Ballet Observation Week, Spring 2013

The last two classes of the Spring session were open for Family and Friends Observation at Hadley’s ballet school. Daddy went with her last week since I was getting ready for Knox’s party, but Knox and I both were able to go today.

It hit me that we have now been in ballet for a full year.

  

{On her first day last year… Wow!}

It’s been so neat to see how much Hadley has learned, and how much maturity and independence she’s gained in this past year - in the ballet studio, and in general!

  

She listens so well and is definitely one that learns by example. She wants to be just like Ms. LeighAnn!

I took a ton of pics and as I always say… I know they all look the same to y’all, but each and every one is just precious to me!

One of the many reasons Ms. LeighAnn is so good with the baby ballerinas… This little song has been a part of warm-up since Day 1.

  

  

If you couldn’t tell already…

…This girl LOVES ballet!

   

  

This picture in particular kills me. I feel like I can see her at 16 in it… Such a pretty, graceful (when she wants to be!) young lady we have.

Ms. LeighAnn was so sweet to ask Knox to participate in the last number. She could tell by his face he was dying to join in on the fun, even though he’d never in a million years admit it!

  

Hadley was so proud of her big brother! ‘Hey Knox, watch me… Do it like this, Knox!’

    

I love how intently the girls study Ms. LA’s every move. It takes a very special person to get 2 and 3 year olds to do that!

The girls always curtsey to the audience after a “performance” so Ms. LA had Knox take a bow. Hadley was literally patting him on the back saying, “Great job, Bubba!” She was beaming with pride :)

  

Attempting a few pics at the barre after class…

  

Such pretty pictures, despite my little tennies-and-t-shirt clad photo bomber in the back there...

That’s what big brothers are for though, right?? :)

And one sweet one with Ms. Leigh Ann. We’re looking forward to starting summer classes in a few weeks!

Knox’s Mad Mad Science Party! {Part 1}

Knox will be 5 on the 29th, but we had his birthday party last Friday before everyone started traveling for the summer…

A neighbor told me about this neat little place called The Lab, and after hopping on Pinterest and Etsy to see all of the cute Mad Science party ideas, I was sold! Plus what 5 year old boy doesn’t love slime, smoke, and explosions??

I nailed down the invites first. How cute is that cartoon of Knox and Samson?? He thought it was HILARIOUS!

I ordered the party circles and Thank You’s to match the invites and planned the rest of the party around these. I used all the colors as well as Kraft paper, chalkboard, and silver metal accents in our party decor… Very Lab-esque.

I was super busy last week putting together all the last minute crafts…

His birthday shirt.

  

I did science themed goodie bags for the favors… Glow bracelets, Groucho glasses, magnifying glasses, bugs, bouncy balls, Pop Rocks, “Smarties” and “Nerds”…

And SLIME!!!

I had a ton of fun planning a themed menu and creating little labels for everything.

I decided to do a chalkboard backdrop instead of a banner.

I was so nervous that this might not turn out well, but I have to say… I loved it!

Now for party day! Everything went well except for (a) I brought the wrong camera lens, so a ton of these pics are from my phone. And (b) they only allowed me 15 minutes to set up!

I tried my best to have everything ready to go, but I still feel like I needed more time. I’m so thankful Primo’s mom got there a little early and helped me finish up!

The food table. We had Lab Tools (utensils), Test Bunnies (Annie’s snack mix), Melon Molecules (balled watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, and grapes), Bug Juice (I found giant toy bugs at Bass Pro and threw them in with some lemonade), and…

Edible bacterial cultures! (Jell-O, marshmallow bits, and sprinkles.) Let’s face it, 5 year olds don’t know what a culture is… At this point it was for my own entertainment :) And yes - real pitre dishes. (Thank you, Amazon Prime!)

The cupcakes and a small beaker cake for his candles were done by a lady in my neighborhood. They were confetti cake with white icing and were DELICIOUS. Plus she delivered them to me Friday morning, which was a huge help.

The second table.

H2O and Capri Suns in case the bug juice was just a little too much for anyone.

The beaker cake (it suffered a small drop earlier), rock candy test tubes, favor bags, and a print out of the Knox and Samson cartoon - which I am just now realizing I printed out the wrong proof for this. I had her go back and remove Samson’s tail (LOL) and make him bigger. Oh well!

Primo’s mom had thrown a party here before and let me borrow these adorable table runners she made!

A lot of our friends have little siblings and I wasn’t sure how in to the science experiments they’d be, so I set up a “Little Einsteins” table with coloring, play dough, and slime.

I pulled the birthday boy aside for a quick picture before our guests arrive. He got to wear his very own lab coat!

I’ll share the FUN in Part 2, but I’ll try to give a good run-down on the party details now. Most everything I got either at Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, Party City, Target, or Amazon Prime…

Invites, Thank You’s and Party Circles - EweHoo on Etsy. Her style was perfect for this party and she was very easy to work with! I had the invites and Thank You’s printed through an online company and used kraft paper envelopes (Hobby Lobby and Michaels). I printed the party circles out myself, on cardstock for the cupcake toppers and on full-sheet labels to make stickers to seal the envelopes.

H2O Water Bottle Labels - I made these in Photoshop using a chalkboard background and a water bottle label template. I printed them out on full-sheet labels and cut along the template lines.

SLIME - I used a recipe I found on Pinterest to make this. It’s basically glue, food coloring, and liquid starch and it’s soooo much fun! It will occupy my kids for hours at a time… The little plastic containers I found at Hobby Lobby in the art section. They’re called Artists Storage Jars (or something) but the size and the fact that they had a screw-on top made them perfect for my slime favors. I printed out Slime stickers to match our party circles, and they fit perfectly on the tops.

Food Labels - I made these using a pack of cardstock and chalk board cards (both from Hobby Lobby) and a chalk pen.

Chalkboard Backdrop - We had a big board from Home Depot - I don’t know the name for it, but it’s thinner and is super smooth on one side and kind of soft and bumpy on the other - but anyway I had him cut that to 3ft x 4ft and I spray painted it with 2 or 3 coats of chalkboard paint. I basically printed out templates to do the “Professor” and “Knox” and free handed the rest. I used a pack of Melissa & Doug colored chalk that came with our M&D easel, which was great because they have a pointed tip like crayons. I also learned that if the chalk is a little wet it will go on easier and brighter, and is less likely to smudge.

Rock Candy Test Tubes - I found several kids science sets at TJ Maxx, which was AWESOME because I was about to pay an arm and a leg to order them from a science store. I spray painted the plastic racks in a hammered metal finish. I ordered the rock candy from Nuts in Bulk. I’m not a big rock candy fan, but we sure had some awesome test tubes!!