3 Bears Birthday Party

By luck of the universe, my beautiful firstborn was born in a year of boys.  Most of my mama friends had boys that year, so her playgroups and now her playdates tend to be her and the guys.  While this is fantastic, it did pose a small problem when deciding on the theme of her fourth birthday party.  Our conversation went something like this...

Me: Who will you invite to your party this year?
Z: Nolan, Colin, Grady, and Max
Me: Great!  What kind of party shall we have?
Z: A heart party!
Me: Hearts...hmmm...not sure that will work out.  Other ideas?
Z: A flower party!
Me: Well, we did that last year, try again.
Z: A princess party!!!

Yes I know it is a bit sexist to think that these themes might not be the best for a bunch of four year old boys, and in all honesty any kind of party would have been fun for the kids, but we kept on brainstorming.

We settled on the theme of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.  Pretend play has been huge in our house recently and we have retold this story more times than I can count.  Figuring that it would be easy to find bear accessories I hit our local (2 hours away) iParty.  Guess how many bear items at iParty?  0.  The birthday girl and I left with a bee pinata (because bears like honey), and I knew that my next step was with trusty friend internet.

When I got home I googled 3 bears birthday, and found 2 amazing Goldilocks party blogs.

The first I found at Cakies.  Truly gorgeous ideas.  In particular I loved the stuff and sew bears as well as the adorable finger puppets.  OK, I thought.  Something to work with.

Then I found The White Library.  Yikes!  How in the world does someone pull something like that off???  Truly unbelievable, and highly, highly recommended.  I'm a DIY girl though, so ideas are what I am looking for.  The favor bowls...that's an idea for me.

With the sketchiest of ideas in my mind I sent the children off to boil sap for the day with Daddy and Grammy and spent the day shopping.  (As an aside...not until you have 2 young children do you find a Saturday at The Christmas Tree Shop to be peaceful.)  While I wasn't sure what I would come up with, I am so happy with my finds and the way it all turned out.

I picked up white ceramic cereal bowls to and went to our fabulous ceramics studio, The Artery, and for a small studio fee ($5.00, can't beat that) got access to their paint pens.  Each child's name on the front and a warning for uninvited guests on the back, and they were ready to fill.

At the Artery I found some wooden cutouts of bears.  At 59 cents apiece, they were the first thing in the favor bowl.  I figured that painting them could also be a quick and easy party activity if there seemed to be a lull.  From there I went to one of my favorite places in North Conway, The Five and Dime.  Found some great goodies to add.  Wooden mixing spoons (what else would a bear eat porridge with), bear cookie cutters, "zoomers" as my daughter calls those party blower thingies, blow pops, and my favorite find-a book of fairy tale stickers. 

As a final take home, I decided it would be fun to create our own version of The 3 Bears to send home with her friends.  I had her dictate the story to me and I wrote it down in her words.  Then she illustrated it.  You can't go wrong when your pre-schooler first draws with crayon then goes over it with watercolor...comes out gorgeous every time!

Very happy with the favors!

                                 

So favors are taken care of...what can I say?  I love party take homes!  Next on the agenda, CAKE!  I admit that I am more than a little addicted to Cake Boss, so once again, how do I live up to that ?

I started of by picking up a Calico Critters bear family from the Toy Chest.  My original plan was to put these little guys on top of the cake, but after several near disasters with buttercream I opted for a different plan.  I overlayed a cookie sheet with some green fabric I had lying around and made a path out of felt.  This way the critters had a frosting free place to stand, but I could still create my bear scene.

Favors are done, cake is done, better think of how to entertain a bunch of 4 year olds for two hours! 

Started out by making "Bear Play Dough".  Zoe and I mixed up a half cup of peanut butter, and a quarter cup of honey.  The third ingredient was supposed to be dry milk, but upon inspection the dry milk from my cabinet had expired in 2007.  Time to improvise!  We added a few scoops of Rice Krispies then added quick oats until it was a dough like consistency.  Voila!  Edible play dough!

Next?  A 3 Bears "Pretend" of course!

Too Hot!  Too Cold!  Just Right!

Too Hard!  Too Soft!  Just Right!

 

Too Hard!  Too Lumpy!  Just Right!

 Someone's been eating my porridge!

Time for lunch!  On the menu...a Porridge Bar, Fruit Kebabs, and Peanut Butter and Honey Bearwiches. 

Inspired by Let's Explore, I made Oatmeal in the crock pot.  Just poured in oatmeal, water and cinnamon a few hours before the party and let it warm on low.  I added a variety of toppings that the kids could choose from, honey, cinnamon, walnuts, raisins, chopped apples, and chocolate chips.

Fruit Kebabs were a great way to get Zoe involved in the party prep.  She put grapes, strawberries and canteloupe on skewers for everyone to enjoy.

We cut the peanut butter and honey sandwiches with bear cookie cutters to fit in with the theme.

After lunch is was time to go on a bear hunt.  I wrote up a series of clues on bear paw prints, each clue leading to the next clue with the final one leading to our bee pinata.  We didn't catch the bears...but they must have been looking for honey!

Look at all this loot!

Add presents and some cake and ice cream and that's our 3 Bears Party.  We all lived happily ever after, I wish the same to you!

Letting Go

I have come to the conclusion that motherhood is a never ending process of letting go.

In the beginning, they are a part of us.  We hold on tight for nine months, aware of every movement, every change, because we are one.  And then we give birth.

We don't want to, but we put them down for naps...for bed...for play.  We are an arm's reach away and ready to comfort at the slightest whimper.  We've let go, but not really.

Then they become mobile.  They sit, they crawl, they walk, they climb, they explore.  We stay close, ready to rush in when needed, but we don't always get there.  They fall, bump and sometimes bleed.  Our heart breaks when we see them hurt, but we know that if they are going to grow we can't always be there.  We have let go a bit more.

Soon we leave for a time.  We are not an arm's reach, or a room's length away.  We have trusted another.  Maybe a grandparent, maybe a babysitter, maybe a daycare provider.  We are not the ones to comfort and care for a time.  It hurts.  We worry.  We call and check.  This time we have let go in a big way...but we have made sure that another is holding on.

At some point however, we let go in a different sort of way.  We don't trust another to care for our child.  We trust our child.  No longer are we worried.  We are petrified.  But we do it.  And the kids do OK.

Welcome

I'm on my second go round of being a stay at home mom.

My first was Zoe. She'll be three in a couple of weeks. I stayed home with her for five months and loved every minute of it. She was an easy baby as long as she was moving or being held. Since it was just she and I, I held her as much as she wanted. We went on walks for hours, we attended every Mommy and Baby class we could find, and we napped together for hours. It was a wonderful, magical time.

And then I went back to work.

But now Kid number 2 has come along and I am home again. And it is a very different experience. We have a schedule and we stick to it. Sammy is as happy and mellow as you could ask a three month old baby to be, but preschoolers are not. Zoe is no exception. Outings are sacred...naptime even more so. But this time, I put the big one to sleep in her room, and the little one doesn't need me to hold her and rock her all day. She actually likes her baby gym. She loves laughing at herself in the mirror. She likes watching me do my thing, and if I'm not right with her she amuses herself. And then falls asleep. Weird, I know.

So this time around I have time. Time that I have been filling keeping the house clean and watching brainless TV shows. But I'm bored of that. And Elmo in not providing the mental stimulation that I need so here is a blog. I hope you enjoy it!