BIRTHDAY THEME: FARM or BARNYARD ANIMALS

Some of us learn by reading, some by pictures/tutorials, some hands-on….Here I will primarily post photos which will give you some ideas: THIS PARTY WAS FOR YOUNG TODDLERS so there are not games per se, rather, activities. (the above photo: everytime I crop this and adjust lighting only the original transfers…rats! Will keep trying)

CAKE: Check out the cake Daddy made up for the party! (above)…little pig made out of starbursts, hay is yellow-dyed coconut with marshmallow behind for circular bale; cake = pound cake; walls of barn use red string licorice; roof = chex; fence = pretzels, 2 round 9'' cakes, icing and presto! Barnyard Cake. Blue icing for a pond, black for pig in mud, green for grass, red for some of barn. Notice the 2 round cakes are nestled within one another; cut out a portion of one to fit the other inside it. Feed the birthday child his first piece of chocolate cake iced separately with green icing. Everyone else has cupcakes…the following days the family enjoys the Barn Cake together. You can give the baby the entire silo to dig into! Oh man; oh fun.

CUPCAKES: Pigs, Chicks and Cows and Sheep:

1) Pig: nose = marshmallow dipped in sprinkles; string licorice chopped for nostrils; eyes =choc. chips; ears = pink starbursts

2) Cow: nose & eyes = same as pig; nostrils = choc. dripped through small hole in bag; ears                                                                 
   = pink mentos gum

3) Chicks: covering = yellowed dyed coconut; wings are gummies; eyes same as pig; nose (oops I forget - some sort of orange gummy)

4) Sheep: one large marshmallow surrounded by tiny marsmallows; eyes = drip like cow; mouth 
    =  pink gel icing. 

BARN YARD: (for mother's to sit with crawler's; or toddler's to play.) Place blankets/table cloths on ground and set around barnyard stuffed animals and books about farms for mom/dad to read etc.)


HAY RIDES: label a wagon with a sign and presto! Kids love taking rides in a wagon

You can include a ''waterpond'' if you don't mind the kids getting all wet. Heather did have this with towels nearby (no picture).

now for FOOD: 


Wanted you to see the pig placed in dark icing for mud; blue icing for a little waterhole and the hay is coconut dyed yellow with a marshmallow behind some to make a circular bale of hay.


The main theme was a garden patch of vegetables on a tray made to look like a vegetable garden. Place vegetables in rows and make some dip! (left front: with play fences on the sides. They borrowed my animal dishes/bowls for fruit; Oreo cookies labeled as 'spokes' of a wheel; Rice Krispie treats labeled "bales of hay"; the candy called 'Cow Tales'; and in the Crock-Pot were ''pigs in a blanket.''
Hot dogs wrapped in bacon cooked in a crock-pot ahead of time. Labels with a farm theme name and presto! Barnyard Party and Food.

What To Make for A One Year Old

        Baba            
 THAT'S WHAT!
   (Baba: knit project)

At the last minute, actually 24 hrs. before the birthday I thought, "I'd love to make Joel a huggable something." So, searching on Ravelry,
a knitter/crocheters' website, I found the perfect pattern to download by Shafer Dobry. Find her pattern on Ravelry.com or Etsy.
Ravelry is great to join, by the way. 

Store pictures of all your projects in one place, see what people all around the world are making, share ideas, free patterns, trade yarn, meet professional knitter/crocheter's and get advice etc. etc. etc.

PICTURES ABOVE of Baba: my son sent these to me in an email with the following captions:

"Waiting around for my little boy to wake up," says Baba (picture two)…."But first some fun!" (picture one). You see, Michael, age 29 is still a child at heart; the apple doesn't fall far from this tree! He has all the animals talking to his kids and being goofy and crazy well, like I was I guess. Michael you are a blast. Sometimes I am not sure who the children are; you and Heather?
(below: Baba ''hanging around in my flowers." NOTE: I'm a beginner knitter - easy pattern; written well.

can't come up with a title

Something was different about today: are you ever in a more pensive, melancholy mood
than usual? sure, who isn't. thoughts:

If I could touch the moon from this small patch of earth where I live and toil; and,
if another could touch the moon from their small patch of earth where they live and toil.
Write a story;''if'' I was creative enough for such a thing. I admire creative writers.

The Owl and the Pussycat poem; they sailed away under the moon on the sea...what if they could have touched the moon? And, when the author wrote their story..why did he put together these two - an odd combination,......hmmm...isn't that what makes for a fabulous story? The coming together of. These two would not seem to be a pair but the author places them together and it's a perfect fit.

When I stare at the moon there has to be at least one other person staring at the moon, right? Or, several thousand or million? This same moon: Napoleon, the Disciples of Christ, unknown tribes of today, Socrates (was he Greek), slaves of the south escaping to the north navigated by, etc...all looked/are looking at the same moon, right? Did you ever think about that? The moon, what is it that
fascinates us about the moon; its beauty, fullness...and there are romantic stories that go along with the moon; stories around fires...and on and on. Yeah, what is that song,,,''dancing in the moonlight..."

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


ps: I missed once again this year Isaac's birthday wish (yesterday)    <Happy Birthday To You>
will post what I made you! I always tell what mistakes I made on something or apologize for it; why is that? BUT, this once is it okay if I brag and say... I did a GREAT JOB on Isaac's gifts...of course with my new Artista 730 Bernina (a splurge...eeeehhh). Who couldn't. 

TWO-SIDED Toddler APRON (my own pattern)

Apron: playing kitchen, art/painting, etc.

-  waterproof liner.

-  Velcro ties and neck strap for independence.

-   Elastic in neck strap grows with child.
- 3 pockets on front: Isaac side
- 2 pockets reverse side

 

-posting another day: designed/made
mixing bowl and hand mitt that coordinate with the apron. Tools? just
pull from your drawer!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAAC...(to left)

NOW WHAT TO MAKE FOR JOEL...HMMMM

BIRTHDAY'S

                  WHAT DO YOU DO ON YOUR BIRTHDAY?
                                                        Our Traditions
~~everytime I say ''traditions'' I start to sing the song from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF- in my head of course; well, sometimes outloud ~~     oh brother,
                                                        Does anyone else?

1) Night before: Child (makes a crown out of construction paper, Mommy gets
to write the number on it and he/she decorates it whatever way they choose. Hang
it on the bedpost and wait till morning for breakfast in bed!~~ Adults: no crown
although they made me one when I turned 40 something along with our usual
movie and photos...oh great; burn that up!

2) Day starts with breakfast in bed (thank you Sarah for chatting and loving me today!)
Child is woken or is already sitting up with his/her crown on waiting for all of
the family to come in with video/camera. Everyone has to get up and go into child's room,
sing Happy Birthday. Candles are either melting in the pancakes, waffles, etc. oh my.

Then the rush to get to school etc. Summer? play play play...do whatever he/she likes
within reason. (one year I took Jonathan out of school and we went ice skating-of
course the school didn't know that-shhhh!)

3) Mom cooks whatever dinner you want! (what should I cook today?)
4) Scavenger hunts for the kids; now they are adults; rats. But they still do it and love it.
    (rhymes are made up and the clues get harder with age; sometimes they
     have to do what the rhyme says (e.g. cartwheel to the ''shed") Gifts are
     hidden at some of the locations.
5) cake or icecream cake,,,their favorite.
6) play games during day if possible AND ALL THINGS ARE FILLED WITH
LOTS OF LOVE AND HUGS AND GOOFY ACTS OF THE SILLIES.
                                   
                                  BIRTHDAY VIDEO IDEA
    Once Michael's birthday was during our drive to Florida and he was bummed
that we would be in the car all day! So, I got this crazy idea~!

I videoed tons of people all over town that I did and DID NOT KNOW; they either
sang Happy Birthday to Michael or spoke something. The people who did not know
Michael at all pretended to know him when they spoke, like he was an old buddy.
Let me tell you. There are some pretty creative people out there who can come up
with fun things to say at the drop of a hat!!!!

---One man pretended to be "Tim the Tool Man Taylor" and stood behind the hood
of a car while talking to Michael (Tim's voice and all....)

---A woman made up, in seconds, a long rhyming poem while I videoed her standing
in her kitchen (I never met her before this-that is an interesting story how I ended up
in her kitchen~) wishing him Happy Birthday- then sang.

---A nursery school class used puppets singing him happy birthday....

---Using the "Michael's" Craft Store sign I welcomed Michael
to ''Michael's". The manager allowed me to video at the entrance
while he is welcomed to the store and told Happy Birthday. Lastly,
using the voice from the TV show The Price is Right she said "Come on Down"...

(will add more ideas as they come back to me...)

it was fun and crazy.        HE LOVED IT!!!
Happy Birthday to everyone who's birthday is today!~


    THE GARDENS TODAY ARE LOOKING LIKE FALL
and so are the weeds, they're mighty tall.
    MANY BEAUTIFUL AREAS, WHERE SHALL I SIT
I believe woodland aster's and Tricytris do the trick.

    
   WHILE BEGINNING TO SIT ON THAT YONDER BENCH
  I spied little flowers peeking every way and which.
   BREAK OUT TINY BOTTLES, VASES & "THINGS,"
  fill up each one, varied colors, its better than BLING!
            (oh man, I don't like mentioning Bling but it is the only thing that works here....)

     WELL, Here are some arrangements.


Suggestion: 
Often I will place 5 different shaped and sized bottles 
in the bay windo, fill with water to top and put one single
flower in each (all different varieties); or, I put 5 of the same flower in each, having them at varied heights or the
same height. Here I have chosen to use all glass for every room. But, use anything! Salt cellars, miniature sugar or creamers...oh! next time I have to photo the ''frogs'' that I use
to hold little flower arrangements when something really matters- aka: giving away to cheer someone's day.


The black background pictures above were done
earlier when the lighting was not that great.  The carrier
with tiny bottles were creamer holders from my father's
farm from the 50's. Remember those?    


Well, enough playtime. (will put the FROG device I use on here tomorrow! If anyone knows where I can find a couple more of these let me know; I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO HAVE MORE TO GIVE AND USE.)


PS: dumb? Do you ever sing Happy Birthday to yourself? I always did at 10:08 am in Band Class in middle/highschool; the exact time I was born-oh brother! The Band director thought I was playing right along but I pretended. Sang the song,   "Happy Birthday to Me....etc.'' and then went back to playing my flute! I still do it; YOU ARE NEVER TO OLD TRY. 
                                       TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY's?

March 9th, oh, when I just saw that date go up I realized it is a day after Isaac's birthday (see previous entry) AND the day before my Great Grandmother's birthday who was born in 1885, Anna Smick Livezey. (oh brother,,I use too many words,,that's called ''between") Anyway, at that moment I thought, I wonder if anyone I knew was born this day and = wouldn't that be cool, a distant relative born today mabye? anyway, if so,......> Happy Birthday!   (in september my birthday is the 14th, my sister's is the 16th and I know of someone the 15th; not a relative but still think that's cool.) I wonder how many of you out there know of someone born the same day as you; I know of two on my special day. Yeah, its special to me. Mom made it so very special...but, i think i wrote about that already. (did I write already that my sister and I are the same age for two days...perhaps I did.)


I never knew my Grandmother. She knew me ''perhaps." Mom took me several times to see her but my great grandmother forgot I was even there. She died about 3 months after I was born. Mom says I took after her with my love and passion for gardening. My grandmother was in a wheelchair when she was in her 60's. She had childhood rheumatoid arthritis. So, when she was older and gardening she would drag herself along the ground and weed her gardens. Mom said that people all around came for seeds from my grandmother's gardens and for flowers. She also placed a tub in the ground between two gardens where my mother would sit on a large stone and watch frogs jump in and out of the water garden. One frog my mother brought home from their walks from ''the Pines" in south jersey, would sit on the edge of the tub while my mother pet him. Imagine! That stone is still there today. I know there is a name for this type of stone; it is the stone that was placed in front of a home so when the coach stopped the passenger would step on it instead of stepping into the mud. I am hoping one day to ask if I can have the large stone.  My grandparents home was established in past years as ''historic'' and has been the local library for quite some time! Isn't that neat? (anybody want to loan me a crane to get it home?)

Anna was a beautiful woman, particularly with her hair pinned up. Remember how woman back then put up their hair but poofed it way out? Well, there is a beautiful picture of her next to the Wissahickon Creek outside Philadelphia where she would go boating often with her beau's. I would love to scan that pic and put it here but that is not possible considering the size and condition of the picture.

Well, for now I will just say, since i need to practice my piano, that Anna S. Livezey, a nurse in Philadelphia married a Dr. John Smith.  Can you believe that name?  John and Anna had 3 daughters. They named their last daughter none other than Mary, Mary Smith.  Can you imagine that? And Mary is my wonderful mother! Yep, we are pretty common folks but, special, gifted, talented, extraordinary ''folks." ha haha want to hear another joke?.......................................