paper banner
cardboard rocket ship
balloons turned planets with cardstock rings wrapped in foil
painted cardboard logo with dog silhouette and giant E^2
cups: each taught you to say a word/phrase in Russian  while making it distinguishable from your neighbor's cup... (theme related cup markers: a Tiffany Ashcraft party idea that I continue to use... just like the next one)

Guest book:
Dogs in Space by Nancy Coffelt


Favors:
AstroRox: freeze dried "Astronaut ice cream"
Party Playlist cd:

Seeing as Easter is just around the corner…

and as I saw that  this Resurrection countdown made it on Pinterest (haha)...

I figured I should disclose the rest of my 12 days of Jesus lessons and activities from this post last year.

I realized recently that I have taken for granted the education that I received through 20+ years of Sunday School.  As we go to a small church without a Sunday School program for my kids... I am trying to be better about working Bible stories in at home.  That is where this idea originated last year.  Plus… this kind of stuff is fun for the former teacher in me.

 

Start 12 days before Easter.  Easter Sunday should leave you with the #1 egg to open.  Each of the 12 eggs should hold a small trinket or conversation starter that will kind of fit in the egg.  After Lily opens the egg for that day, we read the story together in her Children’s Bible (we have this one and this one)... then talk a little bit about how the object relates to the story and how the story relates to our lives. My main purpose is to start to get her as excited about my Savior as I am.

 

 

 

... and to make strides in redeeming Easter in our house from the Pagans, while keeping it fun.

… and full of chocolate.

 

 

 

 

Day 12: mini playdoh … “The name of Jesus”   
Read the story of the Angel coming to Mary in Luke 1.   Talk about what the name of Jesus -  Immanuel “God with us” means.  Talk about the meaning of our own names. Read Philippians 2:10 together and discuss.  Use the playdoh to spell out the name of Jesus.

Day 11:  swedish fish candy and a cracker … “Jesus feeds the 5000”
See how many times we can break the ‘bread’ and ‘fish’. Read the story in  Matthew 14, Luke 9, or John 6.  Talk about what it might have looked like and note how everyone got enough to be full and not just tiny pieces.

Day 10:  toy boat … “Jesus calms the storm” (I found a tiny boat at the party store this year for a dime… but last year decorated a piece of mulch with a sharpie… no joke) 
Read the story in  Matthew 8, Mark 4 or Luke 8 and talk about why this is so amazing. Make a storm in a bottle (with a liter bottle oil water and food coloring) with your toy boat or storm in the bathtub and try to calm it instantly, which can’t be done.

Day  9:  blindfold …  “Jesus heals the blind man”
Lead them in a few activities with the blindfold on.  Talk about how hard it would be to live life that way and how you’d feel if you were healed.  Read about  the healing in John 9.   Note how the blind man reacted when Jesus told him who He was.   How does God reveal Himself in our lives… how should we react?

Day  8:  paper crown and a travel soap …  “Jesus washes feet”  
Talk about the meaning of royalty and the things that kings, queens, princesses are supposed to do.  Explain how Jesus is the King of all Kings and what that means.  Then read the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples in John 13 and how he came to serve and not be served. Is that what you’d expect the King of Kings to do?  Take turns putting on the crown and washing each other’s feet talking about how we can serve the way Jesus did.

Day  7:  sample perfume or scented lotion … “Mary Magdalene and the perfume”

(I did this one because Lily is obsessed with perfume... feel free to substitute)  Read the story of Mary pouring the perfume on Jesus’ feet from John 12.  Talk about how expensive this was back then and what a big deal it was for her to do it.  Discuss some other things are important to us now and how we can give them as an offering to God.... time, money etc.

Day  6:  4 quarters … “giving/ Rich young ruler”
Talk about what they’d like to do with the 4 quarters.  Read the story Jesus tells of the rich young ruler from Matthew 19 or Luke 12 and then Acts 20:35 when Jesus says it is better to give than to receive.  Now revisit the quarters and talk about what they’d like to do with the 4 quarters.

Day  5:  TWO small treats or candy … “Jesus visits Zacchaeus”
Read the story in Luke 19.  Talk about why people didn’t like Zacchaeus back then and how cool it is that Jesus not only saw and acknowledged him, but wanted to spend time with him… and how it changed the man’s life.  Lead them to think about some people that they (or the world  in general) haven’t been ‘noticing’.  Invite them to seek out the person and share the extra treat and play with them.

Day  4:  Time Coupon … “Jesus loved the children”
Read the story in Mark 10 .  Talk about adults in our lives that obviously love children.  How do you know and what do they do to show it?  How do we think Jesus showed it?  How would you like me to show you that I love you and value spending time with you?  Fill out the time coupon together.  (Although I’d like to steer her into wanting extra hugs or going on a walk together... I can already tell you that I am going to be in for 20 excruciating minutes of Barbies with this one. )

Day  3:  Tearjerker gum … “Jesus wept.”
Read the story of Jesus healing Lazarus in John 11.   Talk about  how Jesus was a real person with real emotions like us.  Note how he was sad, but never lost hope.  He knew God was going to use Lazarus’ story for His glory.  Talk about times when we feel sad, hurt, scared at times and how awesome it is to have hope like Jesus did in this situation because God is behind us and hears our prayers.

Day  2:  Crayon and a slip of paper … “Jesus died for us”
Read the story of the crucifixion in Matthew 27, Luke 23 or John 19 and talk about how must have felt to love Jesus and be there that day... and how it might have felt for those who didn’t love Jesus but saw what happened.  Write the word that you feel on the piece of paper and put it inside the egg for the next day.  Bury the egg somewhere nearby.

Day  1:  the egg is empty … “He is RISEN!”  
Go find the egg (which has now been unearthed, broken open and is empty.) Read the story in Matthew 28, Mark 16 or John 20.  Talk about how God gave us the most special gift ever when he gave us Jesus: Himself in a body to love us and show us how to live and to ultimately give his own life so that we could have an eternal relationship with him.... not because we deserved it at all... but because He loves us that much. 

This is kind of how I worked the ‘Easter Basket’ in last year:

“All good things that we do are God’s grace at work in us because of our salvation in Jesus.  One of these is how Dad and I  enjoy giving you and Eli gifts to show our love... just like He does. Since this is a special day as we are celebrating Jesus’ victory over death…. I ‘ve made a special basket of gifts for you. If you can find it… you can keep it!”

 

***sidenote: Lily is 4, but loves to discuss things and make connections.  I catered this to her interests/ ability level.

When she gets older I might be to just read the stories each day and then have the Easter basket be full objects that relate to the stories and go back through and see if she can match them.   This whole ‘fitting inside the egg’ criteria may start to cramp my style in the coming years.

Please share if you substitute or come with other story/activity ideas.  

This was a hit last year and is probably going to be a new family tradition.

B-Bug’s got a brand new room…

constant ear fluid and pressure for over a year, hearing loss, 3 surgeries in one day followed by 12 LONG days of recovery…

… the poor kid deserved a little something.

 

Horsies are out.  She stills loves them… but with the help of Bindi Irwin… she has broadened her animal tastes to those that aren’t just found in a pasture behind our house.

Zebras are in... and leopards… and koalas.  Lily is excited about Heaven because somewhere she came to believe that Jesus will give her her very own zebra to ride there.  She loves all animals

… as long as they are babies

…. and wearing cute bows or tutus.

In efforts to make an animal bedroom for a very style conscious 4 year old…  we gave her what she calls a ‘Fashion-y  baby animal room’.

              

I HEART this ‘Paisley Pop’ bedding.  Although it was weird buying PB TEEN for my pre-schooler, it makes me happy every time I walk past the door and see it in an unmade, messy heap.  I also love these pillows that Maow sewed while she was here.  I can’t wait until life is not so hectic and I can make some fabric flowers for the pink one.

Note… even Lily’s American Girl doll is getting in on the action and  wearing a zebra shirt from Maow.

          

These are Lily’s 2 favorite animal t-shirts that I immortalized on canvas.  I wonder at what age she’ll stop thinking it is cool to have her mom make all of the art for her room…  not for a long time I hope.  I’ve decide that I love to paint.  I love it more than I loved making collage nursery art back when Laura and I were the only ones on Etsy selling it…. a lot more.

.

  I love this little book nook that we created in lieu of a night stand with lamp.  

The only problem is that I want to keep this nice display of animal themed books untouched… she can retrieve the ones she actually wants to read from the bookshelf across the room. 

 

She hasn’t  stuck with this plan.

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a similar quatrefoil painting while watching  ‘Goodluck Charlie’ with my niece two Christmases ago… and it inspired my desire to persuade B-Bug to want to redecorate her room.  Super easy to make…  using a little 7th grade math, a compass, and drawer full of acrylic paint colors… luckily I had all three.

               

We had to set a 2 gumballs per day limit… to ensure that she has some teeth left on her 5th birthday.

My heart is really in the details.  Lily was able to help with these… like placing all of her bows on a dress form and picking out her favorite animals from these baby animal sound flashcards.  Surely Eli won’t miss these 6.

               

 

What fashion-y baby animal room is complete without a pink leopard piggy bank?

It is hard to believe that this is the silhouette I painted  of my sweet little Bug…

… who looked like this the first time I made one.

 

I hope she looks back on each phase of her little oasis and sees the love that went into creating it for her.

     

17+ hour road trip with a 1 year old who hates the car…

 

and a 4 year old with an affinity for whining… begs the question: Why are we not flying this time?   I’ve been asking myself the same thing daily.

Eli may hate his car seat, but he also hates to sit still and be restrained.  We vowed after the last flight that it would be less stressful to deal with 17 hours of misery by ourselves than 3 hours of it with a plane full of testy strangers.

Before we embark on our northward journey,  I’ve been preparing some things for the kids in the car.  Last time we drove, I wrapped (2 year old) Lily a million little gifts to open along the way.  Not this time.

Can I just say that in all of the vastness of the interwebs… we are sorely lacking in traveling with toddler ideas.   Lily was not hard at all… but I found NO decent help for traveling with a one year old.

So I had to come up with some of my own …. I tried  to think of it as like a ‘road trip’ themed party to keep it less daunting for me.

 

 

Mini car lap track:

materials: binder, textured stuff, packing tape

The idea is for a sturdy surface for E to drive his little cars  in his lap. Nice because the whole thing folds up and puts away nicely.  I made it a little more interesting with a toilet paper roll hill and a couple of straw rumble strips and streets made of tulle for the sound effects.

 

Cereal bracelets:

materials:  any round cereal (preferably Kellogg’s), pipe cleaners

Lily can work on patterns and dexterity while she slides the loops onto the pipe cleaners… then she can hand them to Eli, who will work on his fine motor skills while he pulls them off to eat them. 

See. Fun and learning for both ages, eh.  I work wonders with a pantry full of Kellogg’s samples.  We should be on a commercial.

 

 

Household items turned toys:

At 15 months, Eli loves to pull things apart, put things together, put things inside other things…. oh, and anything ball related.

so I came up with these free ideas:

*pulling ‘credit cards’ and money out of a wallet.

*toothbrush holder with straws in it to put together, take apart, dump out, and refill

*bristled hair curlers that fit inside each other

*to go cup with extra straw holes to pull out and put back in

*cool whip container turned ball receptacle

When these get old, or in a pinch, I have a brand new box of kleenex and baby wipes and will let him pull out every single one,  if need be.

 

Homemade picture books:

“Photo albums” filled with  people he knows and loves and another with cutouts of real animals.  Last time with Lily, I let her look through magazines and cut out pictures of babies and dogs (based on her interests and skill level at the time) and we filled the albums together.  Eli’s will be pre-made.

 

Do it yourself book illustrations:

Materials needed: scissors, glue, paper

Bug is way into Bindi Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter’s daughter, for some reason. We now own Free Willy 3 and she will most likely be receiving the dolls for Christmas. So I compiled a page of google images, printed out a blurb about her I found on a website ( one sentence per page), and will let Lily cut out the pictures and glue them on to illustrate her own book about Bindi.

 

Store bought sanity savers:

I was able to find a load of toys that have been in hiding that will seem like new, but some things had to be purchased .

I was trying to find things that fit Eli’s current interests and skill set at 15 months.

stuff with buttons to push…. toy remote , electric toothbrush(preferably equate brand… because the button makes a cool noise that could only come from a generic)

something to try to master… harmonica (<5$ at World Market)

stuff with funny noises… bead stick thing ($1 at WalMart), electric toothbrush, harmonica

dogs, animals, songs, books… board books and animal song dvd

 

 

For Lily… I had a blast picking out random girly movies that I thought she might like.  (like how I snuck in Troop Beverly Hills, one of my childhood faves.) I know she’s only 4… but she prefers live action movies about teenagers.  I have to  make sure that they they don’t have any subject matters that I don’t want to get stuck explaining to her first.  Praise Jesus that the Routan has 2 DIFFERENT dvd capabilities…  I ‘d go crazy with only Baby Genius sing a long movies…. teeny movies I can handle.

 

Mrs. Olson (recently discovered) money- saving travel tips:

#1= buying used dvds for as low as 25 cents (plus 3$ shipping) on amazon.com. The grand total for all of these was only like 25$… pretty much the cost of one new disney dvd.

#2= stocking up during school supply season.  Glue sticks, crayons, folders etc.  for a trip are so much more fun when they are cheap.

#3= setting back a few ‘car friendly’ items from the onslaught of gifts at a birthday party to reserve for a trip.  Lily will be psyched to remember the magnetic fairy set, Old Maid game, lift flap princess book, and 3D Taylor Swift tour book from hers that mysteriously ended up out of reach and view on the top shelf of her closet.

#4= Marshall’s or TJ Maxx  usually have a good selection of discounted books.  I found an awesome Tangled reusable peel sticker book for 6$ and 3$ board books.

 

I did the best I could…  but please pray for us anyway.

Any travel tips, non-messy snacks, car friendly crafts or games or things your kids like to do in the car? 

Please send them my way… QUICK!

Easter Countdown
I’ve said before… how its really a big deal to me to keep Easter ALL about Jesus. 
I’ve seen this idea around blogland for a couple of years where you have an Easter countdown with a little toy or candy inside the egg.  So I decided to make some changes to get Lily excited about Resurrection Day.
… and thought I’d share in case you too love countdowns like I do  and your kids love to have planned story and activity time as much as mine does…

Each day she’ll get to open an egg and find a paper with a special clue.  It will tell us which story about Jesus we will read.  After we read about the miraculous, wonderful things that our Savior did, I’ll have either a game, activity, craft or little gift.  On the right days, we will talk about palm Sunday, the cross and  how and why he died and on the last day we will CELEBRATE that he rose again… just like he said he would.
After we read that story… then she’ll get her awesome basket of treats… because we are celebrating JESUS and the amazing gift of salvation that God gave us through him.
I pray that I can plant seeds now that will foster a genuine love for Him at this early age and will only make them more zealous when they can truly understand it all.

 Here is the updated post with an idea for all 12 days written out:
http://www.shauna-lynn.blogspot.com/2012/03/seeing-as-easter-is-just-around-corner.html


Day 12 was the story of Mary pouring perfume on the feet of Jesus.  I figured this would make an impact because she KNOWS how I feel about the perfume that Jeff got me from Anthropologie for Vday.  I vocalize frequently how much I LOVE it and  flip out if she comes near it… and she is obsessed.  I gave her her very own travel size perfume after we read the story and talked about how Mary showed Jesus that she loved him …. and how we can show God that we love him everyday.  
The bottle is about half gone already…  Eli and I both reek.

Tomorrow we’re reading the story  in Luke 8 when Jesus calms the storm and we’re going to make storm bottles.  In true procrastinator form… I have the bible story for each … but will probably wait ‘til minutes before to come up with something to do.  I like the challenge of coming up with stuff with limited supplies and time… especially when I child is waiting expectantly.  it’s a rush!  ha.

This birthday party better come fast…

because I don’t know if the ‘pigeon bus’ can survive this little guy for the next two weeks.

         

I already having to make more ‘party beaks’ because a great many of them have ended up like this.

due to this:

Who knew I should have tried to make this:

for them LONG ago. 

Lily has been playing ice cream truck and ‘Target on wheels’  since the first piece of masking tape  hit the cardboard. 

Happy BAL-EM-TIMES day…

 

After a rough, sick week as a single mom/human kleenex last week…  ( pictures showing how both kids coped differently -- B-Bug stationed in front of the tv, apple juice in hand…  Brother Beankins needed constant movement (powered by Mom) to keep him from crying)

Things are looking up…

…2 valentine packages in the mail today (thanks Je-Je and Maow… the mailman said that Lily’s packages were the biggest he had)

…heart shaped sandwiches for lunch and all the necessary ingredients to make this for dessert

…and weather warm enough to play outside today… and most importantly – play outside BAREFOOT

 

Too bad these ‘tutu cute’ valentine suckers we made last week, didn’t get to be passed out because we had to skip ballet.  A  baby Beankins with the FLU didn’t deserve to be drug out during nap time … all for the sake of his mom spending valuable free time crafting tulle lollipop flowers.  Guess we’ll just eat them all ourselves.

p.s. is it wrong that I HATE that there is another Lily in Lily’s dance class of SEVEN…. so she has to be called Miss Lily Olson not just Miss Lily?   …because I do. with every fiber of my being.

the crafty bug….

has bitten again.  After early fall when I made curtains, pillows, halloween costumes, refinished furniture… I’ve been NOT in the mood to do anything crafty. But since Christmas, I’ve been wanting to make and create… but times are tough with two. (especially since the first one is a clinger)

However, MY SHADOW and I  have been able to make a few things together:

…a handstamped Christmas sign

…a glittery ‘upside down town’ to decorate the Kids’ Church for the new curriculum…

… a tower for b-bug’s Rapunzel doll,  complete with stairs and loft , out of a box and formula cans… (saving us $88 on a real one… with much more charm.)

 

I’ve been itching to get some scrapbook pages done too.  I haven’t done any since before Eli was born and my list is getting long and overwhelming with TWO kids to make pages for.  Here are a few I’ve cranked out lately or finally finished:

 

 

 

 

 

5 down…  17 to go…. hope I can get them done before I recover from my crafty-bug bite.