There are all types of mothers...

This week, I participated in "Women in History" at my kids elementary school. There are 6 moms who portray famous women in presentations that span 2 days. Each day, 3 women share their stories 4 times in front of a total of 1000 people. I had the honor of portraying Irena Sendler. She was a Catholic Social worker who smuggled 2500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize. She had 2 children of her own along with 2500 others...the Ultimate Mom!
One of the teacher's aides asked our coordinator if we were professional actresses who travel to different schools with our performances. What an amazing compliment!It was a bit difficult to tell Irena's story but I had children come up to me to say that I did a really good job. I'm so glad they paid attention to me and learned something about an amazing woman.
Another mom represented was Tasha Tudor. She was a children's book author and illustrator. She had 4 children of her own and for one of her daughter's birthdays, she floated a cake on a flower covered raft down a river accompanied by other smaller rafts carrying candles. How cool is that! Great party planning idea! Her children and animals were her inspiration for her work.

Another talented mom was Pearl Bailey. She had 2 adopted children and the lovely women who portrayed her, Pamela Harrison, also has adopted children.

Cleopatra killed herself, by snake bite, in order to protect her 4 children and her empire.

Here is one of the 4 audiences.

The first performance always gives me butterflies but the others were fun!

So, I celebrate all of the different mothers out there!

Have a very Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted for a while. I've been busy being a mom, Brownie leader, baseball team photographer and actress. On Sunday, my Brownie troop attended their 2nd Brownilympics. It is a day of sports and friendship amoung 400 scouts. They compete in individual events such as soccer dribble and 50 yard dash. In the afternoon, they compete in team relays such as inner tube relay and sack relay. The girls also come up with their own troop theme and we were the Playful Puppies. During the opening parade, we walk around the track with our banners as the crowd cheers us on.

Since I was on the Event Committee (in charge of awards) my daughter Sheridan was in the opening ceremonies torch relay. She was so excited!


The Dads run all of the events and every girl wins a medal for their efforts.
I was there from 7:30- 3:00 and then I was off to my son's second baseball game of the weekend at 4:00.

His team won both of their games this weekend and increased their winning record to 13-1. They are the #1 team in their league out of 26 teams.

Chasen is a catcher and a centerfielder. He batted 3 for 3 with 4 RBIs.

Speaking of baseball, I took my kids and Chasen's friend, Shane, to a Dodger game Monday night.

It was a GREAT game with 2 home runs in the first inning.

Chasen and Shane got on Dodger Vision (big TV out in Left field) 3 times!

Since I have been this busy, I didn't have time to post that Sara at Party Perfect
was sweet enough to post and little something about my Slumber Party.
Please go a check out her great blog. She is a former Art Director for Martha Stewart's Kids and Baby magazine and finds the most amazing things!

This week I am performing at my kids elementary school for Women in History week. I am playing the part of Irena Sendler. She saved 2500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. There was a Hallmark Hall of Fame show about her a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, I had dress rehearsal and I made the moms cry. My performance for the kids is on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Not for me to make the kids cry, just for me to do well and not forget my lines :)

Last One!

Last October, my mom had surgery to remove a tumor a little bigger than a softball and part of her bowel resectioned. Her diagnosis was Stage 2 Ovarian Cancer. She was in the hospital for 17 days. Every night I would stay with her for a few hours, give her a massage, watch Dancing with the Stars and tuck her in.

Her chemo treatments started in January.


This is Fern taking Mom's blood pressure

After many months of blood tests, transfusions, IV hydrations, PET scans and hair and weight loss, my mom had her final chemo treatment today!

This is Gwen; one of Mom's nurses.

She had a PET scan on April 1st to reveal that she is CANCER FREE!

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers during this trying time for my family.

To celebrate, I made cake pops and passed them out to the nursing staff.

They really appreciated them and I appreciate them for taking such good care of my mom.

You deserve one too! Go ahead... take one!

First I Heart Faces entry

Amy at Living Locurto is the founder of I Heart Faces.

Every week they offer a different theme to enter one of your personal photos.

This week the theme is Reflection.

I remembered this picture I took of Sheridan when I took the kids to Ventura beach to have a photo shoot for my Pirate party. I think it's kinda cool!

Mary Poppins at the Baby Expo

My friend Sandy and I went downtown to the LA Convention Center today to set up my Mary Poppins party for the Baby & Tween Expo this weekend.

I am one of 5 party planners that was invited to compete in a party tablescape competition. The attendees of the Expo get to vote on which party set up they like the best. Here I am wrapping a PVC pipe in white ribbon set in Qwikcrete. It is part of my new Mad Hatter structure and didn't want to repaint it. These are the posts for the carousel horses.

I set the pots on cardboard boxes ( to give it some lift) that I used to haul everything in and wrapped them in tulle. The flower balls that I dyed the other day are on top.

I was up until midnight sewing all of the chair covers and custom tablecloth.

I love that the chair covers look like Mary Poppins skirt in her Jolly Holiday dress.

Each chair has a stuffed penguin. At my parties, guests are able to stuff their own penguins to take home.

Here is the whole set up. The lighting was TERRIBLE! I think they were saving energy and only had minimum lights on.

I also made kites and pinned them onto the black draping.

The roses were cut from my garden this morning.

Each napkin ring holds a custom made napkin and a lollipop.

And now for the competition....

These balloons were so cute! Love the ladybugs and flower pots on top of the columns.

This was set up next to me- High School Musical party.

The owner is a former Laker Girl and teaches the party guests

really fun routines.

I was so happy to meet a fellow blogger...Natalie from Little Shindigs!

She said she wasn't photo ready so maybe on Sunday when we meet up again. Here is a portion of her Marie Antoinette party. So opulent!

She made the "cake" too.

Here is a cute booth across from me and not in the competition.

Bikinis for babies!

Fun playhouse

Custom painted gifts and decor

Get ready....are you ready?

High Heels for babies!

So stinkin' cute!

GORGEOUS diaper bags!

Lots of BLING!

If you are in the area, please stop by (and vote for my party!)

I will be there on Sunday if you want to come by and say "Hi".

Have a great weekend!

Gratitude

I am so grateful to my grandmother for teaching me how to sew when I was 9.

If you have a gift or talent, please pass it along.

Dying Silk Flowers

I am so honored to be 1 of 5 party planners to display a tablescape at this weekend' s Baby & Tween Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

I am going to display my Mary Poppins Tea Party with a few modifications :)

One of them will be carousel horse balloons on PVC pipes wrapped in ribbon with a floral ball as a finial. Since it is such a small ball (4"), I wanted flowers that would lay flat. I went to WalMart and got 4 bunches of flowers for $12. My primary colors for the party are red and pink so the white and yellow daisies were not doing anything for me. I decided to dye them to match the decor. I have never done this before so I was taking a risk. First, I soaked the flowers in water and added boiling water to the powdered dye. I used Rit Dye in Rose Pink.

I used a big container with a big bottom :)

The dye bath was only about 1" deep. I only left them in for a few minutes and then dried them on paper towels.



Since the centers started out yellow, they turned a reddish orange. Close enough for me to go with my red and pink theme.



Here is the before and after. I really like the result! Can't wait to show you lots of pictures of the entire presentaion. I will be setting up on Friday so stay tuned!