Ice Cream Social

On Wednesday night, I hosted a Court of Awards for my Brownie troop.

I served an ice cream sundae bar and I carried the theme to their bags that held all of their badges and patches.
A few weeks ago, Tangarang posted a free template for an ice cream cone. I cut the the cone to make it flat for the name tags for the bags and then I used them 3-D for the decor on the chandlier.

The kids had a great time creating their own masterpieces.

After I passed out the awards, we watched a DVD on the big screen of the past year's activities. The scouts each got a copy of the DVD to take home.

They will start their 3rd and final year of Brownies in August.

Backyard Movie Part II

On Saturday night, we had our Opening

Night of our Backyard Summer Movie series. I love to decorate the table to match the theme of the movie (duh!).

Since we showed "Night at the Museum", I had it set up like a museum.

I made cards to identify all of the important items. Here is a reference to the movie.
The Easter Island head calls Larry, the security guard, Dum Dum and wants him to bring him Gum Gum.

I even identified the s'mores.

These are some Spanish doubloons I had for my Pirate party.

Sheridan handed out tickets to everyone who came.
Guests also received glow-in-the-dark bracelets. I got a whole pack for $1 at Michael's.

Chasen welcomed them at the door and said "Welcome to our 3rd annual movie series. Enjoy your movie". He came up with that on his own! So cute!

A few hours before guests were to arrive, I checked the DVD box and the movie was MISSING! I had to run to WalMart to get another copy. There was one left!

I also picked up an outfit for Matthew to wear. He agreed to be the "security guard" for the night!

Everyone enjoyed toasting the marshmallows.
and making s'mores.

This year, we asked for pantry donations for the Hunger Defense Fund. For every item you bring, we give you a raffle ticket to win a box of GIANT candy! It was a big hit!

Everyone had such a great time! Our next screening is May 29 and we will be showing "Sense & Sensibility".

Pink Playhouse Saturday

On Mother's Day, Sheridan and I cleaned out her playhouse. After months of neglect, there was a lot of work to be done. We had to sort the dishes from the food and stack all of the tea sets.

We washed the floor and I re-painted her ladder and loft.

She was so excited to have a clean house...

she woke up on Monday morning at 5:30 am.
She went outside to her playhouse to make me "breakfast".
At 6:00 am, she stood over me while I was lying in bed and woke me up to invite me to her house for breakfast.

She served waffles, eggs sunny side up, croissant and tea. We had such a wonderful time. It was a wonderful start to a long week.

Next week, I'm making some curtains for the windows.


Happy Pink Saturday!



Thanks again to the wonderful Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting this amazing event week after week!

Backyard Movie Part I

It's THAT time of year again! 2 years ago, I had the idea to have movies screened in my backyard. I borrowed a projector, screen and speakers from a neighbor. I did this about 3 times and the both of us got pretty tired of schlepping everything back and forth. So last year, I bit the bullet and bought my own set-up.
This year I made up a whole new movie schedule (after sending out an email poll!)
Our first movie is this Saturday night and we are screening "Night at the Museum" to coincide with the second movie opening next Friday. Of course, I have to have a table to match the theme of the movie so I looked around my house to find "museum" pieces.
I decided the giant diamond I used for my friend's Breakfast at Tiffany's party would make a great Hope Diamond! I did a little research and found out that it is a blue diamond. I just happen to have a submersible light from Matt's grad party 2 years ago and placed it under a tissue filled square vase turned upside-down.
I also made "museum" labels for the items. Here is a replica of a dinosaur tooth from Chasen's 4th birthday---7 YEARS AGO!

I save everything!

We serve fixin's for S'Mores and toast the marshmallows in our fire pit prior to the movie.
Guests bring their own blankets and pillows and lay them on the grass to watch the flick.
I have 12 movies scheduled throughout the summer.

I will have more pictures this weekend!

P.S.- If you are in the Los Angeles area, please stop by!

Alice Sneak Peek

It's starting to come together! Monday was a publishing deadline and I'm not quite finished with all of my painting for my newest party theme -Alice in Wonderland.

I had planned a huge photo shoot with 6 kids and my entire party set up, flamingo croquet and kids in costume but since I had a deadline, I scaled it down.
This is my dear little friend, Kylee. She just turned 6 last week and I think she makes the perfect Alice!

She had just finished a long, hard day at Kindergarten, but she agreed to do some modeling for me. Of course, I did buy her lunch at McDonald's and we ate it in my daughter's playhouse. I really know how to treat my employees well!

The whole shoot took about 10 minutes. Kylee was a great model.

I told her about my plans for the BIG photo shoot and maybe we could have it on Sunday
but I had a Princess party to host as well that day.

"You can do it" she reassured me. "Am I coming to the Princess party, too?"

What a sweet potato!

The first picture is what I am using for the ad.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

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 :)