Birthday Balloon Wreath

 

This was so much fun to make, so simple and such a rewarding final product!  Don't you just want to smile looking at that wreath???

We have a little birthday girl, so we're getting into party mode!  We also have first day of kindergarten, a doctor's appointment, dental appointments and a preschool open house tomorrow.  Yikes!  Happy birthday, baby.  :-/

The supplies you need are:  A straw wreath, lots of balloons, floral pins, and some ribbons stuck here and there, if you'd like.

Leave the wreath in its plastic so that you don't make a mess with the straw.  The wreath pictured is an 18-in wreath, which fills my front door nicely...but next time, I would consider a smaller wreath.  :-)  Lots and lots of pinning, which is kind of a mindless activity to do while watching Star Trek The Next Generation.  Did I just say that?  ;-)

Make sure to cover the tip of the floral pin with the balloon...I kind of just looped the balloon over as if I was tying it on.  You can pin multiple small balloons at one time, but found one large balloon per pin looked nice.

 

As always, I had help at hand. 

Lunchbox Enthusiasm

For some reason...I'm kind of nervous about the whole lunch thing for Evander at school.  I guess I feel pressured to always have lunch bag things in the house to pack for him (instead of heating something up).  Or the idea that he might not actually eat what he has in front of him during lunch time at school (will he be hungry while he's away from home?).  Will Evander make it through the milk line okay?  I learned at the open house last night that kindergarteners will have a snack!  So that makes me feel more at ease.  Now will he eat the snack...? :-P

Found these awesome lunch containers from Zip Loc that make the food look oh so yummy!

I kept this lunch a surprise.  I wanted to see the boys' reactions.  Had to do a test run to see if Evander could actually open the container by himself!  He could.  :-)

And underneath, once he eats allllllllllllllllllll of his food, Evander will find a surprise taped to the bottom of the container.

Lots more where that came from!  I made some for our friend Cody, too, who will also be going to school all day, every day.  What a transition for these Mommies of kindergarteners and first graders!

It's a recreational vehicle!  No, it's an RV!  Banter from when Evander was 2 1/2 years old.  :-)

He loves his Scooby Doo lunch box that Bumpa and Grammie got him...he just wouldn't pose with it today.  LEGO magazine came in the mail today!  ;-)

Découpaging Like It's 1999

...and 2000.  Think I was kind of slow to finish the top...

 

Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales!  "24-7" was popular lingo.

Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales.  Slug bug red!

Haven't you always wanted to be a potato?

Shhhhhhhh...Ricky Martin has a secret that he doesn't want to tell you just yet.

Hahahaha!

My friend Lexi would push my hand and I would go "bar war war war war war war" like Blue barked on Blue's Clues.  Yeahhhh...I don't why.  We were silly.  :-)

Underneath "Love" it says "Florida."  Love Florida.  2000 was yet another Disney trip with the band!  How blessed we all were. 

I love band.

Have you seen enough Star Wars, yet?

 

Awwwww...the crystal door knob ball said that fingerprints all over the wall, doors and windows would be in my future.  Lots of fingerprints.  :-)

Okay, I will.  Thank you.  Although, my feet will be cold soon.

This boggles my mind that I put this on the dresser.  I guess it's...ummm...cool?  I'm sure Nick likes it and it's kind of neat that it is on the dresser since anatomy & physiology is Nick's thing.

For the boys.

Découpaging---it's out of control!!!!

1998: It Was a Very Good Year

(Thinking of the Frank Sinatra song)

I think this is my favorite side of the dresser.  Everything on it is just so happy and bright...1998 was a very good year.  :-)  This was the year we did Music Man, I got my driver's license and went to Disney World with the choir.

Love it!

I had a little help this time taking the pictures. Marin is wearing the first item I ever bought with my very first paycheck!  Ha.

Date stamp...'98!

 

Princess Diana was killed the summer before, yet we were all still obsessed with her and everything Prince William.  Matt Damon certainly looks young here!!!

 

Driver's Ed.  Yup.  That happened this year.  :-)

 

Kyle Chandler from Early Edition.  I liked that show...maybe because a cat had a role in every episode?  It was on from 1996-2000. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!  Sorry.  That was a sixteen year old scream for *N Sync.  You're all I ever wanted....you're all I ever needed...so tell me what to do now when I want you back.  That song and their first album was released this year.  Woooooo!!!  My mom and I were in Suncoast at mall right after I had a wisdom tooth taken out (read as puffy face!) when we ran into JC and Lance!  Ack!  I get excited thinking about it.  Ha.  Their big body guard blocked the exit to the store so we were (shudder) *trapped* inside with them.  JC said hi to me first!  :-D  But for some reason, I couldn't think to ask for his autgraph.  I got Lance's autgraph, though. :-)  hahahahahaha.  Even the idea of the mall makes me laugh now.

I love you.

 

Oxymoron STILL cracks me up.  I had a pair of Hang Ten shorts that I hung on to for so long, but never really wore.  Hmmm.

 

A pair or army green Chuck Taylor's that I got in 1998 still graces my wardrobe. 

 

Peeeeet-za!!!!  (As Marin would say).  Even then, pizza had a place in my life.  ;-)  Although, I can remember a time in elementary school when I did not like pizza.  Weirdo.

Open the gates and seize the day.  Don't be afraid and don't delay.  Nothing can break us, no one can make us give our rights away.  Arise and seize the day!  I think we watched Newsies practically every single year in middle school.  Good movie.  

Ahhhhhh, l'amour.

Gettin' Jiggy Wit It by Will Smith was played at all of the dances this year.  Na na na na na na na!  Na na na na na na!

 

Haha!

 

Jelly Roll pens!  My friend Jennifer gave me a whole bunch of them for Christmas.  Lots of fun to play with in French class! 

 

More Star Wars.

Lots of fun!

1997 in Découpage

 

 Ahhhhhhhhh, 1997.  End of freshman year of high school. 'Nuff said.  :-P

Still digging Omar and his awesome do-it-again Gold Glove skills on the diamond. 

One of my friends had this poem in a magazine in 9th grade English class....probably in Seventeen magazine or something!  ;-)  Somehow, I confiscated it.  One thing I know now is that God is love!  "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:8

See you in '97!!!  Yum, olives!  And more Toy Story.  :-)

Where do YOU want to go today?  The panther now reminds me of Nick and his high school mascot!

Is that a Cleveland Lumberjack trying to peek through?  The classic Star Wars movies were re-released in theaters.  I just read online that they will be released *again* next year in 3D.  Not sure if those will be the originals, or the prequels.  Anyhoo...it took me a few times to get through the first prequel without falling asleep.  :-/

Still leftovers from the 1996 election...Brain for President '96!  A guy from the Real World....London, I think.

 

 Whatever Lemonaise is!  I've always liked lemurs.  There was Treelo on Bear in the Big Blue House (yes, I was a little old to watch that...still loved it), and Zoboomofoo with the Kratt Brothers!!! 

York Peppermint Patty anyone?  The Perfect Man?  No Doubt?

I love you man.  The guys in school certainly enjoyed loving each other by saying this...over and over and over in the hallways.  Bonne Nuit!  Good night!  French class was probably one of my favorite classes in school.  Took it for four years.  Wish I could *really* speak it, although, I can still (sort of) read some of it.  ;-)

 

And you can start to see my spiritual change!  I am...completely a reference to God in the Old Testament.  Jars of Clay...rain, rain on my face.  Hasn't stopped raining for days.  My world is a flood.  Slowly I become one with the mud! 

Third Rock from the Sun...didn't they live in Ohio on the show???

The Gray's house is that way ------->

 

Love those kitties. :-)