☁Somewhere☁

Hello! This is probably the most long-evolving blog post ever. I've gotten a

little bit (and I mean a little bit) done most nights since they had their party...

editing pics and such. It only took me, hmmm, let me see...1 week and 1 day.

For me, that's pretty darn good ;)

Their birthday was so fun! We had it at a little park next to the high school

nearby. I've always loved that little park...it's so shady, small, and cute. I can

remember playing there when I was little. It's a nice place for the kids because

it is pretty well enclosed.

The theme was--

...but perhaps it was a tad too fitting! 

You see, it was pretty breezy that day, so any 

hope of decking out a kid's table with all the cute 

Wizard of Oz party ware we'd bought were quickly dashed. Or at least, they were after the first time

I had to pick everything up off the grass.

Oh well.

The former mommy in me--the one with, say, only one kid instead of three, or

the one who's gotten more sleep and thus has more energy to care about such things--

would've thought "Oh no! Everything will look awful!" But this mommy says:

Oh well.

And, at least it made the flying monkeys "fly!"

From the outset, my sister and I knew we wanted to add little crafty

touches to their party, and because of the theme, there really isn't a lot

out there, even invitation-wise. I found one really adorable invitation in particular,

on etsy (love ya etsy!!) but it was a bit more than I hoped to pay. So, I just decided

to make them myself:

I just found an image on google, and used Picnik to modify it and add 

the party info. We printed it out on cardstock and added a little ribbon on top :)

We also added a smaller version to their party bags, which we found at Michael's

for cheap--I think they were 49¢, or something like that?

This is just some of the loot my crazy sister put in the bags :) She found the idea to 

print and glue the words "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" on the animal cookies online

(hard to see in this pic, but it's on the box lid). We made the tin man boxes, and filled them

with Hershey's kisses.

(And how happy was I to use my huge old vintage picnic basket, which looked very

Dorothy-ish! We used it to hold the bags!)

Here is Jakey checkin' things out.

My sister made a lot of great things: this banner (though I forgot to get a good pic of the front...sorry Syl),

and this "yellow brick road" tablecloth. She just drew it up with a

permanent marker on a cheapo plastic tablecloth. Ingenious of her, huh?

She also made one of the most important features of all--the pinata!

One of the things that was the most fun was making something "special" theme-wise

for the kids to wear. Why on earth do mommies like me just eat that up? Don't know,

but I DO! :)

Their shirts were so easy to make. We found some great tees at the dollar store, then I made

iron-ons using images I liked. Dada came up with the phrases.

Addie got a t-shirt made by mama AND a tutu made by auntie Sylvia.

One of the perks of being a girl :) 

She loved it. She enjoyed every inch of tulle gathered around that

cute little belly, lol! Here's a close up of her shirt, too.

For kid's activities, we decided to keep it pretty simple.

We brought over the kids' picnic table, and they had their choice of coloring...

(don't you love that super-concentrated look kids get when they color?!)

as well as making "Glinda's tiara" or  "The Cowardly Lion's crown." And of course,

we couldn't forget the bubbles.

One thing I thought would be fun for the kids also is a dessert tower. 

(The green jello was made in vintage molds but I was too afraid to unmold them.

They're supposed to be "emerald cities!")

Which brings me to one last "disaster."

The cake!

Have you heard of that book/blog called "Cake Wrecks?" Well, this is our

cake wreck!    

     Why, you ask? Well, look at this:

Follow the yellow brick road? But all I see is this murky brownish

pathway! (And that's being generous.)

And pink icing? I'd asked for red...that's okay.

The cake figurines were purchased online, since none of the local bakeries

here made the Wizard of Oz cake anymore. We didn't want anything fancy--

just a simple little field with a yellow road down the middle. I made sure

to bring a picture just to be perfectly clear.

I have to laugh when I think about it, though. My poor husband was sent alone

to pick up it up since we were pushed for time. When I had called earlier

about it, to see if we could get it a little early, they had trouble finding it.

When they did find it, the clerk came back and said that they would give me a 

discount on it because there wasn't "much of a yellow road." With that in mind,

I told my husband: "I'm sure it's fine. Maybe we can fix it. Just don't get it if it's really,

really horrible." 

I didn't realize these were slightly scary instructions for Nate, because he's a

man and how is a MAN supposed to know what an ugly cake looks like?

I can just imagine the beads of sweat slowly forming as he raced home to see

whether the wife would be pleased.... 

I'm glad he did decide to buy it, because even an ugly half-sheet cake is a

deal when it's discounted down to $11.

But yes, it was kind of ugly. 

Oh well.

Hey, maybe I can submit our cake wreck to be posted online? ;)

Here's some more ugly cake fun.

LOL!

Their party was crazy, silly, fun, sweet...just like them.

Stay tuned for more fun party pics in the near future ;)

p.s. Will I ever conquer the spacing trouble I have when posting? Aaaaagh!

Hate that :(