Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Conan's Pink Star

When we decorated our tree, we found we didn't have a good topper. So I suggested to Conan that we ought to make a star. I grabbed the construction paper, and pulled out a couple sheets of yellow and orange paper. Conan eyed them skeptically. "No, Mama" he said. "It would look better made out of pink." Now it was my turn to be skeptical, but I went ahead and complied. We traced out a star-topped cone on the pink paper, and Conan helped me cut it out. Then we got out the sticker box to choose some stickers to decorate it with. I thought the dinosaurs would be nice, but Conan went straight to the pink fuzzy alphabet stickers. I was still pretty skeptical, but his design really came together in the end, and looks great on the tree.

 I will treasure it for ever.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Playdough Party

For Conan's birthday we had a playdough party.  It turned out really well, and it was simple to put together. I just made a dozen batches of playdough, went to the Goodwill for spatulas, mellon ballers, scoops, and potato mashers galore, and put a plastic table cloth over the dining room table.  Voila!

 
The playdough provided hours of fun for a dozen kids aged 2-5, including the birthday boy (who decided that his shirt was just slowing him down).
 

 

 

 
Some of the grown ups even got in on the playdough fun.  Because really, who can resist?

 

 
After we picked up the tools and the big peices of playdough, the plastic tablecloth made clean up a cinch.  We packed the playdough into medium-sized ziplock bags and sent them home with kids after the party.

Then it was time for cake!  We got a Thomas the Tank Engine cake from the grocery store bakery.  It was a big hit with all the kids.  I do feel a little guilt about not making a homemade cake, but realistically I just didn't have time to bake the cake as well as do the other preparations.

 
Conan got a lot of great new toys and books for his birthday, and had a tremendous amount of fun. All in all, the playdough party idea was a total success. 

Happy Third Birthday, Conan!