SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

It's been a great school year for all three of my little darlings but we are all very excited to be starting our summer break today!!  Here's a little recap of the last few days for Nora & Charlie.  I didn't get any pics of Graham because 6th graders are way too cool for moms with cameras.

 headed to kindergarten graduation in style!

his moment at the mic

starting out the candle tradition with a candle in his quesadilla!

 I've been meaning to make my kids these shirts for the last day of school since Graham was in kindergarten.  I FINALLY did it!  Charlie had a great year!!  We are REALLY going to miss his AWESOME, ADORABLE, AMAZING teacher.

 Nora had a great year too!  STRAIGHT As ALL YEAR deserves a candle in her spaghetti for sure!!

We took these jars of chocolate covered pomegranates to the teachers on the last day.  I tied on a little chevron scoop from Sucre Shop and I confess it was really hard for me to give those adorable scoops away.  I'll be ordering a set for myself right away.  Aren't they the cutest?

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

LET"S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!

© 2012 paperdoll designs

Camp Charlie Party

At our house, we do friend birthday parties every other year and this was Charlie's year.  He told me a few months ago that he wanted a camping party so I got online and ordered these plates:

About two weeks before the party, all I had were plates.  I hadn't given the party another thought. This is so unlike me.  I LOVE birthday parties!!  This time though I was having a hard time getting started.  I confess that I feel a lot of self inflicted pressure to make things party perfect since it's sort of kind of part of my business.  I started thinking that all these over the top parties in blogland are a little silly.  WHAT??  I know, SO UNLIKE ME!!!   I kept thinking there was no way I could plan a cute party during one of my busiest seasons.  I procrastinated big time and even tried to talk Charlie out of a party at all.  No luck there so I used a girly glamping invite that I had just made for a sweet customer and turned it boyish and stuck those invites in the mail. We kept the invite list small...only inviting the boys in his class.

About a week before the party, I decided to make some paper chain decorations and started getting a little more excited about making this boy camping party have a little bit of "cute" in it.  I realized that I was born to party (in a cute, matchy matchy, themed way) and I just needed to get out of my party slump and do what I love to do.

 

3 days before the party, I did a little shopping for party supplies and food.  I do parties on a budget...I seriously try hard not to spend a ton of money and I did awesome at sticking to a tiny budget on this one.  The night before the party, all I had were some paper plates and some paper chains and my dining room table looked like this:

I was busy, busy the day of the party...

 

 

 

 

The cute campfire cake was made by my friend, Jessica.  She does a great job and they taste YUMMY too! 

 

 

 

 

The birthday boy was SO HAPPY...and that's what matters most! 

 Of course, he really could have cared less about all the cute stuff.

He was all about the fire... 

and the tent.

We did play a few games.  I hate games.  However, I always think we need to have them at birthday parties.  I thought a marshmallow shooting range would be fun...ya know, aiming for a target??  Well, the target turned out to be the adults after a few dads (who shall remain nameless) got involved.  Game fail...but the boys had fun.  The next game was mosquito tag which I thought was an adorable idea. 

Everyone gets a sheet of stickers and you run around giving each other "mosquito bites."  In the end the person with the least amount of mosquito bites wins.  Cute, huh?   Maybe they were too young to "get it" because they really just ran around screaming.  Still, they were having fun.

Last game:  A BEAR HUNT.  It was awesome.  They got it, they loved it.  We basically did a scavenger hunt on our street with clues.  Each kid ended up with a bag of gummy bears. 

It was really fun and they loved being able to read the clues all by themselves and figure them out.



While the cute factor of party printables and themed games was lost on Charlie, he was the one that insisted on "I survived Camp Charlie" t-shirts.

I've gotta say that I definitely EARNED that shirt!!  It turned out to be one crazy boy party!! 

Birthday Donuts, Brownies, Fish....& PaperDoll Pics

Charlie had a great birthday!  I know this because he told me several times!  We started the day off with 7 presents for the 7 year old on May 7th.  GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!

 I took him lunch...elementary lunchrooms are crazy.  I reserve eating at them for birthdays only. 
His class has "birthday snacks" and I let him pick.  He wanted Thunder donuts.  They turned out pretty cool.  I LOVE that donut shop.  They really are super awesome!!!

He was so funny during his class party!  He's definitely not shy and eats up the attention.  I KNOW for sure he does NOT get that from me.

 Instead of a cake, he wanted brownies.  I was still lovin' the cinnamon roll stack so I just went with that idea and "crazied" it up for my Charlie.

For dinner it was, of course, Charlie's Chicken.  I think this is the 4th or 5th year in a row we have eaten there.  He still thinks it was named after him.  After dinner he got to go pick out a fish from his Nana & Pepaw. 

Charlie & Stark (as in Tony...as in Ironman's real name)

He doesn't look happy at all, does he?

Love that boy!!

 

Still cleaning out the PaperDoll Pic files...

 

© 2013 paperdoll designs

Happy Birthday Charlie!!

I cannot believe this baby of mine is 7 years old today!  I thank God everyday for my Prince Charles. We were beyond blessed when Charlie came along and turned our family of 4 into a PARTY of five.  He makes everyday joyful and entertaining.  We never know what he'll say or do next!  There is more laughter and LOTS more noise in our home because of this little man and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I hope he never loses his joyful spirit and funny sense of humor.  Happy Birthday Charlie!!

I VERY LOVE YOU!!!

© 2012 paperdoll designs

Race Car Party Part IV...Charlie's Tires & The Collision Center

Yes, I'm still talking about the Race Car Party! My friend Holly took so many great pictures I just HAD to break it down into several posts. Next up is Charlie's Tires.

We used chocolate donuts as "tires" and had a tire stacking contest. I put Nora and her friend Macy in charge...so I never even had to touch a melty chocolate donut.
I love that Charlie has his tongue sticking out...he always does that when he's really concentrating.
They all really got into it.
Have you seen the Volkswagon commerical with the pinata? We had that pinata at our party in the "Collision Center." It WOULD NOT BREAK!!
All these little guys (and a few little girls) lined up over and over again but it would not break. Finally the Birthday Dad had to bust it open.

The last post will be coming soon...my favorite...Tag Agency #5


Part III is HERE

Part V is HERE

© 2011 paperdoll designs