Mike's Birthday Party

This past Saturday we had a birthday party for Mike because it was a good excuse to have people over to play, and because I wanted to do something nice for my hubby. He works so hard and travels a lot for work so that I can stay at home with James and I want him to know how very much we appreciate him. It turned out to be a wonderful day for a party, sunny and in the 80's. Since it was the day before Easter I decided it would be fun to have an Easter Egg hunt for all of the kiddos that were coming. Everything went off without a hitch and the kids and the adults had a wonderful time.

The spread: Smoked rib roast sandwiches, fruit salad, macaroni salad, assorted cheeses, bruschetta, crudites, hummus & mini quiches (which were still in the oven at this point) We also had white sangria and beer which were located outside.

Mike's birthday cake, which James picked out (It HAD to be the dinosaur cake, LOL)

Some of the kiddos playing in the yard

The hunt begins

A view of the party from the back (all of the kids were busy finding eggs)

Mike and I

The birthday boy with his cake

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! I look forward to celebrating many many more!

NPDS Easter Egg Hunt

Every year James' school holds an Easter Egg hunt during the week before Easter. Here's some photos from the day.

James with his class after the hunt

my cutie-pie

After the Easter Egg Hunt we headed inside for a pizza party. As always, James had a blast.

James' Light Table

I was recently inspired by one of the blogs I follow (Play At Home Mom) to create a light table out of James' train table (which he rarely ever played with anymore). It seemed relatively simple and inexpensive, and since I have a handy hubby I figured he could do it easily. Well, it was a little more work than anticipated, but it turned out great and James really enjoys it.

The completed light table without the plexiglass top

The completed table

We found the plexiglass at a local glass store, but they can be found online as well. You just want to be sure to use white plexiglass so that you can't see directly through.

One project that I though James would enjoy was to play with some water beads on the light table. If you haven't seen these, they are usually used for flowers because they give off water slowly and they look pretty in the vases. You can find them in most craft stores. They feel really interesting to run your fingers through and look really cool on the light table. The pictures really don't do them justice.

red water beads on light table

 

My goofy boy

My baby niece, Louisa, getting in on the action (she loved them too)

I am looking forward to doing many more projects on the light table and think it will be a wonderful thing to have in the years to come. So if this doesn't look like too daunting of a project to you, I highly recommend making one. The instructions on how to make it can be found here on Play At Home Mom. Enjoy!

Family Fun Night 2012

This year I helped organize James' school's Family Fun Night. This is the big fundraiser for the school that they hold annually. It's basically a school carnival with games, activities, food and a silent auction. I was in charge of the setting up the games this year and we decided to make a new game, a punch board. It's like the punch game on the Price Is Right, in which the kids get a punch and can win various prizes. Luckily I have a very handy husband and he was able to create a wonderful board that will be able to be used for many years to come. After many hours of work and a lot of cussing, he had created an awesome game.

The mostly completed board

The completed game

We used plastic cups and glued tissue paper on the top, which worked out really well. I created three different levels of prizes (small, medium and large) and depending on what color slip of paper the kids got, that was the type of prize they received. I also included free punches and $25 off tuition prizes. It turned out really great and the night was a wonderful success.

The boys playing the fishing game before the festivities began

The only picture I got from the night, but we had a great time!

It's A GIRL!!!

Just yesterday Mike and I went in for my 20 week sonogram to check the baby's health and find out the sex. As everyone knows I was hoping for a girl since we already have a boy and we only plan on having two children, but I was mentally prepared for it to be a boy since that was what everyone thought it was going to be. To my surprise it is without a doubt a girl. I am over the moon and we are beyond thrilled. Everything else looked great in the sonogram as well. I cannot wait to meet her in 4 1/2 months! Oh how our lives will change, but in a good way :-)

My little girl

It's a girl!!!

NPDS 2012 Spring Program

Yesterday James' preschool held their Spring Program, in which each class sang a song for parental entertainment (I use that word loosely, but the kids were adorable). Here's a video of James' class singing their song, "A Wise Man Built" and some pictures of his class.

James' class getting ready to sing

James with Baw Paw after his performance

Strawberry Picking 2012

This past Tuesday my best friend, Margaret and I continued our annual tradition of taking James strawberry picking. We had just been hit with a big storm the night before so we weren't sure what to expect, but besides being a little muddy it was a perfect cool morning for picking strawberries. And the berries couldn't have looked better. They were plentiful and huge...now we know to definitely go at the beginning of strawberry season. James as always had a great time.

James is all ready to pick strawberries

James picking the best strawberries

James with Aunt Margaret

James getting a little help from Margaret

A shot of some of the strawberry patches (those are peach trees in the background)

He did such a great job!

the gorgeous strawberries we picked