A Super 5th Birthday!

His shirt says it all!  This little man is FIVE!   Yes,  this past August Ace turned five and he very much was excited for a Superhero Birthday party with all of his friends!    How could  this mom say no?    There was so many fun choices of things to do for this - and well - I probably dabbled in a bit of all of them.  

THE CRAFTING

Let's get started!  First every superhero needs a cape (unless you watch the Incredibles and then capes are bad... but no one seemed to object so that's great!)   Now these capes seemed like a great idea, even when I knew my number was 20 for creating them.   NO problem... right?    Yes,  these capes had 20 steps to them... yes 20.  After the pattern was created I had to:  cut the front of the cape,  cut two halves for the backs of the cape,  iron on the embroidery stabilizing paper, attach the front of the cape to the loom, embroider each cape with a "BAM" or a "POW" embroidery patch (3-4 different thread changes each time), remove the excess stabilizing paper, cut all loose threads,  next I sewed together the halves (so each cape had all three colors on them), next 20 sets of Velcro were cut to size,  pin the two halves together, then sewed the halves together with the Velcro inside,  cut around the collar of each of them so they wouldn't pucker around the neck,  turn them right side out,  iron them flat, then top stitch in a contrasting color!  Whew!   Throw in a few trial and errors, hiccups with thread tension, bobbin reloading, and a bit of insanity - all this was accomplished in two weeks!  Ace's cape was special, he got to have a slightly larger cape that had both BAM and POW but also I found an Avenger's A to make as the center picture!  He loved it!  (I'd link to it, but the place I bought it from on Etsy already no longer exists!)  Fabric, embroidery thread, etc. was all obtained at JoAnn's. 

Now while the embroidery machine was humming away there was plenty of downtime while I waited and that needed to be put to good use!  I had a list a mile long and so often I was working on another project between switching out thread for the POW and BAM fun!     There was a lot of butcher paper art work.  I have owned for a few years this roll of paper.   I have used this over and over again and there is no sign of it disappearing anytime soon.     On my list of paper crafts for this party there was:  the "Calling All Superheroes!', BAM, POW, the Villain Lair, 'Beware Evil Lair', and the photography backdrop.   Several people said I was insane and said to scale back, but I just couldn't do it!   The Villain Lair was taped between the fence and the house in front of the back gate which was where our super villains hid out.  The sign was 6 feet by 11 feet - and after I sketched out my design from my inspiration found on Bing images,  my sign took about an hour to lay out the paper, sketch, and paint.   Also in case you're curious I painted using these Colorations Liquid Watercolor Paint (which I absolutely love!) I bought these over a year ago and they were awesome purchases.   They act like water colors (don't permanently stain) and yet their colors are super vibrant!   They made making the signs pretty darn quick!



These gals came over the night before to help me with some final details!



When I got weary of sewing or when I was tired of drawing/painting on the giant paper products I turned to the computer to work on some of those projects - specifically the items that I sent to the 1-hour photo printer.     I designed some signs to be hung around in the house, snack table, etc..

The City skyline I designed using a sheet of larger cardstock and then simply cut out various shapes. 
The windows are either punched cardstock or yellow post-its - nicely organized by Carrie!

This is what is in the picture on the mantel.  My little superhero as he's grown these past five years!

THE FOOD

We held the party from 3-5pm which was post lunch and before dinner so we were light on the snacks.    We had:  Laser Vision Sticks (carrots),  Wonder Dogs (little wienies wrapped in croissants),  POPcorn (in easy to serve cones that were simply coloring sheets from a Thor coloring book), Shape Shifters (the red and blue jello)  and for those that dare we had a bit of Kryptonite (lime jello) and to drink the infamous energy drink with a bolt of lightening and thematically colored!  

Ace's cake this year was themed to represent the city scape - using the sheets of premade fondant made by Wilton in black and yellow.   Overall it wasn't my favorite designed cake that I made for him, but it was pretty easy to accomplish using my exacto-knife and I also got to use the spray food dye to add some depth to the blue and generally it fit the theme quite nicely!   To add a pop of color the inside was dyed to match the thematic colors of the party.

THE GAMES!

Like most of the parties I like to throw I prefer a free flowing event.    So I try to create options for the kids to just run around and have a good time without a lot of stop and go.     Therefore,  I brought back a few of the options that were big hits at last year's party.    The photo booth and a beanbag toss made a return!    I took an example off of Pinterest (I cannot find the link) and took to designing a bean bag toss using a science project board.   Loving Husband cut out the excellent circles and I spent the next two hours coloring with sharpies (before abandoning that sloooow nonsense) and moving back to my aforementioned favorite watercolors!      I also sewed together 8 beanbags using some fun comic fabric. 

I also wanted them to be able to use their super strength with their super powers and so I obtained a set of the Melissa and Doug Bricks for them to knock down with their fists or the provide Captain America Shield!   This game was a favorite - and I was completely surprised - as assumed by the end of the day these things would go straight to the recycler from destruction.  Not one was destroyed.  Kudos to construction M&D!     The kids love to set them up and knock them down. 

Finally for free play I once again created the photo booth area with various props including a few masks of the Avengers, and I created some signs using some cardboard, spray-paint, and painting on various words.   The kids had a great time using the Fisher Price kid's camera again and were mostly happy to entertain this mom with her own camera a time or two!

The only organized activity that we had was Super Villains that came to disrupt the party just before it was time for cake!   Loving Husband and one of the other Dad's happily signed up to play the villains of the party and I got to work on making them their costumes - yes more sewing, but nothing too complex!     They burst into the party through the paper - with children scattering scared everywhere!   The eldest party goers were all for attacking the villains and most of the rest watched from a safer distance.  

After a few minutes of spinning the kids and zapping them (tickling) with their evil powers - they ran off scared so that the Superheroes could arm themselves with tools (crepe paper) to tie up the Villains!     More of the kids decided that part was fun an most joined in on tying up the villains before fleeing (Ace kept trying to untie them because he didn't want them to leave!) 

Overall it was an awesome party to watch all the kids run around and play! Ace received lots of nice presents and had a great time with his friends.   I am super thankful for the time LH gave me to accomplish all the prep work - and that I was able to accomplish it in spite of the time crunch!   Not too bad in executing everything in under two weeks!   

Happy Birthday, Bear!  We love our little Superhero!!

FIVE!!

***Courtesy reminder - if you wish to pin this to Pinterest PLEASE DO NOT PIN PHOTOS THAT CONTAIN FACES OF KIDS.  There are plenty of alternative pictures!   Thank you!!***

September in Photos

September was the beginning of a new season for us and so far it's off to a great start!  I also snuck in a few photography sessions as well, including my first Senior Session!  This month I chose to work on backlit photography - mostly concentrating on sunlight - it was fun to tweak the camera and to get the settings correct so that my subject wasn't totally shadowed.  Looking forward to all the fall colors that are headed our way in October!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the big day!   My little man got himself up, got himself dressed, brushed his teeth and was all ready to go!     I made him some banana pancakes and while those were cooking he had himself a bowl of cereal as well.   He was all set to run outside and take his pictures in front of the house and then we were off - all four of us - to drop Ace off on his very first day of school!

A grand adventure awaits!

We stopped on campus and grabbed a few pictures since we were early enough and then we went to where drop off will be every day.   He found his class line and got in it.   Both Loving Husband and I took turns talking to him, his sister and him hugged each other.    Ace in general was nervous and trying to expel that by jumping up and down, but he did good to stay in his place.   He didn't really talk to the other kids around him, but could be because he was occupied with his own family. ;)

 

One last time before he headed off to his class I stopped and he and I prayed together.   I asked him if he wanted to pray and he at first said "Nah"  and then immediately said "Well, yah."   So I said a quick prayer with him and the he and his class walked off toward his class and the three of us headed home.  I didn't cry until we were nearly home and I was talking to Loving Husband about how it seems like not that long ago he was so little and now he's big enough to be off to kindergarten!  

Two hours and 45 minutes (Yes, that's all "half day" kindergarten is!)  go by very quickly, but this mama was eager to get back to the school to find out how he had done!    I arrived with Mae and her and I waited for brother (who she missed a lot!) to come out.  As Ace came out of the building he was leading the class and being ever so watchful of his teacher and what he had to do and where to go.    After everyone was out of the building his teacher told him to make point and make eye contact with mom, he got to give his teacher a high five, and then he was dismissed to me.       I had not yet obtained the 'sitting at his desk' picture and so we waited until the rest of the kids were dismissed to then go back to his classroom with his teacher.

While we were waiting for his teacher to put some of his classmates onto the buses I asked him about his day.   Here are a few of our conversations:

Me:   Did you have a good day?
A:  Yes, I loved it! 
Me:  What did you do? 
A:  Well, we didn't get to go outside.
Me:  Well, that's ok.  I am sure you will on a different day.  What else did you do?
A:  We colored, that was my favorite part, and we listened to a story.
Me:  What book did you read?
A:  {{Answered with the full name of the book that mommy no longer can recall but was thematically themed for the first day of school}}
Me:   Did you like it? 
A:   Well, sure.  I was a bit distracted.
Me:  Oh, why is that?  
A:  Well, the oldest kid in the class [Maybe he's the biggest?  Not sure how Ace determined he's the oldest] was very naughty today.  He was having a hard time.
Me:  Oh?
A:  Yah during story time he was under the desks knocking down all the chairs and then he got his own book and then kept saying a naughty word over and over [Groan, first day really???]
Me: [Cautiously]  Um which one?
A: [Whispering]  Stupid.   He kept saying it over and over and wouldn't stop when Mrs. A said to.
Me:  I'm sorry, what did you do? 
A:  I tried to keep listening to the story.
Me:  That is good.  What else did you do today?
A:  We wrote out our names and colored.    That same kid ripped some one's paper during that part of class too.  I don't know why he was being so naughty!
Me:  Well, sounds like he was having a hard time adjusting and wasn't sure how best to handle himself.
A:  Hmm, yah, I guess. [Not convinced.]
Me:  Anything else exciting?
A:  We got goldfish for a snack!! [Eyes super big while he jumped up and down.]
Me:  Neat!  Do you want to go run around for a bit?  [He was gone before he could answer.]

After he and his sister ran around for a while longer, his teacher finished loading up the kids and we all headed back to the classroom after posing for a picture with his teacher.  He humored me by taking a picture at his desk, it went ok - but he was clearly done with photo-ops.   He is half his father after all - who is always done with photo-ops.  ;)      We headed home and he continued to tell me stories. 

Me:   What was your favorite part about kindergarten? 
A:  Getting to color.  I stayed in the lines the whole time.  Some other kids... did not.  
Me:  That's great that you did!   Did you meet anyone today?
A:  We all learned our names and our teacher wrote things on the board about how we were feeling about kindergarten.
Me:  What did you say?  
A:  I said I was curious. 
Me:  That's a good thing to feel.

After getting home and washing our hands - we started to load up into the car to head to meet dad for lunch and as we drove we sporadically continued to talk about school.

A:  So today I tried to help someone get their name tag off the paper and they took it from me and yelled.
Me:  What did you say when you had their name tag?
A:  I said "I can help you with that"  They were having trouble getting theirs off and I had already put mine on, so I was going to help but then they just snatched it from me.
Me:  Well, maybe they didn't understand you were trying to help.   How did you feel after they took it back from you?
A:  Fine. 
Me:  Well that is good that you didn't let it bother you.   Maybe next time it would be better to offer to help before you take it so no one feels you are trying to take it away. 
A:  Yah, that's a good idea.

Me:  Did you introduce yourself to anyone today and say "Nice to meet you!"? 
A:  No, I wasn't quite ready to say that to anyone yet today.  Maybe another day. 

Me: [My own self curious] So how did you get to be the first one in line?
A:  Well, the teacher said that whoever was first in line would get to give her a high five when they got picked up and so I wanted to have the high five so I got in  line first. 
Me:  Neat!  

Overall, he had a great day at kindergarten and is excited to return tomorrow.   Overall a very successful first day of school! 

Ace was very proud of his coloring. 
Both Loving Husband and I were super impressed with his pencil coloring!

A Quick Introduction

Tonight before dinner there was open house at Ace's school.  It was an opportunity to see his class, meet his teacher, and generally get that initial unknown element out of the way.   He was pretty excited to go.  Our family of four set out on an exciting adventure for the boy! 

When we first walked up there were people out in the courtyard and he seemed a tad hesitant at the number of people there were there.  He said cautiously "Um, maybe we should wait until there are less people."  We reassured him it was ok and that this was a bigger school so there were going to be, in general, a lot more people.  He seemed to accept and process this just fine and we continued forward to locate where his classroom was.  

We played outside waiting for them to unlock the classrooms - and Ace was happy to be able to run around and swing on the bars that were in the area.    He didn't really socialize with any of the other kids, but he tends to do his own thing and then warm up to talking to the other kids.   He was enjoying showing us his new school.    :)

Once the doors opened we walked to his classroom and while Loving Husband signed Ace in, I grabbed the paperwork and Ace and his sister went to find his seat!  He will be sitting at a table with four other kids and so that will be interesting to see how that works out.  :)   Generally the class seems huge to me, I didn't get an exact  head count today - I'll ask tomorrow - but seems like so many for such a young age!! 

Upon meeting his teacher he was pretty shy, mumbled hello and not much else.  It was sweet and pretty standard for our little dude.   He went around exploring his classroom and had a lot of fun looking at all the books, the calendars, the subjects.  He tried to read everything he could and then asked for help on the ones he didn't yet know.    It was really cute to watch him explore. 

After we headed home, had dinner, and then got ready for bed where we read a book that seemed appropriate for the occasion.  :)     We talked about how he was a tiny bit nervous, but mostly excited to start school tomorrow!  I walked him through what all he needed to do in the morning and then kissed my boy goodnight on the eve of  him becoming an official kindergartener!   Sleep well my boy, dream big dreams of school!

Tomorrow it begins...

Didn't I just write about my boy's first day of preschool?   Wasn't he just turning two?    Didn't he just learn to roll over??   No, no I guess time has gone by and we press forward into more adventures and milestones.  Tomorrow we will mark another start to the latest chapter into childhood - the start of kindergarten and primary school.  Five days a week.   Ace will be doing half day - so it won't be terribly different from his preschool experience as far as time goes, but the class size will double (if not more) and the school is quadruple in size.   So while he's got an early start to the education and the listening to a teacher, this is a whole new adventure that we will navigate together.   

All summer Ace has been excited to start.  This morning he seems equally as excited and I hope that sentiment remains. When asked what he's most excited about starting school he says:  "That I get to go to school more.  I get to play with new friends."  Tonight we will go to an open house where we will be introduced to his teacher and see his classroom.     This mommy is mostly excited about his adventure too!  I can't wait and I pray that he'll have a wonderful experience and make as many great friends at he did at his preschool.  

Mommy has already taken an active role in getting him into the best spot for kindergarten.    He was initially assigned a PM slot and mommy wasn't a fan - started at 12 and ended before 3pm.   Smack in the middle of day, and while Ace no longer needs a nap - I wasn't so convinced all his classmates would be in the same boat, so a whiney bunch of classmates, a teacher that already had taught the AM class and time a day that Ace is notoriously ravenous for a few hours - just didn't seem the best choice, so I called in June and they asked me to wait until August 8th to call.   And I did as soon as the office opened on that day.    There was some push back and a hiccup in that there was also a specific teacher I didn't want Ace to be assigned to (which he was) so I had to be a tad persistent in the overly-nicest way I think I ever have had to problem solve, but Ace is now in AM kindergarten with another teacher.     Hopefully the office doesn't have a 'note' by my name already.  ;)

So tomorrow we'll march into school with what feels like a giant backpack for my little guy - armed with his supplies and hopefully great anticipation for great things to come!     We're so proud of you, Bear!  Although there are many days this is how big I think you are.  :)

August in Photos

August was a pretty light month in photography for me.   Ace's birthday was really the first time I took pictures because most of August was spent with crafting for said party.   Lots of sewing, drawing, painting and designing for the epic Superhero party!    Look for a separate post on that to come soon!