10 year old birthday countdown 10, 9, 8

My oldest will be 10. So trying to think of a theme for his birthday that was not too young, was daunting.

Then Jack's birthday came and he received a rocket and some astronaut ice cream as a gift. I was inspired and talked to Sean who is starting to study the solar system, so we thought how about a space themed party?

Immediately I researched the rocket that Jack received and found the Cosmic Rocket and the ice cream were easily available online. For the party we'll keep the invite list small and those invited will build their rockets.

Then we'll sample astronaut ice cream and

we will also experiment with the mentos in a soda as demonstrated here.

You can find a kit online here or at Learning Express.

we'll serve Tang of course...

I also bought some pump air rockets to play with and have as a take away.

Sometimes you can get these at the dollar store. I ordered mine from here.

We will have a pinta and whack a planet or meteor, filled with milky way and mars bars.

A cookie cake decorated like the solar system, and some more mentos to take home as well.

I also thought of some space or moon inspired background music, here are 10 that I thought of;

1. Fireflies - Owl City

2. Man on the Monn  - R.E.M.

3. Starman  - David Bowie

4. Space Oddity (from Space Oddity) - David Bowie

5. Moonshadow - Cat Stevens

6. Walking on the Moon - the Police

7. Rocketman - Elton John
8. If There is a Rocket Tie Me to It - Snow Patrol
9. Drops of Jupiter - Train

10. Moondance - Van Morrison

leave me a comment of some other songs if you think of any.

Hope his party is out of this world!

Suzanne

Bunco... how to get started

I wanted to get Bunco started on my street. I am going to share the steps I took.

You have to have a bunco set, see if someone has one they are not using, or you can purchase one from here.

1). Talk it up among your circle of friends. Get a reading on who might be interested in playing. I used facebook to reach out to folks on my street, and got a very good initial response.

2). Pick a date to have an introduction to Bunco party, and invite folks. I'll use facebook and email as well as traditional invitations for those that are not on facebook. This is where those that are interested can come, learn how to play, learn about the time commitment involved and we can decide if it will be just snacks and dessert, or a full dinner, a BYOB, and what prizes we'll have and then determine what day of the week, and what week of the month you will play. Then folks can exchange contact information, and using a master calendar, pick a month to host.

3). Play a round or two so those new to the game will get a chance to play, and a refresher to those who have played before. Many folks play differently so this is a good time to decide how your Bunco group will play.

4). Have name tags.

5). Get excited for the first game. I have met folks who have played for 15 years plus.

How many of you have played Bunco before? and for how long have you played?

Do you give prizes, have dinner? Tell me what worked for you.

Suzanne

New Decade, New Year, New Day.

So I was one of the Kris Allen over Lambert folks on American Idol. I really thought that Kris could sing well, and looked forward to his take on each song each week. My favorite was his cover of Kanye's Heartless.
Then Kris Allen's album came out and his first release is Live like we're dying.

Am I the only one noticing a trend? Live like we're dying, Nickelback's got a song out, Never gonna be alone, and other's have lyrics about living in the moment.
I agree that it's important to tell those you love that you love them, and tell them often.
I also think that we must also "save our pennies for a rainy day". Teach our children to save for things that they want, pay cash, look towards the future, more than just looking forward to the next holiday or birthday. You never know what's going to happen, you may die today so live life with no regret, but you may live till 100. You can't rely on someone else to be there to help so do things now that will take care of you later.

Encourage your children to spend some of that birthday money, but save some also.
We use ING for the children and once a year with money we have saved here and there for them we buy relevant stock. Sean's is Home Depot, Jack's is Hershey. ING had a program called Sharebuilder, you can set up an automatic investment each month to purchase stock you've selected from over 7000 companies. Right now they are having a promotion $40.00 to start investing. Visit ING.com now to learn more. It's nice to have something tangible for the children to see. you can get a certificate of the stock at oneshare.com to frame.

Never pay the difference needed when your child is so close to saving enough to get that item they must have. Encourage them to save, do chores so they will know that reward of saving and working hard to earn something that they wanted.

Also, always kiss them good bye, and never go to bed angry with them. Make sure that they know that you love them. Foster relationships with family near and far. Also, if they have a good friend, encourage them to develop that. Everyone needs at least one good friend.

Most important, live what you teach. Save for that rainy day, live without regret, stay close to family, and don't lose touch with close friends. If you live to 100 you'll have friends and family to celebrate it with, and enough saved to throw the party yourself.

Suzanne

Flip is fun and practical.

Having fun with my flip camera. A must have for Mom's, capture those quick to pass moments, and other staged moments with one hand! In this instance I was holding my 15 month old! Software allows for ease of sharing via multiple social networks! price is good.... Craig and his friends.

12 days of giveaways...

On the 12th day before Christmas my casual friend gave to me....
A Burger King Christmas card.

Visit the website and look at the cards and tell me here which one is your favorite,
I love this one from the commercial.



I am a fan of sarcasm, though i am not quick witted enough to dish it out!

Tonite (sunday) after midnight i'll pick a winner at random and either send you a card or send one in your name for you!

Merry Christmas.

12 days of Christmas.

Recently we all got in the car and headed to Bass Pro shops for their free Christmas picture with Santa and Holiday craft. It was a rainy Sunday and seemed like a great way to spend the day. I was wrong, actually it was a mistake. When we arrived at just after 1:30, all the cards called a bass pass they hand out for your place in line to have a few minutes and a picture taken with Santa were already handed out. They started handing them out at 10:00am, something not mentioned on the website. So the boys got to see Santa from a distance. And guess who actually took and hour break from 2:30 to 3:30? Really Santa, an hour? On a busy Sunday when you are allotted to be there from 12:00 to 5:00? I am just sayin'... While there we were handed the craft, I asked for three, no room to create at the store, we'll make it at home. Next, we headed over to the fish tank, the boys loved this. From the tank we could see the "big grey mountain" also known as the rock climbing wall. There were a few kids in line and we watched. My boys were not interested in trying. We headed over to the arcade, an old style shooting arcade, that costs $.0.50. We had no change and the change machine was broken or empty. We went over to a register and were told they can't open a register for change unless we buy something? The boys played the video game for awhile and looked at the toys available. Sean had his eye on a coon skin hat for $9.95. We were curious to see what else was at this mall so we ventured out. We visited the lego store, slot car racing, saw the carousel, and then tried to eat at Johnny Rockets... very unsuccessfully. Hungry and tired we left through the Bass Pro Shop where Sean did buy the coon skin cap, and then headed home. The morning after Craig wanted to go back to that cool store. Me not so much.

So why call this post the 12 days of Christmas. I do better at home, proof positive by this latest trip. So I have come up with about 12 different tasks/ crafts to look to entertain the kiddos as the anticipation grows. I will mark our calendar for events that we should not miss, like Santa at the clubhouse, and the Grinch Who Stole Christmas on TV. Then I will place on strips of paper other ideas and place them in a jar. I have pre-purchased all ingredients to accomplish such tasks. And as the big day approaches we can look to the jar for something to do for fun.
Some examples are: a gingerbread house, purchased from joanne's that we just need to assemble. Make these cardboard ornaments that look like
snowflakes from Family Fun Magazine.


Make these stars also from Family Fun,


for our tree that's lit up and placed on our front door step. Call Grammy and Grampy. Make Shrinky Dink ornaments, Make
dog biscuits for Blue and our neighbors' dogs too. Or these Tweet Treats for the birds.Make these pretzel rod snowmen from Family Fun as well. Make
Chex Mix for gifts for our teachers and coaches. Watch a Christmas movie. Make glitter snowflakes for our windows. There's so much to do. We'll keep those little hands occupied. And I am looking forward to the memories we'll be making. Leave me a comment about your favorite treat or craft to make each holiday.

Suzanne

Great gifts for before Christmas day!

and the winner is....

congrats Ike... look for a surprise in your mailbox shortly! Thanks to all for your comments. happy holidays!

As I was perusing websites for the next great holiday gift, I came across this shrinky dink holiday kit. What a great idea, a craft for us to do before the holiday as the buildup starts for the big day. Which then sparked my memory that it's time to order my legos advent calendars.

You see every year we get an advent calendar. And every year we exchange gifts with some old neighbors, still friends. So one year I ordered extra advent calendars and sent them early so they would have them before Christmas. I made sure to mark the box Please Do Open Before Christmas. Legos can be small for little kids and not so super for little girls,

so I found the littlest pet shop

and polly pocket advent calendars.

I see that they have My little Pony,

and Barbie calendars as well

Everyone loved their gift that year. I repeated for the next 2 years, until I came across the

Elf on a Shelf. Here's info on him here. We received him one year as a gift to enjoy early as well, you place the elf on a shelf somewhere in your home and he observes the children's and parent's behavior in the house each day and while we sleep reports back to Santa. Then next morning he appears in a different spot. The fun begins once you name him, read the companion book, and then trying to find him every morning. I must add that this tradition is a commitment as your elf needs to remember to report to Santa each evening, and finding new spots to appear can get challenging? My out of the area friends loved their elf on a shelf, my local friends already have one. I believe he's available at Hallmark now, so make sure he's still a novelty before you gift one. So this year I am back to the advent calendars, I even found that the legos from the years past are worth a substantial amount of money (unopened of course). As the boys get older one set will not do as they fight over whose turn it is, and some days are better surprises than others. So We really enjoy the playmobil sets.

We have, Christmas in the Park, and A Knight's Duel.
Compared to the legos, those pieces tend to last long as they don't have to be assembled.
I highly recommend amazon.com to order your calendars as they are very hard to find in stores, and amazon will mail them to the person you wish to receive them for you. I did see the legos advent calendar at Target with a $5.00 off coupon in their Christmas catalogue.



Some other ideas are Christmas cookies sets, you can buy sugar cookie mix, sprinkles and cookie cutters and send them as a kit. Or the gingerbread tree kit is worth the money.

Super easy to do and they come out pretty cute.
Have fun building up to the holiday. It's a memory maker for sure and adds to that reason for the season feeling.

Tell me some of your before Christmas, customs or traditions. I will pick a random winner Sunday November 15, 2009 at midnight and send you a shrinky dinks holiday tree for leaving a comment.

contest available to us residents only.

Suzanne

New design for bluedaisygraphics.com

I am very excited to launch my new look for my website. Please check it out here
http://www.bluedaisygraphics.com/

It's been a couple of years since I redesigned, so I wanted to use my blog as a platform to announce the new look. If you are visiting thanks to my email blast, Thank you, I have a freebie for your time.

I have been designing Holidays cards and was inspired to take the same drag and drop approach to my digital scrap booking kits. I will provide layouts, two 12 x 12 pages, where all the elements will be on a separate layer, and you can easily drag and drop your photos into the existing layout, customize as needed or, use the different elements from the kits as you see fit.

My kits will still be A thru Z themed, with the intent to post a new kit weekly, starting with A is for apples, B is for butterflies and C is for cupcakes. I will throw in freebies often to thank you all for visiting, and hopefully forwarding my info to your friends. This blog will have other giveaways than just scrap booking so look for that as well.

On my website, I have condensed the info and have a link to sign up for my email newsletter. I am using constant contact for my newsletters and email blasts. I also have a store on etsy.com where I list my digital designs for cards and my A to Z scrap booking kits. I am using carbonmade to display my portfolio, so visit that if you want to see examples.

If any of these vehicles interest you let me know and I will help customize them for you and your needs.

facebook and I have become quite friendly and I am dabbling in having a page there for Blue Daisy Graphics. A link is in the sidebar if you want to become a fan.

Here is the freebie I promised, from my A is for apples kit.



click on the image to take you to a link to download the compressed zip file.

to receive more updates signup for my email newsletter.


Thanks for supporting me.

Custom Digital Christmas Cards

I am creating many different styles of Christmas or Holiday Cards.



Pick your favorite and I will email you the file as a layered Photoshop file, you just drop in your photo and upload to your favorite Photo sharing/printing website. Some I can recommend are snapfish and shutterfly.



Another option is to pick your favorite design, then send me your photo/photos and sentiment and I will create a digital card that you can either fullfill yourself or I can get the cards printed for you.



I will do custom designs as well, and printing on cardstock is available. Check out my store on etsy, and email me with any questions.

Suzanne

Pouch vs. Can

So I just made lunch for the first time using the Starkist tuna pouches. It was very nice to not have to battle with the can opener. I did not have to squeeze out the oil/water the tuna was packed in. This tuna was ready to be mixed right from the pouch with a spoonful of mayo.
Long ago I went to a pampered chef party, and came home with the can opener that would not leave a jagged edge.



What a fantastic idea, until the first time you try and make tuna. The can opener does not leave you the top in the form you need it to drain out the water in the tuna can. So now I have two can openers, one for tuna, and one for everything else.



As you can start to tell, I am not a fan of can openers. I think they are pretty dirty. The memories of the electric can opener,



just crusted with food on a counter for who knows how long before someone cleans it. And it could be cat food, from before they introduced these pop tops.

I know folks don't always clean a can opener after each use, electric or old style hand held. So the cleanliness of the tuna pouch caught my eye. I was very happy, though someone does NOT agree with me. Someone does NOT want the tuna can to be replaced with the pouch.



My cat Daisy, she loves when I make tuna, and will come from under the bed covers at the very first scent of tuna. Today that happened, and well, no can to place on the floor with bits of tuna stuck to the sides for her to sample. The pouch just got tossed in the garbage, with all those tasty morsels still clinging to the inside of the pouch. One very disappointed kitty. Sorry Daisy, I am not going to get all full of tuna trying to open the pouch so that you can get to what's inside. Just like I'll never buy these cat food pouches, for that very same reason.

Pray sweet kitty, that the pouches continue to cost more per ounce than the cans do.

What do you think? can or pouch, and have you tried the flavors?

Suzanne

Little Tikes toys that last and last and last.....

I am a sucker for Little Tikes. I love their line of toys for outside play. We own the pool, which we bought for our dog Blue 11 years ago, and we own this playset the wave climber, that we got at a garage sale for $60.00,

the cozy coupe car we found at the bottom of someones' driveway with a "take me" sign on it,

the picnic table, we have had since Sean was little, and it was given to us by an old neighbor whose kids had outgrown it,

the turtle sandbox we got at a garage sale for $.50, the rocking horse,

and this push/ride on car were hand me downs as well,

and thanks to Grandma and Pa we have recently added the sand/water table. Which in our case is the moon sand table. All three boys have slept in the firetruck bed (actually a competing brand Step 2) which is about to go into storage until Scott moves out of the crib.

We have owned the tool table and some kitchens through the years, and have since passed them on. Currently I am on the hunt for a kichen for Scott.

I remember visiting a friends niece pre marriage, I had no kids of my own. This girl had the coolest dollhouse that was from Little Tikes and actually had scaled down versions of the larger Little Tikes toys. Now that I have kids of my own, they have stopped making that dollhouse. You can still find it and the toys on ebay, and at garage sales. Look at how cute these are, check some of these out. That's our picnic table, coupe car and I have seen that kitchen in many a playroom.

So I can't entertain my desire and easily acquire these toys, though they would be a great investment cause years down the road there will still be a market for the toys. Pending their condition you could turn around and sell them on ebay and probably get what you paid for them. I am just saying...

Lo and behold, I found in a magazine a review of this little diddy. The Little Tikes Turtle mealtime set.

The fork and spoon are a shovel and a rake.
I promptly checked the local retail stores, Target and Walmart, Babies R Us and Toys R Us, with no such luck I could not find it....Until I froogled (Google.com/shopping) and found it on amazon.com . To qualify for free shipping I ordered three, gave one to my neighbor for her first birthday, kept one for Scott and figured I'd give one away. Leave me a comment about your little tikes toys and I will pick a winner at random on Sept.19th at 12:00am.

eta remember to either come back and check to see if you won or leave an email addy that i can notify you at...

Thanks, Suzanne

and the winner is....

congratulations Sharon

email me your address and I'll send this off to you in the mail...

you'll have 5 days to do so or i'll pick another winner at random...

thank you everyone for your comments.