Brennan's First BIG School Project

Brennan had an assignment over Thanksgiving break.  He had to make a poster on a holiday selected by his teacher.  It was a social studies project to teach the children about various celebrations around the world.
Brennan got Cinco De Mayo.  He did his research and answered each of the 6 topics.  Luckily it was all in bullet form so it was easy for him to organize on his own.  He did 95% of the work.  Me?  I found the red paper (already cut that size), thought that the index cards would be easy to use for the topics, and showed him how to use my Silhouette. 
Brennan was so proud of his poster and his teacher said his oral presentation went really really well!
It was really hard to sit back and let him do the poster on his own.  I wanted to help because it would have been so fun and easy to do.  :)  However, I am very proud of myself because I sat back and just gave some suggestions on how to better do things (or do them at all...he'd never used a tape runner).  I did not take over, which is a big deal for me, haha.  I think Brennan was most proud that he did it on his own, and it wound up looking so great!

Brennan gets baptized

Brennan was baptized this month in Natchez, Ms.  Bart baptized him and my entire family, plus his dad, were there to be part of the special day, along with friends and family from church.  I was baptized in Natchez in 1988 so it was neat to have Brennan choose to do it there as well.
  Brennan is growing up so much and it makes me very happy to see him turn into such a good young man.  He actually attended his first Cub Scouts activity yesterday and is preparing for a big hike on Saturday with them.  I love that he is so excited to learn and grow and also to be a good example to his younger brothers.

Congratulations Brennan!  We love you!

Brennan is turning EIGHT so we are going to celebrate (with an etsy sale!)

see his fabulous mustache tie tack?  awesome, right!

Brennan loves my bow ties more then anyone else I know.
In fact, when I prepared a polo shirt for him to wear today to church, he was very upset that he could not wear a bow tie or neck tie with it.  :)
He turns eight next Sunday.  In one week.
Turning eight for an LDS kid is kind of a big deal.  See, they can get baptized when they turn eight.  Brennan has been working hard to prepare himself and make sure he wants to get baptized and he feels (and we do and the bishop) he is ready to do this.
But, I digress....
for now, we are talking about me ;)
See, Brennan is having a MAN party for his birthday, inspired first by his love of dress up neck ties and bow ties and my love of mustaches right now (fake, NOT real).

Since he loves the ties so much, I am having a sale in my etsy shop from now until Saturday at midnight.
ALL neck ties are $8 each, plus shipping, the very few bow ties I have left are $4.25 plus shipping.
Considering other then that very rare % off sale I just had, I don't lower my already REALLY low prices, I'd say this is a great deal and I'd encourage you to hop over to my etsy shop right this second and order some.  If you want more then 1 of any size, send me a convo and I will set up a listing.

OH, and I almost forgot the best part....EVERY SINGLE NECK TIE you buy comes with a FREE mustache tie tack!  Yep.  Awesomeness!  Or you can buy them separately for $3 each.
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AND, if you tweet (@jessremington and include a link to the shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/confetticreationsbyj ) or post on Facebook about this sale (make sure you @ Confetti Creations AND click that little UNlock button so I can SEE the comment on Facebook on my Confetti Creations wall), I will give you a top secret code for 10% off your total purchase price as well as those sale prices!  I will ask that you please not share the code as it is SO easy to get it sent directly to you!

Brennan, what a hunk!

Brennan does NOT like to have his picture taken.  In fact, most of the time he is making a silly face, turning away, or covering his face.

But for whatever reason, our day to the zoo, Gene Leahy slides, and Ted and Wallies for ice cream, he was a near perfect model!

Maybe it was the thrill of getting to take pictures of his own as well. I entrusted him with my Canon point and shoot at the zoo and he had a great time snapping pictures of wild life, his friends, his face, whatever.  He made some HILARIOUS videos as well.  I think I will be getting him his own camera with video capabilities for his birthday (which is a MAN theme, lol...it's going to be so fun!)

He even listened the first time and "posed" for me when I asked him to do certain things!

I did not ask him to smell the flower, but he thought it was a funny pose and asked me to take a picture.  The flowers at the Senses Garden at the Henry Dorley Zoo are so pretty.  Not a lot of variety, but what they have are beautiful right now!

So, I hope you enjoyed some rare "good" pictures of Brennan.  I can hardly believe he will be EIGHT in JUNE!  It seems like time has just flown by since he was a little baby getting swaddled like a burrito, sucking a paci, and refusing to drink from a bottle!

Hallelujah...do you hear the bells ringing?

Jackson has been walking around singing the hallelujah  chorus (I believe that is what it's called) for months now.  It is really quite funny.
Monday, though, I was singing it, too!
SCHOOL STARTED!
Brennan got the teacher he'd hoped for, I got some relief from the fighting, nagging, whining that had been going on all summer.

Jackson was so excited.  He is getting to "go to" preschool.  By "go to" I mean that I am homeschooling him.  He is too smart for public preschool (go figure) and we are too broke for private (when you already had bills and you get more, it just takes that extra money away) preschool, so I decided to put my college degree to use and home school him this year.  He is loving it so far.

Once life settles down (4 cakes and a wedding cake in two weeks!  Yikes!) I will study the NE state curriculum for pre-K and do proper lesson plans.  This week we are just learning about Jackson, the letter A, and counting to 20. 
I am kind of excited to do this.  It is allowing me to spend quality time with Jackson, something that I sometimes find myself skimping on.

Plus...it means that I can call all play dates "field trips" now and not feel guilty about them :)  I have a field trip planned to the Omaha Children's Museum next week, Ditmar's Apple Orchard in September and Vala's in October.  It's fun to be excited to spend time with my children...sometimes I feel so trapped, but lately I've felt happy to be at home so much.  Granted today's lesson was less then stellar, but Jackson didn't seem to mind and while Super Why was on, I started working on cake stuff, while still pointing out letters and such to Jack...he, he...yep, I used the t.v. as a babysitter AND teacher today.  But I'm okay with that, because it won't be on every day. 
So, here's to a great school year, with routines, less fighting, and more fun!

Blonde Girl Party Invitations and Favors

Who doesn't like to get a beautifully wrapped package?  Especially when that package contains something that makes both Mommy and Son happy?
Blonde Girl provided me with some fantastic cup cake flags for Brennan's birthday...yes, I know his party was over a month ago, but I have not shared all my wonderful goodies from it nor have I given it the attention I wanted to (and I apologize to BG for the huge delay!).

So, back to Blonde Girl's etsy shop.  She's got some really cute stuff (and a lot of it is for BOYS!)...check out this LEGO magnet.  What a cute party favor!  If you had your guests color pictures, it would be cute to send them home with this magnet to proudly display it on their fridge!


Then there are her cupcake flags...they are very small, about the size of a quarter.  They were the perfect size to accent the cupcakes!  The kids LOVED them and licked them clean to take them home with them, too.

Then there are her invitations...she sent me a variety of samples to see her work.  The paper is a nice quality, the envelopes coordinate (there is just something about a colored envelope that I love) and the design work is nice, too.
So, the next time you are in the market for some cute invitations or party goods, check out Blonde Girl on etsy!

(Okay, so this picture does not do the flags justice, but they were perfect to be in the front row of my cupcakes!)

I was not paid to write this review, though I did receive some very useful cupcake toppers, invites and other goodies from Blonde Girl's etsy shop to review.  What you just read is my honest opinion of it!

Follow Blonde Girl:

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twitter: BlondeGirlParty

Kung Zhu Warriors

Which KUNG ZHU are you???

Kung Zhu is the newest toy in the Zhu Zhu Pet line up.  Designed with boys in mind, this toy series provided hours of fun for my son and some of his favorite friends.
From their site:
Introducing the hottest new line from Cepia evolving from of Zhu Zhu Pets...Kung Zhu Pets! These warrior hamsters are far from being the cute and cuddly Zhu Zhu Pets that everyone fell in love with. But make no mistake, these ultra cool, tough pets will be a sure competition to the original Zhu Zhu Pets! With eight original characters split into two battling groups called Special Forces and Ninja Warriors, Kung Zhu Pet owners will have the thrill of training each character to transform fighting, battling warriors. While these Kung Zhu hamsters may start of as "cute" and "mild-mannered" once they are sent into their main training grounds, smart chip technology will actually allow you to hear a distinct personality transformation of fighting ninja and warriors.

 The party started with each of Brennan's friends getting to select one of the eight Kung Zhu and armor.  All the armor are interchangeable, so each child got to put a little of their personality into the decisions...though decide wisely, because you are stuck with what you choose, as no one was willing to trade.  

My boys both chose Stonewall of the Special Forces team, but so far they have not fought over whose is whose.  They did pick different armor (thank goodness!)

Once each piece was marked (10 kids x 5 parts = lots of mixed up pieces), the children went to town playing with the awesome track/arena/battle field.  Whatever you want to call it, it was "so totally awesome" (quoting Brennan.)

 

There were battles at the Ninja Warriors battled the Special Forces.  The noises the hamsters make as they are crawling around or battling really cracked me  up...if you see one in the store, go push its nose :)

Most of the battles were wild and crazy...so these were the best shots I got of them.  There were lots of exclamations of "Cool!"  and "DID YOU SEE THAT?"  yelled at the top of little kid lungs.  It was so fun to watch them enjoy.
Of course, to prepare the Kung Zhu pets for battle, they had to go through training...and what a great course to train on!

I think my favorite part of the course is that each piece can be reconfigured to make any course your child can dream of.  After the party Brennan quickly built a "racetrack" which was one L.O.N.G. line of all the elements hooked end to end.  It reminds me a bit of Geo Trax and how they can be rebuilt into so many different options...your imagination is the limit!
Now, Kung Zhu, though masculine in theory, is also great for girls...these girls were very fierce warriors, wreaking havoc on the boys :)  Though, in the end, some of the hamster were being cuddled with their armor abandon for small pieces of scrap fabric (always a sewing project nearby) for blankets. 

And Kung Zhu was fun for the smaller guys, too...Jackson was a little nervous at first having all the "big kids" in his living room, but as he saw that his hamster was just as awesome as the others, and as some of the other kids exclaimed how cool his Kung Zhu's armor was, he warmed up to them.

Brennan, of course, can never be far from his legos.  He incorporated ways for this lego ship to be part of the party, too.

I'd say all in all, these kids had a BLAST celebrating the release of Kung Zhu.  From tanks to obstacle courses to battles, the kids played for a long time and didn't fight once (well...maybe a little, but it was more of a love spat then anything else...)

And...how can you go wrong when you get to eat cake at the end?  Yep, a great ending to a fun party.  Thank you MomSelect for providing such awesome toys for the kids to play with and keep! 

Cake designed by Brennan and me, using Make the Cut and my Cricut to decorate.

***All opinions my own (or my kids).  I was not paid to do this review, though we currently have an awesome Kung Zhu set up because of it.  Thanks MomSelect.***

FYI:  MomSelect KUNG ZHU twitter party Friday from 1-2 p.m.  #kungzhu
Follow me on twitter:  @jessremington

All You Can Eat Buffet

Also known as Brennan's birthday treats display.
(Brennan named the first one when he saw all the cupcakes and sugary treats.)

(I do not like the location of the treat area, but I had to keep it high to keep Ethan out of it.  lol)
I had no idea how many kids were coming, so I decided to just do cupcakes.  (Invited his entire class, knowing most would not show, then only 2 from school and all 4 that we invited from church came)
Also, our plans were to go to the tennis courts at Brennan's school to play games and party.  The hard rain last night changed those plans to my house, so I really didn't need an easy to handle/transport treat, but oh, well...the kids seemed to like the cupcake toppers (esp. since most of them were seven and thought I'd put the #7 on them just for them).

After the fun and games (more on that later), we pigged out.  Cupcakes, pretzel rods w/ almond bark, and cupcake cups with m&m's were on our menu.  To drink?  3 choices of brightly colored kool-aid...remember, I didn't know if a bunch of kids who didn't RSVP were going to show up, so I needed a cheap option.  Once again, if I'd known it was a party of 7, I would have done rectangle juice boxes and made them look like legos.  Oh, well.  Those kids went home HIGH on sugar.  He, he, he.

The only bad thing to happen at Brennan's party was when I went to light the candles.  I shoved seven into ONE cupcake (I know, I am awesome) with a "B" topper in the middle.  I just KNEW it would not catch on fire because the candles were barely sticking out of the cupcake and the topper was a few inches above the candles.  Well, there was no fire...but...the heat from the candles caused the plastic straw I used to support the topper to melt...almost causing a fire.

So, new rule.  NO PAPER AND CANDLES IN THE SAME CAKE.

It appears that after an "All You Can Eat (sugar) Buffet", Ethan can't handle the sugar rush.

Adventures in Cloth Diapering, Part 8...the big brother changes a diaper

I wish I'd had my camera handy (or my new FLIP video camera that is coming in the mail this week!) to capture this moment.

I was about to change Ethan's diaper when Brennan comes up.

"Mom, can I do it?"

Me, thinking about it...this could be messy, it could be cute. It is definietly a skill he needs to learn to be a good husband one day.

"Okay Brennan, sure."

I mean...seriously, who says NO to a free diaper change?

Brennan pulls off the snaps of the Blueberry, removes the diaper, wipes Ethan up (with guidance on where to wipe. Bren says, "But he's not dirty!"), and puts the dirty diaper in the wetbag.

Then, Brennan (with me holding Ethan's hinny in the air) gently puts the new diaper (this one a BumGenius with velcro) under his bum. Once he feels it is positioned just so (and just in the knick of time...Ethan was getting restless with his body raised in the air), he covers the front, pulls the velcro tabs and declares himself done.

Not bad for a six year old, I only discreetly tightened one side a tiny bit.

Brennan has grown up so much this past year. He's always been a good big brother but lately he is turning into a GREAT one. And one who likes cloth diapers, I might add.

Now, if only I could train Jackson to stuff clean diapers, I'd have it made!