It seems like spring is just around the corner! We got a good taste of warmer weather and are hoping for more of it!
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Playing at the Park
We went to check out the new Bicentennial Park with the girls on a pretty day. They had lots of fun on the slides & swings, as well as climbing around and chasing each other.
It seems like spring is just around the corner! We got a good taste of warmer weather and are hoping for more of it!
It seems like spring is just around the corner! We got a good taste of warmer weather and are hoping for more of it!
January Fun
January feels like it has been the calm after the storm. The weeks leading up to Christmas were busy, busy, busy with shopping or wrapping or decorating or fun activities with the girls. Then, we traveled, it was New Year, and time to get in gear for a birthday party. Since Janie's birthday party is behind us, I think as a family we have enjoyed a little down time.
We have, however, gotten out a little bit and enjoyed the company of our own family & friends! A few favorite moments from January to share...
I gave Justin tickets to a Dallas Stars hockey game for Christmas, so we got to go out to dinner & the game together for a little date night. It was fun! It went into double over time and a shoot out, but the Stars ended up winning.
Besides Janie's birthday, a close friend of the girls turned one this January, too! We had celebrating Charlie's first birthday!
The weather has been very warm this winter, for the most part. We took advantage one Friday afternoon and played at the Central Market park and ate dinner. The next day it was freezing outside, so we were glad we got out while we could.
The girls loved having a play date with their friend Harper!
Nora continues to do the silliest things. Having a toddler can really make you laugh sometimes!! I'm never certain what I will find with her when I go to wake her up in the mornings. She has different blankets, dolls, books, toys... Once she had the book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" with her. Often times, she has shoes. She's silly. I just never know what she's thinking in there!
Some rare mommy and Nora time including hot cocoa and making wishes in fountains:
We rounded out the month by attending the opening of the new Altitude Trampoline Park by us! The girls had fun jumping with Elsa and other princesses. Janie was very partial to Elsa though, walking around calling her name and saying "I only love Elsa."
Looking forward to February!
We have, however, gotten out a little bit and enjoyed the company of our own family & friends! A few favorite moments from January to share...
I gave Justin tickets to a Dallas Stars hockey game for Christmas, so we got to go out to dinner & the game together for a little date night. It was fun! It went into double over time and a shoot out, but the Stars ended up winning.
Angry because it was past our bedtime!!!
Besides Janie's birthday, a close friend of the girls turned one this January, too! We had celebrating Charlie's first birthday!
The weather has been very warm this winter, for the most part. We took advantage one Friday afternoon and played at the Central Market park and ate dinner. The next day it was freezing outside, so we were glad we got out while we could.
The girls loved having a play date with their friend Harper!
Playing the piano together. So cute!
Nora continues to do the silliest things. Having a toddler can really make you laugh sometimes!! I'm never certain what I will find with her when I go to wake her up in the mornings. She has different blankets, dolls, books, toys... Once she had the book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" with her. Often times, she has shoes. She's silly. I just never know what she's thinking in there!
Some rare mommy and Nora time including hot cocoa and making wishes in fountains:
We rounded out the month by attending the opening of the new Altitude Trampoline Park by us! The girls had fun jumping with Elsa and other princesses. Janie was very partial to Elsa though, walking around calling her name and saying "I only love Elsa."
Nora chose to wear this big ol' tutu and I have to
say, it was pretty cute while she jumped!
Looking forward to February!
Saturday, January 23, 2016
{diy} Donut Garland
We just had Janie's 2nd birthday "Donut Shoppe" themed party! I wanted to share how easy this do-it-yourself donut garland decoration was.
As I do with all of the girls' birthdays, I looked on Pinterest for inspiration for her upcoming party and found a lot of cute ideas, including making your own donut garlands using paper, stencils & puffy paint and one with paper plates and tissue paper. I even borrowed a donut garland that was a friend of a friend's and looked as if it was made by some type of scrapbooking machine, because it had "bites" taken out of it and layering happening.
All super cute. But... as a mom of 2 young toddlers, I need things to be as simple as they can be. And require as few tools as necessary. And require as few trips to the store as possible with an added bonus if that number is zero. So, enter my easier-than-easy DIY donut garland!
Supplies needed:
Variety of paper
Scissors
A circular object of just the right size
Exacto knife or box cutter, ideally
Glue stick
Some sort of string or yarn
Single hole punch
First, I gathered up some paper that would work for my donuts. I had some brown craft paper card stock and a whole slew of random papers both in solids and prints that were in colors that would work for me. I was looking for pastels, but any color or pattern will work! I opted to make 16 donuts total and found 8 different papers that I could make 2 donuts each with. You can see I found some patterns, some solids, and even a glitter pink! I thought the polka dot was cute and looked kind of like sprinkles.
I used a bowl to trace circles on both the craft brown and my patterned colored paper. I was using scraps of the colored paper, so some of the edges didn't quite fit, which is okay because you'll end up cutting inside the circles on the colored paper.
I cut out each of the brown circles on the lines, but the colored ones will make the "icing" so you'll want to cut along the inside of the line in a wavy line, all the way around. I cut about 1/4-1/2" inside. It depends on how much of the donut you want to see around the outside. Oh, and didn't even draw it, just started cutting but if you're not visual, I would suggest drawing it first. You'll get little pieces like this...
This is where an exacto knife or box cutter will come in handy. We have a box cutter, so I used that. I made sure to have a good stack of paper or cardboard under my workspace. Then, I traced a circle (a large glue stick cap is a good size!) on the back of the "icing" paper and cut along the line to leave a circle-shaped hole on the icing. You could even leave some without a hole to imitate a jelly-filled donut!
Next, you'll glue the icing pieces down to the brown donut pieces to finish your donuts. It's even better if you have a helper! You can see here on the back how I didn't even carefully cut on my circle. Also, I was able to cut multiple donuts at a time - depends on your blade.
Finally, punch a hole or two {I did one & wished I'd done two} in the top of your donut & string them one at a time on the yarn or string you've selected! I used some pink and white baker's twine that I had on hand. Something thicker may keep the donuts in place better. With one hole and on thin string, they did slide around a bit. I solved this problem by essentially tying each one to the string, but I think with either two holes or with thicker string, or both, you'd get better results.
That's it! Hang it up anywhere and everywhere. This was one of the few things that I made for Janie's donut shoppe party and I was super pleased with how easy it was yet how much cuteness it still added.
Easier-than-easy! Happy crafting.
As I do with all of the girls' birthdays, I looked on Pinterest for inspiration for her upcoming party and found a lot of cute ideas, including making your own donut garlands using paper, stencils & puffy paint and one with paper plates and tissue paper. I even borrowed a donut garland that was a friend of a friend's and looked as if it was made by some type of scrapbooking machine, because it had "bites" taken out of it and layering happening.
Source: Beau-Coup Blog {link here}
Source: Kidspot.com {link here}
Supplies needed:
Variety of paper
Scissors
A circular object of just the right size
Exacto knife or box cutter, ideally
Glue stick
Some sort of string or yarn
Single hole punch
First, I gathered up some paper that would work for my donuts. I had some brown craft paper card stock and a whole slew of random papers both in solids and prints that were in colors that would work for me. I was looking for pastels, but any color or pattern will work! I opted to make 16 donuts total and found 8 different papers that I could make 2 donuts each with. You can see I found some patterns, some solids, and even a glitter pink! I thought the polka dot was cute and looked kind of like sprinkles.
I used a bowl to trace circles on both the craft brown and my patterned colored paper. I was using scraps of the colored paper, so some of the edges didn't quite fit, which is okay because you'll end up cutting inside the circles on the colored paper.
I cut out each of the brown circles on the lines, but the colored ones will make the "icing" so you'll want to cut along the inside of the line in a wavy line, all the way around. I cut about 1/4-1/2" inside. It depends on how much of the donut you want to see around the outside. Oh, and didn't even draw it, just started cutting but if you're not visual, I would suggest drawing it first. You'll get little pieces like this...
Next, you'll glue the icing pieces down to the brown donut pieces to finish your donuts. It's even better if you have a helper! You can see here on the back how I didn't even carefully cut on my circle. Also, I was able to cut multiple donuts at a time - depends on your blade.
Cute little donuts!
I don't think they need anything else. I love the simplicity of them and the patterned paper did enough for me. But, since you have that hole punch out you could always punch out some little colored paper circles, empty the punch-catcher, and utilize those tiny little pieces of paper by gluing them down as sprinkles. This might prove especially helpful if you have only plain colored paper on hand.
At some point, you will have to decide the order of your donuts on the garland. Try to space out the similar colors & patterns. I also chose to eliminate the orange because it didn't seem to jive with the other colors. Make it work for you!
Finally, punch a hole or two {I did one & wished I'd done two} in the top of your donut & string them one at a time on the yarn or string you've selected! I used some pink and white baker's twine that I had on hand. Something thicker may keep the donuts in place better. With one hole and on thin string, they did slide around a bit. I solved this problem by essentially tying each one to the string, but I think with either two holes or with thicker string, or both, you'd get better results.
That's it! Hang it up anywhere and everywhere. This was one of the few things that I made for Janie's donut shoppe party and I was super pleased with how easy it was yet how much cuteness it still added.
Easier-than-easy! Happy crafting.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Janie's Donut Shoppe Party
We celebrated our little girl turning TWO years old this past weekend! We had a blast with our friends & family. Janie loved everything about her party day. Here's a bit about how we spent the day with our sweet girl...
When I first began planning for Janie's second birthday party, I thought about all the things that she really loved. This list included Cinderella, her stuffed bunny, and donuts. I looked on Pinterest for ideas of things that I loved within the different themes I was considering and finally decided on a donut shoppe party. She LOVED everything about her donut party and Nora even asked if she could have a donut party for her next birthday!! Oh my.
We decorated the house with little donut garlands and signs, most of which either already had or I was able to borrow from a friend making it easy on me to make everything look snappy. I have used this "Happy Birthday" banner at every single one of the girls' birthdays so that was a good investment! The one donut garland I made I used paper & string that I already had at the house. Otherwise, I spent just a few dollars on some Target Dollar Section chalkboards, flowers, and balloons.
Of course for food, we had donuts!! We made donut towers on platters & cake stands, a donut hole bouquet, and her cake was made from donut holes as well. For variety, we also put out yogurt, cut fruit, and pigs in a blanket. We kept out an assortment of milk as well as water & coffee for the adults to drink.
I felt we needed to have an official activity, for the first time since I've planned parties, since many of our guests were a bit older. We set up a donut decorating station with icing & sprinkle varieties for the kids to get creative with. I even made some cute little donut shoppe hats for them to wear while they worked. So cute!!
Janie was a little more reserved when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her at the party than when we did with just our family and didn't really get into having the attention on her. She also didn't want to blow out her little candles. Nora to the rescue!
She loved opening her gifts and wanted to play with all of them. She was dressing up in new clothes & playing with Peppa Pig before the day was finished!
Janie had so much fun at her party. We are very thankful for our great friends & family who show so much love to our little girl. It is hard to believe that it has been two whole years since she was born. We love her so much!!
And finally, a Janie photo shoot...
We "donut" know what we would do without our sweet Janie Belle!! ;)
When I first began planning for Janie's second birthday party, I thought about all the things that she really loved. This list included Cinderella, her stuffed bunny, and donuts. I looked on Pinterest for ideas of things that I loved within the different themes I was considering and finally decided on a donut shoppe party. She LOVED everything about her donut party and Nora even asked if she could have a donut party for her next birthday!! Oh my.
Janie is TWO!
We decorated the house with little donut garlands and signs, most of which either already had or I was able to borrow from a friend making it easy on me to make everything look snappy. I have used this "Happy Birthday" banner at every single one of the girls' birthdays so that was a good investment! The one donut garland I made I used paper & string that I already had at the house. Otherwise, I spent just a few dollars on some Target Dollar Section chalkboards, flowers, and balloons.
Neither child was super cooperative for these pictures...
Sweet Nora!
Dress: Matilda Jane | Headband: Little Bow & Arrow Shop
The birthday girl, Janie!
Dress: Little Bow & Arrow Shop
Of course for food, we had donuts!! We made donut towers on platters & cake stands, a donut hole bouquet, and her cake was made from donut holes as well. For variety, we also put out yogurt, cut fruit, and pigs in a blanket. We kept out an assortment of milk as well as water & coffee for the adults to drink.
I felt we needed to have an official activity, for the first time since I've planned parties, since many of our guests were a bit older. We set up a donut decorating station with icing & sprinkle varieties for the kids to get creative with. I even made some cute little donut shoppe hats for them to wear while they worked. So cute!!
Janie was a little more reserved when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her at the party than when we did with just our family and didn't really get into having the attention on her. She also didn't want to blow out her little candles. Nora to the rescue!
She loved opening her gifts and wanted to play with all of them. She was dressing up in new clothes & playing with Peppa Pig before the day was finished!
Janie had so much fun at her party. We are very thankful for our great friends & family who show so much love to our little girl. It is hard to believe that it has been two whole years since she was born. We love her so much!!
Sweet family...
...and friends!
And finally, a Janie photo shoot...
TWO!
We "donut" know what we would do without our sweet Janie Belle!! ;)
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