The Dino-mite party!

I loooooove planning party's for my munchkins, creating a theme based on a obsession or subject of interest to my children...okay okay I confess I'm a children's party addict! lol

This post is a quick look into Declan's 3rd Birthday party last month....after much commiserating with Mr 3 and leafing several times through the much loved cake books he picked his theme...

It should be no surprise that our Dino loving Declan decided on a roaring dinosaur party.

So the planning commenced, invites made, loot bags put together, sparkly play dough made for the dino's to stomp through, the munchkins loved creating dino art and crafts for party decorations, mummy found some dino print outs for colouring, dino footprints cut out for following, balloon's blown up, party treats baked.....and lastly the Mr Stegosaurus cake was completed!! phew

all in time for our friends to come on over for a roaring good time in dino land :)

Here are some pic's of the day

If you look through the screen door you will see a very excited little man waiting for his friends to arrive

footprints left by the dinosaurs for little feet to follow :)

the lovely wall art that my munchkins and I had great delight in creating

the play dough that sparkled! can't really see the sparkles in the photo but the green play dough was riddled in green sparkles and the blue play dough in blue sparkles...the children thought it was a bit special :P

our little man and his good friend Mr Brachiosaurus

Thalia queen of the food table

play dough fun

a thorn between 2 roses opening the present of the day in Declan's eyes.....his special T-Rex dinosaur...very much loved!

Great grandma helping at the drawing table

opening his puff the magic dragon book and CD

cake time!!!

Mr stegosaurus cake before he got butchered

Creating Dinosaur land

Dinosaurs as I have mentioned before are one of the very extra special creatures that encompass all that Declan loves.
Our house at times looks like a scene from a prehistoric world...Declan's owns many different sizes of plastic dino friends that participate in going potty, sitting up at the dinner table to watch, having a tea party, dancing along to the wiggles, reading books and many other day to day activities...okay you get the point he is obsessed to the max!!!

When the dinosaurs are not being man handled by my munchkins ( Thalia too now is quite fond of our Dino friends) they are stored in a see though plastic box with the exception of Brachiosaurous who often sits proud on Declan's Big boy shelf in his room or tucked in bed alongside Declan.
Other than outdoor play in the garden and the use of imagination our dino friends didn't have a "home" of their own. Hence the Dinosaur land project commenced.

I sat with Declan about 2 weeks ago and showed him a big shoe box (that my new big black boots came in :D) and we discussed about making it into a dinosaur land. After lots of idea's and identifying just what the dinosaurs needed according to Declan we set out on our task at hand.

On the list of requirements was listed :

• A Volcano
• Water
• trees including a "Nickle Nackle tree" :P
• rocks
• hills and mountains
• grass

We came up with a collection of old "junk" from around the house such as boxes of different sizes, a drink holder from McDonald's, a cardboard baking paper roll, newspaper and placed them in the box in different positions until we were happy.
Declan helped glue them in place and I made some paper mache glue and while Declan was alseep started the process of paper macheing over the boxes to convert them into the listed items. The paper mache glue only consists of flour, water and a touch of salt (the salt helps to preserve the glue and when used in hunid climates it prevents the project from moulding).
When Declan's older cousins arrived from nsw on school holidays I asked them to join us in the making process....Jess helped me finish the paper mache process and added a cave to the project which myself and Declan are now very grateful of. Both Josh and Jess helped Declan and myself paint when the paper mache had dried and the finishing touches were made.
With the help of a cheap packet of small river rocks ($2 from choice), some different colours of felt from a craft/art store ($1.80 a piece), a small dinosaur bag packet from The Warehouse ($2.95 i think) containing small plastic dinosaurs and trees we glued in the finishing touches (with pva glue). Just before finishing Jess yet again came up with a great idea...quickly ran outside in the freezing cold I might add, and gathered some sticks to glue in for a nest. why did I not think of that.
We all enjoyed playing with it for the first time when the finished product was revealed and I'm sure it will be very much loved and used.
This project just goes to show how cheap something so special can be, the process is just as special as the product and it was lots of fun to do!!!! It took imagination, concentration,collaboration, skill, use of fine and gross motor skills, thought, the art of mixing colours and much more to create.
The finished product gives the player/user an amazing sensory experience with its vibrant colours, unique shapes, soft felt, sculptured trees, bumpy rocks, textured paint and pure invitation to play. .....and the look on Declan's face every time he sees it is worth every minute.
the photo's that follow will explain the journey...

Our fun packed weekend

A busy one but a fun one!!!

weekends...so odd how you look forward to them every week, organise what to do, then by the time Friday comes you barely blink twice and it's Sunday night.
Well this was one of those weekends but we have done alot this weekend and can treasure lots of memories with friends.

Friday was an rdo for Andy so we made the most of it and got out to the shops (by passed the pet shop for the usual tour) and got some odds and ends at various shops while Declan ooooed and aaahhhhhed at all the lights and Thalia chowed down on the must have finger foods while chillin in the pram.

Friday afternoon/night we had the privilege of having some fab friends over ..namely "the Hanlon crew" (we used to live in Hanlon st) so it was a good catch up.
Bestie Austin enjoyed a good play with Declan and Thalia, before sitting down for a dinner, sharing a bath and down for bed.
The kids went to bed and the night began...had a lovely BBQ with Jim, Kim, Ryan and Kirsten while Lucky (baby burrow # 2) had a roller coaster ride in mummies tummy. I laughed so much that my belly hurt and I think just about every one cryed tears of laughter as Ryan continued on his way of joke/story telling...it was later agreed that if Kim was having any troubles in late pregnancy in regards to labour starting that Ryan would assist by telling her a few yarns to get it all happening :D
...I really thought Kim was going to pop out a baby then and there with all the excitement!!! :O
Sadly don't have any pics of the night as my camera batteries were needing to be charged :(

Saturday was even more busy...with a visit from Matt, Stu, Rach and their gorgeous girls Jasmine and Emily in the morning- the kids enjoyed playing with play dough and dinosaurs while picking at lunch while the big people had a much needed catch up.
All the kiddies went down for a nap and Matt was fare welled, lunch was eaten and the parents had a bit of chat time while we packed to go to Phoebe's 3rd Birthday party in the afternoon.
Stu, Rach and the girls said there goodbyes and got on the road and we got organised for the party.

Finally the camera batteries where charged!! hooray for the pathological picture taker :P

Declan was so excited to be going to a party, but even more so because Phoebe was having a dinosaur party (the latest Declan craze). I might add that Phoebe is a little girl from church that Andy's Grandma (93yrs) has decided will in future be Declan wife!! lol
All the way in the car we listened to the little singing voice of Declan singing dinosaur tunes as Thalia made her best attempt to join in.

The party was awesome, great cake, jumping castle, water play, drawing, land before time dvd, the all important toy's, a cubby and the best of all lots of little friends.

Cake time :D

Thalia had her very first turn on a jumping castle..(very fitting we thought for the princess to be in a castle at last) and Declan loved the water play and becam e very quickly obsessed with the cubby door ..open,shut,open ,shut..
It was quite funny when a boy perhaps a little older than Declan became attached to Thalia and wanting dearly to "put baby in cot" ,when he saw that Phoebes cubby contained a little cot for a doll...after much explaining that Thalia didn't want to sleep and she was a bit big for the cot he went up to Thalia's daddy and asked "you in the cot!!" bahahaha gotta love it.

After much fun, food and shrieks and squeals we parted ways and journeyed home for a quick dinner and bed.
Mummy and Daddy enjoyed a quiet night in with a few drinks..ahhh

Sunday Morning arrived and the usual everyone in Mummy and Daddy's bed for cuddles -well that's the idea but it soon changes to Thalia crawling over everyone giving the raspberry's, Declan attempting to read a story, lots of tickle and excitement, not the nice rest time that was intended by Mummy and Daddy :P

Declan decided that the dinosaurs wanted to play play dough again so off he went and the rush began to get ready for church. We trialed staying in the big hall today while at church and not the "cry room" that we usually attire to simply because of the volume of Noise coming from the Madame.
It actually went well..Phoebe and Declan played dinosaurs under the chairs while the meeting was on, Thalia ate and ate and it was only at the end that Daddy had to take Thalia outside when she got a bit loud.
We caught up with Great Grandma who was delighted to hear Declan had been to Phoebes party...ha ha her plans for their future are all coming into place :)

Our arrival home welcomed putting the kids to bed while we enjoyed lunch before having a Nana nap of our own....then after everyone's nap,watching Thalia's fave dvd (wiggles) we decided to have a paint...such fun!!!
Thalia found out that paint wasn't all that tasty and Declan carefully made his many creations- with "more paper" sounding every couple of minutes.

Thalia painting, tasting and practicing putting on makeup :D


Declan (the master) hard at work


Home made spag Bol for dinner and a bath for the munchkins and dinosaurs of course :P and at last bed. A much relieved Mummy and Daddy are now having some chill out time with beer in hand :D
Bath time: Declan washing one of the dinosaurs and Thalia playing peek-a-boo with daddy

What a weekend!! so thankful that we can have times like these with friends, looking forward to Australia day public holiday and fun at Wayne and Louise's
- bush bashing, chatting, drinking, good food, good company, watching the kids play, catching up with Duke (our old pet Labrador) and simply lapping it up!