Clara’s Dragon Party
Who smells smoke? Don’t panic, that’s just Clara’s dragon party, rollin’ into town (er, the internet?). Note: you can’t really smell this party through your computer, so if you smell smoke, please look into it. This year’s party was lower key than our last two (here’s her first birthday party, and her worm party from last year) and even though it was rainy and wet outside, eight kiddos and twelve adults jammed out inside. It was fun. And Clara made me cry. She’s just so big and sweet and hilarious and I’m the luckiest mom in the world.
Plus, dragons. I mean if that’s not a trump card for a party, I’m not sure what is. After she picked worms for her party last year I wasn’t sure it got more fun than that, but when she told us she wanted dragons this year, well, we laughed and jumped right in. She even told the doctor at her three year appointment that dragons were coming to her party and I’m pretty sure he was hedging for an invite after she name dropped winged-fire-breathing-creatures.
Look at this kid of mine, holding her cousin’s hand and dragging him into the sunroom for pizza. A second after I snapped this shot, she turned to Emanuel and said “be happy! there’s pizza!”
My favorite part of the whole day was this little painting of fire that I made on foam core and taped to the wall at kid-mouth-height. Everyone could be a dragon and we snapped lots of photos of all the kids having fun with it.
Burger even got in on the action…
Some adults posed for a few pretty hilarious photos too (turns out kid mouth height is adult bum height so you can guess where I’m going).
Here’s the sunroom all decked out. No balloons and streamers this year, just a few packs of paper lanterns from the dollar spot at Target (they sell them in sets of 2 & 3). The paper tablecloth is also from Target (is has some pretty dragon-ish consummate Vs) which is also where we grabbed the plates and napkins. Then we just ordered pizza, heated up some dragon-shaped chicken nuggets (aka: dragon nuggets), sliced up some vegetables, and tossed some chips and popcorn into a few bowls.
Oh and the table is the one from the deck. We just dragged it into the sunroom and wiped it down (dang rain!) and it was all good.
Who knew sliced peppers could look so fire-like, eh? John. John knew. Apparently guys + fire = besties. And of course we had the castles that Clara painted in the background with little rubber dragons on them (snagged at Michael’s in a few tubes of 8, so they also ended up in the kids’ favors). And those flame-like sunflowers were a few bucks at Kroger (that’s a local grocery store for the non-locals). How awesome are they?! They’re like fire on a stick.
We kept the food super simple. In fact, except for baking some cookies with the birthday girl herself, we didn’t cook a thing. We really just wanted this to be an easy and casual gathering, so we didn’t go crazy cooking or decorating. Plus it’s a fun challenge to look at “party food” like chips, jelly beans, and popcorn to see if we could somehow make it dragon-ish. Here’s what we came up with:
We also played up the hot/fire-breathing thing and had some Hot Tamales and FireBalls (clearly labeled so no kiddos accidentally ate them and blew smoke out of their ears). They were a big hit with the grown ups. Meanwhile the kids rocked out with the rock candy. I thought they were fire-ish so I grabbed them at the register at Michaels (hello impulse buy).
Gratuitous sunflower shot. I love them. I hope they last a good long time so I can soak them up through the move (I’m the girl who will hold this vase on her lap in the car on moving day so they make it to the new house).
Clara’s favorites were the lanterns. She thought they were balloons and even said “I’m sad they’re going to get small” and I said “Yay! They’re paper lanterns! We can use them for every birthday for ever and ever!” Cheered her right up.
On the other side of the sunroom we temporarily removed the bike art (it was John’s idea… I couldn’t believe it!) to make a little drink station out of the expedit bookcase with Clara’s monthly photos taped up on the wall between some fire-ish bursts of tissue paper.
That’s also where I stuck the favors, which are always my favorite thing to throw together. This year I found some red tins at the dollar store that I filled with tissue paper that I cut to look like fire.
They were each filled with a pair of dragon socks that I found at Target for 99 cents, a pack of crayons, a glowing bracelet, a dollar store pinwheel (they were 3/$1) and a few of the aforementioned plastic dragons from Michael’s that also graced Clara’s painted castles on the table.
In the drink tin we had red and yellow Izze bottles for the grown ups (along with bottled water, juice boxes, and a few other beverage choices in a cooler nearby).
As for how I made the tissue paper poofs on the wall, I just smooshed them up and used one staple to hold them together in the back. One loop of painter’s tape held each of them in place between the Clara pics on the wall.
I also used a sharpie to draw a bunch of dragons on card stock and set them out on the coffee table in the sunroom with a bowl full of crayons.
We also dragged out Clara’s train board, which ended up being a fun little kid zone while the parents chatted each other up.
We had planned on an outdoor “dragon egg hunt” (with a bunch of on-clearance plastic eggs that we got at Target after Easter with a few jelly beans in each one) but since it was too wet outside we hid them all over the dining room and the office. It was pretty cute watching the kids run around and grab as many as they could – especially when they were in such strange spots like under the chair cushions, behind the curtains, and even on our favorite concrete pet’s head…
As for desserts, we ordered 10 dragon cookies from Snickety Snacks (they’re like works of art – and they taste amazing!) along with making some homemade white chocolate chip cookies with Clara (we stamped them with “dinosaur footprints” right after they came out of the oven).
The cupcakes are local favorites from the grocery store (Ukrops) and I made those spikes in about ten minutes by cutting up airheads (yes, those crazy candies that look like long flat tongues). I just used a knife to cut them down the center to make two skinny strips and then cut little triangles from each row and shoved four of them into each cupcake in a spiny little line.
This picture is a small miracle. How I got the cookie in focus and caught her looking up at me, I’ll never know. Oh beansie, this makes me want to cry. How’d you get so big?!
As is the tradition, we did our best to grab a family photo. This was the best we could do, but I’ll take it.
When three of us were walking around wearing similar striped shirts, we had to snap a shot of that too. We’re practically triplets.
We also made a little Clara video like we did last year and the year before – not to show at the party, just to have so we can look back on it (and watch it with Clara, since she loves dancing along to the other two that we’ve made). So here’s her last year in less than eight minutes. My favorite parts are when she says “daddy, can I have a wipe please?” and proceeds to change Gee’s imaginary diaper. And all of the dancing parts are pretty cute too…
So Clara’s three and her dragon party was a fire-breathing good time. I can’t wait to see what she picks next year. Chickens? Ninjas? A Burger theme? Time will tell…
Fab Freebie: Modern Family
InStyle Modern sells modern furniture at prices that make it easier on your wallet to deck out your dining room with a full set of chairs or give your kitchen island an upgrade with a new trio of stools. And not only are they giving this week’s winner a $500 gift card, they’re offering up free ground shipping and a special 15% discount. Check out the details below…
- PRIZE: $500 to InStyle Modern
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “Modern Me” and tell us…
- BONUS QUESTION: … something in your life that could use some modernizing. Does your house need some updating to get it out of a decor timewarp? Could your wardrobe stand to catch up with the latest styles? Or would you love to get a new car with the latest technology?
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
- PRIZE SHIPS: We always beg every vendor to ship internationally but some companies are not legally able to vend things beyond specific areas (more on that here). This giveaway is open to the continental United States.
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, May 22nd or at 10,000 entries (whichever comes first)
- DISCOUNT: Get 15% off with the code YHL15OFF (good through June 5th) – and free ground shipping is standard in the continental US!
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winners will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday as an update to this post. That’s right, come right back here on Thursday for the announcement of our winners. Good luck…
- ***COMMENT ISSUES? If you’re trying to enter but keep getting a “duplicate comment” warning, click here to see how to solve it!
Note: We aren’t paid or perked for hosting these giveaways, we just do ‘em to thank you awesome folks for stopping in. See our Giveaway FAQ page for more info. Pics courtesy of InStyle Modern.
New House, New Listy McListerson
Exciting times guys! Operation Ditch The Blue Trim is currently in progress! So while we sweat our way through un-blue-ing things on the second floor – that’s four bedrooms, a nice long hallway, and at least 10 doors – we thought it was high time we shared our master to-do list for the new house (and for anyone jonesing for trim-painting info/photos, we hope to finish up and be back with a full report for you on Wednesday).
These posts came about when people asked how we organize all the stuff we have on our to-do list. We explained that we basically have one long run-on document that we update as we go. Folks kept asking us to share it and it turned out to be a good time for us since public proclamations help keep our momentum up, and crossing things off gives me a nice mom-buzz. So here’s our first brain dump for the new house. Of course things tend to evolve as we go, so we’ll probably change our minds fifty times, but right now if you were to peel back our skulls and peek into our DIY-loving brains (you’re welcome for that delicious visual) this stuff would be banging around in there. #warningitslong
- The Front Yard (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Dig up all the quickly spreading ground cover
- Remove the trees that are dead/decaying/diseased beyond repair (our house inspector helped confirm which ones had to go)
- Aerate, level, and seed the yard
- Make planting beds up front and mulch and plant them
- Repaint all exterior siding and trim (there’s peeling paint, some rot, etc)
- Redo old cracked concrete walkway from the driveway to the front door (add curves and pretty planting beds on both sides)
- Add some pretty hardscaping around the front (we’re still inspired by this house’s awesome landscaping – so we’d love to add something raised stone beds)
- Plant a few green dwarf maples (it’s our favorite thing that we planted one at our current house – you can see it in this post under the window on the right)
- Add exterior up-lighting (some of the neighbors have it and it’s crazy charming at night)
- Add low curved brick borders on either side of the driveway wired with lights (some of the houses nearby have ‘em and we love them)
- Get the driveway paved
- The Portico (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Repaint the portico (peeling paint = everywhere)
- Arch the portico ceiling (it’s low and one house up the street has an arched ceiling with a gorgeous hanging lantern)
- Add a few planters, a new door mat, new porch lighting, etc
- Paint the front door (we’re leaning towards a rich emerald color but we’ve also always loved a glossy red door)
- The Garage (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Repaint garage doors and add some nice hardware to beef them up
- Add pergola over double garage doors with vines creeping over it
- Finish the interior of the garage with drywall to create a workshop on one side and storage around the perimeter (add pegboards, shelving for paint and tools, etc)
- Reuse kitchen cabinets in the garage if we can’t salvage them after the kitchen makeover (they’re dinged up and splintered in a bunch of spots, but would be great for the garage)
- Redo four steps that lead from garage to kitchen (remove old carpeting and paint them? rebuild them completely?)
- Build a box on casters for scrap wood storage in the garage (we need a system to keep it from being all over the place)
- Maybe we should get old lockers and paint them fun colors and remove some of the doors for storage? (love these!)
- Possibly add plumbing for a utility sink out there (we’ve always wanted one in our “workshop”)
- The Foyer (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Remove the old carpet from the wood stairs
- Paint blue trim in foyer, including stair balusters
- Remove wallpaper and repaint the walls
- Remove the doors that block the flow into the kitchen (and the pretty view out the back windows that will someday be french doors)
- Depending on how things go as we move in/live there, we might add gates to the stairs and maybe a stair runner (seagrass? a colorful Dash & Albert runner?)
- Replace the old foyer light (paint existing one? so torn!)
- Replace tile? (only if it’s un-salvageable – there are a few areas where it’s pretty beat up)
- Since there are two closets in the foyer and we only need one for coats, so we want to build a craft and toy closet in the deeper foyer closet with a bunch of shelves to store Claraphernalia
- The Half Bathroom (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Remove wallpaper
- Repaint all blue trim (and door)
- Upgrade door hardware & hinges
- Paint walls
- Replace vanity
- New mirror (something larger and higher – John can only see up to his shoulders now)
- Upgrade lighting
- Replace tile floor? (only if it’s un-salvageable)
- Here’s a shocker since this house is covered with old wallpaper, but we’re actually flirting with adding some cool new wallpaper since there’s no tub/shower in there (grass cloth? something charming like this or this?). Could be fun!
- The Dining Room (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Clean and re-poly the wood floors
- Upgrade built-ins (remove scrolly tops? build up to ceiling? paint white?)
- Paint all of the blue trim
- Remove the wallpaper and repaint the walls
- Upgrade lighting and curtains
- Add furniture, a rug (?) and art
- The Living Room (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Clean and re-poly the wood floors
- Prime and paint the bright pink walls
- Lose the curtains
- Prime and paint the thick woodwork that wraps around the bottom half of the room’s walls (we LOVE it, and think it’ll be gorgeous in white)
- Paint the brick fireplace wall in the first phase of lightening up the room (we always loved how our first house’s den looked after we cozied it up with paint)
- Retile fireplace (maybe something like this tile?) and get gas logs as phase two after we save up our bucks OR drywall fireplace wall and add a stone lip like this?
- Add more can lights to evenly light the room (there are just three near the fireplace)
- Turn the overhead beams into a coffered ceiling (like these)
- Build/find a nice big built-in-looking cabinet that holds the TV (across from the window, we think)? We’ll have to see where we end up on this one…
- The Office (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Lose the curtains
- Clean and re-poly the wood floors
- Paint walls and trim and ceiling
- Add double desk work area somewhere – perhaps coming out from the middle of the left wall (or the right wall between the windows)?
- Bring in storage (bookcase, file cabinet, etc) – possibly cool build-ins around the bay window
- Add curtains/window treatments
- Hang art & create a brainstorm-zone on the walls (bulletin board? chalkboard?)
- Add two large potted plants (lemon trees? fiddle leaf figs?) in front of the two front-facing windows
- The Kitchen (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Remove the wallpaper and paint the walls
- Lose the curtains
- Convert giant triple window into french doors leading onto deck
- Open wall between kitchen & living room then add built-ins on either side (sort of like the dining room built-ins in our current house)
- Prime and paint the woodwork that wraps around the bottom half of the room’s walls
- Full kitchen reno (replace the faux brick linoleum, damaged cabinets, laminate counters, bad lighting, old broken appliances, etc)
- Perhaps try our hand at heated floors under some fresh tile (that might spill into the foyer and hall bath if we can’t salvage that tile)
- Organize the pantry with pull out drawers and bins and containers (and paint the door a fun color or replace it with frosted glass?)
- Amp up the “command center” area across from the triple windows
- Paint the new kitchen french doors and door to the sunroom (black? charcoal? soft turquoise? white?)
- Get water filter for under the sink
- Add window treatment and pendant over the sink & a larger new light fixture over the eat-in area
- Figure out how to create a drop zone for coats, shoes, etc (maybe in the garage if not in here?)
- The Sunroom (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Rip up old stinky carpet and padding
- Seal in the smell somehow (so the concrete doesn’t leech odor forever)
- Stain or paint the concrete floor as part of Phase 1
- Permanently remove the broken base heater
- Eventually retile the floor with outdoor-safe stone to upgrade the old concrete floors (down the line for Phase 2)
- Convert sunroom to an open covered porch with new columns and no more sliders (many of the sliders are bad and the posts are rotten) – we’re envisioning something like this
- Build a brick outdoor fireplace off of the sunroom after we open it up? Kind of like this, but different…
- Add beadboard to the ceiling and paint it soft blue?
- The Master Bedroom (1% Complete) -
To Do:
Remove old carpetingand install hardwoods- Repaint all of the cream trim and doors
- Repaint the off-white ceilings and walls
- Add built-ins along the entire window wall (with integrated window seats, hidden storage, and display shelves with thick molding)?
- Add a ceiling light fixture (there’s nothing in there)
- Maybe add some textured wallpaper like this to the ceiling, just to spice things up…
- Bring in art, curtains, etc.
- Add wood blinds to all windows (it gets crazy sunny in here in the afternoon!)
- The Master Bathroom (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Completely redo the master bath (the fun blue hex floor tile is in rough shape and we want to expand the footprint into the sink nook area so it’s all one space (soaker tub? tiled shower as well? double sink? should be fun!)
- Bring privacy to the window in there (frost it? window treatment?)
- The Master Closet (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Repaint all of the cream trim
- New light fixture
- Organize/build out/pimp the entire space (we’re envisioning cabinetry with drawers, shelves, rods at different heights, etc)
-Upstairs Hallway (1% Complete) -
To Do:
Remove old carpetingand install hardwoods- Replace the old hallway lights (or paint existing ones? not sure)
- Repaint all of the blue trim and doors glossy white
- Get all new hinges and door knobs (they’re not only bright brass, many of them are rusted/corroded so they can’t just be sprayed)
- Convert hallway linen closet into built-in open shelves or cabinets with shelves over them (sort of like this?)
- Upgrade to a Nest thermostat (we hear nothing but great things about them, and John is drooling for one)
- Add crown molding
- Add thick wood wainscoting (like we have in the kitchen and living room) to the upstairs hallway to break up the long space?
- Clara’s Room (1% Complete) -
To Do:
Remove old carpetingand install hardwoods- Repaint all of the blue trim and doors
- Make entire wall of built-ins somewhere? Maybe bookcases surrounding the windows?
- Build a bench seat in Clara’s deep sloped ceiling-ed closet nook with beadboard on the ceiling and wallpaper on the back wall
- Prime and paint Clara’s big girl dresser and attach leather pulls
- Add crown molding
- Add a ceiling light fixture (boo! there’s nothing in there!)
- Add window blinds, curtains, art, etc.
- Spare Room/Possible Someday Nursery (1% Complete) -
To Do:
Remove old carpetingand install hardwoods- Repaint all of the mauve trim and doors
- Repaint the dingy ceilings
- We’re going to hold off on major decorating decisions until this room actually has a use (if/when baby #2 is on the way, we’d love for this to become a nursery)
- Repaint the walls
- Add crown molding
- Add a ceiling light fixture (boo! there’s nothing in there!)
- Add wood blinds (for light blocking) and curtains
- The Guest Bedroom / Craft Room (1% Complete) -
To Do:
Remove old carpeting andinstall hardwoods- Repaint all of the cream trim and doors
- Bring in a bed and a dresser/desk that can accommodate my sewing machine/crafting so this room can multi-task (it has the prettiest view/light – I’d love to creep in there and sew/paint on Sunday afternoons)
- Organize and build out some craft/gift wrap shelving in closet (lots of shelves and bins, etc)
- Add crown molding
- Add a ceiling light fixture (nope, there’s nothing in there either!)
- The Hall Bathroom (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- A complete redo is in order (the old tile is stained/cracked, the tub and fixtures are crusty enough to make grown men cry, etc). Maybe we’ll do herringbone slate? Marble? Extra long rectangles of tile like this?
- Laundry Nook (1% Complete) -
To Do:
Remove old carpeting andinstall hardwoods (with washer in a water-safe metal tray on the floor for leak protection)- Completely redo nook (new doors for noise control, updated energy star appliances, new counter, new cabinets – or more cabs if we re-use the existing ones)
- Add tile backsplash and some great art/lighting (I want to make it a fun little surprise jewel box in the back of the hallway)
- Unfinished Storage Room (o% Complete) -
To Do:
- This will serve as an awesomely large storage room for a while (we have no current need for additional finished rooms), but down the line we’d love to finish it – maybe as a movie room / bunk room for older kiddos? This’ll be waaay down the line, but we dream of:
- Adding drywall
- Getting flooring
- Adding lighting
- Building out the closets (so there’s still some storage under the eaves)
- Furnishing the space with built in beds, a TV, a big sectional for lounging, etc – wahoo!
- General Whole House Ideas (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Slowly upgrade all lights in the house to LEDs to save energy
- Replace all of the gold/wallpapered/off-white switchplates and outlets in the house (there are about ten million of those to tend to)
- Upgrade to nicer frames, drapes, sheets, and curtain rods over time (they’re not cheap, but we’d love to be “grown ups” someday – even if it takes us 10 years or so to get there!)
- The Back Deck (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Power wash and stain/seal deck and replace rotten/ warped boards
- Remove the giant oak tree that’s practically growing into the house (the inspection indicated that the roots could severely damage the house’s foundation if we don’t get ‘er down – which is pretty sad since it’s cute but just way too close)
- Build a pergola for more architecture and shade off of the back of house where the future kitchen french doors will be (square to the sunroom)
- Build outdoor furniture like a table or lounge chairs for the deck
- The Backyard (0% Complete) -
To Do:
- Remove random slate paths from backyard and aerate and seed
- Transplant a few things for a better layout, like the pretty peony bushes in the middle of nowhere (not pictured)
- Plant holly bushes for privacy from the other houses that our wooded lot backs up to (Phase 1)
- Build a fun wooden playhouse tucked back into the woods for Clara
- Plant an edible garden
- Build a swing set
- Redo old cracked concrete walkway between garage and deck (not pictured) <– we’ll be whipping up an outdoor video tour for you guys soon, which should help show a lot more than a few pictures can
- Add more privacy plantings – tiered trees, bushes, and flowers (Phase 2)
- Build some raised planters and hardscaping
- Add a patio area somewhere around the deck
- Make a wooden teepee in the corner of the backyard with Clara and then plant some vines to grow up around it to make a cool little hideaway (like this)
- Build air conditioner cover with wood boards like this
In summary, we’ve got big plans for this baby. And thankfully we’ve learned that we’re hopelessly in love with the act of upgrading a house (we did this stuff for fun far before we did this as an actual job) and the journey is actually a lot more exciting than the destination is for us (more on that here). We’ve also learned just to take things one day/project/victory at a time to avoid getting too overwhelmed and sucking the joy right out of things. And seriously, is there anything more fun than crossing things off of a giant list called Listy McListerson? (NO. The answer is NO).
As for the method to our “project order,” we don’t really think there is one. We just do whatever we’re in the mood for (barring anything that needs to be moved to the top of the list for safety or other extreme-urgency reasons). And we jump around from room to room just to stay excited and to avoid feeling too forced into doing something that we might not be ready to deal with yet – like gutting a kitchen or bathroom (we like to live in a house for a while to see how we use those spaces before completely retooling them).
As of this very moment, we’re thinking that we’d love to tackle these before we move in a few weeks (might not get it all done, but it’s nice to dream…):
- repaint all of the trim and doors on the second floor (we hope to be done and share details by Wednesday)
- lay our new hardwood floors in the four bedrooms and hallway
- lose the floral curtains in the office, dining room, kitchen, and living room
- remove the extraneous flow-blocking doors on the first floor (between the foyer and kitchen, dining room and kitchen, and living room and kitchen)
So those are “on deck” for ya. How do you guys make your house to-do lists? Do you keep them on your phone? On post-its? How do you decide what to tackle next? Is there any method to your madness?
