Category Archives: Holidays

Awesome Halloween Light Shows


I saw this first video on Facebook, so I looked it up on You Tube and was thrilled to find a bunch of similar videos. I’m not a fan of Halloween, but I am a fan of awesomeness…so here are some videos of awesome Halloween Light Shows.

halloweenliteshow1

(Email and feed readers, please click the links below or click through to the blog to view the videos.)

Halloween Light Show 2010: Thriller

Halloween Light Show 2010: Monster Mash

Thriller Halloween Display 2009

Ghost Busters Halloween Display 2009

Halloween Light Show 2010: Thriller

I had to narrow the list down somewhere, but you can find even more videos like this by doing a You Tube search for “Halloween Light Shows”.

Birthday Traditions: Personalized Birthday CD


On her birthday our little one wakes up to the sound of her very own personalized birthday cd.

Hip-Hip Hooray It’s Your Birthday Personalized Kids Music CD
Birthday CD IMGP3320c2txt3

She loves dancing around to the songs and gets so excited when she hears them say her name. She asks to listen to it for a week after her birthday and then we have to slowly back off of it so that it doesn’t lose its appeal 😉

2010

2011
(Click on photos to enlarge)

I love the idea of this cd so much that I plan on getting one for all of my future children and I gave one to my nephew for his birthday!

Watch the videos below of Adaline’s birthday dance the past two years to see a cute baby and hear some samples of the songs.
(Email and feed readers, please click through to the blog to watch the videos.)

2010: 1 year old!

2011: 2 years old!

Do you wake your kids up to the traditional Happy Birthday or another birthday song?
Let me know in the comments!

Posts COMING SOON
Balloon Wreath Tutorial and Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Centerpiece Tutorial
Free Ladybug and Bug Fonts Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Products List
(I’ll be creating a separate post that contains all of the info and links for the supplies from this party. In the meantime if you want to know where I got something just ask in the comments.)

Related Posts


BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
*Birthday Traditions: Personalized Birthday CD
*Birthday Traditions: Knife and Cake Server
*Birthday Traditions: Professional Photos
*Birthday Traditions: Photo Puzzle
*Happy 2nd Birthday, Adaline!

BIRTHDAY TUTORIALS
*DIY No Sew Party Hat Tutorial

*Ribbon Topiary Video Tutorial (Centerpiece)

*Tissue Number Birthday Sign (Mini-Tutorial)

BIRTHDAY PARTIES
*Birthday Girl…2 years old: Photos of Adaline at her birthday party
*Ladybug Picnic: 2nd Birthday

*Pink and Green Polka Dots and Cupcakes Party: 1st Birthday

*Ham and Man Party: 30th Birthday

*Celebrating 30 years in 30 days! All of my birthdays from 1980-2009

+Birthday posts will be published all throughout September 2011 including tutorials, party decor ideas, and birthday traditions!

Lilypie Maternity tickers
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!

Birthday Traditions: Cake Server and Knife


cakeserverIMGP1333ctxt3

One of my most favorite and easy birthday traditions is both sweet and savvy 😉 Did you buy a beautiful cake server and knife for your wedding that is sitting in a box somewhere?

Starting on Adaline’s first birthday we dug our wedding cake server and knife out of storage and used it to cut her birthday cake. Last year we also used it to cut my birthday cake and my husband’s.

For Adaline’s second birthday we used it once again to cut and serve her birthday cake.

Don’t let your wedding knife and cake server go to waste!
Start using it on all of your family’s birthday cakes this year and start a new tradition.

Do you use your wedding knife and cake server for special occasions?
Let me know in the comments!

Posts COMING SOON
Balloon Wreath Tutorial and Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Centerpiece Tutorial
Free Ladybug and Bug Fonts Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Products List
(I’ll be creating a separate post that contains all of the info and links for the supplies from this party. In the meantime if you want to know where I got something just ask in the comments.)

Related Posts

BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
*Birthday Traditions: Personalized Birthday CD
*Birthday Traditions: Knife and Cake Server
*Birthday Traditions: Professional Photos
*Birthday Traditions: Photo Puzzle
*Happy 2nd Birthday, Adaline!

BIRTHDAY PARTIES
*Birthday Girl…2 years old: Photos of Adaline at her birthday party
*Ladybug Picnic: 2nd Birthday

*Pink and Green Polka Dots and Cupcakes Party: 1st Birthday

*Ham and Man Party: 30th Birthday

*Celebrating 30 years in 30 days! All of my birthdays from 1980-2009

BIRTHDAY TUTORIALS
*DIY No Sew Party Hat Tutorial

*Ribbon Topiary Video Tutorial (Centerpiece)

*Tissue Number Birthday Sign (Mini-Tutorial)

+Birthday posts will be published all throughout September 2011 including tutorials, party decor ideas, and birthday traditions!

Lilypie Maternity tickers
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!

Birthday Tradition: Professional Birthday Photos


One of our birthday traditions is to have professional photos taken each year. For the past two years I’ve taken Adaline to J.C. Penney’s on her actual birthday, August 4, where she has pictures taken in her birthday dress. We might not always do it on her actual birthday but it worked out that way the past few years and I’m glad that we have some good birthday photos of her.

Birthday Photos 2011
Adaline is 2!

(Click on photos to enlarge.)


(Click on photos to enlarge.)






Birthday Photos 2010
Adaline is 1!

(Click on photos to enlarge.)


Adaline also had her 1st birthday photos taken in a romper that I wore in my 1st birthday photos. There’s at least one slight difference in our appearance 😉
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

I know that’s way bigger than a smash cake. I forgot to ask my mom to make a little cake to take with us so she stopped by the grocery store and this was the smallest cake they had! Let’s just say that between this and her actual birthday cake, smash cake, and cupcakes we were eating cake for weeks and I literally gained 10 pounds!
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Posts COMING SOON
Balloon Wreath Tutorial and Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Centerpiece Tutorial
Free Ladybug and Bug Fonts Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Products List
(I’ll be creating a separate post that contains all of the info and links for the supplies from this party. In the meantime if you want to know where I got something just ask in the comments.)

Related Posts


BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
*Birthday Traditions: Personalized Birthday CD
*Birthday Traditions: Knife and Cake Server
*Birthday Traditions: Professional Photos
*Birthday Traditions: Photo Puzzle
*Happy 2nd Birthday, Adaline!

BIRTHDAY PARTIES
*Birthday Girl…2 years old: Photos of Adaline at her birthday party
*Ladybug Picnic: 2nd Birthday

*Pink and Green Polka Dots and Cupcakes Party: 1st Birthday

*Ham and Man Party: 30th Birthday

*Celebrating 30 years in 30 days! All of my birthdays from 1980-2009

BIRTHDAY TUTORIALS
*DIY No Sew Party Hat Tutorial

*Ribbon Topiary Video Tutorial (Centerpiece)

*Tissue Number Birthday Sign (Mini-Tutorial)

+Birthday posts will be published all throughout September 2011 including tutorials, party decor ideas, and birthday traditions!

Lilypie Maternity tickers
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!

Happy 2nd Birthday Adaline!


Today my beautiful baby girl is turning 2 years old! I can’t believe how grown up she is and how quickly time goes by. I’m so proud of her 🙂

We have some plans for today, but we’ll see how that goes.
Things didn’t exactly go as planned last year…

I wanted to get a photo of Adaline in this chair each year on her birthday so that we can watch her grow. She wasn’t entirely cooperative 😉 These are the best photos in the bunch!

I also wanted to get a picture of Adaline standing in front of her daddy and I each year. You can see how that went…

I wanted to take a photo of Adaline exactly at her birth minute, but (because hubby had been called into work all week when he was supposed to be off) we were behind on party planning and had to go out to the store in the evening. She spent her birth minute in the car eating puffs.

And it wasn’t until after I took the photo that I noticed the time was off on the camera so it actually says the photo was taken an hour earlier!

I wanted to measure Adaline’s height on her birthday. The actual measuring went fine, but notice the date. Because we were busy we didn’t get around to measuring her until a month after her birthday.

Another thing we didn’t have time for until a month later was to do her keepsake handprint.

We attempted this in September, but I waited too long to stick her hand in the mixture and it had dried up already. I then had to break it all apart and mix in more water, but it still had chunks and lumps. This is the lovely final product.

We bought this awesome birthday candle (you burn it down every year until they turn 21!) and forgot to burn it. We went ahead and lit it that fateful day in September while we were measuring and messing up the handprint. We never got very far so this year will have to burn it twice as long.

I also wanted to get a photo of Adaline next to her candle (when it wasn’t lit) each year so you can watch her grow as the candle gets smaller. We never got around to that 😦

So, last year I had me some big plans for establishing some birthday traditions and things didn’t go exactly as I hoped. This year I’m going to try to get the handprint and measuring done this week and I’m going to try not to mess up the handprint 😉 I don’t have too many big hopes for the photos just yet as she still isn’t too keen on sitting still for pictures. Wish me luck!

Posts COMING SOON
Balloon Wreath Tutorial and Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Centerpiece Tutorial
Free Ladybug and Bug Fonts Links Post
Ladybug Picnic Products List
(I’ll be creating a separate post that contains all of the info and links for the supplies from this party. In the meantime if you want to know where I got something just ask in the comments.)

Related Posts
BIRTHDAY TUTORIALS
*DIY No Sew Party Hat Tutorial

*Ribbon Topiary Video Tutorial (Centerpiece)

*Tissue Number Birthday Sign (Mini-Tutorial)

BIRTHDAY PARTIES
*Birthday Girl…2 years old: Photos of Adaline at her birthday party
*Ladybug Picnic: 2nd Birthday

*Pink and Green Polka Dots and Cupcakes Party: 1st Birthday

*Ham and Man Party: 30th Birthday

*Celebrating 30 years in 30 days! All of my birthdays from 1980-2009

BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
*Birthday Traditions: Personalized Birthday CD
*Birthday Traditions: Knife and Cake Server
*Birthday Traditions: Professional Photos
*Birthday Traditions: Photo Puzzle
*Happy 2nd Birthday, Adaline!

+Birthday posts will be published all throughout September 2011 including tutorials, party decor ideas, and birthday traditions!

Lilypie Maternity tickers
Coolest Family on the Block is committed to helping you find creative ways to have fun and make memories with your family all year-long. Don’t miss an idea, tip, or trick…subscribe and have updates sent directly to your email!

Guest Post: Planting Flowers and Practicing Skills


This is a post from Amanda at Gratefully Growing in Grace who also brought us the Breakfast Basket guest post on June 7. Amanda has a great blog, so be sure to stop by for a visit!

Planting Flowers and Practicing Skills

My name is Amanda and I’m visiting again from Gratefully Growing in Grace where I write about baby, toddler, and preschool activities, crafts I attempt, recipes I manage to cook successfully, and as any good mommy blog includes, cute stories, photos, and videos of my children.

I’ve been blessed to celebrate three Mother’s Days and each year I have asked for the same thing: a mushy card, a photo of me with my children (I have a special frame for the photos), and flowers to plant. My only stipulation is that we all plant the flowers as a family. Doesn’t my husband have an easy job of thinking of Mother’s Day gifts and activities? This year was the first time my son could really help plant the flowers. He could dig the holes with me, choose which flower to put in the hole, place it there, pack the dirt around it, and water it. We had a blast and I can’t wait to have a home where we can plant more flowers and for my daughter to be able to help us – maybe next year!

We had so much fun planting flowers that I wanted to find a way for us to do it again and again. After reading an article (sorry, I can’t remember details because I usually read when my brain is tired to begin with) about preschoolers practicing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, I came up with an idea. I’m sure it isn’t original, but my tired brain thought it was brilliant at the moment.

I bought a small storage basket with holes and a few artificial flowers at the Dollar Tree. I rounded out my artificial flower pile by having my mom donate some of her extras. I used a wire cutter to trim the flowers up to be single stems without a lot of extra leaves and stuff on them.

I washed all the flowers in soapy water and let them dry because I’m a germophobe like that. Next, I gave the pile of flowers and the basket to Mini Me and said, “Let’s make a garden!” Simple as that, we turned the basket on its side and began using steady hands to poke the flower stems into the nifty holes. Tada!

The first time Mini Me did this is took approximately 2.5 minutes and he was off and running. I was crushed that my brilliant-but-not-so-original idea was such a dud. But… he came running back to it later after I’d taken the flowers out and wanted to do it again. Then the next day, he wanted to plant his garden again. I started making him put the stems in the smallest holes for more practice. One day he lovingly made a garden and presented it to me, asking if I could keep it on the table for decoration all day. Awwww… Mother’s Day lives on and my preschooler’s fine motor skills are being fine tuned!

Amanda is the author of Gratefully Growing in Grace where she blogs about baby, toddler, and preschool activities, crafts she attempts, and recipes she manages to cook successfully.