What are you celebrating? Absolutely nothing! TR writing has commenced!

[autumnpalm]

Add us to the list of people who love the Kona Cafe. SO yummy.

We also really like 1900 PF at dinner for the characters (my FAV character meal) and the Cape May Cafe breakfast.

Your kids are too cute!! Love those stories, they are adorable!

 

[tinkgurl]

DS: he has learned to pull his pants down and then shakes them off! Maybe I should look into getting him a job stripping for other toddlers! There's got to be a toddler-chippendales playgroup out there, right? (Gives a whole new meaning to that smilie, huh?)

Haha, that smiley is perfect for this story! I'm in a computer lab right now so you're lucky I could control my laughter!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Great story! I can just picture it!

I have a younger brother who, at 3 years old, decided it would be a great idea to parade naked through my 7th birthday party of all little girls! Watch out....he is 35 now and STILL tends to be a bit of an exhibitionist! LOL! He'd kill me if he knew I was spreading that around!

 

[Villainess]

What about Kona Cafe? I don't think I saw that one on your list. We had the most delicious meal there.

And I am cracking up at your DS and his stripping ways!

I like your new avatar! I mentioned Kona Cafe to Nonna and Pop Pop and we are definately thinking about that one. They ate there for breakfast on their last 'adults' trip. I'm going to check out the menu for dinner.

Hummm, the Illuminations bounce back sitting outside at the Rose and Crown was pretty loud but I don't really remember it being any lounder than other places. I do remember a speaker was quite near but it is pointing out to the water so it wasn't blasting our ears out. Maybe someone else has a better memory about the bounce back???
We loved the GF tea, Cali Grill, Sci fi, Brown Derby, Coral Reef... some you are already going to.

Good to know that the bounceback isn't ridiculously loud. And yes, I'm concerned about my kids' hearing, but I was actually asking bc of me. I have very sensitive ears and honestly, I hate fireworks. They look beautiful but I hate the noise. Back when I was little my father would stand at the end of Main St. by the train station and very slowly make his way towards the castle during the fireworks with me. Back then after the fireworks there was a stage show, so that is how he got me to watch the fireworks. And I would only watch "Mickey fireworks" July 4th fireworks back home, I would hide in the car.

Add us to the list of people who love the Kona Cafe. SO yummy.

We also really like 1900 PF at dinner for the characters (my FAV character meal) and the Cape May Cafe breakfast.

Your kids are too cute!! Love those stories, they are adorable!

Glad you enjoyed the stories. Actually, I forgot about 1900 Park Fare - we've had good meals there. Oh and Grand Floridian Cafe too!

 

[Villainess]

Haha, that smiley is perfect for this story! I'm in a computer lab right now so you're lucky I could control my laughter!

LOL! I could just imagine your burst of laughter and upon being questioned saying, "Oh it's just a 1 year old stripping!"

Great story! I can just picture it!

I have a younger brother who, at 3 years old, decided it would be a great idea to parade naked through my 7th birthday party of all little girls! Watch out....he is 35 now and STILL tends to be a bit of an exhibitionist! LOL! He'd kill me if he knew I was spreading that around!

OMG! I'm sure the house was filled with shrieks and screaming by all your friends!

 

[Villainess]

While I sort through the Disney on Ice photos - which have been delayed due to my laptop constantly overheating. I think it's on the way out and my camera fund (almost 1/2 complete towards my new camera) is now becoming a laptop fund - I thought I would share with you pictures from DD's 2nd bday party - her Minnie Mouse party!

It's cold and yucky and all too wintry for my tastes, so let's brighten up the mood with some Minnie fun!

It's all started a darling little girl, about to turn 2 who kept asking for a Minnie party!


Then a spark of imagination about the invitation ...

And Voila! A party is born!

I designed the invitations in photoshop, cut out each one - they are about 7"x7" sewed each bow and glued in place. 40 times! Let me tell you that my thumb was numb for 4 days after all that cutting!

Next up - the party decorations!!!!!!!!!!! I hate that I don't have pictures of half of the decorations.

In front of the house, I had signs like "Oh boy, Minnie we found the party!" "Gee Mickey, I hope they have cake!" lining the walkway to the backyard.

In the backyard, I had fake plastic sunflowers in the flowerbeds (this was late Sept, so we were transitioning to the fall mums). I had red tablecloths on all the tables. And 'Mickey Park' backdrop from the Disney Store hanging from the back of the house

I bought terra cotta pots and Pop Pop spray painted them red w/ white polka dots and placed red and white carnations in the pots and placed them on the tables.

And of course, Minnie herself!

All the children were given Mickey or Minnie ears when they arrived.

BIL and the Mickey pinata.

And the children wanted pics wearing the 'big ears' too!

And they they pulled the pinata strings!

And I put so much stuff in it, it didn't open!

FINALLY

And they played

and played

and played

 

[Villainess]

We left off they were playing ...

DD got her first kiss

For dinner we had Mickeyroni and Cheese for the kids along with chicken nuggets. And for everyone: Mickey Pasta Salad, Meatballs, London Broil, Stuffed Shells, Red Potato Wedges, Lemon Chicken, and String Beans.

Cake Time!

Here, I had my camera settings wrong, so the pictures are all a yellow-ish tint. I need to go back and try to reprocess them one day.

(you can kinda see some of the window clings we had all over all the windows with different characters on them)
I made the cake and boy is working with fondant fun! HAHA!

We had to wake DS up to join in the fun!

Opening presents ...

When it was time to go home ...

red & white M&M's w/ messages "Happy Birthday" & "Cibella is 2!" in a clear purse w/ red w/ white polka dot ribbon for the adults and older children.

For the kids ...
red gable boxes with white polka dots

Inside girls box

and the boys box

close up of some of the Disney character-shaped crayons

In the end, I would say it was a grand success! Little Minnie had a wonderful time playing with her friends and cousins! Little Minnie has since become the princess and has informed me that next year is "Aurora pink, Mimi, not blue!" (How many times do you think we've watched Sleeping Beauty?)

Coming Up - Little Guy's Handy Manny 1st bday party!

 

[ariel2007]

Wow that party looks brilliant, what a great job you did. I love the invitations, they are so cute, and the party boxes are great. Your DD looks so cute and looks like she had a blast. The cake was great, you are very creative.

 

[wlwilliams9]

WOW!! You are so creative! Looks like I need to step it up for DD's 3rd B-day!!

Can't wait to see the Handy Manny stuff!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Awesome Party!! I love the cake...I decorate cakes for my family and friends, but have never tried fondant. It looks great!

 

[Villainess]

Wow that party looks brilliant, what a great job you did. I love the invitations, they are so cute, and the party boxes are great. Your DD looks so cute and looks like she had a blast. The cake was great, you are very creative.

Thank you! It was lots of fun! I had a Minnie mouse shirt on as did Nonna, but I don't have a picture of mine! I had bought DS a Mickey shirt, but it was way too big on him, so he ended up wearing one of his summer shirts to fit into the theme!

WOW!! You are so creative! Looks like I need to step it up for DD's 3rd B-day!!

Can't wait to see the Handy Manny stuff!

Handy Manny is coming up! I'm already thinking about DD's and DS's bday parties! The spring/summer/fall is busy season for me as far as my hairbows and tutus are concerned. I have a lot of fairs and a 5 day county fair so a lot of the ideas need to be in place so I can work on them a little at a time!

Awesome Party!! I love the cake...I decorate cakes for my family and friends, but have never tried fondant. It looks great!

Glad you like cake. I really need to learn how to make it more smooth and as well as getting the excess confectioner's sugar off the pieces! I stink at rolling out dough and fondant so some of these pieces were too thick in areas and too thin in others. I did better w/ DD's 1st bday cake when I had Pop Pop roll out the fondant for me!

 

[Lady Lallie]

What a great theme for a party! I love the cake, it's so adorable.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

You daughters b-day party is FANTASTIC!!!! I wish I have a party like that lol!!! Can't wait to see what's in store for the handy manny party!

 

[spoonfulofsugr]

Beautiful Family.. great TR.. I'm on board!

 

[Villainess]

What a great theme for a party! I love the cake, it's so adorable.

Thank you! It was lots of fun to plan!

You daughters b-day party is FANTASTIC!!!! I wish I have a party like that lol!!! Can't wait to see what's in store for the handy manny party!

I wish I could have a party too! Hmmmmm .... would it be silly to throw myself a 29th bday party? I could theme it "Pretend we're in WDW w/ a free day in the park"

Beautiful Family.. great TR.. I'm on board!

Thank you!

 

[Villainess]

I was going to wait until tonight to post this, but since I'm waiting to hear from Pop Pop about our ADR for today - Boatwrights - not sure if he was calling or not , I thought I would go ahead and post DS's party!

Picking his theme was perplexing. He lovees Tigger & Pooh so I was very tempted to have a 100 Acre Woods Party, but he also loves Handy Manny! I made my decision when Pop Pop offered to help make the centerpieces (keeping it a secret for the time being).

DS's party also included exDH's family. At DD's 1st bday party they were included, and were supposed to be invited for her 2nd as well, but due to some idiotic shennanigans by exDH, I opted to not invite them to DD's 2nd.

First things, first: the invitations! I toyed with a few ideas - one in the shape of a hammer, a brightly colored invite with a picture, but kept thinking it wasn't 'WOW' enough. (When you design invitations for a living you are always thinking in these terms!) Then it dawned on me! Handy Manny's sign! I was going to recreate Handy Manny's sign!

So that's what I did! I opened up my trusty Photoshop and began creating planks of wood; after a few tries I was happy with the result. Then I began creating a nail head, a bolt, and screws. I had 2 pictures I was thinking about using: one with the tools and another of Handy Manny w/ the tools. I couldn't decide which one to use, so in the end I used both - 1/2 got the tools only invite and the other half got Handy Manny and tools!

The final product:

(please ignore the watermarkings - I have them for sale on etsy and to protect my images from being stolen and other sellers using them as their own - sadly, this happens a lot - I have to put them on there)

I had DS's party in the gym of the family center of our church. With it being Nov. 1st, the weather could've been nice or could've been cold and miserable. Since both families were invited and not being able to count on the weather and the outdoor luxury I have with planning DD's parties, I opted for the school gym. It was perfect! It also meant a lot of area to decorate though!

On the walls, were pictures we painted of the tools and Handy Manny. Don't be too impressed! I took DS's coloring book and a projector, and traced them on poster board, then painted them!

I guess I forgot to take a picture of Dusty and Pat!

Across the stage I had yellow Caution tape as garland and also to block off the stairs so the little ones couldn't get up there!

I made the table cloths out of paint dropcloths. I bought Crayola washable paint and DD and I had lots of fun splattering paint on all the drop cloths! Boy was it messy though!
Here is a good look at the table cloth that was also on one of the kids' craft tables - playdough!

Some of the bday signs!

I used plastic paint trays to hold snacks and dips.

And for the centerpieces! Pop Pop helped with these and were the big reason why I chose this theme! Ready?






























Really?


























You won't believe it!



























He made them!




























Yes, MADE them!























A total of 8!

Yup! He built tool boxes! Just like Manny's! Inside, I put Mega blocks and tools for everyone (adults included) to build and play!

Gift area

The birthday boy!

On the move.

All the kids received a yellow construction hat when they arrived!

With music playing (Disney, Imagination Movers, Choo Choo Soul, etc) the kids bowled

 

[Villainess]

We left off and the kids were bowling ...

Played tic tac toe

And parachute

And hopscotch

(or a huge puzzle as some of the kids thought it was!)

They colored (I had the crayons in clear plastic paint cans)

They breaked for dinner

And they built things

And the adults talked!

(Mom Mom is the red head so you know who will be calling 5-10x/day while you read the TR!)

Pinata time!

I made Stretch the Pinata! I prefer pull string pinatas to the normal swing a bat ones so everyone gets a string to pull at the same time and no one gets hurt!

I forgot to make a loop to hang the pinata onto something so here is Pop Pop trying to figure out what he could do with zipties and curling ribbon

When all else fails, ask exBIL to stand on a chair and hold it for them!

As with the other pinata I stuffed too much stuff in in and nothing came out

 

[Villainess]

Cake Time!

What Handy Manny party would be complete without Mrs Portillo's bakery? We had cake, cupcakes, Italian cookies, brownies, apple pie, and chocolate layer cake!

I made DS's cake but opted to not play with fondant this time. I had an awfully hard time deciding on what to do for his cake. So I opted for this and cupcakes on a tower I built.

There was 2 1/2 cans worth of icing on that top cupcake!

Happy Birthday to you ...
(I changed his shirt on purpose, you will see why!)

He got me!

Let me tell you, Wilton's food coloring gel stains your skin! It took 2 days for it to completely come off my hands! And that included 2 showers and countless handwashings too!

 

[Villainess]

Favors! aka Mr. Lopart's Candy Store

Yes, that's right, we had a candy bar! I was planning on making an awning to look like a storefront but we just ran out of time to make one! I choose to get old fashioned non-chocolate candy for the candy shop. The older adults thought it was a hoot to see so many of their childhood favorites. Some of the candy included: Bazooka Joe gum, Root Beer barrels, Red Hots, Charleston Chews, Gum Drops, Salt Water Taffy, Sugar Daddy, and Swirly Lollipops!

I used takeout containers for everyone to build their favors.

The kids also got little Handy Manny boxes with stickers, a Handy manny hammer, kalidescope, 'safety glasses', and some plastic tools

The party ended abruptly when DD fell down backwards while dancing with her cousin and hit her head very hard (and oh, did that make a sound I will never forget!) on the gymnasium floor. This resulted in her becoming very sleepy and one of exDH's aunt's who is a nurse suggested we take her to the ER, which exDH and I did. This is DD trying to fall asleep.

Thankfully, she was checked out and fine after only being in the ER for 3 hours! That's probably the quickest trip to the ER ever!

DSis snapped this pic of DS at the end of the party - he was partied out!

(notice the blue icing still on his pants)

Anyway, at the ER the nurse asked me if I was aware that my face and hands were blue. I told her that yes I did and was trying out to be a smurf! LOL! I honestly did. I was on the verge of crying and was so upset that DS's party came to a crushing halt and that DD was hurt, it just blurted out of my mouth!

And here is DS's thank you card.

Right now, it looks like DS's 2nd bday party is going to be an Imagination Movers theme! Wheels are turning ...

 

[tinkgurl]

Oh my gosh! Thanks so much for sharing the Handy Manny party pics! What a great theme, with your GREAT decorations! I bet the kids had a blast bowling with that music! And I love the thank-you's! Can't wait to see next year's party!