my soon to be bald boys

I'm interrupting this party blog for an important message from my boys, Nathan (10) and Luke (8).  I'm so proud of them for wanting to help and finding a way to do it.

Hi, this is Nathan and Luke and we are going bald.  Our mom is a little sad to see our hair go :) but it's for a good cause.  

Our cousin Talitha has cancer.  You can read about Tali here.  

We wanted to help so we decided to join with St Baldricks and have our head shaved to show support to those that have cancer and to raise money to help fight cancer.  We are each trying to raise $500.  If you can help us that would be great.  If you don't have the money right now, that's ok too.  Please just say a prayer for Tali and her family - that would be a big help too.

You can check out our websites.  For Nathan go here and for Luke go here.  You can read more about Tali and other kids fighting cancer on our site and there is also a place to make a donation.

You can forward this on to anyone you think would be interested in helping.  We hope that we can get lots of us together to help fight cancer and help lots of kids feel better.

Thank you a lot

Nathan and Luke

jane how-to

There have been some questions about my daughter's Jane (Volturi) costume. Here's how to get the Volturi vampire look that we got here.

I used this Simplicity pattern, view A. I shortened the length of the cloak, made the arm width much skinnier and did not use the frog closure that was suggested - I used a length of fabric so that the cloak could be tied up with a bow.

The contacts are from Wild Eyes and the color/style is Red Hot. We ordered them through our optometrist and got them in my daughters prescription.

We also stopped by Hot Topic and picked up the Volturi Crest necklace.

We finished off the costume with white tights, some Mary Janes picked up inexpensively at Ross and make-up -pale skin, dark eyes.

the volturi have arrived - new moon jane costume

Any New Moon fans out there? If so, you may recognize this pint sized vampire who is here visiting from Italy.

My daughter decided to be Jane, the Volturi guards silent secret weapon, for Halloween this year. The costume is not quite done but she was off to a Halloween party tonight so she had to wear it as is.

The sleeves aren't hemmed yet - they're just folded up underneath the sleeve, hence the discrepancy in lengths (that will be fixed before Halloween) I also need to clean up some raw edges around the neckline before the big candy coma induced night.

Most of it's done though and both she and I are pleased with the almost finished product. The eye color makes this costume - I was thrilled we got our hands on some contacts in a short amount of time. I called the optometrist on Monday and we had the contacts on Tuesday so she would have them to wear tonight.
She has plans to get multiple uses out of this costume - she wants to wear it to the theater for the midnight release of New Moon and just stare people down while quietly telling them "this may hurt just a little" Check out the trailer here to see Jane, played by Dakota Fanning, say that line - she's an evil little blood sucker.

Hope every one's Halloween party plans are on track and that you are getting your costumes taken care of as well. I always love to see Halloween parties and costumes so send pictures my way of any of your holiday happenings.

need a reason to party?

It's mole day! Ya, I hadn't heard of it either but it's an excuse for a party. The only reason I know about this glorious holiday, that is sure to sweep the nation (I hear it has the potential to pass Christmas as the favorite holiday), is because my daughter had to sew a stuffed mole for her chemistry class. Sewing/chemistry?!?!? Don't ask.

The kids had to design the mole after something or someone that would allow them to add mole to the name, for example...

Eskimo/eskimole

Edward Cullen/Edward Molen - this one would have been awesome!

You get the idea. Anyway, here is what my daughter came up with..

Any ideas on who this mole might be? Eternal glory awaits those with the right answer so put your thinking caps on because don't we all want some eternal glory?

I thought her mole came out pretty darn cute, so cute in fact that we may make some more of these magnificent moles for gifts. Anyone have good ideas for things or people with mole names? Perhaps we'll pick the one we like best and send you your own mole. I know it's been your life long dream to own a stuffed mole made by some high school kid - admit it!

proper party tools

It is 12:34 am and I am sitting in front of my computer printing out labels for my nephews wedding reception tomorrow night and cutting them out with child sized safety scissors - can anyone tell me where my paper cutter and sharp adult scissors are?  This is crazy!

most creative photo booth

I love finding something I love and I LOVE this photo booth idea found via One Cool Pick. This was created by Sasha Souza Events and Kristen from Bliss Video Productions (photos by Elizabeth Messina)

This is a great idea for a wedding but I think it would be equally fun for a family reunion. We are heading off to a family reunion in less than a week - I wish I had time to pull this off but the next few days are crazy busy - maybe for the next reunion.

Since I still have Harry potter on the brain I'm thinking this might be a cool photo booth for a HP shindig - it is kinda reminiscent of the moving portraits that grace the walls of Hogwarts.

Man I LOVE this idea - I really LOVE this idea - have I made that clear enough?!?!  Super creative - LOVE it!

love this leafy idea

It's always a good day when the morning starts with a great creative idea.  

I'm loving this silhouette idea that I found from Photojojo.  These would make great place cards at your party table or I like the idea of using them at a family reunion and creating an amazing family tree.

How would you use these?

i guess this is...getting personal friday

I just wanted to publicly congratulate my little brother for getting a job as one of Lego's newest master model builders.  He participated in the Model Builder Search over the last couple of days and was offered his dream job.

Ryan has been getting a bit of press around the internet as of late.  In my daily searching for party ideas I have stumbled on his marriage proposal a few times see HERE and HERE and HERE.  I love that all the articles refer to him as geeky and a nerd, or was it dork?  Whatever it is 3 cheers for dorky, geeky nerds :)   Funny that it's just making the rounds now since he posted pics of the proposal in 2006.

Is this not so cute and creative?  The real ring was hidden inside the Lego diamond he created

The set up my mom and I put together in the backyard of my parents old home.  Private and romantic - just what my brother wanted.

Perhaps I need to start looking for Lego party ideas and invite my little bro over for a celebratory dinner.

Congrats Ry - we're proud of you!

Just added...found a video here