Lego Pencils

We built some Lego pencils with pieces from our 1x1 bin (and some random technic parts).

Paper Quilled Panda

I was browsing the Papyrus store and fell in love with the quilled paper cards.  The colours are vibrant and the designs are intricate.  I wanted to give quilling a try, so I ordered some supplies from Amazon.  It arrived quickly.

There are two things I want to try to make.  One is a quilled panda.

I don’t have a lot of free time... I have a one year old and two older kids.  I managed to start making parts of my panda last night when my baby went to bed.  He miraculously had a long nap this morning, so I was able to finish my panda and a bamboo.

Here’s my first attempt at quilling.

Lego Elephants

Wow!  I didn't realize that it's been almost a year since I last built something for fun.  Since the boy is sick at home.  It was a Lego day.  I decided to make an elephant and ended up making 2.

The distinctive feature in elephant 1 is it's realistic trunk.  The arm pieces used in the trunk allow it to swivel up and down nicely.   I couldn't find all the parts I wanted so I had to substitute some pieces in.  Note: the asymmetrical tusks, leg colours and shapes.  I wanted to build it one piece taller, but couldn't find enough grey cylindrical pieces - though I'm sure we have some somewhere...  It's a bit difficult to find pieces since most of them are now dumped into an Ikea bench.

For the second elephant, I started off with a piece I wanted to use for legs.  I inverted that part, then built up from there.  Because the piece is inverted, the studs are on the bottom of the legs.  I improvised attaching pieces on top to connect the legs with the body and head.

Here's a link to my Lego moc page: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/419398

Cardboard car or wagon

If your house is anything like mine... you might have piles of boxes lying around.  One activity we did today was we made a mini cardboard wagon/car.

You need a circular object to trace circles onto scrap pieces of cardboard.  The Amazon.com/Amazon.ca shipping boxes aren't too thick and are easier to cut.  I just traced circles onto the box flaps and used the rest of the box as the wagon.  I cut off the flaps and cut out the circles.  I got my 6 yr old to cut out some of the circles too.  My circles had a 9.5cm diameter, but you can make them any size you want.

The kids decorated the circles (which will become the tires for the car/wagon) and marked the center of each circle.  I poked a hole through the center for them.  After, we line up where we want the tires on the car to go and I use a pencil to poke through the hole on the tire circles to mark the spot on the box.  I poke holes at the marked spots with scissors.

Finally we attach the tires.

I picked up a box of round head paper fasteners from Staples.  These are fun to make clocks, robot arm/leg attachments or if you need to make other moving parts on some sort of creation!  Anyhow, you should have a box of these in your craft drawer!

You just push the fastener through the tire hole and the box hole, then open up the prongs.  I tape down the prongs onto the box.  Then we're done.

I was happy that the wheels do roll across the floor and carpet, but you need to be gentle playing with it.  My 2 yr old kept trying to get into the car and was disappointed when the tires folded over.  I tried to convince her that it was just for toys.  My 6 yr old was more careful with his car.  He didn't mark the center of his tires perfectly so his car is more wobbly.  I guess it just adds character. 

Paper Mâché with kids

Here's a messy activity I did with my 6 year old and 2 year old.  We made paper mache cups.  We still need to paint them and maybe add a coat of glue or something to protect it a little.

What we used:
- 2 cups flour
- 3 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 disposable plastic cups
- strips of newsprint

We mixed together the flour, water and salt in a big mixing bowl.  Then I poured the mixture into smaller mixing bowls for each kid.  We dipped the strips of newsprint into the bowl, and tried to gently remove the excess before layering the strip onto our plastic cup.  We continued layering on more strips dipped with the paste until we covered the cups several times in different directions.  Then we let our cups dry for 1-2 days before I removed the plastic cup.  I just cut strips of the cup and carefully separated the paper mache from the cup surface.

It's probably easier doing paper ache with a balloon because you can just pop it and remove the balloon, but I didn't happen to have any balloons on hand that afternoon.  You can trim the top edge of the cup or leave it jagged.  We might paint or layer coloured tissue paper with glue/paste to decorate the cups another day.

I have a big water/sand tub table that we worked in and had a mat under that to catch drips that inevitably made their way out of the tub.  It helps to try to smooth out the strips of paper against the cup before layering more strips on top.  You get a stronger cup if there are less air pockets while you're layering the strips.  If you want stronger cups, you can use white glue instead of flour... but with little kids, I prefer sticking with the basics.


Update: Here are the cups we made after painting them and adding a layer of glue on top.

Making Rock Candy

Rock Candy Results:

Rock Candy Day 4 Update:

 

Day 4

After waiting for more than a week... here's the rock candy we made.

I forgot to update yesterday, but the crystallization process is a slow one. So you didn't miss too much.

Rock Candy Day 2 Update:

 

Day 2

I'm not entirely sure that there are any more crystals on the skewers today... but here's the picture (after about 31 hours).

Rock Candy Day 1:

 

Day 1

This attempt looks more promising.  The liquid is transparent and there are sugar crystals forming on the skewers.

Now we wait.

Making Rock Candy

Attempt #1

Our attempt #1 was a dismal failure because I went overboard on the sugar and the entire glass solidified into a chunk of sugar... I had to rinse it out with hot water and scrap the sugar out with a spoon.  I decided to give this experiment another try.

This time I modified the steps slightly and stuck to a 1 cup water: 3 cup sugar ratio.  I'm hopeful we'll get some rock candy in about a week.  I've read that it can take anywhere from 2-7 days.

What we used:

4 bamboo skewers
1 kettle
2 mixing bowls
4 long narrow glasses (I used shot glasses I picked up at value village)
4 hairpins (but if you have clothespin that would probably work better)
Koolaid (optional for colour and flavour)

What we did:

I dipped the bamboo skewers in water then coated them with sugar and set them aside.
I heated water in a kettle and measured out 1 cup of boiled water.
Then I added it to a mixing bowl.
I premeasured out 3 cups of sugar.
My kids took turns adding 1/4 cup of sugar into the water and stirring in the sugar until we used up the sugar.
We added a squirt of liquid Koolaid into 3 of the glasses and left one plain.
I carefully poured the sugar water into each glass.  You can use a funnel if your mixing bowl doesn't have a spout.
Next, I placed a skewer into each glass, raised it slightly so that it didn't touch the bottom of the glass and clipped the skewer (so that the clip rested on top of the glass and held the skewer in place).
Finally, I put the glasses somewhere where it won't get disturbed.

Spaghetti Hot Dog

Not the most healthy lunch idea... but it was quick and fun.  We had spaghetti hot dogs today.  They look a bit like centipedes.  I took out a handful of spaghetti.  We snapped the spaghetti in half and the kids helped poke the spaghetti through the hot dogs.  Then we boiled them in water for about 10-12 minutes.

Paper Tree

What can you do with a toilet paper roll?  I rolled up a piece of brown construction paper and slid it into the roll.

At first it was a telescope.  Then the boy wanted to do some cutting... so I had him cut one end of the paper in varying lengths and gently pulling some strands down.  Then it became a tree.  But he wanted leaves too.  So I folded a piece of green construction paper and cut out some leaves (with some leaves connected on one side), and cut slits into the leaves.  Then we just attached them to the branches and voila.  Instant tree.  If you shake the tree, the leaves will fall off.  I guess you can glue them in, but I didn't want to mess around with glue.

It's a quick fun activity and if you have a few more toilet paper rolls and construction paper, you can make a forest of trees.  It's very versatile.  Add some red, orange and yellow leaves for autumn.  Cotton balls if you want snow.

If you're creative, you can probably transform this into a christmas tree.  I envision using green construction paper instead of brown and feather cutting the branches to make pine needles.  Then making and adding decorations.

Duplo Activities

Been busy with my new baby and preschooler.  We saw the duplo inspiration videos earlier this week.  Isaac loves the Ramps and Crashes, Biggest Bridge and the Marble Run video.  After that, Isaac wanted to make his own ramp.

It gave me some ideas and spurred me to do some building.

For a quick fun activity with kids - we made duplo bowling pins and a little lane for it.  I might want to try creating a lane with gutters next time.

This morning, I decided to build my version of a spiral train track.  It's 3 levels high and used 3 bridge halves to ramp up to the top of the spiral.

A lesson about seeds

August 5th: I was eating an avocado for breakfast this morning and I popped out the pit for Isaac to touch.  Then I thought... why don't we just try to germinate the seed to see what happens?  Isaac was excited about the idea.  I looked up a couple of websites with some suggestions and I decided to wrap up the seed in a wet paper towel and keep it covered and stored in a dark place (by Isaac's bath tub).

I guess we'll have to see what happens.  Either it will get mouldy and rot or a root will grow in 2-4 weeks.  This could be interesting.  :)  I was almost tempted to buy a little ceramic pot (with drain hole) so that we can plant it somewhere... but I'll hold off just in case this experiment fails.

I'm pretty bad at taking care of plants so the chances of this working are quite low.  I just think it's a good opportunity to show Isaac how seeds grow (and the bigger picture of where some food comes from).

Update:
August 14th: We checked on the seed and it looks like it's formed a crack on one end.  I think we've been trying to germinate it upside-down, so I've turned it around and put the crack side on the bottom of the container.  I guess we'll have to see if a root starts growing from the crack in a few days.  I wasn't really expecting too much, so we don't have a pot or soil to plant it in yet...

Update:
August 20th:  I stopped by a small flower shop in Kerrisdale today looking for a cheap plastic pot.  The lady was so nice, she transplanted one of her flowers and gave us the pot for free.  I think there might be a root growing in the crack, so we planted the avocado seed into a pot with some potting soil.

Update:
September 11th: I kept the avocado in the washroom because it was the room with the highest humidity.  I checked on it today and there was a shoot growing out from the top! We had started germinating an additional avocado seed, but I forgot to check on it and it looks like some sort of hold or fungus was starting to grow on that one, so I don't know if it'll survive or not.  It had a root growing out from the bottom.  I moved it out to a pot with a little bit of soil.  I guess we'll see what happens.

Weekly Update: November 14-18, 2011

This week Isaac made 2 mini loaves of bread in cooking class.  One was a rye bread and the other was a cranberry loaf.  I really liked the cranberry loaf, but Daddy thought it tasted too much like fruitcake for his liking.

 

On Tuesday Auntie K and G came over for a morning play date.  We made blueberry pancakes together.  They brought over some chocolate zucchini cake.  I need to remember to return her container.  As it neared 1pm, Isaac and G went a little crazy running around and chasing each other.  I think they both had a good time.  We need to organize our mini playgroup Christmas party soon.  In the afternoon, Isaac napped in the stroller while I went to the library to return some books and pick out some new ones.

Wednesday morning we arrived a little late to preschool.  Normally we're there before they open the doors. I guess we left the house a tad late.  I returned some more books while Isaac was at school.  When I got home, I noticed that the number of items we have at home and the number the computer system says we have checked out doesn't match up.  Isaac has 24 items at home, so keeping track of everything is tedious (since he messes up the pile).  Anyhow, I've had problems with books not getting checked in at least a couple of previous times so I try to keep on top of checking up after I make returns.  I was able to clear the book off our account, but they didn't want to do a shelf check to verify if it was there or not.  I'm tempted to go and look for that book the next time I stop by that branch.

Wednesday afternoon and evening Isaac complained about having a tummy ache and had diarrhea.  On Thursday morning, he still had diarrhea, but was acting completely normal otherwise.  He couldn't go to school so we played at home all day.

Friday we skipped out on meeting up with his playgroup friends.  Actually it was more because I was too tired to go.  My sleep schedule is a bit messed up at the moment because my nap times are at bad times.  I found Isaac's Christmas present at Value Village.  He's getting a 250 piece set of TinkerToys - it was complete though 2 pieces were broken (so I tossed them out).

Currently dvd requests: Dora the Explorer.  He likes the music and most of the characters except for Swiper the Fox.  He also likes watching All About Volcanoes - it's a video for young kids (about K-Grade 4 level).  I might borrow other videos from that series to see if he likes any of the other topics.

Cutting naps

It seems that Isaac is starting to cut naps on some days.  He went napless on Saturday and again today.  I was able to put him to bed extra early today (asleep by 6:30pm instead of the usual 9pm).  I don't really know why he's cutting his nap... maybe I just missed the timing since he was looking quite sleepy a bit earlier but I wanted him to eat lunch before his nap.

I know that there are a number of kids his age that have already cut their naps, but I think he generally needs his nap still.  He's much less agreeable in the evening when he doesn't get a nap.

Today, I took Isaac to a Strong Start class.  First we had some gym time, then free play, circle time, snacks, he wasn't interested in reading time, but listened in on the story time at the end.  For snack time, they served crackers, cheese, oranges and apples.  Isaac really loved eating the cheddar cheese.  He kept asking for more but didn't touch any of the other stuff.  I was hoping that taking him to school would help to burn off his energy so that he'd nap... but I couldn't get him down after trying for an hour.  I left him at home with Daddy and went to do a blood test.

It looks like one of Isaac's 2-year molars has finally broken through and is coming in at the back.  3 more to go.  I haven't noticed any teething symptoms this time.  Then again, the teeth seem to be coming up quite slowly.

Tomorrow we have Twos Time.  I've volunteered to help in tomorrow's class.  Hope it'll be fun.

Highlights For The Week

Yesterday we went to the mall and checked out a nature exhibit.  We watched most of a safari show/presentation and Isaac got to touch a bearded dragon and an albino bull snake.  He really liked the archeology display, "Bone Zone".  It was a table filled with sand and rocks and hidden fossils.  There were paint brushes scattered around the table and kids were encouraged to gently brush the rocks to reveal bones.

During one of our classes this week, I left Isaac in the class for about 15 minutes to see how he did without me in the room with him.  According to the instructor, he looked for me a couple of times and she was able to divert him to play for a bit before he started looking for me again.  On his third search for me, she led him out of the room to find me.  He didn't cry, but just kept asking for me.

We went out for dinner a couple of times to see some relatives who were in town visiting.

I was able to register Isaac for swimming and a cooking class for this fall.  G will also be in our swimming class, yay!  Isaac will be starting Twos Time this September.  I bought labels from Mabel's Labels so that I can label his clothes, shoes, bags, and containers for preschool.  I also picked up a Cars FUNtainer Thermos water bottle and a Thermos food jar for his snack time.  I'll have to see how these hold up after a few months of use.

On another note, I really dislike the Learning Curve Cars Insulated Straw Cup.  It leaks like crazy because every time he takes a sip, water stays in the straw, then when he opens/closes his bottle, the water drips out.  I had to replace his Playtex insulated straw cup because he chews on the straw and it tore.  I ended up buying a couple more of the Playtex ones because at least those cups don't leak as much!

Today we met up with friends to play in a water playground.  It was a little chilly.  Isaac was shivering and one of the other moms carried him over to me when they noticed he was really cold.

Tomorrow evening we are going to babysit G while Auntie K and Uncle H go watch the Harry Potter movie.  I may let Isaac stay up later to play with his friend (depending on how tired and crazy he gets).  We might attend a music festival on Sunday.  Next week we have a Creative Movements class every morning.

UPDATE: This morning I went to 3 garage sales and picked up a couple of books and a mini-set of dominos.  Daddy and Isaac played together at a couple parks.  In the evening, babysitting G went very smoothly.  We played with trains, cars, had pizza, watched an episode of Hikaru No Go, Daddy and G put some Go stones on a Go board and played some iPad games while I put Isaac to bed, then I gave G a snack, read him a story, and he played with a Thomas the train puzzle.  We're still deciding if we'll go to the music fest or not, there's 60% chance of rain and it's an outdoor event.

Growing and Learning: Cherishing Little Moments

Over the past week Isaac has been conquering some of his fears.  At his last Time For Fun class, he got up and joined the other kids to play with the parachute during circle time.  Normally, he's really scared and just sits with me to watch everyone else do that activity.  Also, he's been going into the shower a couple of times and doesn't mind getting water in his face.  In our swimming lesson today, he willingly dipped his nose into the water (which is also a first for him).

At the playground, Isaac raced with another kid to the slide.  When the other kid (E.) got there first, he suggested they go down the slide together.  I helped Isaac sit behind E. and they down they went.  They went on the slide again together several times.  Isaac kept asking "gether".   I think he had fun playing with E.  He also asked another mom at the park "Please" and pointed to some sand shovels and bucket before playing with them.

This morning when Isaac was helping me take out the garbage, he found a couple of baby toys in the garbage room, so I brought the back home and washed them.  One item was a Laugh And Learn activity table.  It was missing the spoon and the table legs, but seems to be working properly (and still had batteries in it).  The other toy is sort of like an infant activity cube (except it's not a cubed).  He was excited to play and figure out what each thing did.

I ordered some more duplo train switches from someone off Bricklink but with the postal strike, I don't think it'll be arriving any time soon.  No real finds from Value Village lately.

Early riser

Last night, Isaac went to bed at around 8am and as far as I'm aware, he didn't wake up until this morning at 5am when I got up to get a drink of water.  It should be easy to adjust to the EST time zone when we go visit in a couple of weeks.  He's playing happily with his various train sets.  He likes to say "all boar" (All Aboard)  and "tick" (tickets).

Yesterday Isaac enjoyed the art class because one of the projects was a train.  He spent a long time colouring it.  He fell asleep on the way home.  N (2yrs 4mos) and A (5yrs) came over to play at 2pm.  Isaac woke up from his nap at around 2:45pm and only ate a tiny bit of dumplings for lunch.  It was interesting to see how an older child played.  It was more chaotic since N & A would fight with each other.  I didn't notice too much conflict between Isaac and N, though Isaac did try to take something from A and A didn't let go of the toy.

Today we're having J over to play.  Isaac seems to be looking forward to seeing J.

Isaac's been taking the ipad off our kitchen bar counter the last few days.  I guess there's really nowhere "safe" to put stuff any more.

Birthday Party Madness!

I went to bed at 4am - tired but could not fall asleep easily.  We got up at 7:30am.  I took a shower while Daddy fed the boy breakfast - applesauce.

We put on some shows for the boy to watch and worked in the kitchen trying to prepare the lunch for the kids and the veggie platter.  Daddy started moving things down to the party room.  We were running behind schedule!

At 9:14am, we were expecting our friend to come at 9am to help... BUT...

The buzzer for our front door was replaced during the week.  I didn't test it out yesterday... turns out our number was deleted from the system.  I had to go downstairs to let my friend in.  We go test the buzzer in the parking lot.  At least that works.

9:50am. I'm still in the kitchen cooking.  M&L buzz us from the parking.  They come up.  Michael brings stuff down and get M&L to help us set up the room.  Daddy goes to pick up a mango cake.

A bit after 10am, our first toddler guest arrives.  I'm still upstairs cooking - but I have to run down to let them in.  I turn off the stove and let the food continue to cook in the pot.

10:18am.  I'm done cooking... but there are still lots of stuff to bring downstairs.  I grab a load and head down but I left my cellphone in our unit.  UH OH!  When I went back up to our unit, I found I missed 2 calls.  Someone is buzzing us a 3rd time from the parking and someone is calling our home phone at the same time.  I try to let our parking guests in but for some reason, it's NOT working.  At the same time, I'm trying to talk on the phone with our guest waiting outside the front lobby doors.  People are confused as I try to sort out both calls at the same time.  I end up going down to the lobby, then dashing to the parking lot (to find Daddy letting our parking guests in).  Thanks Daddy!!

I bring our guests up to the party room, then continue to move stuff down from our unit.

Things finally settle down for a bit for me.  Daddy goes back up a few more times to get stuff we've forgotten.  I spend some time watching Isaac play and chatting a little with some of the other kids and parents.  We set up the juice and tupperwares of fruits and veggies.  Daddy orders some pizza.

The kids start snacking.  Watermelon seems to be a big hit with all the kids (except Isaac).

Daddy comes back with the pizza and I make a couple of trips to bring down the macaroni and sauce in our big pots.

Our final guests arrive.  Isaac looks ready to conk out and when I ask him if he wants to nap - he says yes.  I decide that we do the cake part before he falls asleep...

Isaac smiles and waits when he sees his cake.  He is incredibly happy as everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to him.  He has a huge grin on his face.  It melts my heart watching him.  He attempts to blow out his candle.  (I help him on his second attempt.)  We give him some cake.  It tastes like a chocolate brownie.  His lips are smeared with chocolate and blue fondant.  After that, his energy levels go up and he's ready to play again.

Guests start leaving.

M and L bring up Isaac's birthday present and he seems to LOVE it - a tricycle.  He spends a lot of time playing with it, sitting on it, dumping things from the basket out.  Me: I'm undecided about it. It's really cute, but the tires are plastic so it'll probably break pretty fast if we take it outside. Still deciding if we should keep it or switch it for something else.  A minor scuffle breaks out over the tricycle.

At around 2:30pm - Isaac has a meltdown as I am changing his diaper.  Daddy, M and L clean up the room and bring all our stuff up while I take him up for a nap but he would not sleep.  Potty time.  Then he wanted to eat more food.  He kept asking for more ham.  After we had some mango cake.  Isaac kept asking for and eating pieces of L's slice of cake.

I go to take a nap, but Isaac hangs out with Daddy, M and L.  M&L leave and Isaac comes to look for me.  I try to put him down for a nap, but as soon as I try to transfer him to his crib, he's up and screaming.  I think he's over-stimulated and over-tired.  Not a great combination.  We let Isaac open one present.

Daddy gives Isaac a bath.  Then we go down to look over the party room and do some spot cleaning.

We put the boy down for bed at around 8:30pm.

I still need to return the keys for the lounge before 9am.

Birthday Cake!

Up 'til 2am decorating the cake for the boy.  The kitchen floor has a dusting of icing sugar.  My fingers are stained with blue food colouring.  I used the Rolled Buttercream Fondant recipe from allrecipes..  At least I can go to bed knowing that my Lego cake is done.

Still have lots to do tomorrow morning.
- Cut up vegetables for a veggie platter
- Bring down toys: Lego (house, bricks, track, figures, vehicles), gears, blocks, fake food
- Arts and crafts: marshmallows, toothpicks, paper bags, crayons and maybe markers
- Prepare lunch for the kids (chopping veggies, cooking macaroni, heating up cream of mushroom soup)
- Decorate and label loot bags and write note on cards
- Inflate balloons

- Bring down washroom supplies: portable toddler potty, spare change mat, wipes, a few spare diapers
- Bring down cake, fruit platter, veggie platter, plates, cups, and utensils, water, juice, etc.

Hope we don't sleep in!

Twos Time

Yes! We got into next year's program!!!  Twos Time is a program that prepares children for preschool.

I got a phone call this morning from the community centre confirming that we got our first choice picks on two days in Twos Time program.  Due to the popularity of this program, general admission is by lottery.  There is also priority given to parents of past and current participants.  We submitted the lottery request form last month, and I was expecting to hear back next week.

The program runs September 2011 - June 2012.  Isaac will be going two mornings per week.  The structure of the classes include: free play time, circle time, snack time and some gym/outdoor time.  There are some mandatory parental duty days each term.  I met the teachers at an open house and they seem wonderful.

I'm so excited.  I hope Isaac will like going to Twos Time.  I'll need to go and fill out the registration forms before April.

We were at G's house today.  Isaac had fun playing with his friends.  He played with a choo-choo train, in an inflated ball pit, on a ride-on toy, taking pictures with a toy camera, pressing buttons on a calculator, triggering music from a couple of toys, and playing with G's new dinosaur set - he like the trees and kept trying to hide the rocks.

After, we did some groceries and went home.  Daddy put Isaac down for his nap and he was asleep by the time I came up with the groceries.  I picked up some apple chips.  Isaac thinks they're ok.  Tonight we're having steak for dinner.

Update:
I'm sad to hear that our friends didn't get into the program.  They heard back from the community centre in the evening.

Must Refrain From Toy Shopping For The Rest Of This Month...

Ok. I just ordered the deluxe lego duplo train and an extra set of straight tracks from the lego website.  It was super expensive.  Grandma and grandpa: some of Isaac's birthday money is going into the train set. The rest is going into his bank account.  THANK YOU!!!

I must not shop.  I must not shop.  Let me repeat that one more time... I MUST NOT SHOP.  Except for any incidental birthday party costs, food, and clothing needed for the boy, I will try not to buy additional toys... at least for the rest of this month and next month.  Instead of walking to Value Village, I think I will have to avoid going there.  We will walk to the library or city hall instead.

Time to find a new hobby/obsession.  I will have to look into doing more random arts and crafts and try to teach Isaac to sing songs.  He's starting to "fill in words" in a couple of songs and books.  He sings part of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and will say "I" for his name and "mama" for my name in a welcome song we learned from our creative movement class.  I'm going to work on "Twinkle twinkle little star" and the alphabet song with him.

Huge pile of dishes in the sink.  Time to start washing them... or putting them into the dishwasher.

Birthday Party Planning

I just sent out invitations to Isaac's Birthday Party.  This year we want to have a (primarily) kids party.  I've invited friends from our play group and prenatal group.  Hopefully most of our friends will be able to come.

I'm planning to host a Lego Duplo themed party.  I'm going to attempt to make a Lego cake.  So far I'm planning to set up several different activity stations: 1) Lego construction area, 2) Lego train/tracks area, 3) Lego house and mini figures area, 4) Play kitchen - fake food, pots and pans, 5) Arts and Crafts area - I need to think of some not too messy arts & crafts (this means: no glue, no paint, no playdough, no glitter) - still deciding if crayons will be problematic or not with a bunch of toddlers loose.

I have 2 "games" planned, though I have extremely low expectations that the kids will play (even with parental assistance).

To do:
- Try NOT to get sick. (Not successful - but I am recovering and have one more day to get completely better)
- Test out fondant recipe. (Did not test... will make it tomorrow anyways.)
- Order a backup cake - maybe a yummy mango cake from Michelle's. (Done.)
- Assemble loot bags for kids. I've got everything in a box. (Done.)
- Wash kid cups. (Done.)
- Pick up water, juice, pop. (Done.) Do we want to serve coffee/tea with cake!?
- Decide on what lunch and snacks to serve adults and kids and pre-order if necessary.
- Think about what clothes to dress Isaac in - will have to be something he can play in but would look nice in for pictures.
- Check that we have enough plates (for lunch and cake), napkins, cups, utensils.
- Get extra rolls of paper towels (for spills, etc).
- Decide on some music.
- Plan arts & craft activities.

- Bake cakes (two days in advance). (Done.)
- Decorate cakes (one day in advance). (Done.)

- Pick up keys for the lounge (one day in advance). (Done.)

- Charge camera batteries and make sure camera has lots of space for pictures (one day in advance).

On Party Day:
- Inflate balloons and decorate room.
- Set up table (from storage room). (Done.)
- Make sure cake and food are ready.
- Set up play stations.
- Put a box of wipes, spare diapers and kleenex in lounge washroom and check that there is soap and toilet paper.
- Get changed.
- Have fun!
- Clean up.
- Return keys.
- Write thank-yous.

If I remember anything else I should do, I'll add it to this list.
We have 4 toddlers + Isaac, one baby, and 12 adults.