Party it up with Legos

As I've mentioned on my blog, September is a birthday-heavy month with my son's and husband's birthdays two days apart in the middle of the month. Last week, we hosted family and friends to celebrate seven years for my baby boy. It sure doesn't seem like it's been seven years.....

Our boy is pretty obsessed with Legos. I used to be obsessed as well.....my brother and I had a cardboard box of Lego pieces and we would spend hours building things. So, the apple does not fall far from the tree!

I was trying to think of a theme and I thought about Legos.....I Googled it and tons of ideas popped up. Off we went.

I made the invitations. If you're not making a ton of them, it doesn't take too much time. I cut the little Lego shapes out of colored paper and glued them on....then wrote the essential info.

I raided the local Lego store for some supplies. They had minifigures for a few bucks apiece, so I bought a few for game prizes. The guy at the checkout also let me have a bunch of Lego magazines and posters....I told him I was having a Lego party. We were trying to keep a low budget! I used the magazines for goody bags. I also used a poster on the front door for decor.

In the goody bags--magazine, Lego coloring pages (Google this), Lego candy bricks bought at a local candy store and a few other candy treats.

For table decor, I filled a vase with Lego pieces and stuck a few pinwheels in them. If you can't find pinwheels you like, they are pretty easy to make. (Google is your friend)

Activities......we did two games plus a building challenge. The first game was to guess the number of Lego pieces in a jar. Pretty self-explanatory! Our next game was Pin The Head on the Minifigure. This took a little more prep time. I used my interactive white board at school to trace a minifigure. It would have been way tougher for me to freehand it. So, I did a top, bottom, two hands and a head. I then traced the heads and cut them out. I did stack the head paper so I could do a 3-4 at a time....I also drew a face on each one. I preaffixed tape to them and kept them on a tray. I put my husband in charge of running the game....the kids think he's pretty funny.

For the building challenge, we sat the kids down to make something and they had to come up with a title for it. I put MegaBloks and Duplos in the next room for the 3-and-under set. I had cut some Lego shapes out of construction paper and wrote everyone's name on one. My husband and I circulated as they were building and we came up with funny awards for each kid.....for example "One Sweet Ride" for a car and "Tallest Antennae" for a really tall creation. Most of the kids were occupied for a good 10-15 minutes and enjoyed the awards. We awarded the certificates while they were eating cake.

Speaking of cake, I also tried my hand at making a cake. I had some tips from a friend that helped a bunch. Basically, I made a 9x13" cake that I cut in half and put icing in between the layers. I also made cupcakes and used four of them to make the dots on the brick. I froze all of the pieces and that way, I was able to trim off the sides of the pieces to make them look more Lego-like. 

I also iced it frozen to eliminate a lot of the crumbs coming off the cake. I made buttercream icing and used gel food coloring to make it a red color. I presented it with some Lego vehicles and minifigures. It was a hit! You can email me if you have questions about how to do all of that.

A bit of work, but not too bad if you spread it out a little over several days or nights. All in all, it was a hit!

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing
Manic Monday at Silo Hill Farm
Mannequin Monday at Artsy Girl Connection

A beautiful day at a new park

Well, we made it through our mid-September birthday bonanza....unscathed. : ) We hosted family and friends for a Lego party for a seven year-old on Saturday. Some pics of that to follow. We had just beautiful weather here this last weekend, so we decided to head downtown on Sunday for a nice little birthday outing.

We went down to a new park in Cincinnati. I have to say, the city has done a really nice job with a few parks lately. We visited the updated Washington Park, which is across the street from the historic Music Hall in Cincinnati. Once upon a time, I became affianced near that building....; )

It was a derelict park, with not much going for it at all. Now they have really cool water features, a gated kids' play area, an urban dog park with fountains for dogs, a gazebo for performances and a nice open space that was hosting the Celtic Fest that day.

There were some GREAT plantings....I loved the pennisetums in this bed.

Interesting yellows/oranges and dark ornamental peppers.

Massed bloodgrass. Love it.

I liked the dark maroon plant in this bed with the orange/yellows.

I think these pink plants were vinca.

Old cannon from the old park with some great swaths of color.

More pennisetum and spider flowers, too.

An incredible amount of hardscaping in this park.

The gazebo, which I think is original to the park, but updated a bit?

VERY cool interactive fountain. We brought a change of clothes for the kids.

There was a wall with steps and cascading water. Very cool!

Music Hall with fountains.

I think it was Napoleon who said that the square in front of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy was the "the drawing room of Europe." I've been thinking that this is a beautiful front porch for Music Hall.

Big city adventure

Well, summer is certainly winding down. School is back in session here and while it's a bit of a shock to the system, it's also nice to have the kids on a routine again. 

I have a few new followers....WELCOME! Thanks for reading. I'd love to follow you back...please make sure I can easily link up to your blog as well if you have one.

We went to see a Reds game on Sunday--our first as a family this year. A good time was had by all, though it was a bit hot and the game was a bummer.

The kids love seeing big boats on the river.

I think they most enjoyed the interactive fountain after the game....

They have a brand new park down by the river and I really want to go back in the evening...the fountains are supposed to light up and be beautiful.

A shot of the Roebling suspension bridge.

They also had some great pot combinations...really digging this orange-y/yellow combo.

Very cool topiary look.

I'd like to try cannas in my garden or pots someday....

These planter boxes are really striking.

See the little surprise someone planted in that one?? I've been known to do that myself around my garden at times...

The kids loved this helmet we saw.

Have a good week, everyone!!

What my kids do to entertain themselves.....

We've been experiencing a heat wave as of late.....as have many others around the nation. Luckily, we have gotten a bit of rain in the last few weeks, so as we've appreciated the rain, we've been spending time playing inside.....like we do a bit more on super hot days. As we go through our days with various outdoor--and indoor--activities, here are a few pics of some of my kids' entertainment.

Building forts in our family room. Since we have a couch with a chaise, it's a perfect spot to make a few tunnels.

Take out all of the baskets and you have a little tunnel to crawl through. If you're small enough to fit. Or your stuffed animals can live there. Must have fake candles to read books, too.

The view from the other cubby. You can see Sweetie's toes here.

Unfortunately, we've had to put the temporary kibosh on this. It sometimes causes altercations. Usually attributed to bossiness by the older one.

But they sure do like it.....

How are your kids keeping entertained on these long, hot days??

One decade

Happy anniversary to my husband....it's our tenth. : )

It sure has been a wild ride and I'm looking forward to the next ten. I love you!

A visit to Swedish wonderland

That's right, we made a visit to IKEA last week. My kids love to go to IKEA.....and I do, too. We have one that was built a few years ago in Cincinnati, so it's really nice to be able to go whenever we want. Usually, when my mom, sister and I would go, we would go to the one in Minneapolis and we would buy everything we saw since we didn't know when we'd be back. : ) Now, it's nice to browse and not feel any pressure.


We went on a Tuesday, which was nice, since the kids' meals are free. My daughter is now potty-trained, so she is able to go into the play area. Yessss!! They also have storytime at 1pm on Tuesdays for kids in the restaurant area.


I'll share a few notable things I saw there....I really liked this white greenhouse! I might have to buy this one sometime.

I have been in l.o.v.e. with these metallic mirrors for a long time, especially the tall one below.

I could totally see it leaning up against one of the walls in my house!

I really liked these pillows....a mix of print and embroidery. So cool.

My best finds were these scarves that I found in the fabric area. They were on clearance for $6 apiece. I was totally drawn to them because of the turquoise colors!!

They are the perfect size for a sarong....or I might take the pink/turquoise one and make some kind of top.

Of course, I had meatballs for lunch.

The kids enjoyed their lunch in the kids' area....

And we finished off the day with storytime...Miss Heather was really good! She tells a story and finishes off with a craft, as well as giving away a few stuffed toys.

We got some frozen yogurt for me and some cinnamon buns for the kids and headed home. Victory declared.