Cinderella Princess Party - Ivy is 3!

Ivy turned 3 earlier this month! I'm not the type to say, "Oh, my baby is getting so big! :(" I think each stage gets better and better and we have more and more fun together. 

Being the decisive child that she is, she began telling everyone that she was having a Cinderella party. Taking that as my cue, I started a Pinterest board for a Cinderella party and got to work. 

Her Actual Birthday:

Her birthday fell on the Friday of Fall Break, so she was enrolled in Princess Camp at my work. (At Princess Camp, they get to wear princess dresses and learn ballet and make crafts and read about Princesses). So on her actual birthday she woke up and opened a present-- a Cinderella Princess dress and Crown, and then got to wear it for the day at Camp!. I made her hair all pretty, like Cinderella's.

Two days later we had her party.
We've had all her birthday parties in my parents yard next door to our house:

Age 1- Ladybug Garden party

Age 2- Elmo Sesame Street party

Age 3- Cinderella Princess Party

Attire:

Originally she was going to wear the Cinderella dress for her party, but about an hour before the party, my friend Katie came over to give her a present: a Rapunzel Dress and long braided hair/crown. She immediately put it on, and I didn't even try to tell her to put on the Cinderella dress because, quite frankly, she'd been wearing it for 2 days straight (it was a little dirty), and this Rapunzel hair with the long braid was just too adorable. 

Decor & Ambience:

 I basically set up a 12'x12' white tent I got at Walmart for $125, and set up a bunch of our furniture onto my parent's lawn. I read a post from Sawdust & Embryo's about how she hosted a baby shower, but her living room was in the middle of a renovation, so she just brought her living room furniture out onto the lawn and it turned out great! Click here to read their post.

I bought a few yards of blue tulle and brought some bunting and garland's that normally hang in Ivy's room. I strung them around the inside of the tent. Blew up silver and white balloons, bought some candy corns (the green ones are candy apple), pumpkins, and a Fall flower bouquet from Safeway. I downloaded Disney's Cinderella soundtrack and had it playing throughout the party.

Food:

raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips and chocolate covered acai/blueberries!

The party guests were encouraged to wear Princess attire. They arrived bearing gifts, and Ivy decided (on the spot) that she would open each one as the princess gave it to her. 

Activities:

I bought a Cinderella Party Pack from Walmart which had all these Cinderella stickers, mazes, wands, keychains, rings and plastic Cinderella bags. Rather then put the fun stuff in the bags, I just put it out at the party for the kids to color and play with. Later we used the bags for the piñata!

I also found a 12-pack of crowns at Salvation Army last month for $2. I picked up some foam stickers and some princess stickers so that the Princesses could make a crown. 

 I asked my friend from church, Jessica, to come do face painting. This is top-of-the-line face painting... If you live in the area and want to book her, let me know!

I made up two games. You read that correctly. I made them up. That's just how I roll.

#1- Sweep the Pumpkin into the Bucket 

(this is Cinderella "pre-ball" and fancy dress)

#2 - Where did Cinderella lose her glass slipper?!

(this is Cinderella "post-ball")

I had all the princesses close their eyes (hiding behind the fountain under the watchful eye of my mom... mom, you weren't supposed to close your eyes! You were supposed to make sure the kids closed their's!) Then we hid the shoe. On this particular round, she apparently lost in the roof of the tent. How is that even possible, you ask? Um... that's not the point.

Last activity of the day: Piñata! I wasn't going to get one, but I called Kit and he told me we should... just cause its fun. The Disney Princess piñata was $21 at Walmart. The generic Princess castle (which I purchased) was $9. Score! 

Cupcakes and Cake:

Ivy and I have been eyeing this cake at Safeway for a few months. They have all the princesses and they're only $8.99! When I turned 5, I had a cake like this, but it was a random girl, not Cinderella.

I had my mom make funfetti cupcakes with food coloring blue frosting. 

And that was Ivy's Cinderella Party. Fun fun fun. 

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ALOHA Friday Link Party #9

Aloha Kakahiaka! (Good Morning)

Welcome to Jed & Ivy's ALOHA Friday Link Party #9!

Thanks for partying here!
A special shout out to those of you partied with me for the first time this week:

Jessi @ Practically Functional
Stacie @ Yellow Spool
Renee @ Wren's Nest

They are some really cool bloggers. Go visit them at their place!

Feature # 1: Crochet Mug Cozy from Jessi at Practically Functional
I wish I crocheted! Aren't the colors great on this one?

Feature #2: Embroidery Hoop Pin Cushion from Stacie @ Yellow Spool
Yellow Spool might just be my new favorite blog!
Such a clean look to her blog and the projects are awesome.
She's giving this pin cushion away! Click here to enter...

Go ahead and grab the featured button below!

<a href="http://jedandivy.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Jed & Ivy" src="http://jedandivy.blogspot.com/"/></a>

Pau Hana! 

(That means we're finished working for the week...)

Grab a lilikoi, link up, and leisurely look through the other fun posts!

<a href="http://www.jedandivy.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Jed & Ivy" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f275/gerry100/linkparty2.png"/></a>

Link up your DIY projects, Etsy products, giveaways, Furniture re-do's (my fave), sewing tutorials, inspiring stories. I'm not picky!

Grab the button and post it on your blog, if you have one. 

Follow this blog.

By linking up, you're allowing me to feature your photos on this blog and pinning them. 

Share the Aloha and visit each other's links! 

Aloha,

Rebecca

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11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl (part 2)

A few weeks ago I posted Part 1 of this post. In the meantime, Fall Break happened, swimming lessons started, Ivy turned 3, and I had a dance camp for 25 kids... so with all that said and done, I can finally do Part 2 of 

"11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl."

 (To read Part 1, click here.)

To catch you up on the basis of this post, here's a bit of what I wrote in my intro for Part 1:

As a new parent, it takes a little motivation to figure out what to do in your new role in life. You visit parenting websites, read books, and maybe even join a mom's group. Eventually you get a routine going and see what you like to do, but more importantly, what your child likes to do. 

That's where we are now. And as Ivy transitions from toddler-age to pre-school-age, I feel like it's getting more and more fun each and every day!

Here we go with #5, 6 & 7!

I know the rest of the country is getting out their sweaters and scarves, but here in Hawaii, it's 85 degrees F pretty much year-round. We live 2 minutes from the community pool, so we go quite a bit. It's fun to cool off, see other moms/dads and kids, and watch Ivy learn how to be comfortable in the water. I have no tips if your child is 3 years old and already afraid of the water... but if you have an infant, get them in the water ASAP! We started dunking Ivy under water (fully dipping her head/face under) at 3 months old. Blow on their face first, then immediately drop them in and then lift them out. The blowing causes them to hold their breath for a split second. My husband and I have also been surfing with Ivy since she learned to walk (at 9 months old, she rides on our boards with us), so getting her to learn to swim is pretty important to us. I know that sounds a little backwards- surf first, swim second, but hey, we wanted her to be comfortable on a board before she could tell us "NO!" 

Here's all 3 of us in action:

After diligently trying for a year to teach her to swim myself, I finally enrolled her in private swim classes that are done out of a lady's home. (If you live in the area and are interested, click here to go to her web site.)  She did 4 lessons last week, and is doing 4 more this week (can you tell how important this is to us?!) and the progress has been amazing! We're a water family, can you tell?

Most kids in pre-school get the privilege of visiting the fire station with their class. Well, since we're not enrolling Ivy in pre-school yet, (see our reasoning for that, here) I was so excited to hear that our local library (which is right next door to the fire station) was offering a free field trip to the fire station! There were about 30 kids, many of them we knew. The fire men and woman gave a speech, let the kids climb all over the fire truck and shoot the hose! 

One of the most valuable things about this experience was that the fireman got dressed in his full gear, with the scary oxygen mask on, and asked the kids to come give him a hi-five so that if he were fighting a fire in our home, a child would not be afraid of him and hide, but she would know he is there to help get her to safety! And of course, "Stop, Drop & Roll" is priceless.

Sometimes you just have to get outside. Do you ever feel that way? I know the weather can prevent this from happening in certain parts of the world, but that is rarely an issue here in Hawaii. Between cleaning up breakfast, and making beds, and doing laundry, and paying bills, and checking FB (did I really just write that?), it takes some effort to GET OUT! 

I think gardening is the epitome of getting outside and doing something. Right up there with "going on a hike." We have a great garden, which Kit has set up. We've got cucumbers, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, herbs... and now flowers! Last month I asked Kit to plant some flowers in this old washtub (see the full post here). He immediately got Ivy involved, and I think she's destined to have the green thumb, just like her dad. :) She shoveled out the dirt, put it in the pots, then put the flowers in it. Then it all went in the washtub. 

  I found this information in an article by Tony Isaacs: 

"A study conducted for Britain's Royal Horticultural Society has found that encouraging children to learn gardening boosts their development by helping them become happier, more confident, and more resilient. In addition, gardening also helps teach children patience and the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle."

And that's how we fill our days. Stay tuned for the final installment of "11 Things To Do with Your Little Girl." Hopefully Ivy won't have another birthday by the time I get around to it. :)

Aloha,

Rebecca

We've got a link party going on! Check it out, here.

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Cailin's Fall non-mantel, a.k.a. "Fantel"

Cailin got in on the Mantel spirit and sent me these pics of her non-Mantel. 

(See my previous non-mantel post here.)  

'C' is for Cailin!

I just spotted Violet Imperfection's post from last week, where she calls her fake Mantle a "Fantle!" Haha, I love it. (See her post here.)

Cailin painted the tops of these pumpkins with Modge Podge, then sprinkled some Martha Stewart glitter on top. The owls were a gift from our friend. Cailin LOVES owls.

See Jed peeking in the back? :) Cutie.

"J" is for Jed!

What does your Fantle look like?

Aloha,

Rebecca

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Featured at Alderberry Hill & I won another giveaway!

Last week I went to my mailbox, and there was a small package inside. I didn't recognize the return address, except for the fact that it was from this little town in Utah that my sis-in-law used to live in, years ago. I opened the package and inside was the coolest little drawstring bag with a handmade bohemian-style pillowcase inside! No note, nothing. The word "Gypsya" was printed on the drawstring bag. I was so confused. It looked like something I had seen on Etsy and I was wondering if during one of my midnight Etsy Browsing sessions I had possibly ordered this? That didn't sound like something I would do. 

I went to the computer and googled the mysterious "Gypsya." I found an Etsy shop, with this quilt I remember pinning on pinterest, but that did not tell me how the pillowcase ended up in my mailbox. 

BTW- Here's the quilt I love:

Source: etsy.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

So I googled "Gypsya giveaway." Sure enough the blog "A Beautiful Life" popped up, which I frequent, and there was my name on the post! I had entered a giveaway and won! I never saw the post, but they had asked for everyone's address when they entered the giveaway, so surprise! It ended up in my mailbox. Thank you to Sarah at A Beautiful Life and to Rose of Gypsya! Here's a close up of the pillow case I received: 

I also was just notified that my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread is being featured again! This time, by Sarah over at Alderberry Hill. Thanks Sarah!

What a great week!

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