Cardinals

It was miserably hot. And the Cards lost. Parker wouldn't hold up the sign. However, it was still a good day at the ballpark.

St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Party

We are taking Parker to the Cardinals/Cubs game on his actual birthday this year, so it seemed like a good year to FINALLY do a baseball theme party. For a family that is so involved with baseball, you would have thought we would have done this one by now! We took it one small step further and made it a Cardinal party.

This is the invitation which is just a 6x6 piece of cardstock.
The wording which is always fun to come up with.

The sign on the front door.

Baseball hat ice cream cups.

The beautiful and delicious cake made by a family friend.

Cake table.

I created a "Cardinal Clubhouse" in our sunroom.

All the guests were represented by a jersey with their name and a number on it. I made these out of posterboard and used sticker letters and Cricut numbers.

Goody bags held Cracker Jacks, Big League Chew, sunflower seeds, baseball gumballs and all the treats from the cake table.

One very happy birthday boy with his cake. (Notice that the candles have been placed by the Parker at the correct positions!)

I had big plans to go to the baseball fields and play a game and do some hitting in the cages. Unfortunately, we had a heat index of 105, so I couldn't let the boys play outside. So we played baseball on the Wii and watched Sandlot AND of course, watched the Cardinals beat the Reds.

Tubers

Enjoyed a great day on the lake. This was Parker and Jack's first time tubing and they LOVED it. Usually they are very reluctant to try things like this, but they didn't even hesitate. It was very nice to not have to twist their arms to try something fun!

Teacher Appreciation Week Finale!

For our big Teacher Appreciation Week finale, my friend Angie and I painted 12x12 picture frames for 65 teachers and staff. One of the big things that makes a project like this doable is that we have plenty of room to spread out and we don't have to clean up each day!

A pile of frames just waiting for some love.


As always, some colors are so much easier than others. The worst....orange. Followed closely by yellow and red! Easiest...any blue.

Base coats almost done. Not looking all that cute at this point!

Now they have some dotty love!

C'mon!? How cute are these polka dotties!? We use a round sponge to make the circles.

Now they are getting their identities. We try to use colors that we think fit the person they are being given to.

Once the painting was complete, they got a coat of glossy Mod Podge. It is AMAZING how much better they look with that shiny coat on top!

This ended up being one of our favorites.

And now they have all been accessorized.

This project was sooooo much fun to do. It took us about 3 weeks of work but we enjoyed every minute of it! And I think it is very safe to say that the teachers loved them too which makes it all worth it!

Easter 2010

Some Easter fun. According to Stella, "I just wanted that yellow egg." She was determined!

This was our first Easter without Great Grandma. On the way home, Jack said, "I think Gwate Gwandma pwobabwy had a Easter party in heaven with Jesus." I am SURE he is right!

Our Visit With Honest Abe

On Casimir Pulaski Day (it's an Illinois thing which most Illinoisans don't know anything about--including me) the boys didn't have school so we FINALLY made it to the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield. Jack shares a birthday with Abe, so he feels a special bond. Seriously. He loves Abraham Lincoln.
In Mrs. Lincoln's Attic, the boys played forever with old fashioned toys (some of which we had as kids!)

Parker and Buddy with some crazy wooden contraption.

Jack as Abe Lincoln.

Me and the boys with Abe, Mary and their boys. I sure hope my boys lead longer lives than 3 out of 4 of theirs did! Those poor people suffered greatly!

Anyway, it was the perfect day to go as it was not crowded. We LOVED it. I learned things I didn't know (which I did not think was possible regarding Lincoln) and the boys had fun and got educated in the process. Parker was mesmerized by all the war stuff and Jack liked one of the virtual plays that had a ghost in it. If you ever have a chance to go, I highly recommend it!