Angry Birds Time!!

This year I couldn't decide what to do. The boys are getting older but are still ok with sharing a birthday party, but what to do with a 6 year old and a 10 year old.....
One of my favorite go to friends for suggestions (Kat) brilliantly posted on Pinterest an idea for me.... ANGRY BIRDS!!!!

First the Sling Shot...... it was not as simple as we thought. It took a while to make it work, but once it did the kids had a blast shooting tennis balls with angry bird faces attached!










This is what they were aiming for .....


and


I made these and decided to fill them with the loot bags. I always hate to see someone upset when they don't get anything or what they think is enough out of a pinata so each bag had a name and each child got a bag. Not as many hurt feelings at the end. My hope was that they would be able to open these with the tennis balls but it proved to be much more challenging, so we moved onto the old fashioned blind fold and stick. Didn't take long! We covered some boxes with craft wrapping paper so that we could make the tower just like the Angry Birds game but what ended up being the most fun was riding the zip line through the boxes. They became the Angry Birds!











Time for the cake....








A special Thank you to Kat for helping with this cake, we realized that night that we had actually been decorating and preparing for Nuno's birthday together for 10 years! I couldn't do it without her. She keeps me moving until 1 am!

Fun with family and friends.





















Our very own Angry Birds.


Last but not least a few of the decorations. What I didn't realize until that day is that we had chicken nuggets (angry birds) and mini ham and cheese sliders (green pigs) for the main snacks! Not intentional but fun that it turned out that way.





It was a great day with our friends and family, perfect weather, tons of fun, and most importantly got the chance to celebrate two exceptional boys, Nuno and Rui. Happy Birthday Boys!!

Fun Run

2010 Nuno and Rui's Fun Run


Margot, Nuno, Rui, and Juliet

It's been a while since I've posted so I have to go back to last year before I can tell you all about this years smashing good time.

In 2010 my sister-in-law Judy California passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. We are very close to my brother and Judy and my nieces Margot and Juliet. She passed in August and in October when it was time to plan for the birthday bashes my oldest son Nuno asked if we could do a walk for the cure with some friends. I thought it was great of him to ask but could not find one close to home and close to their birthdays. So, I suggest we have our own!

What we decided was that we would map out a short course and have a little road race of our own. The boys were not wanting gifts but instead asked their guests to bring donations for Gilda's Club or Western PA in Pittburgh, a place my brother, sister-in-law and nieces spend a lot of time.
www.gildasclubwesternpa.org

It was so great to see my boys trying to deal with the loss of their Aunt this way. I couldn't wait to make it special for them.
I planned the race, ordered the racing number bibs, had medals for the kids, adults waiting at the finish line with silly sting, thought of a cake idea. It was going to be great.
And then........we got one of the best surprises of our lives. My brother and nieces flew in to surprise us and run the race with us! I could not believe any of it and for me this was by far the best birthday gift my boys could have ever received.

Here we are just enjoying some family time the night before the party.




The race........











All of the AMAZING friends my kids have who ran the race and whose parents generously gave and helped my boys raise over $1000.00 for Gilda's Club.







Me, my husband Davide, my awesome nieces Margot and Juliet, my incredible brother John and my mom Connie. All there to celebrate my boys who wanted to honor their Aunt Judy.


Here they are with Margot and Juliet at Gilda's Club presenting the check.



Carol Lennon- Gilda's Club, Rui, Nuno, Juliet and Margot at Gilda's Club of Western PA.

I have never been more proud of Nuno and Rui. We all miss Judy very much and I know she would have been proud to have been honored in this way.

Oh and the boys did get one special birthday present after this party...........MILITO!

Our other passion!

My first passion is my boys and making them happy, the second passion is the Decorative Painting Business my husband and I have been working endlessly to make a success (www.candecorativepaint.com) , in our down time (really, down time??) my husband's passion is his chickens! He loves these birds. One is Flitter, a Plymouth Rock Barred hen and the other is Brownie, a Rhode Island Red both named by our boys.
Here they are in all their glory!

He has just finished his garden and is hoping to add another chicken or two. Which is fine with me with only one condition, I want an Araucana, a hen that lays blue to greenish eggs. Stay tuned to see if my "wish" comes true.
In all honestly I hated the idea at first, coming from downtown to Toronto to Chapel Hill, NC the idea of chickens was outrageous. But I must admit I love the fresh eggs and my children love to have them as pets which makes me especially happy.

Number 2 and Art

Since I've been working backwards this whole time it's now onto birthdays 2 and 6 for my boys.
This time we had 2 separate parties, which was exhausting and led me to the point of celebrating both at the same time. As long as that is ok with them that is how it will stay.

Rui's second birthday was pretty simple. We celebrated the Number 2.
Since his birthday is in Oct. I had the "brilliant" idea of using pumpkins for the loot at the end of the party. But nothing is ever simple with me so I wanted to clean them out and paint them. I used just average acrylic paint for the pumpkins in colors to coordinate with the balloons I was using.
They were super cute but I will admit a little work.


The cupcakes were super easy with a number 2 cookie on top. Chocolate and white cupcakes with butter cream frosting. Yum.



He is just the cutest thing and I love him like crazy.




Some good food and good friends was all his party was about. That and the fact that he turned 2 of course.



But one week later.........
Nuno turned 6. So we had an art party. He is in love with art and drawing so I wanted this party to be fun. I sent out an invitation (which reminds me, I am going to do a separate post with all of the invitations that go with these parties, they are every bit as important) that said Dress for Mess and as you will see in some of these photos there was a reason.

Nuno's cake was a giant artists paint pallet and loot bags were white lunch bags with a splash of paint. (Thanks again Kat!)





Nuno doesn't like icing and I'm obsessed with fondant so we make a great team.
For the tablecloth I took a plain white paper cloth and spattered paint all over, Jackson Pollock style. I also hung prints of famous artwork from my kitchen lighting.

I found some really great ideas on line for art activities and here are a few I modified a bit.
I bought enough 11x14 canvases for each child (cheap at Michael's) and put their names on the back. I then formed them into a giant sized canvas. I mixed some powdered poster paint into squeeze bottles in several colors. The powdered paints created such an amazing vibrant finish, I LOVED them.
Each child was invited throughout the party to come and add some paint to the giant canvas. Once it was dry I pulled it apart and each child took a piece of art home. It was really great. So great in fact that this Thanksgiving I did the same thing for my family so that we could remember this Thanksgiving in NC.



We have a zip line in our yard so I hung a plain white sheet from the line and had spray bottles with watered down paint so that they could create some "graffiti" in the yard as well.


When I said dress for mess I meant it........

They were in heaven!

And last but not least , blowing out the candles, make a wish!