A Princess Party on a Commoner's Budget

In 2 days, our sweet daughter will turn 3. She has such a unique personality because she loves princesses and all things girly...but then she catches a worm or attempts to catch a wasp with her bare hands! She is a spunky, fun, tomboy who loves to be girly. :) She's so fun to have as a daughter.

Some of our family were able to make a birthday celebration on Sunday.

As I was planning, I spent WAY too many hours on Pinterest, "looking" at princess parties (or more so comparing and wanting what others had). They were the most extravagant parties and the more and more I looked at them, the more discouraged I got.

You see, we've had some financial setbacks this month. A huge car repair, an air conditioner that needed repair to our guest's side of the house, food costs, and other unexpected things that came up. I didn't want to spend a penny on a party but wanted to do something fun for this little girl.

And thus, the princess party on a commoner's budget.

The absolute best part? My daughter had the most genuine, sweetest smile on her face the entire time. She LOVED every detail and didn't need that over the top princess party with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. All she needed was to feel loved and cherished....and that, my friends, is free and a gift I can give to her over and over.

She loves princesses so instead of focusing on one, I put them all in the party.

Using my Cricut cutter, I cut out a "Once Upon a Time" decal and put it on the mirror. Aubrey noticed it and said, "Oh!!! Pretty!" :) And the cost? Absolutely nothing

And then, the food. The only thing I paid for with the party but we kept it simple:

And that was Aubrey's princess party on a next to nothing budget.

Some observations about this party compared to others I've planned:

1) I, as the mother, actually enjoyed it. I didn't have activities planned, I didn't have a set schedule to do. The kids played, the adults talked, we brought out dress up clothes, and we just lived in the moment, improvising as we went. I LOVED it and it reminded me of my own birthday parties. I remember playing with cousins or friends and just having a special day.

2) It was so much more about my daughter than about me and impressing others. Her needs came before my wants....and it showed in how the day went. She was so happy :)

3) There doesn't need to be a specific order to birthday parties. All of a sudden, it looked like a good time to open presents so we said, "Hey! Let's have her open presents!" It was so freeing to just go with the flow. 

Birthday Parties don't have to look Pinterest worthy and they absolutely don't have to cost a fortune. A little scrapbooking paper and food go a long way to make a little girl feel like a princess for a day. 

She took Sleeping Beauty to a whole new level on her birthday! The day was so fun that she fell asleep mid-playing on her chair. SO funny :) Oh, Aubrey girl, you are such a joy to have in our family!

When you Break Out in Song

This past weekend, we took a little trip to see my grandparents and my extended family. Basically all my cousins got married around the same time and we all had kids around the same time...as evidenced by this picture:

The great grandkids...we're missing 5 I think? Anyway, LOOK at all those babies and toddlers! It was a hilarious weekend with all of them! I was just amazed at how many kids under the age of 5 were there :)

I loved all the discussions that happened this weekend! I just love seeing multi-generational friendships happening...I love hearing about how things used to be :)

My family with my grandparents

But, seriously, this is more true to what life ACTUALLY looks like!

An impromptu picture with my dad on Father's Day with his 2 kids

 

The whole fam (sorry about the blurriness...I'm relying on a facebook pic)

 

This weekend, we had things planned out. We had the meals planned out, the hotels booked,  a few activities brought along to occupy the kids. But you know what 2 of my favorite memories were?

 

1) The picture above was a random "Let's get everybody together and try to take a picture!" moment. And, I love the memory of having a picture with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in front of my grandparents' house.

 

2) The moment that my grandma surprised us all with her request. We had just prayed over our Saturday night supper when my grandma said, "Can we all sing 'Jesus Loves Me'?" So, 49 people ranging from 7 months to 93 raised our voices and broke out into song....and together sang "Jesus Loves Me" as a family. It was beautiful and another improv moment that was better than anything that we had planned.

 

Sometimes you just have to break out into song and seize the moment :)

Improvising Playdough and Car Repairs

Ha! Can I just say how funny it is that I changed our blog name and we have had ENDLESS improvisation moments in the last week and some have made us laugh out loud and others have made us discouraged and frustrated? Crazy :)

The big one has been our only working family car-our minivan. It has needed major repairs so it's put us in a bind as it spent all last week in the shop and will be spending all this week in the repair shop as well. Our first improv adventure came on Thursday when our dogs needed their shots in order to be boarded while we went on a trip to see my grandparents. Our dogs don't know what to think of each other but our only working car is our old two seater convertible :) Nothing like crammed spaces to get these dogs bonded!

This was the first few minutes...didn't quite know what to think of their current situation! :) Did I mention it's a stick shift too? So, umm, yeah, I had my hands full just trying to drive the thing!

 

But by the end, this was them! Bff's for sure! Ha! Way to improvise, right?? Maybe even a blessing in disguise because they have been more cordial to one another lately.

 

This is what we call....Tie Dye Playdough!



Looks fun, eh? :)

(I think I might be submitting this to the Pinterest Fails website!)

 

We make our own playdough around here and I thought it would be a good activity to do this morning before we go outside. We ALWAYS have all the ingredients on hand....like, always! But, of course, we didn't this time :) I learned cream of tartar and having the full 1/2 cup of salt is pretty huge with the playdough mixture! Ha!

And we don't have a car at the moment so our homemade playdough turned into an improv moment. I, started throwing more flour in, more oil in, working it this way and that way....and it turned out like this:)

Tie-Dye Playdough that feels and sticks like pizza dough :)

And thankfully, my kids are SO chill about these things....they are still playing with it and it happened an hour ago. Yay for improvisation and laughing about fails in life :)

The 10 Month Old Stage

Last night I fell asleep trying to pin something on Pinterest. I felt very old as I discovered I had dozed off mid-pinning :) The moment this little one started crawling, life has been on hyperspeed and I just can't keep up. Sleep deprivation is very real in our family at the moment! But, as he is nearing 11 months and (gasp!) his first birthday, I want to stop and enjoy this busy stage.

This little man is still small-the 5th percentile-but sometimes eats more than his siblings. He loves anything that will make him laugh and especially loves loud noises and hitting objects to make them loud :) Drummer?

The other day I grabbed my DSLR camera (this has by far been one of the best investments we made after having kids! Even if my pics will never be perfect, they are saving SOOO much money and it's been a fun hobby!) and we had an impromptu photo session. Have to make sure those 3rd children feel loved too :)

Today this man stood by himself for 5-7 seconds. Walking is soon...*whew* Am I really ready for my 3rd child to be walking? Happy Weekend, all :)

Improv Adventures

Improv Adventures

As a theater lover, I remember fondly playing Improv games. The whole point? You never knew the outcome...things would be thrown your way that you didn't see coming and you had to deal with it. If you had a good attitude, the game would succeed but if you just quit, well the game would fail miserably. 

I've been doing some thinking lately and have been realizing that "Improv Adventures" fits more what our life looks like. We started our life together with no jobs, no direction in life and yet, here we are, 9 years later and we've made it. We've looked to God and have had to improv many times in life. It has been quite the adventure as we've taken what life throws us and tried to make the best of it. 

So, here's to taking life in stride and having a good attitude about having to improv with parenting, finances, cooking, marriage, etc. My plans are overrated anyway :)

Puppy Days

Soooo, we have another dog around these parts. That puts us at 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 4 cats. I know, we are officially crazy :) (someone asked us the other day if we were going to get chickens. Hmmm....unless the price of eggs goes up quite a bit more, I think I have my hands full with what we already have....but I guess never say never)

Meet Lily!

 

My husband has been begging me for a Springer Spaniel for years. He grew up with them and said that if we owned land someday, he would want to look into getting one. Well, guess what...we have almost 3 acres so the dog searching went into full force a few weeks ago. Every ad was a closed door and then Lily came along. She is 8 months old and when Aaron met her, she was the PERFECT dog. Loves our kids, is gentle and fun-loving....just a great dog.

 

But then her inner Marley (from Marley and Me) came out...and she is very much still a puppy! Oh goodness....we've thrown ourselves head first into training another puppy and she's a handful :) Good thing she's so cute so we can overlook the chewing, the running away, the Houdini acts (she gets out of any and every cage!). We gave her a week trial and she might not have passed everything but I think with a little training, she'll be a great addition to our family! Crazy, huh!?! :)