June 23 - 29

On Monday Bennett was coughing a lot and wasn't interested in dinner.  He ended up having an early bed time.

On Tuesday he woke up feeling warm but didn't have a fever.  However, by late morning we got the call from school that his temperature was up to 101 and we had to pick him up.  After lunch he napped and then spent the afternoon watching movies.

By Wednesday, of course, he was better but still had to stay home from school.  Due to work commitments Chris and I split coverage.  However, due to how we coordinated things Bennett ended up only getting about a 10 minute car nap.  I tried getting him to rest longer at home, but no luck.  Instead we went outside to play.  Here his is making "pancakes" on his slide.

We also went on a pretend trip to Sturbridge.  We got our stickers at the ticket window, went to the tin shop (where Phil was working making lanterns) and then Bennett realized he'd forgotten his backpack.  So he went back to the car to get that.  Down at the farm Dave was plowing with Lance and Henry.

On Thursday Bennett's listening ears stopped working, and I think they stayed off through the weekend!  He watched Curious George while Daddy made dinner and I went out for a run.  When I got back we all ate and then Daddy went back to work for a few hours.  Due to the lack of listening Bennett didn't get to play during his bath, no book at bedtime, and he even lost his stuffies (a last resort for us) before the lights were even turned off.  Normally they get taken away if he spends too long talking to himself after the lights go out.

I think the lack of naps caught up to Bennett on Friday.  He fell asleep in the car on the way home from school at 5:30.  He woke up a couple of hours later pretty disoriented, but he then went back to sleep and was fine until morning.

On Saturday we had our weekly OSV trip.

As we arrived right at opening we were able to see the sawmill running.

Victoria was cutting profiles again, so this time I had one done.  Now Chris just needs to have a turn.  :)

After Sturbridge we headed off to a birthday party and then when we went got home Bennett started working on her Derby car.

Waiting for Daddy to get everything ready.

Cutting out his car.  He got bored after the first cut.

Sanding

On Sunday we went food shopping and then Bennett started painting his car.  At least someone in the family isn't going to be working at the last minute!

Next we went to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry's for a housewarming cookout. They recently got chicks and Bennett was giving naming rights for one of them.  In the past he had suggested "chicken" but then when we asked again he started saying nonsensical two syllable names.  When listing off names he happened to say "yummy".  I think that's a fun name for a chicken!

After a late nap he played in the pool for a while and then we went for a bike ride.  Oh and those listening ears?  Still not working!

A Curious George Party: Bennett's Third Birthday Recap

I'll be the first to admit it.  I didn't come up with most of these ideas.  Hey, that's what the internet is for, right?  We just took a couple of things to the next level.  I think a friend of mine hit the nail on the head when she said, "It’s what set designers do when they need a creative outlet. Plan elaborate parties to make us feel um… well too low key."  True, we're not set designers, but a Technical Director and a former Costume Designer wannabee are close enough, right?

Let's start with the invitations.


I decided to put a picture of George on the envelope just in case people couldn't figure out the theme from the invitation.  It's obvious to me, but we're a little obsessed with Curious George in our house.

This is the first idea that I got elsewhere.  The wording was probably pulled from a bunch of different places.  I've looked at so many CG invitations over the past few months that I can't keep them straight.

We used spray adhesive to adhere the cardstock with the wording to the back piece of felt.  Then I used fabric glue at the bottom to hold the top piece of felt on.  Then I added a bit of brown ink to the bottom to make it look more authentic.  I actually had a happy accident with these. The spray adhesive had gotten on the edges of the cardstock so it lightly held the top piece of felt in place so that they didn't shift around too much.  Random question: do you typically peel your bananas from the stem or from the bottom?  I know at least one person tried to open their invitation the "wrong" way.

For those of you who are familiar with the PBS cartoon, you are likely well aware of the Doorman.  We found the original idea here, where they had the doorman on a piece of posterboard.  We kind of joked around about Chris getting one of the grad actors to dress up as our doorman, but then we abandoned that idea (lack of costume) when Chris got a CNC router at work.  Perfect project to learn on!  We were going to have a life-size doorman!

The doorman's dog also is a fixture of the lobby, so naturally we needed a Hundley as well, which Bennett was holding and "petting" in this picture.

From the same site where I got the doorman idea, I got the idea of turning our dining room into Chef Pisghetti's Ristorante.  Since we weren't planning to serve a full meal I figured that our dining room table wouldn't really be needed.  Could we move it out and bring in some smaller tables to make it look like a restaurant?  I think this was the main element of our party that made our friends think we are nuts- we turned out dining room into a restaurant!

Again, Chris put his CNC to work, creating the sign.  We had originally talked about converting the whole wall to look like a building exterior (brick wall, sign, door, windows) but time and money constraints proved to be too great.  You can't really tell in this picture, but the letters and the Chef, as well as the black frame, are raised up higher than the white background.

I sewed strips of fabric together to create the awning (don't look too closely from underneath as I left lots of loose threads), which hung on our existing curtain rod.  Then I made a sleeve at the front in which we slipped some aluminum angle iron and then hung it from the corners using monofilament to a could of nails on other walls.

I had the last minute idea to get some vases of flowers to put on the restaurant tables, but when we were at the grocery store I saw these ornamental pepper plants.  They were perfect!

So what did we serve at Chef Pisghetti's?  Since the party started at 3 we didn't need a full meal.  We stuck with snacks and desserts.

For Bennett's first birthday I had Chris make a few food stands.  It allows me to fit a few more dishes into the same space since they overlap a bit, plus it adds visual appeal.  So every year they get a new coat of spray paint in whatever colors I'm using that year.  Then I just put my food on white plates and put them on top.  Easy peasy.

The cake was another idea that I "borrowed".  There were lots of fun ideas, but this one looked fancy enough but it also looked like something that I might be able to do on my own.  And I got to try using modeling chocolate.  Everything was edible except for George, who was a purchased figurine.  I ended up not putting all of the vines and flowers on because at 11:30pm the night before the party I decided sleep was more important than practicing my piping skills and possibly messing up the cake.

 

I was afraid that there wasn't going to be enough cake (turns out there was more than enough), plus I needed a treat to send in to school on Monday, so I also made monkey cupcakes.

For additional decor, we also had Curious George and The Man With The Yellow Hat.  After all, it wouldn't be a Curious George party without him!  I was inspired by this and this, but ultimately we went with what you see below.

Balloons!  I tend to think of them as being overpriced and unnecessary, but I do love them and find myself getting some every year.  We had the bunch in the photo above, plus the ones below.  I had hi-float put into the latex balloons, so they last about a week.  (Except for 2 that had deflated in less than 12 hours.)

And it wouldn't be a party without games!  It's a little tough to plan some things out since our younger guests range in age from 3 to 11.


Again, borrowing from the internet, we had Yellow Hat ring toss.  These were just sports cones with some electrical tape for the hat band.  And then since they had a tendency to fall over, Chris attached them to a piece of plywood.

We also had Pin the Tie on The Man with the Yellow Hat.  Unfortunately The Man was a bit too tall for Bennett, but he still seemed to have fun.

Since we had such a large range of ages, for prizes I got a selection of books, trying to have something for every age/interest, and let the winners pick which one they wanted.  (Thanks Mel for this idea!)  And the books that weren't chosen will get added to Bennett's collection for when he's a little older.


As we sent our younger guests on their way, they had Curious George favor bags.  (Inspiration from here.)  These were filled with Curious George fruit snacks, a Barrel of Monkeys game, a banana pen, and stickers.

Overall it was a fabulous day. We hadn't told Bennett in advance that he was going to have a Curious George party because we wanted to surprise him.  Grandpa took him out of the house for a few hours in the morning while we decorated and we were expecting him to be really excited when he returned.  He wasn't as excited as we thought he would be, but later in the day he had his George say hi to the cutout George.  And every day when he gets home now he says hi to Hundley, the Doorman, etc.


And of course, Bennett received numerous wonderful gifts!  To name just a few, he got books (both Curious George and others), toy farm animals, a fife, and then this... We have one family who every year create an elaborate gift/packaging.  How awesome is this hot air balloon?

 And to make it even better, inside the balloon (there was a slit in the back) was this photo of a Curious George sand sculpture that they had made for Bennett.

Happy 2nd Birthday!- A Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

Bennett came downstairs on Saturday to presents on the table.  However, those didn't interest him.  He wanted the (unfrosted) cupcakes that were in the container behind them.  Which was weird, because he's never been much interested in cake.  Or so school tells us.  We don't generally eat desserts at home.

But before he could open presents, we wanted to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa in Georgia.  They were able to sing to him and watch him blow out the candle on his birthday pancake.



We chatted while we ate, and then they watched Bennett open his presents from Mummy and Daddy, as well as the gifts that they had left when they visited over the summer plus gifts from Aunt Suzanne, Uncle Paul, Rosaline and Dekota.

And then came the fun of playing with the new presents!  He really liked the gift he got from Grandma and Grandpa and put lots of train down the mine ramp and through the waterfall.

Then it was time to take our monthly photo.  Bennett is pretty well trained.  When he sees the chair sitting by the basement door, he knows he needs to sit down for pictures.  And then when he was done, he wanted to put the chair back at his little table.

Daddy and Bennett played for a bit while Mummy worked on party prep and then it was time for lunch and nap.  He somewhat resisted the nap, but he must have been tired because he fell asleep pretty quickly.  And luckily he took a nice long nap which gave plenty of time to finish getting ready.

While he slept Mumma made lots of frosting and got the cakes and cupcakes finished.  Daddy ran out to pick up balloons, photos, and some food for the party.  When he got back we finished decorating, baked a pie, and realized we were quickly running out of time.  Mumma texted Awesome Auntie Mel to come and give an extra set of hands.  Which worked out well because shortly after she arrived Bennett woke up.  Mel got to work cutting up fruit while Mummy and Daddy worked on getting everything else ready and all too soon people were arriving. 

Here's the spread. (Daddy made all the stands that the fruit is on.  Worked well to add visual appeal plus it took up less table space than having all the plates on the table.)

On Monday he ate through one apple.  But he was still hungry.

On Tuesday he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry. (Mel added the "bite" marks to the apples and pears.)

On Wednesday he ate through three plums, but he was still hungry.

On Thursday he ate through four strawberries, but he was still hungry.

On Friday he ate through five oranges, but he was still hungry.

On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake...

... one ice cream cone...

... one pickle...

... one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami...

... one lollipop...

... one piece of cherry pie... (no one touched the pie, but of course I had to have it.)

... one sausage...

... one cupcake...

... and one piece of watermelon.  That night he had a stomachache!

Overall views of the dessert table and buffet table.

(I hand embroidered the text from the book by each food item on both sides of the table runner.)

This shot of the table is missing some of the food, but you can see the runner a bit better.

Beverage station. Bottles of water had either a picture of one of the fruits, a caterpillar, a 2 or a B.  The punch was Sprite mixed with a strawberry-lemonade concentrate that I made in early summer.

After eating it was time to go outside for some crafts.  There were three crafts that I had planned.

• Caterpillar bookmark made with their thumbprints.
• Egg carton caterpillar
• Tissue paper and clothespin butterfly

Again, I am super thankful for the help of my friends.  I showed them the supplies, told them (and showed- I'd made prototypes) what they were making, and they got everything set up and helped the kids.

I think I get negative points though for coming up with a craft that took too long to dry.  Sorry parents for making you take home gloopy caterpillars.

After crafts came cake!

Not a fan of his hat.

Blowing out the candles. With the candles on his pancakes he got one candle not problem but then took a few tries to get the second.  These he also had a bit of trouble with, and I think, in the end, I had to help.

After getting cleaned up we did the hokey-pokey.  He still needs to work on his left and right, but otherwise he does really well.

Then we ended with presents.  I won't bore you with those photos, but I would like to say how awesome and generous everyone is.  And it was the perfect amount.  I think we were on the last present when Bennett started to get tired of opening things.

Cutie Patootie Birthday Boy!

Decorations! I made 4 sets of these fruit garlands that we hung up in a few places. 

Caterpillar photos. I still have last year's photos up on the wall above the caterpillar.

Caterpillar balloons on the closet doors. Looks like someone erased the chalkboard a bit.

And in the front hall, in addition to some balloons and streamers, we had the giant cupcake and favors of "Caterpillar Food" (M&Ms).