ozzie's 4th birthday party

ozzie celebrated his 4th birthday party with a cowboy theme on a real working farm. just like every other party i host, i love to introduce the theme with the invitations. after finding the perfect cowboy font online, i made these invitations and wrap around mailing labels myself then printed them at my local printing shop. i added red envelopes and  was happy with how they turned out.

the little farm at windwater was the perfect setting for his 4th birthday party. the farm owners gave us full access to the farm allowing the kids to feed the ducks, bunnies, chickens, horses, pigs, goats and sheep. the peacocks happily (and noisily) wandered the farm welcoming our guests. inside the barn, kids held and fed the bunnies and guinea pigs and visited with the horses. these two extremely patient horses gave each child a horse back ride (or three, some took a few extra rides and the owners happily obliged) and posed for a perfect photo opportunity. there were tractor rides, horse shoes and a bull lasso game. 

just like olivia's first birthday, this was a pinterest inspired diy birthday party. i made ozzie a felt applique t-shirt of a sheriff star with the number four on it. the tables were covered in gingham clothes with center pieces of mason jars filled with white daisies that I wrapped with burlap, bandannas, and twine. my friend lent me antique horse shoes that i laid next to the centerpieces and on the buffet table.  each child's place setting had a straw cowboy hat, a red bandanna and sheriff star pin waiting for them to put on while enjoying the party. 

everyone ate from the "chuck wagon menu" on aluminum dishes just like real cowboys. i wrapped forks, knives and spoons in napkins with gingham ribbon. lunch was a buffet of pulled pork sliders with coleslaw, potato salad, fruit salad, hot dogs and chips for the kids, cupcakes and cowboy lassos (licorice). The "watering hole" provided cold drinks to cool off from the sun. i used my silhouette to cut the cup cake toppers of the little cowboy silhouettes and sheriff stars. on a side note, the silhouette is in my opinion the best crafting tool available. i actually made all of the paper banners, signs, die cuts, etc with this awesome machine!

The barn was the perfect place to hang the burlap happy birthday bunting. i made paper mustaches on a stick and my sweet friend brooke provided sheriff stars, pistols and other cowboy photo booth props from her etsy shop little retreats that i scattered on the tables for kids to grab. guests were sent home with a bag of "happy trails mix" as a party favor along with their cowboy gear. 

ozzie is such a happy boy, celebrating his birthday is always a joy and every year i find myself reflecting on how much he has grown. this year i am particularly proud of the young man he is turning into. his care and compassion for his little sister, his desire to cooperate and be helpful, and his ever curious mind with never ending questions fills me with an overwhelming amount of love while completely fascinating me at the same time. children are truly amazing, wonderful little creatures from God. my cup runneth over.

what we are learning now

ozzie wants nothing to do with number and letter recognition. he knows his abc's and can count but refuses to learn what the letters and numbers look like. one evening on pinterest and a light bulb went off- counting with m&m's! of course he cooperated!

miss olivia is learning how to dress herself... sort of.

watch me grow

ozzie's fantastic preschool teacher traced pictures of the kids bodies. he is now fascinated with measurements and we are currently on the hunt for our own growth chart. have i mentioned how much i love his teacher? sneaking math in and making it fun!

good read

i really enjoyed reading this article, 10 things i want my daughter to know before she turns 10, that a friend posted on facebook. words every mother could and should share with her young daughter.

childrens books

ozzie and i attend a cooperative preschool that both of us love so much for many different reasons but the main is his teacher; she has been teaching at the preschool since 1979 and is the "child whisperer".

cooperative preschools require parent education and at our last parent meeting, she suggested we check out helen lester's books hurty feelings and me first. so like the good student that i am, i promptly reserved both books at the library and i am so glad that i did. helen's stories perfectly blend a lesson with a hilarious and fun read. she often team ups with lynn munsinger whose illustrations are delightful.

after reading the first two, i checked out as many of her books that the library had and we are quickly reading our way through all of them. ozzie was particularly drawn to tacky the peguin, who marches to the beat of his own drum and never follows his friends named goodly, lovely, angel, neatly and perfect. for those of you that know ozzie, you know how fitting this is.

with school coming to an end, if you are in search of some fun summer reading with a cleverly hidden lesson, check out her books. some of our favorites are:

• the wizard, the fairy and the magic chicken
• the revenge of the magic chicken
• wodney wats wobot
• tacky the penguin and all of the tacky books
• it wasn't my fault
• the wolf in sheep's clothing

day at the park

my mom and i discovered a fantastic park a few blocks from her house the other day. it is always nice to find a new place for the kids to play that is a-close to home and b-not overly crowded with every preschooler and toddler in a 5 mile vicinity. i snapped a few pictures of the kids and made some fun  collages with one of my favorite iphone apps- picframe.

the bandito returns

it's been a few years but our bandito returned this cinco de mayo

don't carpe diem

i really enjoyed reading THIS ARTICLE that a friend posted on facebook today. there is not much more i can say that she hasn't already, except that it is refreshing to read honest feelings from a mother of small children. a good read after a long day.

easter

guess i should get the easter pictures posted before mother's day! every year the community where my parents live put on an easter egg hunt for the kids. it's small, easy, free and the kids get to spend the day with nanay & pepa.

 

volcano

we have upped the ante since our last volcano. i guess that is what older cousins are for. ozzie sure does love when andy visits!

cloud dough

thanks to pinterest we have been trying different sensory crafts lately. one ozzie particularly liked was cloud dough or as he called it "snow".

i found this pin for cloud dough but cut the recipe in half, it kept both kids busy while i cooked dinner. actually it was the quietest hour before dinner ever in the history of our family. the hour before dinner is what i like to call our bewitching hour- tired, hungry and sometimes bored kids equals a short ride to crazy town! the cloud dough kept the kids so busy i finished dinner early and had time to snap a few pictures.

preschool corn box

the only time i don't mind if corn is used as a filler. hee hee...