Pumpkin Carving Party 2013 {The Invitation}

We are celebrating 10 years of pumpkin carving this year. Above is the invitation design. The painting was done by my brother-in-law Kevin. I love the painting because it reminds me of the very first year when we had a pumpkin pinata. The colors in the sky are so inviting with the contrasting, spooky black silhouette in the foreground.

In honor of celebrating 10 years we wanted to do something different, so we asked guests to help us GIVE to friends of ours who are adopting a baby. This year instead of asking guests to bring their pumpkins we bought 50 pumpkins (at wholesale) and asked guests to buy them from us for $10 each. We called it Pumpkins with Purpose and it was a big hit. By doing this we were able to give more and were able to bless our friends with a generous financial blessing. That made celebrating 10 years so much sweeter.

Pumpkins With Purpose

Psalm 68:5–6

“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God,

whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families;

he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.”

Tropical Honeymoon Shower {The Main Event}

I was asked to coordinate a shower for a couple at our church. The couple was blending two households and had more than enough "stuff." What they really wanted was money to go towards their honeymoon. So I created a tropical Honeymoon Shower. To help guest understand the concept the invitations read: "give the gift of memories made, not just things that will fade." 

Here is my initial sketch for the party. I think the final layout was just what I had in my head.

The menu included finger food type desserts that included Sand (or Beach) Cups, Fruit Skewers, White Powdered and Coconut Flaked Donuts skewered with paper straws resting in crushed graham crackers (sand) and the cake.

The cake was my design, but was created by Barbara Watts. I thought it turned out beautiful and made me smile to look at it. The origami money clothes were the same ones used to create the invitation. I just stuck a candy stick into the bottom of each one and Barbara added them to the top of the cake.

I created a "Money Palm Tree" out of toilet paper rolls, black paper and mini clothes pins. Guests could clip their money to the tree along with a slip of paper that offered wishes or advice. The couple loved the tree so much they asked to use it at the wedding reception as well.

Tropical Honeymoon Shower {The Invitation}

I designed this invitation for a tropical themed honeymoon shower. The couple was blending two households and had more than enough "stuff." What they really wanted was money to go towards their honeymoon. The phrase I came up with was "give the gift of memories made, not just things that will fade." I had seen origami money folded into clothing before and thought this would be a clever way to communicate that guests should bring CASH without blatantly saying that. I followed these instructions to fold the money and then scanned them into my computer along with the drink umbrella using sand colored paper as the background. I added the text and palm tree sun design using Adobe InDesign. I saved the money clothes and used them as a topper for the cake at the event. They were perfect. People responded well to the invitation and the couple had a nice wad of spending money for their trip.

Kindergarten {Our Final Six Weeks}

 June 24-August 2, 2013. Our Final Six Weeks of Kindergarten.

We spent more time outside studying nature and learning about bees at the library, adding to our nature books with each new discovery.

 And constructing legos.

 Daddy built these super cool water and sand tables and so the girls had tons of fun with sensory play.

 Marin completed The Beginner's Bible and we celebrated the completion of Kindergarten with Pizza. We met her grandparents at the local CiCi's Pizza and invited them over for desert so that Marin could show them everything she had learned this year. 

But the highlight of this six weeks for Marin was her week at Camp Invention.

 Marin's "Duck Stand" invention.

  Someone was REALLY proud of her gold medal. 

Knock, Knock Birthday {The Party}

"Knock, Knock,"

"Who's There?"

"Abby!"

"Abby who?"

"Abby Birthday Marin!"

 We celebrated Marin's sixth birthday poolside with a knock, knock theme birthday party. It was a simple menu of chips, crackers, cake, juice and watermelon.

Since turning six Marin's favorite color has changed from pink to blue.
So, she informed me that the party colors must include blue.

We had so much fun coming up with ideas for a knock, knock birthday party. One of the first ideas was to create a cake topper from a door. I'd seen these Tooth Fairy doors and immediately thought of them as a cake topper. It also served as a table decoration before and after the cake was served.

Another idea was to decorate with "knock out roses." These beauties were from my sister-n-laws garden. A simple talk bubble tag said "Knock out Roses."

Candy bags with a knock, knock joke:

"Knock, Knock,"

"Who's There?"

"Lettuce!"

"Lettuce who?"

"Lettuce eat candy!"

A simple "knock over the cans" game was made out of empty chili cans and a beach ball.

The knock, knock joke read:

"Knock, Knock,"

"Who's There?"

"Canoe!"

"Canoe who?"

"Canoe Knock these over?" 

The kids were all given inflatable microphones as a party favor.

The tub holding the favors had a sign that said: 

"Knock, Knock,"

"Who's There?"

"Yeti!"

"Yeti who?"

"Yeti Nother Knock, Knock Joke?" 

Grab a mic and keep em coming!

We made wraps for each one that said:

"Knock, Knock,"

"Who's There?"

"Hank!"

"Hank who?"

"Hank you for coming!" 

It was a great party. Filled with lots of love and laughter. 

Knock, Knock Birthday Party {The Invitation}

Marin has a "thing" for knock, knock jokes. It's a recent discovery and it just so happens that this new found fascination corresponds with her sixth birthday. I'm always trying to think of party themes based on the current interest of my children. For two reasons, 1. because they are usually consumed by the item/insect/animal or curiosity and 2. it helps me archive this period of their life. What they were in to. What made them smile. Where they were developmentally. I often worry about my ability to remember details of their childhood. Birthdays are a big deal around here and so why not use them to archive not only their age, but their interest. Thus, this Knock, Knock Birthday Party theme developed.

We snapped a picture of Marin in her favorite swimming suit. She has a summer birthday and is learning to swim, so a swimming party was in order. I cut her out using Photoshop.

To pull off the theme idea, I knew a door would have to be incorporated into the invitation design. So, the first joke on the invitation has to do with a door.
"Knock, Knock." "Who's there?" "Theodore" "Theodore Who?" "Theodore is closed. Please open it!"

When the invitation is folded, you see just her face peeking through the top of the door.

Next, we needed to introduce that it was a swimming party, so we used:
"Knock, Knock." "Who's there?" "Less" "Less Who?" "Less go for a swim!"

and finally we needed to acknowledge the birthday girl so we closed with:
"Knock, Knock." "Who's there?" "Abby" "Abby Who?" "Abby Birthday Marin!"

The invitation was designed so that you can print everything on one sheet of letter size card stock, cut it in half and then accordion fold the two pieces. We cut out the window of the door and then, taped the two pieces together.

The final invitation is an odd size 3" x 4.5," so we had to make our own envelopes. However, if you shop for #4 Coin Envelope there are options for purchasing them. Here is the envelope template we created:

We spent an evening hand delivering these fun, joke filled invitations to friends and family, but also sent out an invitation via Facebook. The best part was when friends and family members sent their RSVP in the form of a knock, knock joke. Here were a few of my favorites:

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Mayonnaise. 
Mayonnaise, who?
Mayonnaise's gonna be a lotta people at Marin's party!
Tee hee. See ya there!

...

Knock, knock!
...knock, knock!!
...knock?
We're not home! We're going to Marin's party!

...

"Knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"Orange!"
"Orange who?"
"Orange you glad we're coming."

...

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Boo
Boo who?
Don't cry! We are coming!

...

Knock, Knock!
Who's there? 
Sherwood.
Sherwood who? 
Sherwood like to come.
And we plan to!!! :) Happy 6th Birthday to Marin!

June 19-23 Hill Country Vacation

 We spent four days in the hill country with the girls and some close friends. When we vacation I often try to record what the girls say as we're arriving at our destination. Here are a few phrases that made me giggle:

"Wow! Look at that big big mountain! Wow, Paw Paw made these all by himself?!"

"Woah, those are big."

"It's a dry heat."

"I want to see the sun."

"I can't wait to stay here. Are we in the Hill Country?"

"There sure are a lot of hills here. That must be why it's called the Hill Country."

"Momma, is the cabin made out of logs?"

"Are we going to hike these hills?"

"Look at that lake! Did you SEE that? I mean river..."

"I want OUTEEEEEE."

 We took evening hikes. Found wild flowers. Looked for deer.

 Enjoyed time with friends.

 Soaked in the sun and splashed in the river. 

 The minnow nets were almost as popular as these binoculars.