{DIY} Leap Day Party - Part 1

Dear Friends,

February 29^th is Leap Day and it only comes around every 4 years… we think that’s a reason to celebrate! But since Leap Day falls on a day that won’t work for us, we were going to cheat… We were going to get a leap on Leap Day and have our party two days early!

Take a Leap!

The Spring rains are coming and it’s pretty wet outside. Leap Day is a perfect excuse to leap right into a puddle. This party is all about jumping, leaping, bouncing, splashing and all things springy and Spring-y.

Here's the scene as it is set...

Invite: Blue-sky backing, green polka-dot grass with fringe-y-cut edge, and large blue-checked cloud all glued onto a cardstock card. Use cardboard squares to "pop-up" small cloud, brown cardstock puddle, stamped "leap" sign with arrow and umbrella. To make umbrella: trace bottom of round glass on argyle paper, cut out circle, cut the circle in half with scalloped scissors, cut out brown cardstock umbrella handle.

Canopy: Umbrella hung from a hook in the ceiling and festooned with ribbons. Sparkly raindrops attached to the ribbons. Punch 1" hearts out of sparkly blue paper and cut them in half for "perfect" raindrops.

Bunting: Green fabric banner, gathered in the middle.

Parasol wreath: Hot-glue each cupcake paper the the end of a toothpick, stab into a wreath-form.

Leap sign: Die cut letters, glued to sparkly blue paper, mounted on cardboard, stab sharp ends of 2 shish-kabob sticks into the cardboard backing of the sign and poke dull ends into the wreath-form.

Table covers: Brown paper cut in "muddy" puddle shapes about the size of the table-tops.

Placemats: Sparkly paper cut in splashy puddle shapes.

Chair covers: Pillowcases... Yay for improv!

Centerpieces: Worn-out wellies full of flowers. Vintage scarf tucked in for flare. Short candle pillar makes a lovely "bird-bath" for this adorable paper birdy from the Easter isle at Michaels craft store.

Chair-scarves: Cut the bottom off of an unwanted t-shirt from arm-pit to arm-pit. Cut that tube up one side-seam. Tie around back of chair.

Place cards: Gather full-length photos of all your guests, for the sake of the theme splashing, silly, leaping shots are recommended. Print on photo-paper. Cut around silhouette and include a paperdoll-esque shape at the bottom, adhere to heavy cardstock and cut out, make a narrow paper stand to hold pictures upright. Give the girls cupcake paper parasols. Add printed names to paper tags and glue them to the pictures. 

 Favors: Swedish fish and sticky frogs

Cut the zipper off the top of a Ziplock with pinking-shears and tie closed with ribbon.

Capture the froggies in silver cupcake papers.

 There isn't anything that says "leap" like a frog but if you want different favors...

Mini Slinky's, small umbrellas, Lifesavers and bouncy balls are some more fun ideas for the theme.

So there you are, plans for a Leap Day party! Stay tuned, Part II will feature some drippy games, a splashy craft and some food worth diving into.

And as for my plan to get a "leap" on Leap Day...

This is the monkey-wrench that came flying into my well-laid plans today.

So the party got postponed.

Now we'll be a leap behind instead.

Love,

Raimie

 P.S. This theme would work well for a Spring-fling gathering or birthday party as well.... if you can't get all your ducks in a row in the next two days! 

If friends were flowers...

We'd pick you!

Isn't it amazing that somehow in this garden of life we are placed in a patch with a smattering of friends who suit us best of all?

The kind of friends who bring out the best in us.

The kind of friends who's sweet savor inspires us to grow better.

We give thanks for friends like that.

We love the days we spend with them.

They are sweeter than flowers to us.

(Seeing their darling baby girl is a slight enticement to visit, as well)

Love,

The Prairie Hen

That Kat

I feel old...

Aged, along in years, ancient, broken down, debilitated, decrepit, elderly, enfeebled, exhausted, experienced, fossil, geriatric, getting on, gray, gray-haired, grizzled, impaired, inactive, infirm, mature, matured, not young, olden, oldish, over the hill, past one's prime, seasoned, senile, senior, skilled, superannuated, tired, venerable, versed, veteran... Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But, truly there is nothing like my baby sister turning 14 to make me feel every day of my 27 years. I think it's because I remember vividly the day my mother told Dee and I that we were to be big sisters (again). I remember her birth. I remember holding her for the first time. I remember being so pleased she was a girl. I remember happily taking her everywhere with me. I remember shopping for her, planning her birthday parties and letting her sneak in to sleep with me almost every night until I left home. I remember getting married and leaving home. I remember she cried and wouldn't let go of me as we tried to leave in our honeymoon get-away car. I remember crying too. I remember being shocked at how much she grew every time I came home again, being so proud of her as her musical talents progressed, and knocked flat again and again as her birthdays came each year... I remember so much about her life and I know her so well that the passing of time seems to blur in my mind and catch me by surprise every time it comes into sharp focus again on her birthday. How I love that girl. *** So let me tell you a bit about her. In a way she is two girls...

Sensible Kate is a sweetheart,

She is girly,

Favors pink,

Loves to shop,

Adores clothes,

Plays cello and piano with ease and classical beauty,

Scrapbooks and crafts with us,

Talks to her BFF as much as possible.

Sensible Kate happily dresses up and goes on a Daddy/daughter + Papa/Granddaughter date for Valentine's Day.

She is her mother's joy and her daddy's baby girl.

She is the perfect sister to us two older girls.

And we love to have her around.

Then there is the other Katie...

She is funny,

Plays electric keyboard, bouncing new and popular songs off the walls,

knows all the words of their favorite tunes,

draws hilarious cartoons,

is opinionated,

has a sassy comeback to their every remark,

Plays PS3 and almost beats them every time

That Katie is an edgy photographer,

she takes 100s of photos and leaves cool edited pics on my computer to surprise me later.

They are quite the crew,

Katie and those boys.

They include her without reserve.

She is the perfect sister to be crunched between 3 brothers.

They love to have her around.

***

So all in all...

Our Katie is talented, creative, adaptable, fun to be with, a wonderful sister....  

And so maybe she is just one girl after all...

A good one.

That Kat.

Happy Birthday, Katie!

We love you and hope your year being fourteen is just as great as you are!

Love,

R

I'm happy...

Got this e-mail today...

[insert happy dance here]

"Daddy will be home in the mornin! Daddy will be home in the mornin!"

Our theme song of the day.

Love,

R

The treat of "Love Day"

I know it's over-commercialized.

I know some think it was invented to make Hallmark rich.

But I love Valentine's day.

Despite the arguments milling about in my head and among the dis-believers in the holiday.

I think it's because I love loving. Therefore I like the idea of having a special day to celebrate that emotion. I like having a day every year to say, "I love you!" in over-the-top sorts of ways. The every-day "I love yous" are essential and endearing and I fully believe in the necessity of unexpected, impromptu loving gestures. But Valentine's Day offers an occasion to celebrate love in a different way.

Not more important or as a replacement to the every day things we do.

Just a fun addition to our routine.

A mark on the calender that gives us the cue to get our love-jam on.

Besides, without aisles of  Valentine's Day "booty" what would we do when we wanted to throw a love-themed party? And you never know how aften a girl like me might wanna do that!

And as I am me...

I bit of a rather large chunk of things to do in preparation of Valentine's Day.

Tuxedo marshmallow-pops (made with heart-shaped marshmallows) to be given with T-boy's Valentine's.

Marshmallow pops to go with Bee's Valentines.

Here they are, all wrapped-up and pretty.

Mini loaves of banana bread for some special school staffers.

Love-bug cupcakes for T-boy's class  party.

And on this same day our Jr. Women's Club meeting was scheduled to have our book discussion on Suzanne Collins' book The Hunger Games. So I made Oreo truffles to celebrate a book I really enjoyed reading. A good book and a truffle... yum!

And lastly, two mini Valentine gift-bag albums for Bee and T-boy's teachers. They are made the same way as the Christmas gift-bag albums and the Valentine gift-bag album I made for Mr. Loggerhead just with mini gift-bags.

And I loved it all... planning it, making everything and watching each set of recipients enjoy the treats of the day.

I went to bed happy that night feeling like I had amply showered "Love Day" with love...

And just a bit of sugar.

Where my HEART is

"I love you, Raimie!" She said.

Well, yes, not too surprising as she is my little sister! But this bout of affection was brought on by my announcement that we were going to have a party Sunday night before Valentine's Day. Just the 5 of us - Kat, West, Bee, T-boy and me.

So, appently she said she loves me because she thinks it's awesome to have a party even though we're just a few people.

hmmmm...

Little does she know that this party had an ulterior motive.

It was strategically placed on the same evening as a decadent couples Valentine's dinner Mr. Loggerhead and I were invited to but couldn't attend due to my husband being in Texas.

It was a bit of a pity-party, really.

I'm a party-girl (in the best sense).

It's the Wedding/event planner in me.

(T-shirt streamers and Valentines hang-out with ease at our party)

The goal was to party on a budget... that doesn't sound like too fun but actually the challenge is a thrilling venture. I think I enjoy planning a party this way as much as I would with an unlimited purse. 

... Dishes I had already.

... Craft supplies from my hoard.

... Dollar-isle goodies

... Menu of uncomplicated food

{Spring greens with heart-y croutons}

{Raspberry vinaigrette}

{Heart-shaped steak}

{Crab legs and butter}

{Sweet potato fries}

{White chocolate dipped strawberries}

{Yellow cupcakes with cream cheese frosting}

Sadly, I burnt the steak.

And my children were well aware of it.

And they let me know.

Sweet things that they are.

Gift bags make great centerpieces.

And favor boxes make for a darling way to put out single servings.

But pity-party or not I couldn't have asked for sweeter company. There was a sparkle of irony in being crabby and eating crab that got me smiling. It didn't take me long to get into the fun of our intimate gathering and forget about what this little party wasn't and focus on all that it was.

Because even if the you are missing your dearest, and you are missing an evening of grown-up glamour, and you don't manage get all the food coordinated enough not to over-cook a bit of it, and you don't have elaborate gifts to give or an extensive guest-list...

The party happens where your heart is.

And Valentine's Day is a lot about hearts, afterall.

Love,

Raimie Lu

Tea with the girls

There are certain ways to spend a day that are truly worthwhile in a lovely and indulgent way...

Tea with the girls is one of my favorites.

One of my dear friends invited some of us for a Valentine's Tea, I planned to go, I was excited at the prospect. But I sent my brain to Texas with Mr. Loggerhead and I frankly forgot all about it until I was busy getting things ready for Love Day and was running to Walmart for "just one more thing" and I got a text from a friend asking if I wanted to ride with her to the party!

Ooopps!

But you know, it's a good exercise to know you can clean up pretty nicely in less than forty-five minutes And an even better (and more insane) endeavor to get your daughter cutied up in that amount of time as well!

But there was a party to attend!

Walmart and cupcakes could wait!

Being flexible enough to change your plans in a minute is a good exercise too... since it seems to be a frequently required action in life.

So glad I made that turn-around.

It was so worth it.

Basking in the sunny dining room of my friend's beautiful home. Slurping, snacking and sipping (pinkies out, of course). Lovely.

Pouring over baby and wedding pictures of the attendees... Thank goodness for chronological and scrapbooked photo-albums or I'd have never been able to put my hand on these pages in the 2 minutes I had.

(Thank you, Mother, for your help in that!)

Darling Valentine-y decorations, putting us in the mood for a heart-y time.

Bee was thrilled to be included in the event. She deemed it a big-girl thing to attend... and believe me when I say that one of the hardest things I face as a mother of an only daughter is to explain why so many of the "girly" things I get invited to are not for children. She doesn't really consider herself "little" and she is most definitely "girly".

These darling girls were there too and Bee was more than excited to get to share a table with such lovely and "grown-up" girls. And they were so sweet to her.

Bless you both!

And their mom is the dear friend who saved my bacon and dragged me (quite willingly) away from my to-do list for a splendid afternoon of conversation and a comforting cuppa.

What a winning trade over Walmart's germy cart-handles and my messy kitchen.

Love,

R

Puppy Love

Another one of our children faced their school concert without Mr. Loggerhead and survived.

Amazing!

Actually it was pretty amazing. T-boy is not one to perform for a crowd... he generally saves his antics for small groups of family or just me, his mother. This was a first for him  - in more ways than one, it was actually the 1st time the child wore a tie (besides the ratty ones from the dress-up box just for fun).

I know, I know, it's scandalous!

I just haven't been one for youthful formal wear... I'm a jeans/khakis and a polo kind of mom.

I am also the kind of mom who thinks her children's music program's are about the cutest things I've ever seen. This one was in holding with the time of year and boasted a program of puppy-related love songs. How Much Is That Doggy In The Window and I Love My Dog As Much As I Love You and so forth.

He was so funny about his program, wouldn't tell me any of the songs he was to sing because he said it was my Valentine's surprise. It was a perfect love gift seeing him up there singing, dancing and not goofing-off even once.

I mean, everybody thinks their kids' concerts are good... but mine really are! [wink-wink]

It helps that the kids in our school are all so cute!

(again, totally biased)

And there is the small thing of having a great music teacher. Thank you again, Mr Janda!

And what is a star-performer without the enthusiastic fans?

We played our parts, clapping, whistling and whooping, with abandon. And at this age, he was pleased by this vs. being embarrassed.

He was quite smashing in his tie and I may even have him wear it again.

But don't quote me on that.

Love,

Ties To My Heart, in NE