Charm's Outer Space Blast Off

First, you must know that the party I'm about to talk about took place about 13 months ago.  I discovered that I never posted pictures from Charm's 4th birthday here when I was working on pulling together pictures of past birthdays for Charm's baby book that has been sitting unfinished for 4 years now.  It didn't feel right to post pictures of his fifth party until his fourth was documented in much the same way it didn't feel right to start Clover's baby book before adding some pictures to Charm's.  In attempt to move a step forward, I'm taking a few steps back.  So goes this season of my life.  Perhaps I shall call it the turtle season, because I feel like I'm moving in sloooooow motion most of the time.

But for now, this turtle is going to focus on Charm's party from last year.  Here are some pictures from Charm's big day:

We gathered everyone outside and attached 'astronaut in training' name badges.  They played on the 'rocket' while awaiting launch time.

They were handed envelopes with their top secret training mission inside (Note: Stage numbers are off by one on the handout versus the stage markers in the yard.  I'm not sure why.  13 months is a long time to remember those little details but probably we fixed the handout after I took these pictures?.!)

We did a countdown on the 'rocket'!

 A few jumps each on the trampoline helped them to feel 'weightless'.

 Each child got to toss a few tennis balls at the alien...

 and then they got behind the photo prop and pretended to be an alien:).

(I painted the photo prop on a piece of eucaboard and Bill made the frame.)

Next up, they traveled through a black hole...

...only to incur ship damage requiring repairs which were completed at the space dock.

Each child was handed a piece of the ship, and they had to work together to put the ship back together:

(Again, I painted the rocket on a piece of eucaboard from Home Depot, and Bill cut it out after I traced puzzle lines using a yard stick for the straight edges and a small plate for the curves.)

Finally they completed star navigation training.

Each child had to create his/her own constellation using black construction paper, small star stickers and chalk to connect the stars.

Once the constellation was completed, they were handed flags to take to the moon!

Each child put a flag in the 'moon' and received a specimen bag to take home!

The bags contained 'moon rocks', astronaut ice cream and some outer space sticker sheets.

A cake, ice cream and pinata finished up the party fun!

And if you made it this far, here is a little bonus basement play fort fun.  Two winters ago, I started making play themes for the kids using the reading loft/fort/structure Bill built in the basement as a back drop.  I made this spaceship themed area to coincide with Charm's birthday.

The control panel was in our outside play set on the day of the party. 

And this concludes my trip back in time and space.

Have a lovely week!

Globe Trotters

Well, we didn't get that far, but we had quite a busy summer including an Alaskan adventure!  We are all settling into a new fall routine as the school year has begun and fall has returned in all it's crisp air, leave changing glory.  I'm hoping to share more adventures in home decorating and parenting on a weekly basis throughout the school year as I really do enjoy crafting and picture taking and sharing in general.  We'll see how it goes!

Here's a quick project I just tackled in 15 minutes this morning while sweet Clover was napping upstairs.  Chalkboard globes are all the rage these days.  See here and here for examples.

I had already made Charm a chalkboard globe over three years ago!  And I decided I wanted to change it up a bit by permanently painting the outlines of the countries on the globe.  That way, Charm could use chalk to mark his superhero's journeys or treasure hiding locations, etc, and the map wouldn't wipe away when it was time for a new adventure.

I found a globe at Marshall's for $24.99 that had a loose hand drawn country rendering that I was going to use as my guide, along with a Sharpie Oil Based Paint Pen:

I actually bought the small Marshall's globe to use as a guide with the intent to return it, but I soon discovered that it was easier to grab a real globe (of which I already own a few:)) and use it as my guide since the scale was the same as my big chalkboard globe.  (So buying the Marshall's globe was pointless, except the return of the globe will force me back to Marshall's which is never a bad thing:)!)

(And as an aside, ignore the kitchen mess.  If I'm going to blog, I've got to be okay with messy backgrounds now and then.  The wine glasses were left over from book club the night (or two) before, and I decided to paint country lines on a globe (that I had previously painted over the country lines on) instead of washing those wine glasses.  My priorities make total sense...to me anyway.)

I also discovered it was easier to make a pencil tracing to start instead of going straight for the paint pen.  I only erased my pencil line in one or two places, but it was nice to have that option.

And here's my finished product to be added to Mr. Charm's Superhero room that has been in the works for a LONG time.

So much more to come!