Carter's Farm Party

I have a feeling that the these crepe paper party favors are the only orange this part of the garden will be seeing.  Fingers crossed for real carrots this summer, probably won't grow too straight with the stony soil that's there but one can hope, right!

Thank you to the Martha Stewart website for this awesome idea!  And to Party City for the 10cents candy to stuff it with!  Inexpensive cuteness is always great!

 

Last Friday and Saturday I was all party mode, from the printouts for the plastic ware to the decorations for the house and cake.

These tootsie roll fence posts came out better than I thought they would.  Gotta love when you have an idea and it actually works!

Then it was off to make the 'sheep' for the sheep herding game..

... and to decorate the house so it screamed birthday party!

As I was capturing memories of this sign I noticed the view out the front window

And what peace it brought me, not just the serenity of the view but the fact the boys sat on the porch and watch Mr. Francis bundle the hay so I was able get things done without being sidetracked!

I was able to get a picture of him and use that too to decorate for the party, but this is one decoration that will stay in it's frame and not go into storage.

I was glad my last minute barn cake came out pretty decent.  I spent so much time making all the different cupcakes that I hadn't given thought to the cake for the adults besides the fence that went around the sides. 

Carter also had a great birthday photo shoot so I couldn't help resist putting some of those photos out either!

And it worked out great that his pre-school just finished a barnyard theme week so I had tons of artwork to decorate the house with too.

Here are some sheep herders trying to get their sheep back in the barn.

But of course I didn't pre-plan for the sheep to start popping 10 seconds into the game :)  If you try this, make sure to blow up alot of sheep!

And I had found a weighted chicken balloon at Party City that was a big hit.  Carter enjoyed taking it for a walk around the yard and the girls at the party were so nice to make sure it was safe.  It's lasted 3 days now and I have to say that I kind of like the extra company meandering around the house, reminds me of when we had a dog :)

Then there was a hayride by the farm down the street that had the breeze we all needed!

 I was able to get a quick shot of the party favors before the rest were scooped up to be taken home.  The plastic cups from Oriental Trading were a perfect size and made quite well.  Just stuffed them with a bandanna, the carrot treats and farm lollipop to make a great thank you gift!

Happy 4th Birthday Carter!  Hope you had as much fun as I did putting it all together!

Our 1st veggie garden

"It will never rain roses. When we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses." -George Eliot

It was a great Mother's Day earlier this month, the start of my very own vegetable garden!  I have wanted one for years but with the kids being so young and demanding of my time I never got the chance to tend to anything other than them and my many flower gardens. 

Mike graded a patch of the yard with the tractor and the boys helped when they could, mostly getting the large rocks out of the way and making piles of dirt like any boy would.

I had purchased some seeds late April and started the tomatoes out in an egg carton as they needed to be established before being planted.  Needless to say now that they are in the ground the plants should have been started in something deeper, after a weeks time only a few of the 12 survived being transplanted.  But it's okay, it'll give me another excuse to go to the local nursery and do some tomato plant shopping!

I did mix in bags of garden soil with the land and made rows of mulch so I knew where I could walk and wouldn't disturb the seedlings.

I'll see how these signs hold up this summer, I saw them at Michael's craft store in the Wedding isle and knew I had to get them b/c of the cute factor.  They actually have chalkboard paint on them so you can write table numbers or names on them.  The crafty side of me opted to use my paint pens and draw on them, but if they don't last I'll stick with my Grandfather's easier idea of sticking the seed packet on a stick and poking it into the ground!

Not expecting too much with it being the 1st, it's definatly a learning experience!  Especially not knowing what type of soil we'll find, some spots are pure clay, some stony and others sandy because of having to bring the grade of the land up when we 1st bought the house.

Next year I may have to buy tons of bags of soil and try it out again fresh, for now it's just a waiting game to see if any green pops up.  I think I'll be more excited than the kids if this works!