Documenting Life--flashback style

Before I post about recent events, I am going to have to catch up on documenting life. We celebrated Addison's 3rd Birthday Dora Style, and I did a brief post but wanted to record my thoughts and reflections--and the details here for memory's sake.

Make a digital slideshow

We had her party the Saturday before her Tuesday Birthday. She has had a love affair with Dora since she could speak thanks to a big cousin Savannah's exposure, and I did not want her preschool years to go by without celebrating her favorite character.

We decided to have the party at my parents' house since we decided to rent a bounce house. They have a much bigger yard. I decided to go high on the entertainment this year and low on the food. Here is the rundown.

Activities:

• Making silly hats. It's from Dora's Silly Fiesta Episode. I found inspiration here and a pattern here. We used felt for the hats (Thanks for cutting them out, Heather), pipe cleaners to fasten them, and foam sticky shapes, poms, and jewels to embellish them.
• Coloring and playing in the cardboard Dora House. It is pictured in the slideshow and is similar to this. This was a gift from our neighbors--thanks Mark, Andrea, Laura, and Andrew. All of the kids loved it as an option.
• Jumping in the Dora Bounce House. We rented one from here. Kids and adults alike loved it... I might be jumping in it in some of the pictures. :) Seriously, though, my friends kept commenting on how nice it was to have the children "caged" so that ALL could enjoy the party. :)
• Dancing on the Deck--to Dora Music... and Maroon Five's "Moves Like Jaggar." Those little kiddos had some moves too.

Refreshments:

• Yummy Yummy Dora Princess and Scepter Publix Cake
• Cupcakes
• Popcorn
• Goldfish
• Juice Boxes

Decorations:

• Homemade Banners
• Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Poms
• Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Streamers. Inspiration for both found here.
• Things that Wren donated to me leftover from Olivia's 2nd party--table cloths, plates and napkins

Favors (depending on age and gender, some compilation of the following):

• Dora pencils
• Dora notepads
• Dora whistles (thanks, Wren :) )
• Dora bracelets
• Dora watches
• Dora fruitsnacks
• in Dora treat bags (thanks again, Wren!)

Sidenote: I never knew how much Dora was out there... Addison got 11 different Dora birthday cards, and only one repeated... Crazy!

Highlight of the whole day: the sheer excitement on Addison's face. She had a BALL!

Before I post about recent events, I am going to have to catch up on documenting life. We celebrated Addison's 3rd Birthday Dora Style, and I did a brief post but wanted to record my thoughts and reflections--and the details here for memory's sake.

Make a digital slideshow

We had her party the Saturday before her Tuesday Birthday. She has had a love affair with Dora since she could speak thanks to a big cousin Savannah's exposure, and I did not want her preschool years to go by without celebrating her favorite character.

We decided to have the party at my parents' house since we decided to rent a bounce house. They have a much bigger yard. I decided to go high on the entertainment this year and low on the food. Here is the rundown.

Activities:

• Making silly hats. It's from Dora's Silly Fiesta Episode. I found inspiration here and a pattern here. We used felt for the hats (Thanks for cutting them out, Heather), pipe cleaners to fasten them, and foam sticky shapes, poms, and jewels to embellish them.
• Coloring and playing in the cardboard Dora House. It is pictured in the slideshow and is similar to this. This was a gift from our neighbors--thanks Mark, Andrea, Laura, and Andrew. All of the kids loved it as an option.
• Jumping in the Dora Bounce House. We rented one from here. Kids and adults alike loved it... I might be jumping in it in some of the pictures. :) Seriously, though, my friends kept commenting on how nice it was to have the children "caged" so that ALL could enjoy the party. :)
• Dancing on the Deck--to Dora Music... and Maroon Five's "Moves Like Jaggar." Those little kiddos had some moves too.

Refreshments:

• Yummy Yummy Dora Princess and Scepter Publix Cake
• Cupcakes
• Popcorn
• Goldfish
• Juice Boxes

Decorations:

• Homemade Banners
• Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Poms
• Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Streamers. Inspiration for both found here.
• Things that Wren donated to me leftover from Olivia's 2nd party--table cloths, plates and napkins

Favors (depending on age and gender, some compilation of the following):

• Dora pencils
• Dora notepads
• Dora whistles (thanks, Wren :) )
• Dora bracelets
• Dora watches
• Dora fruitsnacks
• in Dora treat bags (thanks again, Wren!)

Sidenote: I never knew how much Dora was out there... Addison got 11 different Dora birthday cards, and only one repeated... Crazy!

Highlight of the whole day: the sheer excitement on Addison's face. She had a BALL!

Addison the Explorer Preview

I know most of you have forgotten about us over here, but we are still hanging in there.

September starts our full court press of partying. It is a busy time, but the BEST kind of busy.

We now have a 3-year-old in the house, and I totally agree with what my mom told me about the 3-year-old phase: it's about as sweet as it gets. I have to gather all of my pictures together and load them on my computer eventually, but here is a sneak preview of the fun that my Addy-belle had at her 3rd birthday party.

We call this "contained chaos." It was awesome. It allowed the adults to enjoy themselves too.

The kids made silly hats and sang Happy Birthday.

They danced to "Moves Like Jaggar."
When all of the friends left, Mommy and the aunts came in and jumped and raced.
After pizza and exhaustion, she opened some family presents.
I'll be back with details soon.
In the meantime I'm just busy planning away for the Ansley's Ladybug Picnic. Joint parties might be in our future. :)

I know most of you have forgotten about us over here, but we are still hanging in there.

September starts our full court press of partying. It is a busy time, but the BEST kind of busy.

We now have a 3-year-old in the house, and I totally agree with what my mom told me about the 3-year-old phase: it's about as sweet as it gets. I have to gather all of my pictures together and load them on my computer eventually, but here is a sneak preview of the fun that my Addy-belle had at her 3rd birthday party.

We call this "contained chaos." It was awesome. It allowed the adults to enjoy themselves too.

The kids made silly hats and sang Happy Birthday.

They danced to "Moves Like Jaggar."
When all of the friends left, Mommy and the aunts came in and jumped and raced.
After pizza and exhaustion, she opened some family presents.
I'll be back with details soon.
In the meantime I'm just busy planning away for the Ansley's Ladybug Picnic. Joint parties might be in our future. :)