7 Quick Takes: Busy, Busy

by Kathryn on May 24, 2013

- 1- 

This week’s QOTW:

“May is kicking my ***.”
Said the mom of the house. If I make it in one piece to the last day of school next week, it could be used as the extra miracle for Bl. John Paul II’s canonization.

Me: “Luke, you’re just about the cutest kid ever.”
Luke: “Yeah.”

“Oh, this is ‘diculous.”
Luke, wonder who he’s been listening to…oops.

“Hot potato, hot potato, you are the hot potato.”
Anna-Laura, helping all school-aged hand clap games make a comeback.

“My birfday in ‘tember?”
Luke, somebody’s ready to be in the limelight.

The kids playing upstairs:
John Paul to ALG: “What’s your name?”
ALG: “Kristy.”
John Paul to Clare: “What’s your name?”
Clare: “Kristy.”
John Paul: “Ok, so y’all are identical twins.”

“But he looks so healthy.”
Said by one-million people about Luke when I tell them he’s having brain surgery this summer. Many of his challenges fly under the radar. Sometimes it’s hard to really capture in a minute, or less, conversation about the mountains he’s climbed and the ones he still has left to conquer.

- 2 -

We celebrated Anna-Laura’s eighth birthday last week and man, it was super fun. Here’s proof of the hootin’ good time.

owl party dessert table

- 3 -

Baseball. Is. Over. With 25 games and double that in practices, we were ready. It was a great season, though. Our coaches really went above and beyond and playing with good friends made it even better. Scott’s mom took this photo last week and I L-O-V-E it! Yes, John Paul is the resident southpaw of the house. His team won a thriller in the quarter finals where he took a ball to the bicep and then came back and cracked one in the outfield. Proud parenting moment. They lost in the semi-final game, but had a fantastic season.

baseball_118- 4 -

I have a super fun giveaway coming next week. It came in the mail and I may have squealed. Yes, it’s that fun and yes you’ll want to visit the blog next Wednesday for all that goodness.

- 5 -

Clare was our pretty dancing queen last week. Yes, I realize I’m about a week behind on all the posts I owe y’all and the kids. Coming. They’re coming!

recital_039

- 6 -

Luke’s last day of school was Tuesday. I posted over on Facebook how my emotions caught me completely off guard. That’s definitely a bigger blog post next week. I find that when I blog, I reflect, and that day deserves reflecting.

- 7 -

You may have heard me talk before about a non-profit, Hand to Hold, that helped us tremendously during (and after) Luke’s NICU stay. I’m proud to say my husband is now the Board President, they are so lucky to have him. He is passionate, well spoken and a huge champion for Hand to Hold. You might even see his cute face in this video. If you, or someone you know, has endured a NICU stay, please pass this video along. You really aren’t alone.

As always, my thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting 7 Quick Takes!

Kathryn

{ 4 comments }

Hoot!  Hoot! Oh y’all, for as long as I can remember owls have been a family favorite, first my mom, then me, now Anna-Laura. Maybe it’s our connection to Chi Omega or maybe it’s the fascination of the animal itself. Either way, we loved them long before Pinterest did. Let’s relive a fabulously fun, crafty owl party for the cutest 8-year-old in the house!

The Invitations
My friend and neighbor, Jayme, created this entire owl printable collection. Everywhere I looked I kept seeing the traditional owl, but Jayme took a whimsical approach and it had Anna-Laura’s favorite color – pink. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

owlbday_060

As pretty as the dessert table was (I’ll get to that in a minute), I believe every party should be about the celebration. Eight-year-old girls are at the just right age for crafts. Old enough to be (mostly) self-sufficient and creative, but young enough to not be inhibited by the rules. The girls traveled to four different stations before we dove into the food.

Paint-a-Pot
It was messy, but fun. I pre-painted all the owls on the pots using a template I modified from Pinterest. The girls chose the perfect pot, we wrote the name in Sharpie marker on the bottom and then they got to planting. After a quick hand wash, I painted the girls hands with white acrylic paint and they added “wings” to the owls. We did this activity first to allow for the paint to dry by the end of the party. The girls had a blast picking out the “just right” flower and admiring their handiwork. It was quite cute.

owlbday_114

Paint-A-PotPin the Beak on the Owl
The game returns! We’ve pinned butterflies on Le Tour Eiffel and cherries on cupcakes. The girls still love this game, although their aim is definitely getting better. I’ve learned to put the object to be pinned on foam core and string it up with ribbon. Big brother Will was in charge of giving the girls the beaks and I did the twirling. It was a team effort.

owlbday_124

owlbday_154

 Craft Your Own Owl Art
After “enjoying” the Texas heat, the A/C was a welcome change. We busted out the painted toilet paper rolls, googly eyes, wings, beaks and glue to create the just right owl. I collected those toilet paper rolls for weeks! A few days before the party, Anna-Laura helped me bend the corners, secure with masking tape and paint them all. We had a really great time doing it, too!

craft-your-own-owl_02

craft-your-own-owlOwl Scavenger Hunt
While the girls crafted, Scott and the boys hid the owl balloons and clues in the neighborhood. The clues weren’t anything fancy and my rhyming lacked some creativity, but the girls had a great time running from house to house.

owlbday_188After all that painting, planting, crafting and running, the girls were hungry. I underestimated just how ravenous twelve eight-year-olds could be! You can tell these cute things have older brothers. In fact, I think all of them do!

The Food/Dessert Table
It’s possible the Mr. is most proud of this fruit concoction. Amazingly, this came from my brain and not the Internet. What can I say, it was my shining moment. The rest I copied! Scott did a great job putting it all together. He’s hired.

owlbday_083The girls feasted on fruit, sandwiches, chips and lemonade. The dessert table was filled with details – my favorite part – and lots of love. The spray-painted owls were $1 finds at the after-Christmas sale that I painted in the party colors. And, the cookies and cupcake were created by Olga at Polkadots. Oh my gracious. THE cookies! Olga and her staff outdid themselves on these. Almost too pretty to eat, but somebody had to do it. {me! me!}

owlbday_066

dessert-table_01

dessert-table_02

dessert-table_03

Oh and those wood stumps that held the owl cookies? Yeah, I actually climbed into a wood trailer, at 7:45AM, in the rain, at a tree company headquarters. The things we do for our kids. Hat tip to Brent’s Tree Service and Jerry for humoring a birthday-happy momma.

The Favors & Thank You’s
The girls took home their owl art and painted pots, but when I saw these cute, stuffed owl ornaments on Pinterest, I was smitten. Until I actually started making them. Not *exactly* a craft fail, but oh my word. Y’ALL. These took a teeny bit longer than what I estimated. Not sure I’ll ever make them again, but when Anna-Laura said, “Oh mom, those are perfect” I forgot how hard it was to make them. Totally worth it. I’ve always been a fan of functional favors and I hope those cute creations bring a smile to some sweet girls’ faces this Christmas.

owlbday_048

owlbday_044

A few days after the party Anna-Laura wrote the cutest (and funniest) thank you notes. I will never tire of reading her gratitude-filled cards.

owlbday_064

Just as we were wrapping up dinner, I heard some giggles from the table and a “cheers, Anna-Laura!” and looked over to see this. My pretty girl sure has some awesome friends. How blessed are we!owlbday,-bw_206

owlbday_227

owlbday_236

Talk about a hootin’ good time. Time to rest up, Clare’s rainbow party is next!

Printables: Jayme Marie Designs
Cookies: Polkadots

Kathryn

{ 5 comments }

StVdP_1stCo_1250-XL_blogToday, over at Catholic Mothers Online, I’m sharing why I think every child should be an altar server. The reasons may just surprise you.

Kathryn

{ 10 comments }

What I Wore Sunday (Vol. 27): Take Two

by Kathryn on May 19, 2013

Welcome to my double life. Baseball mom by day, Mass goer by night. I’m not a huge fan of baseball on Sunday but that’s a whole other blog post. It’s tournament weekend (our last!) and the boys keep winning. Can’t argue with a “W.”

You’re getting a peek at what I *will* be wearing to the Pentecost Mass later tonight along with what I’m really wearing all day today at the fields.

wiws_01The dress is one I bought ten years ago, maybe? I love it and had completely forgotten it was in the back of my closet until I was searching for something red. It never wrinkles = my kinda dress. You’ve seen the shoes before. Again, a Dillard’s on-sale score. It’s supposed to be 95 today – hello, summer. I’ve never been a shorts gal probably because I’m afraid of blinding people. Think of it as a public service.

The outfits:
Dress: Talbots
Shoes: Dillards
Jewelry: Talbots (necklace) and Johnson City Market (earrings)

Shirt: Old Navy
Denim Capris: The Buckle
Sandals: Dillards
Jewelry: Silpada

HT to the sweet gals at FLAP for all the fashion inspiration. Have an awesome Sunday!

 

Kathryn

{ 9 comments }

- 1 -

This week’s quotes of the week (QOTW):

“I’m leaking!!”
Luke, after I washed his hands. Evidently I wasn’t quick enough on the drying end.

“When you’re not in the car, Daddy plays cool music. Then again, he doesn’t sing that great.”
Anna-Laura, bwahahahaha.

“Who knows.”
Luke, after Scott asked me why there was chocolate syrup behind the couch.

“Just so you know Mom, I’m not going to play in the NBA.”
John Paul, thanks for the new flash big man.

“I know the perfect shirt.”
Luke, on selecting his wardrobe for the day.

- 2 -

It was a massive honor to be featured on my all-time favorite blog, iHeartOrganizing, this week. Be still, my heart. Jen featured our garage and boy, did I feel the love. If you’re not following her already, do it. Now. I’ve lost count of how many projects Jen and her team of contributors have inspired me to do. She’s the real deal.

newheader985

Garage Organization, Team Whitaker

 - 3 -

Did I mention there’s a birthday in the house?! Y’all know what that means. Some serious partying. The shindig is tonight and our theme? A crafty owl party. The birthday girl went to sleeping giggling she was so excited. I *may* have done the same.

- 4 -

In the spirit of keeping it real, though, I have a party confession. One of my craft projects ended up being a wee bit ambitious. When will I ever learn that sometimes Pinterest lies? Perhaps I’ll show you the “perception” vs. “reality” next week. My Hoot! Hoot! Pinterest board got a workout, though!

Pinterest_hoot-hoot

- 5 -

After a cancelled appointment from 17 months ago, I finally got myself back to the dermatologist. It’s a hazard when you rock the pale skin like me. I mean, seriously. What brown-eyed brunettes do you know that are as white as I am? I digress. Mostly good report and I really like my doctor. That’s a win. Aaaand, now I sound like I’m 90.

- 6 -

We’re finally wrapping up baseball season. Didn’t we start like last July? Some days it feels like it. It’s been great fun to watch John Paul on the pitcher’s mound and the hat tilt has become his trademark. “Don’t mess with the hat, Dad,” he told Scott. I’ll have loads more pictures coming next week now that I finally got my digital photo file act together.

baseball_021

- 7 -

The blog got a few tints and highlights last week. If you have some time to kill, you can check out the easier to navigate How I Do It and Before & After pages. What do you think? Yay? Nay?

Team Whitaker, New LookMake it a great weekend! Jen, thanks for hosting.

Kathryn

{ 5 comments }