Yeti Village Gingerbread house

Inspired by my yeti stuffies that I have been making and selling in my etsy shop (which is back open!), I made a yeti gingerbread village.  

Little House on the Prairie 6th Birthday Party

Levi had his SIXTH birthday party!  

His favorite book series is the "Little House" books, so he chose that as the theme for his party.   

I found some fun party examples, like this, and this and this, and this amazing party that would be wonderful if you had an unlimited budget.    I saw that every one of these parties was designed with a little girl in mind, so I had to use some of my own ideas to make it a little more boy friendly.   

First is the location.   I immediately thought of "Sam's House" which is a historical site.  Same time period, and a log cabin!  I emailed and found out that they did indeed to parties (I found out later that we were actually their very first party!).    They had a "Little Pioneers" party package that included a tour of the cabin, 3 games and use of the covered porch and grassy area beside it.   They made it very easy for me, and it was perfect for the party theme.   

Next was the invite, I found the file ready to edit from the blog The Decorologist.  A few edits and I had a cute invite which I rolled up and tied with twine.  

In preparation for the party, I ordered straw hats and bandanas for the boys (from Oriental Trading), and sewed bonnets for the girls using a very easy pattern from Pick Up Some Creativity.   At Sam's House, one of the activities was a clothes line relay, but to start out the party I used it to display the hats and bonnets. 

The kids picked out their bonnets/hats/bandanas as they arrived at the party.  Taylor wore hers the entire party, super cute!

Nai Nai helping one of the guests get her costume on.

First, the ladies from Sam's House took the kids to the cabin, where they told them all about what life was like for a pioneer kid. 

They had some costumes of their own to try on!

Next they had some fun games!  The first one was a "harvest" game where the kids had to gather scattered eggs, veggies and fruit one at a time and then sort them into baskets.   They had tones of stuff to gather and the kids had a good time running around.  

On the left side is the covered porch, and the cabin is behind the big white house. 

Next was the clothes line relay.  Having been cleared of hats and bonnets, it was left empty so the kids could take turns hanging clothes using old fashioned clothes pegs.  First they had to "scrub" the item on the washboard and then hang it up, a great challenge for little fingers.

It was supposed to be "relay style" but a lot of the kids went more than once because they liked hanging things up!  They then had to reverse the process and take things down and put the pegs away. 

The last game was one the boys in particular really liked - spear fishing!   Not exactly Little House on the Prairie, but in Florida, I guess people in that time period ate fish.     It was just a simple wooden frame with a fish hanging from it.  Spears were sticks with foam on the end.  

In this pic, you can also see the cornhole game that my dad and I built for Halloween last year. 

The kids also had plenty of time just to play in the grass and with the various activities. 

After the games, it was time for food! 

For snacks, I got an assortment of baskets and lined each with a gingham napkin.  Inside was a piece of cornbread wrapped in parchment paper and tied with string, an apple in a little tin pail, and a mason jar full of lemonade.  
We also had a little popcorn bar (in the book Farmer Boy, Almanzo really enjoys popcorn as a special treat).   This was just a big basket of popcorn with various toppings to put on them and paper bags to "fill and shake" 

The cake was very simple as Levi requested because "they didn't have fancy cakes in the olden days".   It was just a vanilla cake with vanilla/almond frosting.  I made a little bunting with 6 flags on it for the top, and 6 purple candles!     I also made gluten free cornbread and cupcakes for our gluten free guests.  

After the food, each kid re-used their tin pails for the penny store.  They got 10 pennies each to "spend".   

 In the store I had:
- marbles
- pebbles (from the story in Little House in the Big Woods where Laura filled her pocket with them)
- candied orange peel (made in the food dehydrator I got Levi as a gift)
- honey candy (boil the heck out of honey to hard ball stage, pour out, crack up)
- calico fabric remnants
- remnants of velvet ribbon, lace, and trim (all from the thrift store)
- beads (from a story in Little House on the Prairie)
- peppermint candy
- old clothes pegs
-buttons
- little metal shapes, no idea what these were but they were various cowboy themes
-small balls of yarn
- some other small things I can't remember! 


The kids LOVED this activity - it was a big crazy mob of kids surrounding the "store" with Levi, Nai Nai and one of the moms helping take pennies as the kids made their purchases.  

At the end of the party, each kid took home their hat/bonnet bandana, a basket, mason jar, and a tin pail filled with goodies from the shop.    

I think everyone had a good time, it was a nice mix of organized activities and free time, and plenty of things to do and a perfect location for the occasion!  

This is the banner I made for the Mercantile area, it was very quick and easy to do.  I cut scrapbook paper into small squares, and then used my sewing machine to just sew right through each one.   This could be done in any shape, pennants or circles would be cute too, and you could even cut some into letters to make a banner that way.   

They had a big wasp nest hanging up too - Levi and Zach are studying insects for our summer unit study, so we checked this out after the party as well.

The kids in front of the cabin:

And the family + Zach and Taylor.   Grandpa Jack drove all the way over just for the party, it was great to have him there to join the fun! 

And here is a better look at Levi's outfit!  I modified the Ottobre "Poor Little Oliver" pants pattern to make knickerbockers with suspenders, and made a linen shirt to go with it, the shirt has purple and grey stripes.   He also wore his "fancy shoes" and got a different straw hat than the other boys.  

One of his friends is learning to crochet, and he gave Levi this necklace he made all by himself.  

And last of all is a carseat picture - Levi is still rearfacing in his carseat, he has room to grow so rearfacing he will stay! 

Happy 6th Birthday Levi!

May Vacation!

We went to Tahoe for a few days over Memorial day weekend to celebrate Grammy's 85th birthday. 



First he needed a new "airplane shirt".  His old one still fits, but was looking a little sad.  I made this shirt from two adult size shirts cut up, and chose bright colors so he will be easy to spot in the airport.  I added some airplane appliques, and a stitched airplane.

The coolest part is on the back, where I added a bright red zipperd pouch.  Inside, I put his "ID card" which I printed out and laminated.  It has his name, birthday, and cell phone numbers.  It also has "I have food allergies" written at the bottom.
He got lost at an airport once, and I reported it immediately to the nearest gate desk, they had no idea what to do about it!   Lucky for me, he had been found by a mom of 6, who was traveling without her kids and spotted him on his own and took him to security.    He had his little backpack on that contained my contact information, but no one bothered to look at it.  
This shirt though, stands out, and Levi knew to show someone his "ID" if he got lost. 

I will add these to my shop soon, I think they would be handy for travel, or for trips to theme parks/zoos, or field trips - of any place you might be where your kiddo could get lost.  I'll have different applique options for the front as well!

Levi approved!

 On the plane, Levi always rides in his carseat (Radian XTSL).   I put it on a wheely cart I bought from Wal-mart for $12.  It rolls easily through the airport, and I can even let him ride in it if he is being lazy, or put his carry on bag on the carseat for easier carrying.   Its narrow enough to roll right down the asle too.   Its more comfortable for him to ride in his carseat on the plane, and I know it will be safe and ready to go when we arrive (have you seen how the baggage is handled?  no way would I let my carseat be treated that way!)

On this trip, we got lucky, and my dad got us upgraded to first class!   Levi always likes to get his headphones ready and read the safety manual while I get our stuff organized on board.  He does really well on the plane, listening to music, sleeping, and playing with his little toys - he is a good little traveler!

The day after we arrived, this is what we saw outside: 

Yep, the end of May and it snowed!   And check out the temperature...brrrrr..... especially when compared to 80+degree Florida temperatures!  

It would have been nice if it had snowed in the WINTER time, so we could actually take advantage of it and get some skiing in, but the weather was funny this year with not much snow.  

We had a fun birthday party for Grammy.  She invited some of her friends, and some of my parents friends were there, and we had a cook-out on the new grill we got!   The old one tried to burn my mom's eye brows off, so it was time to upgrade.  

I spent most of the day working on a flower bouquet cupcake display:

Grammy liked it! 

I took a head of lettuce, covered it with foil and then stuck it in a red flower pot.   Then I put short skewers all over the lettuce head and stuck the iced cupcakes in place.   There are two kinds, lemon cake with raspberry butter-cream, and chocolate with salted caramel filling and salted caramel butter-cream.    It took a really long time, but was not all that hard to do.    Impressive results though! 

It was a quick trip, but Levi always loves to see his Grammy!