Category Archives: Real Life : Dottie

The Peach’s Balloon Birthday Party

Best of Dottie, Kiddo Parties, Real Life : Dottie

Hoo boy!  I’m exhausted just remembering this party.

Since we invested most of the Peach’s birthday funds into a new play house, we were determined not to spend a lot of money on her party.  I set the budget at $50, so the mantra for the party was Cheap and Cheerful!  We ditched the idea of having helium balloons since that was too spendy for us.  Instead Eric and I watched a few YouTube videos and learned how to make balloon dogs, swords and flowers.  Perfect! Manned with only $20 I headed to the party store and left with cheap plain party hats, some kinda weird ruffly edging stuff and bag of biodegradable balloons.

I used water balloons at $1.39 for a pack of 60 to make a balloon banner which was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest.

I loved the idea of kids running around in fun and fancy party hats! So I jazzed up these plain jane hats with some white sticker dots I picked up from an office supply store and some leftover washi tape I bought last year from Paper Source. And I used that super cheap paper mache rainbow stuff to edge the bottoms of the hats. I did it in less than an hour, while watching Parks & Recreation and 30 Rock.

I gotta say the kids loved ’em and wore the heck out of ’em!

And the last balloon accent to this party was this nutty idea I had to create little balloon doggie stuffed animals.  After two weeks of trial, I made some cute little friends as giveaways for the kiddos.  I made them out of lycra scraps which cost no more than $15 all together.

And the kids loved ’em! AS you can imagine, Molly here took the yellow one…

I must admit, the Peach was tickled pink with her little play house. And a lot of the party action happened outside in the play house.  Please note–Miss Peach picked out her entire outfit herself including her boots!

And everyone loved the balloons!

The Peach had a very specific menu she wanted: lemonade, pizza and vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles. DONE! In fact, she was so tickled pink with her cupcakes that she just grabbed one and started eating it without a candle so we had to start singing “Happy Birthday” as she nommed away.

But what the Peach really enjoyed more than anything else was playing with her friends!

You always worry a bit about how your little kiddo will respond to hanging with a bunch of kids. Some she knew well and some were children of my friends that she sees maybe every six months. And I must say there were several times I beamed with pride over my little girl’s inherent goodness.  Miss Peach was drinking her lemonade when another little girl came up to her and said she was thirsty.  Miss Peach immediately took her little tea cup of lemonade from her own lips and raised the cup up to the little girl’s lips to drink.  Outside, some of the older girls had commandeered the playhouse and wouldn’t let little Finn in. He came crying over to the Peach, who immediately took his hand and marched over to the playhouse, knocked on the door and demanded those big girls play with Finn. Attagirl!  No “How not to be a mean girl” classes for you!

As you can imagine we tucked in be a very happy albeit very tired little three year old into her bed last night.

“Cheap and Cheerful” can still produce some pretty priceless memories!

Look who just turned three!

Real Life : Dottie

Dear Peach,

Happy birthday, my sweetest little girl!  I can’t believe you are officially three. Truly, it feels like yesterday when I awkwardly held you in my arms overwhelmed by it all. I’m still overwhelmed. By how much I love you and how much that feeling grows every day. And by the little things.

Here are some of my favorite little things.

Oh, dear girl how you love to talk. About everything and anything. From the moment I see you by my bedside asking for morning snuggles to kissing you on your check as you beg to stay up just a little bit longer as you rub your eyes.

You have been known to prefer watching opera to cartoons.

You have officially entered the ballerina stage. (Post coming on that soon…)

You give good sad boo boo face–like someone drew an upside down U on your face.  Is it wrong that I love it so much?

I promise, I won’t call you baby to your face, knowing that you will immediately tell me you are NOT A BABY. You are BIG. A big girl. A big sweet good girl.

Last week when we were sitting at dinner, you saw the first star out the window and said we should all wish on it!  You wished that you could ride a cloud down a river.

You won’t wear gray.

After playing with a little sweet one year old who was toddling around, you turned to me and her mama and said, with such pride over your new young friend you declared, “she’s so smart!”

You are not adverse to a salad. But you aren’t too cool with eating the same meal three times in a row.

You won’t let me cut your hair. (Or is that Daddy…)

Thank you for using handkerchiefs to wipe your little nose when you have a case of the sniffles.

Somewhere along the line, my cat that I had for 13 years became your kitty and only your kitty.

You serve a mean banana lettuce salami pancake felt sandwich.

You have made the past three years truly magical. Thank you sweet girl for every exhilarating, hilarious, tiring, glorious minute you’ve been in my life.

Love, Mama

 

 

 

 

Kiddo Fieldtrip // The Closest I’ve Been to Johnny Depp

Kiddo Fieldtrips, Real Life : Dottie, ,

We always try to make the most of three day weekends.  A couple of special breakfasts like blueberry pancakes or biscuits and usually a fun trip somewhere out of the ordinary.  And going to see the tall ships at Jack London Square this past Saturday certainly fit the bill!  The tall —the Hawaiian Chieftain and the Lady Washington—came to Jack London Square and we were lucky enough to get a tour of these magnificent water vessels.

Founded on October 20, 1986 by Grays Harbor citizens, the Historical Seaport built and launched the brig Lady Washington. Since 1989, more than 200,000 students and over a million people have all walked her decks. They learned how 18th century mariners explored Grays Harbor and the west coast in search of wealth for the new nation of the United States.  The Lady Washington is a replica of the original Lady Washington. She also a bit of a movie star, and was featured in Pirates of the Caribbean.

And man, there is a lot of rope involved with these ships!

We were greeted by the amazing volunteers who dress in costumes which really helps bring the whole experience to life!  Somehow she has developed a liking for pirates and announced herself as one as soon as she boarded the ship.  Of course, the Peach was all over that ship and determined to see every nook and cranny of it.

We really appreciated the fun crew of volunteers who spend two weeks in training and then get to takes these beauties out on to the sea for months at a time. Truly the experience of a life time to say the least.  Definitely one for the old bucket list!  If I were a volunteer, I would totally learn how to do these amazing knot mats.

And I totally wouldn’t mind spending some time in this room…

Unfortunately, the adventure sails were sold out, but I really wanted to go on the a battle sale, which includes both ships, as they maneuver around each other in 18th century fashion and fire real cannon with real gunpowder (no cannon balls) at each other. Guests are encouraged to verbally taunt their adversaries. In both Battle Sails and Adventure Sails, guests have a chance to take the helm of a real tall ship and help raise a sail.

Well, the Peach is a bit young for that, but she enjoyed just marching around the boat.

(Her dress is from Tea Collection and her shoes are Livie and Luca.)

 

Valentine’s Day:: a scarf for my sweetie!

Crafts + DIY, Real Life : Dottie

I love my guy.  I don’t often chat about him here, but please know that he is the heart of so many posts and has been an amazing support to me and this blog.  He is the best darn tootin’ guy I know and I’m head over heels for him.

And when he found his favorite pair of vintage wool trousers riddled with moth holes, he was heartbroken. And one of his sweaters too! Pathos!

But unbeknownst to him, I ferreted them out of the garbage and decided to turn two wrongs into a right! That beautiful gray brown pinstriped with a touch of red fabric and wooly sweater still had more life in them yet.

While he was tinkering with a friend’s vintage car, I cut everything up and with a bit of thread and a whole lot of love, I created this jaunty scarf that will keep him warm and still allow him to wear his favorite trousers too!

Fortunately, he loves scarves as much as I do, so I knew he would love it.  Almost as much as I love him.

Here are the deets on how to make your own. I used one of his scarves as a guide for how wide and how long it should be. I recommend you do that as well…

And I gotta say, I like the way it looks on my sweetie!  Here’s hoping your guy or gal likes your version just as much!

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! May your day be full of pretty flowers and yummy chocolate!

The Dames Turn Calendar Girls, with Snapfish!

Real Life : Alix, Real Life : Dottie


Oh friends. We love a good party. And we are kind of obsessed with taking photos. So when we had the opportunity to host a Snapfish Photo Party, well….we were pretty excited. We decided to invite our gal pals, The Dames over for a little brunchie and to share them with some super duper cute calendars we made….starring all of them! Our friends are a bunch of hams (glamorous hams, of course!) and we love a good photo booth.

First up? A fabulous breakfast. Lots of yummy treats (including Dottie’s famous homemade quiche—SO GOOD!).

Snapfish gave us some fun decor that Dottie used to make a sassy little banner. We hung it over a simple pink tablecloth and voila! Instant photobooth! Snapfish also sent along some really adorable little props for our photobooth, as well. Let’s just say they were a hit!

But then it was time for the piece de resistance, the calendars! Here are some of the girls with their little pink totebags. They were dying to know what was inside….

The looks on their faces when they saw the calendars were priceless. They were a smash! Each month had 2-3 photos of all of us at various restaurants around San Francisco. We were even able to add special mini photos on specific dates on the calendar, which was super cool. It was reeeeally easy to make, I have to say.

As the ladies flipped through the pages, laughing and grinning, discussion quickly turned to, “I totally need to make one of these for my parents!” and “These are so cute, I can’t decide between a photo book or this for the kids!”

Yes, taking pictures of people taking pictures….of pictures. Ahem.

The Dames were brimming with ideas for photobooks! Dame Lynn is thinking about making a photo book of her recent trip to New Orleans! Dame Doe is planning on making a photo book for a co-worker who is moving away. Shona, our resident teacher was thinking a photo book of her classroom would be a cute way to commemorate the year! I have to add that I was so transfixed by our old photo albums, my mom once made me a Snapfish calendar featuring pictures of her and my Tante Maria in all their groovy 60s best! It was so special and cool—the possibilities are really endless!

After Dottie took these shots of her little Peach hanging out in the kitchen and with her sweet grandad, she came up with the idea of doing a photo book of family recipes as well as pictures. Such a great idea!

Of course, theeeeeen we all went a little crazy with the props and the photos taking…

All in all it was such a fun get together! Have you made a photo book or calendar for someone? Its such a personal present to give to someone. We give it a big ol thumbs up!


To learn more about Snapfish photo books and their entire line of groovy products visit snapfish.com, friend ’em at the snapfish facebook fan page or follow snapfish on twitter.

 

**Disclosure: This post is sponsored. Snapfish provided use with a Snapfish store credit to create the special prezzies. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.**