Party in the Safari

Our kids' birthdays are one month apart and turned 2 and 4 this year. Since they're so close in age, and young, and have all the same friends, we did a combined party for them. They chose a zebra theme (they're obsessed with the movie Racing Stripes and all things zebra). The color palate for the party was a muted black, bright yellow, and white.


{Invites made by me, babycakes gluten free mini donuts.}


{The welcome sign made use of our vintage horse rocker, wearing a zebra coat of course.}

{The birthday babes enjoying a donut pop before the party.}
  {I used yellow streamers along with white streamers dipped in black food coloring to give a striped effect.
This served as the backdrop for the food table.} {For the drinks station backdrop, I simply covered two large pieces of cardboard
with fabric, and hung assorted sized felt dots onto ribbon to hang over.}

{Mason jars were used drink cups. There was a larger size for the adults and a smaller size for the kiddos.
I used coordinating paper as a lid, then punched a hole in it to fit a paper straw.}

{Rum punch, water, and lemonade.}

{It was a late afternoon party so we served finger foods as well as treats.}

{Zebra cheddar cheese cutouts speared with cherry tomatoes on bamboo toothpicks.}

{Baugette cups with smoked blue cheese dip and assorted veggies.}

{Peanut butter filled mini Nilla wafers, dipped in candy melts an sprinkles.}

{The cake was supposed to look like this on the inside. I'm really no good at cakes.}

{This was the "I don't want a bunch of people singing to me" meltdown.}

{The favor boxes contained Little Debbie Zebra Cakes, Hershey Kisses Hugs, and Fruit Stripe Gum. I'm sure the parents loved us ;)}

{I wrapped a color of each flavor gum into washi taped packs of five.}

{I totally forgot they came with temporary tattoos. I loved those as a kid!}

{Their favorite present was new sunglasses.}

It was a happy birthday. Thanks to our family and friends who helped make it so.

Kids Play Kitchen from Re-Purposed Entertainment Center

Here is a kick ass, cheap little project for your duplicating pleasure.


Wondering how to do it?


Here's how it all went down.
We grabbed the entertainment center at our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store for $10. Rich cut about 6 inches from the top so the kids would be able to reach the top shelf. He then primered it and painted it white.


The next step was the "countertop". We used a metal bowl we had for the sink and had picked up a kitchen faucet, knob and towel hooks at the Re-Store for less than $5.


Rich glued and caulked those babies in and are very sturdy. The knob still turns so they can pretend to turn on water, too.


I then painted 2 simple black circles to mimic a stove top and super glued a cute framed picture to the side.


Rich cut and routed the edges of a scrap piece of wood to make a fridge door, and attached that with invisible hinges.


We picked up a sheet of metal, sprayed it with chalkboard spray paint, and screwed that onto the fridge door. We used sheet metal because I wanted it to also be magnetic.


The drawer pull chalk/alphabet letter holder works perfect to keep those little parts organized.
The handles from the original entertainment center were taken off and holes filled in. We then used some handles we had and put them on top of the two lower doors so it would give a look of a dishwasher and oven.



The middle section is perfect for storing the plates, cups and utensils, with the bottom shelf displaying the appliances.



Most of the accessories I thrifted, to give it a more homey feel.


Overall, the project took a weekend to complete and came together, play food and appliances not included, for under $25!

However, if you choose to undergo this project, be aware that this is how it looks like most of the time:


You have been warned. :)

Maui 2012

Well, I finally broke down and went through the photos from our trip to Maui in January. I still have island fever, and the freezing fog here at home isn't helping the case any either.

We had the most epic trip we've ever taken. It was filled with a lot of lazy days, just enjoying the beach and being warm. In fact, the first five days we didn't even get into our car! Loved it. We stayed at Napili Village, and highly recommend it to everyone. Not only is it a two second walk to legendary Napili Bay beach, but the grounds are gorgeous, the rooms are super clean (and undergoing a huge renovation this year) and the staff is the most friendly you'll ever meet. They will go out of their way to make sure you're comfortable and taken care of. There's a huge sense of community up in Napili, and we just fell in love.

We saw a ton of whales, turtles and fish. Snorkeled, paddle boarded, and cliff jumped. Some of our best friends and their teenage son went along with us, which was perfect. Not only did we get to share this experience with them again (we went together kidless 5 years ago) but Rich and I got to go out on a few dates. We were semi-celebrating our anniversary and did a sunset cocktail cruise that we did almost ten years ago on our honeymoon.

If I was taught one thing on this vacation, it would be to take advantage of the opportunities life presents. And life here is in our cards for now, so I guess that includes embracing freezing fog, right?

I'll stop blabbering, and just show you the pictures. There's a lot.