I first saw this saying framed in a little shop on Martha's Vineyard called Portobello Road.
Portobello Road - found objects-curiosities-etctera
glimpse of Portobello Road Shop - Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard
I thought, how perfect to hang in my house! When things got crazy with the kids, maybe it would be a reminder to just take a deep breath and --Keep Calm and Carry On-- because you have no choice really, LOL. I didn't buy it because it would've meant (my husband) lugging it home on the ferry. Then I started seeing it in all sorts of places -- Boston Interiors, Paper Source, which has a entire line of "Keep Calm and Carry On" items. They also have:
and then I found:
Pretty sure I like this one better...as I say, it all depends on the day!
Anyway, I knew that the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster originated in England but it didn't know the exact history. Then today, The Huffington Post posted this on Facebook. I thought it was interesting.
This winter, New England has been unbelievably warm. My Nolan loves to be outside. Sean is much more of the indoorsy type. This picture was from last week. The weather was amazing. Nolan was out in the backyard right after breakfast. I keep peeking out at him. He was "fixing" his old bike.
Next thing he is begging Sean to come outside to see a "surprise." "Mom don't look yet." I thought, oh God!
"OK Mom you can look now..."
A few weeks before Halloween Nolan watched the ET movie and became obsessed. It started with him attaching a basket to the front of his little bike. Then he pleaded for a red sweatshirt. (That I found on Hanes.com for $8) He put Yoda (from his Star Wars obsession) in the basket, as it was the closest thing he could find that looked like ET.
So there was no question--he was going to be Elliot for Halloween. His uncle (my brother) fueled his obsession by crafting a paper mache ET head! Yes my entire family is completely nuts creative.
That was all fine and good for Halloween but ET stayed on his bike for weeks after...getting some strange looks at the park from other little kids who had no idea who ET was.
Most of the parents got a good laugh out of it...or maybe they were laughing at me for allowing him to ride around the park with ET wrapped in a towel strapped to his bike! That's normal right? I would tell myself, just like all his other obsessions favorite things--The Wiggles, Pirates, the Wiggles again, Star Wars, Harry Potter...this too shall pass...and God knows what will be next!
When the new Muppet movie came along, poor ET was put on a shelve in the playroom and forgotten. But for some reason ET has reared his funny big head again. Nolan had asked me to download music from ET the day before...but he also asked for music from Star Wars, Spongebob, Victorious and the chicken dance, so I wasn't thinking that ET was coming back in full force.
Not only did he stick his bike in a tree and dress Sean up like Elliot, he had the music playing for the full effect...
The next Steven Spielberg?
Although Sean will tell you, he can be a bit difficult to work with.
Most of you are aware that my Sean has multiple food allergies, well today I have some good news to share...
Sean did a food challenge with wheat at the allergist office this morning. The numbers on Sean's last blood test for wheat where low. They told us to bring some wheat crackers, they would do a skin test and if that was negative we could try giving him the wheat.
His skin test was negative! The food challenge basically went as follows...
They give him a piece of the wheat cracker, waited 15 minutes, checked his skin and vital signs. They repeated this process 4 times. He was absolutely fine, no hives or rashes! He wanted to keep eating the crackers!
I asked the doctor if we had to gradually introduce the wheat into his diet or could he have a bowl of pasta right away...she said give him the pasta! So guess what we are having for dinner tonight?!
My son Nolan's latest obsession is The Muppets! I mean really, who doesn't love the Muppets?! So of course I took this theme and ran with it for his 6th birthday party.
The party stores don't seem to share our love for the Muppets, so with a little creativity and some help from the Disney website, Michael's, Target and Avery, we made our own invitations, buttons, decorations and CDs.
I downloaded a Muppet invitation from the Disney website. Animal is one of Nolan's favorite Muppets, so we decided to send an Animal invitation. I used "snag it" on my computer so that I could capture just the Animal invitation and then type the birthday info right on it. I then printed them on heavy cardstock paper and cut them on my paper cutter.
Nolan and I found some Muppet posters at Michael's for $6.99. He was thrilled because I told him he could put them in his bedroom after the party.
We also found these "make your own button" thingys at Michael's.
I found some Muppet pictures, by Googling "Muppet pictures" (duh). I went to Avery.com downloaded a template. I filled the template with my various Muppet pictures.
Popped the buttons open and used this circle as a guide.
I cut out my Miss Piggy circle...
placed Miss Piggy in the circle...
And popped the back of the button back on. Nolan is demonstrating here:
...and then repeat 25 times until you can't feel your fingers.
We had bought The Muppets Movie soundtrack on iTunes. My kids love it so much, I thought what a great party favor. I bought blank CDs and a CD/DVD Label Maker Kit at Target.
I burned some of the songs from the soundtrack and then found a few other funny Muppet songs...for example, The Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody! Check it out on YouTube, it's hilarious!
The burning of the CDs, although time-consuming, wasn't the toughest part. It was the CD labels. I designed the label, which was the fun part (Disco Animal), but then trying to get it to line up and my printer to cooperate was the--pour yourself another glass of wine--part. But I finally got it to work!
The CD/DVD Label Maker Kit comes with software and these labels.
After you have designed and printed your label you use this little device to attach the label to the CD.
Carefully peel off the label...
Place it on the device sticky side up.
...and then place the CD shiny side up and press.
Ta-da!
If you want to go ALL out you can design CD cases. The kit has all the stuff for that as well. Maybe next time (see note below). Instead I used colorful CD envelopes.
Note: if you are going to attempt to do this, give yourself a lot of time...like a few weeks before the party, not two days before the party. Yes, I got this bright idea two days before the party and was determined to figure it all out, which meant staying up until 2AM. But who needs sleep, right? Oh and another tip, buy extra CD/DVD labels, so you don't have to make several trips to Target within a 24-hour period and look like a crazy person. They also sell the labels at OfficeMax.
My final Muppet party project was Muppet cupcake toppers. I used another Avery template to print out little Muppet pictures and then cut them out.
I used toothpicks and tape to secure them...and then I bought (nut-free) cupcakes at the bakery! In all my creative wisdom there was no time for baking.
Nolan made these "favor bags"
Yes, he used all my Ziploc bags and staples, but it keep him busy for hours while I got the house ready for the party.
He also printed out some pictures, and also drew some pictures for decorations...
These are is my favorites LOL!
The party was a success :)
Party pictures to follow...
Helpful hint: if you click on anything highlighted in red, it links to a websites or products I used for these projects :)
I was putting the boys to bed last night and I was quietly singing "You are My Sunshine." My Nolan said "Mum, could you not sing that, because every time you sing that, I feel like I'm gonna have a tear in my eye."
This past weekend was full of kid's Christmas fun!
My office has a great Holiday party for the kids every year. Pictures with Santa, treats and games.
It's only 2 hours which was great. In and out and no gets hurt. With the way my kids were wrestling on the floor, I can't believe no one got hurt! Ugh, why do boys do this? Although...no one else's boys at the party were doing this. While everyone else was doing the hokey pokey, my two were rolling around on the floor killing each other. I got lots of "I see you've got your hands full." *sigh*
The next day my brother invited us to a family Christmas party at Dorchester Yaht Club.
This company called Barn Babies brought puppies, bunnies, kittens, a pig and a baby goat. The kids got to hold all the animals. They loved it.
This little piggy was exhausted
warning: the goat likes to eat hair
(Nolan really thinks he is getting a dog for Christmas, God help me)
They had pony rides. Nolan wanted no part of it, but Sean loved it!
Then Santa came in by boat.
Thankfully there was no wrestling on this day. Everyone was on their best behavior. The animals certainly helped and I had lots of back-up - Nana, Papa and Uncle Billy.
The holiday season is in full swing and I love (most of) it!
