Rainbows Rainbows Rainbows

Every few months or so I resolve to blog more. Yeah, I've never been good with resolutions. So here is my first blog post in nearly a year and it better be good because I probably won't have another one for at least 6 months, ha!

Right about the time Lauren turned 3 and a half, she became interested in rainbows..no, wait, OBSESSED is more accurate. Everything was and is still all about rainbows, from underwear to Barbie outfits.

So, SURPRISE! She wanted a rainbow 4th birthday party. I scoured the internet and found tons of ideas and came up with a few of my own as well. I did the best I could on a full-time working mom's schedule. In the end, all that mattered was that my Rainbow Girl was the happiest girl in the world on that day!

We had also just come off a Hawaiian vacation so the party was actually a Hawaiian Rainbow Theme and this was the original invitation idea:

But I ended making each invitation by hand after I was struck by inspiration while doing some scratch off art with Lauren one afternoon:

Lauren actually made the rainbow (using a stencil) and the rest was just my goofy handwriting. It wasn't much more work than writing all that information down on a store-bought invitation and it was nice that each invitation was unique. I bought a couple boxes of the rainbow scratch art kit (with 20 5x7 sheets of the paper and stencils) at Michaels for about 4$ each (yay for those 40% off coupons).

I used the rainbow scratch paper for everything from the invitation to signs to an art activity for the kids.

For an activity we did more of the scratch art and I got these scratch art plastic mugs at Michaels too. The kids also made some rainbow pinwheels from a kit I found at Target.

Hats were leftover from previous birthday parties.  Yes, I am a hoarder.

The kids each made a rainbow scratch art mug.

Rainbow pinwheels.

We set up a photobooth with brightly colored backdrop and fun rainbow props. Some of the other props were from past halloween costumes. I got the idea to use a bedsheet from Ikea for the backdrop here.

Food was a mix of Hawaiian and Philippine cuisine. Hawaiian BBQ chicken, Kalua Pig, Pancit, SPAM musubi, and Lumpia. We had a variety of desserts, these pics are only a small sample of all the food we had.  Yeah, we're all about the food.  I didn't get any pics of the food, but believe me...it was all GOOD!

Mini Cupcakes, Rainbow Cake, TimTams, Chocolate covered Macadamias, Haupia

Rainbow TimTams (dressed up with a drizzle of melted chocolate and a sprinkle of, well, sprinkles.)

Dressed up Rice Krispy treats

Rainbow Fruit

What rainbow party would be complete without a Rainbow Cake. It turned out great (except that I misplaced the orange and yellow layers....ergh! bugs me every time I see the pic! It was 2 in the morning when I built the cake...that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Lauren noticed..but didn't care. I used this recipe for the frosting, cake was made from white cake mix. It was yummy and the frosting held up well. Some guests commented that the cake tasted like Fruit Loops.

We decorated with rainbow tissue poms and rainbow streamers. Lauren and I made rainbow paper chains over the summer with a kit from Daiso (got the smaller pom kits there too).

 The mantel had pics of Lauren from her previous birthdays

Party favors were surprise balls, which were a great way to use up leftover toys and bits from Easter, birthdays, and valentine's days past (everything from rings, bouncy balls, stickers, to tattoos). The feedback I got about these balls was that they were a beautiful mess when the kids opened them up at home.  They had as much fun with the colorful streamers as they did with the little prizes inside.

Did the birthday girl like her party? Oh, she was over the rainbow with happiness (Oh, snap!).

I made Thank You notes with this photo.  

Hawaii 2009 Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Aloha! We just returned from a fantastic vacation in Maui. Before I post any pics, I promised myself I would put together pics of our last vacation two years ago. Sooo..just a wee bit late!

St Patty's Day!

Lauren brought her teacher a shamrock plant for St. Patrick's Day. I dunno, you think she's excited?




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Bedtime stories

Our night time routine:

Bubble Bath
Brush Teeth
Dress in her Kerjamas (yes, KERjamas)
Comb Hair (thank goodness for de-tangling spray)

Then it's off to bed!

Oh, but wait! There's more.

First I have to read THREE BOOKS ("Cause I'm Three Years Old!" she says). Her current rotation is Blue Puts on a Play, Olivia, and the Great Cake.


After the books, but before the songs I have to tell her a story about "Baby Lauren" or "Princess Lauren" or "Puppy Lauren." It's basically a roundup of her day that always begins "Once upon a time, Baby/Princess/Puppy Lauren woke up in her room/castle/bed" ...and ends with "...then she took a bath, brushed her teeth, read three books, and now it's time to go to sleep...The end."

Then comes the songs. Unlike the books which change rotation every few days, our bedtime songlist is NOT FLEXIBLE. Believe me, I've tried.

First it's "Happy Heart" from the Veggie Tales Madame Blueberry episode.

The next song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This is how it goes down every night:

Me: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....
Lauren, interrupting: Mommy...why does Madame Blueberry buy too much stuff?

Me: Because she thinks buying stuff will make her happy...but that's not true.You don't need to buy stuff to be happy.

Lauren: Yeah. And then her house broke.

That happens word.for.word. Every. Single. Night.

After Twinkle Twinkle Little Star it's Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I sing the Judy Garland version but every now and then (upon request) I'll play the Iz Kamakawiwo'ole version on the Ipad. If the rainbow song hasn't done it's trick I break out my no-fail-lullabye, the one Lauren calls the "Angel song." It's Billy Joel's "Lullabye," a sentimental favorite.

If she's not asleep by the end of that one I'm in trouble.

Good night, Sweet Dreams my baby boo.

Sunday Afternoon Tea Party

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

Than with a hot cuppa tea on a brisk Sunday afternoon

Delicious treats
(they're made of plastic but they taste divine..)

Good friends...
(Stitch is the honorary member of the Roundup Gang)

And this face.

Treasure Hunting and other adventures

Ahh, the life of a preschooler is filled with so much adventure that I can barely find the time to update my Facebook status, much less write a blog post...

Example: Tonight, we played hide and seek, hunted for treasure (in the dark scary forest of my craft room), made brownie covered Oreos, had a singing and dancing contest, ate some chicken and corn while watching parts of the Indianapolis/New York Jets football game...all within 3 hours. I'm tired just typing it out.

It used to be I'd put Lauren to bed and then have plenty of time afterwards to go online for some social networking, blogging, and shopping. These days I either fall asleep right alongside her or have just enough energy to drag myself back to my own bed, exhausted and fulfilled..resting up for tomorrow's new adventures.

Funny Girl

Yesterday, Lauren was walking around with this big ol' hole in her pants and her white underwear showing through..right there on her backside, down the middle of her butt. When Uncle Chris asked her over the phone how she split her pants she replied:

I UTOT!!!

(translated: I FARTED!)

Only 3 years old and already a comedian!