Happy Fourth Birthday L!

Yesterday was L's birthday and it was wonderful.  I can't believe my little girl is four!

As I said in a previous post we kept it simple this year and rented out our local pool for her party.  It was really cool to have the entire pool to ourselves.

We kept the underwater theme going with L's cake.  I'm usually such a stickler for only doing healthy food with no candies and artificial colors.  I was seriously racking my brain on how to make blue.  Then my husband made me realise that every other birthday L goes to the kids have crazy cakes with tons of sugar and TONS of artificial colors.  L doesn't really even eat the cake and doesn't even know what the candies are so this year I went to town!  Nothing was off limits as you can see by all of the gummies.  All the other kids loved it and as I predicted L ate just one bite and then finished off two fruit skewers!  I know I'm soooo hypocritical!

Autumn Nature Table

Although we had a summer nature table we were pretty lax on it and I forgot to take a picture.  We recently went to a local Waldorf school open house to see what is was all about and seeing their Autumn nature table really inspired L and I to make a special effort on ours.

Here is what we came up with together.

 Most of the things are treasures L has found on her nature walks with the addition of our ghosts and fairies from last year.  I love the little owl I received in the summer Waldorf swap I did!

I'm glad we're back on track with our nature table.  It just adds so much to our home and every time I look at it L has rearranged things or added something else!



Corn Husk Dolls

L and my mom grew a wonderful garden this year.  L is still getting a few cherry tomatoes off the vine.  They also planted some corn.  My mom wasn't very hopeful on their success but they were both delighted to find two tiny ears of corn.

They were much too small to eat but perfect for making corn husk dolls.

We first watched this video on Youtube to see how to make them.

 Here's our little couple.  They are really easy and fun to make. 

 I was imagining them being a nice addition to our nature table but L had other ideas.  I seem to see them popping up everywhere around the house!

Birthday Invitations

Last year for L's birthday I went a little crazy and spent ages on preparations, planning and decorations.  We invited L's whole Montessori class and had a marimba band come in and play.  You can read about it here and here.

This year I have to admit I'm just not as inspired.  I think it has to do with the fact that I'm working now.

Anyhow we came up with a great compromise.

Our local Aquatic center rents out the pool for private parties.  This is the perfect solution.  We can invite L's whole class and their families as well as other friends and family and there is no preparation or clean up for us! Yippee!  They even have tables we can set up in the foyer for snacks and birthday cake after so L won't feel like she's missing out.

Here are the invitations we came up with.  I wanted to keep it really simple since we have to make so many.

First L covered water color paper with a mixture of blue water color paint, water and modge podge.  She then crumpled up a plastic bag and dabbed it all over the paper to create a water effect.

Once that was finished she sprinkled sparkles all over the paper(her favourite bit!)

I cut out the invitations and L added little fish stickers.

 On some of them she also added sequin air bubbles.  Too cute!

I put the party info on the back and viola! a free set of party invitations.

Last year we asked for no gifts but a donation to the food bank instead.  This year we have still asked for no gifts but have asked that the children make their own birthday card for L so she will have a keepsake.

Me on the Map

L got the book Me On The Map by Joan Sweeney last year for her birthday.  We have both enjoyed reading it together as well as doing activities to go along with it.  L has mapped out her bedroom and pointed out our province on the map of Canada as well as our continent on the globe.

 When I saw this fantastic idea on Counting Coconuts a while back I knew we had to make one for ourselves.

I started off making six circles out of craft foam using a compass.

 I found almost all of the images on Google Images.  L colored this picture of the Earth and then stuck the stars on for space.

 I traced the continent onto orange paper and L pin punched it out.

 For my province we talked about different things we see and do here.  I printed off the images and L colored them.

We also did circles for my town and my house.  I took pictures of L by different places and then printed them out.

Once all the circles were completed I punched a hole in the top of them and put a ring through them.

I really love this activity.  It's a great way for children to narrow down their place on the map and also a wonderful keepsake.  Thanks again Counting Coconuts for the great idea!