Party Pictures

The Pinterest photo that inspired me...



My attempt to recreate it...



The sign I did not want to spend $30 on from Oriental Trading...

The sign I made for $5.75 with simple supplies from Menards...

These were my favorite things! And if I could have only found a better polka dot paper, I would have been 100% satisfied with them, but I was still happy with how mine turned out.



The penant flag banner from Pinterest...





The popcorn holders, and the little penant flag banner-both were a success.



I'm slightly disappointed in myself because in the maddness of the party I did not stop to take the pictures that I wanted. I wanted close ups of the popcorn holders, the candy, the party favor boxes, the games, etc. Luckily my brother in law, Dave, was kind enough to take some photos for me so I'm not at a total loss.

And this is what it's all about. Kids having fun! They loved all the games, I don't know if you can see in the background, but there was a balloon popping game (throw darts at a board of balloons)-which proved to be harder than it looked. I also built a Plinko board, the two boards were just $5 plywood boards from Menards, I spray painted them red and used white duct tape (and a level) to make the white stripes. There was a game with old cans stacked up that they threw a ball at, I just used old soup cans and sprayed them blue, really easy-and free {except for the spray paint} and finally bought some feeder fish from the fish store and $1 glass jars and viola! a carnival toss-the-ping-pong-ball-and-win-a-fish game. They all got to take a fish home with them! How fun is that?

I wish the candy table would have turned out a little more full like the inspiration picture, but then I found out how much candy costs and we had to scale back a little. I'm not even going to post how much I spent on candy - just in case the farmer decides to read this one...but then again he will be getting the bill-whoops. But there's something about turning 3-its like the first time a kid realizes what's actually happening, Jack anticipated this party for weeks and helped me pick out everything and get it all ready-so we wanted to go all out. But the farmer's not off the hook either, he went all out and bought the kid a Power Wheels Jeep! That made the t-ball bat, baseball and new books I bought Jack look like nothing. Oh well, I guess I threw the party, that's gotta count for somthing, right?

So, if you want to throw a carnival party and need a few ideas, let me know or head to Pinterest-oh and start saving your pennies now-you're gonna need them! But it was a big hit and everyone enjoyed themeselves. Carnival party = success! Here's to another fun year ahead and looking forward to more fun ideas for birthday bash #4. Maybe by then I'll also be planning a 1st birthday...we'll have to talk to the farmer about that one *wink*

Farewell from the farm,

-The Farmer's Wife

Carnival, Cocktails and Coincidence

{I wrote this in the chaos of preparations for Jack's party and forgot to post it...so here you go!}


So here I sit, like I said, 2.5 hours before the guests arrive to my carnival-a sweaty, hot mess with a cake in the oven, popcorn oil on the stove and a completely un-decorated front yard. Balloons have yet to be blown up, table cloths have yet to be spread, banners are not hung, and I'm sure by now my popcorn oil is burning up. Not to mention the gray sky and sprinkles that just stared. Seriously? In the middle of a drought and it rains on my party.

Oh well, time to move the party inside, I guess. Well-to get to my point quickly I have to throw together an indoor Carnival within the next 2 hours, shower, change and not look like a frazzled disaster. Good luck. Went to make my cake (yes I started baking the cake 2 hours before the party-I'm the queen of procrastination!) and couldn't find my pans. Had to call an audible and switch it to a star shaped cake - still completely appropriate for a carnival - no big deal, right? Well no kidding-30 seconds after I throw the star cake in the oven, I went in a cupboard to get the liquor out for my cocktail and behold- my cake pans, in the liquor cabinet? How's that for cocktails and coincidence.

Well, cheers to the carnival of the year-or what we hope is the resemblance of a carnival...or something.

A Fun Craft for Friday

T.G.I.F. - which actually bears no significance to me anymore, since I work on weekends. Oh well. It's a nice thought anyways.

So this morning, I woke at 5:45am and met some friends over at Wirth Park to work out. Yes, me. The queen of sleeping til noon. It was really great. Every time I get up early and work out, I am amazed at the things I accomplish. Now if only I could make this a lifestyle, and not a trend. I'm going to try. After the workout, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for the farmer's lunch, got home and started to tackle the aftermath of Jack's birthday party. I've actually gotten 3 loads of laundry done, the 1st load of dishes in the dishwasher, cleaned up all the garbage and took it curbside, and found some time for a fun craft with Jack and it's only 11:00 am! On an average day, I would be just rolling out of bed...sad-and slightly pathetic-I know.

I remembered this craft from my childhood-doing it once at a babysitters house. Jack got a giant bucket of sidewalk chalk for his birthday and I was instantly reminded of this craft, and I even had all the supplies at home-which almost never happens. So here you have it-little girls would probably have much more fun with this, but boys can do it too

Sand Art Ice Cream Drinks
Ever made one of those sand art jar things? This is sort of like that, but much cheaper than colored sand.

Supplies: Salt (I used Sugar today because I had almost no salt-but in the future will use salt because it's much cheaper - you can get the off brand for around .30/container), foam ball (cut in half), foam bowls, sidewalk chalk-assorted colors, clear glass/cup/jar, bendy straw and hot glue.

1. Color your salt. You'll need a foam bowl for each color you want to make. Pour the bowl about 1/2 full of salt and swirl the chalk around the bowl until you get your desired shade. It might take a few minutes depending on how dark you want your salt.

2. Layer the colored salt in your container. Make as many colors of salt as you want in your little ice cream and then alternate layering the salt in your clear container. I only had plain plastic cups at home, but you can use a glass-champagne flute or wine glass, even a mason jar would make a cute container.



3. Cut straw and foam ball. Depending on the size of your container, you'll need to find a foam ball with an appropriate circumference. Cut the foam ball in half (so effectively, with one ball you can make two sand art crafts) and cut a bendy straw so that when you insert it about 1 inch into the foam it looks as though you've got a straw in your ice cream.

4. Attach the "Icre Cream" to your "Drink". With hot glue, use a line of glue around the top of the container and attach the foam ball with straw. And voila! you've got yourself a really cute sand art-esque craft!

Jack had tons of fun coloring the salt and even helped to layer it in the cup. Once we got to the "ice cream" foam ball part, I pretty much took over, but older kids can probably handle the whole thing! An inexpensive way to spend some quality time with your little ones-not to mention a fun way to use up random craft supplies you have laying around. Feel free to "jazz" up your drink, if you have a red jewel or little pompon ball you can glue it to the top of the foam to look like a cherry. If you don't have a foam ball- or have a boy whose less than enthusiastic about making a girly looking ice cream drink, use old soda bottles, or shaped containers-for smaller containers use a funnel for the salt when layering. the possibilities are truly endless.

I'm starting to get sore from my crack-of-dawn workout so I should probably get up and get moving again. Work tonight might be a challenge...but I need these shifts to help pay down the gianormous credit card bill the farmer's going to get for the carnival I threw the other day. Whoops.

Stay tuned for carnival pictures. I still have to get my house in order, then I'll be a blogging maniac.

Til next time on the farm,

The Farmer's Wife

That Time of Year

Well, it must be August. That time of the year when nostalgia sets in and amidst my crazy preparations for Jack's birthday bash of the year I find myself reflecting and marveling over the past years. You know that totally cliche saying - "time flies when you're having fun", but I mean-really. It seriously does.

As mother's know, being a mom is the best, hardest, most rewarding yet most challenging thing in the history of ever. Period. And when August rolls around each year I run around spending oodles of my husband's hard-earned dollars, buying all the perfect party accessories for the little man that my whole entire universe revolves around-I can't help but get a bit emotional. Thus, I must blog.

It's been a while-March to be specific. Everytime I come online with the best intentions to blog, I find myself lost in a sea of pins and posts and somehow blogging becomes the farthest thing from my mind. Oh well. You'll probably notice a pattern, since I'll be at home for the next three days painting, baking, packaging and preparing the most awesome-carnival-birthday-party-for-a-3-year-old-ever, I'll probably actually sit down to blog about it...then in the aftermath post about how wonderful it went (or how horribly cheesy it turned out). So keep your eyes out for another few posts, and then I'm sure it'll be sparse/non-existent for a while.

So, Jack's going to be 3. And 3.5 years ago on December 15 when I found out I was pregnant, I could not have imagined the little man that he is if I tried. He is the light of our lives, talking, learning, singing (Donny's convinced he's the next Bieber) and laughing. {Brace yourself for shameless proud mommy bragging} Not only does he know how to sing his alphabet, he can identify all the letters, he can spell and write his name, he can count to about 20 (sometimes he skips 15) identify his numbers and we've even begun some simple addition and subtraction. It amazes me what a sponge this kid is. He remembers the most incredible stuff. Ok, I'll stop now. Every mom thinks their kid is amazing, I get it. But really-Jack is. Ha. (I actually just laughed at myself-I'm so ridiculous).

So for my braniac, child prodigy, wonderful, perfect son I decided a carnival would be a fantastic way to celebrate being 3. There will be games, prizes, candy, food, fun and cake (which I haven't decided on yet). I've decided I'll post a few pictures from Pinterest that were my inspiration and then if all goes well, I'll post my actual pictures to see how I compare to all the wonder moms out there that throw these insane-over-the-top birthday parties.

Popcorn holders with scrapbook paper.

I already made this penant banner-out of different scrapbook papers with ribbon. Was very easy and looks really cute! Hopefully I 'll do a good job of hangning it so it doesn't look stupid.

Table with candy and prizes, I'm going to attempt the letter thing with a J for Jack, but we'll see how I do on time. Then that sign, I have my own idea in mind with PVC and printed signs on poster board, we'll see. It might look lame.

So before I run out of naptime, I'm going to get back at it. The farmer is gone all day today and I need to make use of this time - it's precious! Too bad it's thundering out so I have the bat crazy dog in the house to worry about - yikes!

Til next time from the farm, farewell!

-The Farmer's Wife

farm living in the city {explained}

I had one of those "aha" moments the other day as I watched Jack play in the sand. A seemingly normal activity for a child-whether they live in the city or in the country. However, the scene before me was not your typical, every-day, play-date in the sand. Allow me to explain.

 

If that doesn't sum it up for you, then allow me to elaborate. There are CHICKENS playing in the sand with Jack, all while cars enter and exit I-43 for which the on-ramp is in plain view. Not-to-mention the cat who watches on with a look as if to say "is this really happnening?" You know how cats can be...sarcastic, yet realistic.

This was one of those full-circle, oh-yea-I-live-on-a-farm-in-the-middle-of-the-city moments, that I just HAD to share. I had another one once, you can read about it here. 

...

In the silence of nap time, snuggling on the couch with my little Jack in my arms, I realized how completely ridiculous my previous post was. However, I'm still not sure about more children, it was this special nap time that I realized how much I cherish the relationship I have with my son. We sang Sunday school songs softly, talked about our special days together and finally he fell asleep after doing "ticky tick" snuggled warm in my arms. I'm sure you can love all your children equally, but I'm not sure I want to ever lose the special relationship that I have with Jack. I don't think I would have the time or energy to give him all the attention I do if I had another baby around. So, here's to waiting until Kindergarten rolls around to think about adding another Spielman to the clan. Jack did ask me during our little nap time snuggle session if there was a baby in my belly like Auntie Melissa and Auntie Vicki and I told him no. Then he so wisely told me that we had to go find God and Jesus and tell them to put two babies in my belly. (I swear I did not put him up to it-he said it all on his own!!) Alright, this crazy mom is going to sign off for now-time to run errands and get a little fresh air on this oh-so-beautiful spring day!

More children? I don't think so...

Reasons why Jack might be an only child:

I've always wanted at least one more child, however this morning that changed. When I realized having more than one child in my home induces incredible amounts of stress. My house is a disaster, I'm constantly tearing kids off of each other, asking them to stop and telling them "no". I'm sure if you were a fly on the wall right now you'd be like "girl, you're crazy, these kids are just normal kids" - I agree, they're not terribly naughty and they do listen...but for whatever reason right now I really have no desire to ever have another child. I really hope this is temporary-I'll admit I have a very bad attitude right now, so maybe this is all just an outward expression of my poor attitude. All I know is this is not my normal Tuesday with Jack and Parkside. Quiet, delicious cuisine, good company-my how things can change in a week. Not to mention all the extra spit and snot and diapers. Ew.

Aaaand, for whatever reason kids have this fascination with my dogs, Amos and Lola. Amos and Lola are NOT kid dogs. They want nothing to do with kids, and I'm pretty sure Lola was having a full blown panic attack until I sent her outside. Amos is very cute and looks like a little baby puppy but the truth of the matter is he's a crabby old Chihuahua who wants to sit on my lap or on his bed and sleep, all day. Kids want to touch him and hold him and pet him and pull his ears, Amos will have none of it. Luckily for Jack, he's generous with his meals and Amos has taken a liking to Jack for the simple fact that he know's he can always get a morsle or two off Jack's plate.

Oh, and there's been way too much jumping on beds for me to handle in one day, already. And it's only 10:40am . T minus 2 hours til nap time, and that's because I'm putting them down 1/2 hour early.

Alright, I'm done complaining. Thanks for taking the time to listen (as if you had a choice).