5 Updates You Don't Care About

A few things I have noted recently:

-- our toddler can make himself throw up by shoving his hand down his throat when he gets tired of waiting to be let down from the highchair.  This really started my morning off on the right foot today.

-- when you don't let the dog out at the same time every day, she will poop.  And Newton's Law or something demands it will be diarrhea.

-- vacuuming during the day is a waste.  Someone will immediately grind a banana into the carpet when you aren't looking.

-- keep the cans of spray paint hidden from your 9 yr old son.  Trust me on this.

-- the pinterest red/white/blue drink DOES NOT FREAKING WORK.  I will elaborate more on that later.

Bookworm Party for a 2 yr old

Our youngest recently turned 2 and had a reading/bookworm themed party.  I thought I would share some of the details with you in case you want to throw a book party for your own little readers!

Here is the simple table runner I made---pages of an old Clifford phonics book taped together.  Some of my son's favorite books served as decor on the food table.

Water bottles had book page wrappers (this was from a Corduroy book).

The highlight of the party had to be the inflatable bookworm!  He was around $10 from Oriental Trading Company and was the BEST ten bucks I spent on this party!  I envisioned him just as a photo prop for kids to stand next to, but they really enjoyed carrying it around all over the room!

My Birthday Boy's shirt says "Little Bookworm" and is from this etsy shop. 

Cake & Food. I decided to save money and make the cake myself.  I did strawberry jell-o poke cupcakes with sprinkles on top.  The adorable cupcake toppers came from this etsy shop.  

The rest of our food was simple for an early lunch.  Mini ham & cheese sandwiches, fruit, pretzels, and cucumber slices.

Invitations. Well. I took a picture and can't find it now. I wrote "Our Little Bookworm Is Turning 2!" and then the party details.  I used library cards and envelopes and they looked VERY similar to this idea that I had on pinterest:

from pinterest via family fun

My library cards came from this shop on etsy.

Party Favors.  Each child got a book...big surprise, ha!  I wrapped them and handed them out while the Birthday Boy was opening his gifts.  That way the other kids would kind of have something to do.  You can also hand out baggies of gummy worms "bookworms," but I worried about choking with this age group, so we just stuck with the books.

Activities.

Since the little attendees were all in the 2yr old age range, we didn't do a lot of structure. I had a bean bag toss library game set up and a bookmark making station.  The bean bag game was a clearance find from Oriental Trading Company.

Gifts.
The perk of a book themed party is that everyone knows the honoree must like books!  Our guy got a lot of great ones!  He loves this Little People flap book from his great grandma.

amazon

I hope that sharing our little homemade book party gives you some ideas and inspiration!  You can always see more of my kids party ideas on my pinterest board here. :)

shared at A Little Knick Knack

4 Pinterest Tips: You need to know

Pinterest is like a giant online bulletin board where you can "pin" things for later and see what other people have pinned.  Here are some tips to get the most out of pinterest:

1. Use more boards than just the ones Pinterest starts you off with.  

You can add new boards that help categorize your things. For example I have a board titled Learning Time, that I use to dump a lot of my education/teaching things on.  You can break it down further (and I will do this soon) and have a literacy board, a beginning of the school year board, science experiments, etc.

2. Pin from the original source.

Nothing stinks more than clicking on a pin for a tutorial of how to make the best ever brownies/quilt/dress and finding that the link doesn't go anywhere. Well maybe being the person who DESIGNED that quilt/dress/madeTHEbrownies and isn't getting credit for it...that may stink worse.

3. It's ok to promote your business.

Sometimes I follow a pinner because I want to see what they have new on the blog or in their etsy shop.  Create a board "New in the shop"  or "New on XYZ Blog" for some of those pins to go.  Then people can easily follow along for updates without feeling spammed on other boards.

4. Pinterest is not a spectator sport.

I am baffled when I click on a profile and they 0 pins.  *yawn*  You will get the most out of pinterest by being active.  Create your own boards and pin from websites, repin things you search for and like (I often search for funny stuff.  My Quotes/Inspirations/Funnies board is by far my largest.  Sorry but I will forever think a funny animal picture or fart joke is worth remembering.)  The more you pin, the more people will SEE your pins and follow you.  The more you pin, the more YOU will see and want to follow!

Skateboarding Themed Party--The loot bags

My oldest son just turned 9.  NINE.  How is this possible?
We had a small skateboarding themed party for him and I thought I'd share what we used as party favors!

The little white bags were from Party City and were around .70 cents each.  They USED to have bags with skateboarders on them but of course when I went back for them, they were gone. Oh well.  White works.

What's inside the bags?  We went with "EXTREME" type candies since skateboarding is an Xtreme sport. :)   The candies were all from a 15/$1 bin at Party City.

1. War Heads candy
2. Cry Babies candy
3. Pop Rocks type candy
4. 2 mini skateboards (I think these were .25 at Party City)
5. Sour Patch Kids candy
6. Angry Birds mini-kite (grabbed for .99 cents at Walmart).  In the photo it is wrapped.  These are cool little things that I thought the kids would like.
7. Glow Sticks-(each bag got 2)

My little graphic said this was going to be SIX party favors, but there are actually SEVEN listed...so...bonus for you!  I think cans of silly string from the dollar store would be fun to include in party favor bags for boys. So there's an EIGHTH idea for you. Man, is it your lucky day or what?

Breakfast-on-the-go help from Quaker

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I admit it.  I'm horrible at eating breakfast.  There are all these doctors and studies saying it is the most important part of the day, it jump starts your metabolism, yada yada yada.  But in the mornings I'm tired.  I'm getting kids up and dressed.  I'm not some Holly Homemaker who is going to make bacon and quiche and sausage and fresh fruit cups and bagels.  

Enter the Quaker Soft Baked Bar.  I saw a commercial for these and immediately wanted to try one. Have you tried them yet?  
They have Cinnamon Pecan

and
Banana Nut Bread.

Since I generally don't care for banana flavored things, I'm thinking the Cinnamon Pecan Quaker Soft Baked Bar will be my favorite.  They even suggest warming them up in the microwave.  I don't know about that--I may eat the whole box in one sitting!

Which Occupants of my House will eat these?
Let's take a look at the cast of characters around here.
Me.  We've established that I want to try the Cinnamon Pecan and may need to be restrained from eating an entire box.
Oldest Son.  He's a picky little booger with some very strong preferences regarding texture.  He may or may not be able to be tempted/coaxed/bribed into this.  It is something *new* to him afterall and heaven forbid we do new foods.  ;-)
Youngest Son.  This guy is 2.  He likes generally everything you offer him.  And he LOVES oatmeal. I can see him liking either flavor of these bars.
Husband.  He will definitely try them!  He doesn't usually eat before heading out the door for work (because I'm not Holly Homemaker and there are no bacon/eggs!).  He does like grab and go type things though.  And with the Quaker Soft Baked Bar having 5g of fiber and 6g of protein, it makes a good breakfast snack.

I mentioned the fiber and protein content already but you should also know that this wholesome food has 5 of the B-vitamins.  At 140 calories each, they are just right for a breakfast on the go (or even a breakfast staying at home)!