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!

Mad Scientist Party

I don't really like to have double birthday parties for my boys.My brother and I have very close birthdays, only 3 days apart (of course they are also 7 years apart) and my mom always made sure we each had a choice for our party. I guess being 7 years apart had something to do with that but I always told myself that I would make sure each of my children would have their own parties. Then reality sets in and the logistics of having 2 separate parties in 2 weeks seems like too much.
And the truth is they really love having the same party.
Last year for Nuno's 7th birthday and Rui's 3rd birthday we had a Mad Scientist Party.
What follows are some of the great ideas I found either on line or in my own crazy head.
Enjoy!

The Cakes!
I made the Frankenstein for Nuno and the Brain for Rui.
The brain was sooo easy and fun to make. One of my favorites.






The decorations.
Again my friend Kat helped with some labels for things but I had such a great time researching all of this and finding all of the jars and "specimens" for he party. The wine bottles were awesome. Just to be clear although it was a party for my kids it's also a time when my husband and I like to have some fun with the parents. We all get to have a great time.




Blowing out the candles.



Get dressed!
We hoped that everyone would have joined in the fun and some did. These great friends of ours Julie and Bill and some of the kids, Jackson and Fletcher along with Nuno did such a great job dressing up as Mad Scientists.



The Fun!
We planned several experiments for the kids. From exploding baking soda and vinegar to making goop (which is super easy as well. water, glue and borox make such a great concoction). Everyone had a good time getting dirty.




The Games!
Next we moved onto a slime race. Pans of the slimy goop we made were put at one end of the yard then a relay race was held to see who could fill up the empty pan on the other side of the yard with the goop. I believe it was girls against boys and the girls won!



And Finally.......
We ended the night with a little marshmallow roasting. Always a crowd favorite.



Another successful birthday party!

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

My obsession with birthday parties started on my oldest son Nuno's first birthday. That was 8 years ago. I still can't believe it's been that long. For his 1st birthday I bought a really expensive cake, had really cute invitations that went with the theme of the cake (circles I believe) , bought sand buckets to fill with toys for the loot bags and blew up balloons until I was blue in the face. I recruited a few friends to help that night and so it began.................... Most of the friends I have think I'm a little nutty for staying up all night working on these parties but I know that my kids love them and that those friends, who think I'm nutty, also love them. And I love making my boys (especially) and friends happy. It makes me happy. After my last party, just last week, several people have said you should have a blog. So here I am starting my party blog. I will be the first to say my parties are not perfect, my cakes always have some funny imperfections, I may not finish all of the details but the ideas are sound and fun and the possibilities are endless. I have 2 boys. Nuno 8 and Rui 4. I usually do 2 separate parties but this year I decided to combine the two. Here is my inspiration:




They both have October birthdays and this year the party fell on the same weekend as the opening of the new Spike Jonze movie WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. When I first saw that preview months ago I almost squeeled out loud, I was so excited. I knew that day this would be the theme for this year's party. I started researching all details of the book, looked on line for cake ideas, invitation ideas, anything related to Where the Wild Things Are. I have an amazing friend Kat, her invitations always set the stage for the party. Without her I would be lost in the beginning.
I decided that the cake had to be something fun. I looked on-line for Wild Thing inspirations and in the end this was my cake!





This was so much fun. My favorite part of party preparation is Kat joining me until 1:00am while I obsess about the party and my cake! A little wine, a little cake, always a great night.
Now onto decorations.
My husband built the boys a great tree fort this year and I thought "wow, that will make a great sailboat!" Here is Max's boat to the land of the Wild Things.




Nuno and Rui set sail for the land of the Wild Things!

I bought very inexpensive fabric for the sails and plastic table cloths from the Party Store for the waves. So easy and yet looks so great.
For fun I set up a craft table where each child could make a crown and scepter so they could be kings or queens of the Wild things.


Nuno decorating


Nuno king of the Wild Things


Rui king of the Wild Things


Georgia very serious about her crown.


Even the parents had fun. Thanks Jen!


We had one relay race for fun and prizes. Everyone got into the game and it was a ton of fun.








Thanks to everyone for playing along!


Since this party is in October I decided to pass on the candy loot bags, instead every child got a mini flashlight to carry on Halloween night.
I know we had a really great time and I hope our friends did too. We have a great bunch of them and this party is as much for the adults as it is for our kids.
Thanks to everyone for coming.

More to come soon!