As hard as you try...

...sometimes it's just not enough.

Two weeks ago, Madelyn had a dentist appointment. She just turned five, and in her best independent voice she said to me, "Mom, I'm five now. I can go back by myself." I was impressed at how mature she was and how she was so excited to do this in her own.

This was her fifth visit to the dentist and it always goes well. About a year ago, however, there was a spot they were "watching." During her last visit the dentist broke the news that he indeed needed to fill a cavity. My heart sunk. Madelyn has better oral hygiene than most adults I know. She brushes AND flosses every night and brushes every morning. It's hard to explain to a five-year-old why she got a cavity when she really has done all the right things. "Sometimes it still happens" was the best we could offer her, and since she had no idea what a "filling" entailed it was a bigger deal to us than her.

7:53 am
Madelyn and I just got to the dentist office for her filling appointment. The receptionist told Madelyn that she looked so happy and excited. And she does. Me on the other hand? A bundle of nerves. She is my brave little girl who is clueless right now as she's dancing in the waiting room to Maroon Five.

8:02 am
They just called her back and she eagerly went because again, she's "five." I'm sitting here in the waiting room, trying hard to listen for any signs of a meltdown.

8:11 am
I'm laughing to myself because I can hear her telling everyone about her new special toothbrush that "tickles" her teeth. (Chris just bought her a Sonicare Kids toothbrush.) They are all giggling. I think the "laughing gas" is kicking in for her. The receptionist just asked if I also would like some, and it was hard to say no. She can obviously see that I'm nervous.

8:26 am
Waiting. Waiting stinks. It hasn't really been that long, but it seems like forever. I am anxious to see her. Wait. I think I just heard her giggle. That made me smile. :)

8:36 am
Dr. Alexander just came out and talked to me. He said she did great! No tears, and lots of talking. ;) He told me that the cavity wasn't very deep so he didn't even have to numb her mouth; the nitrous was enough. YAY! I think I was most worried about her having to get a shot in her mouth. Whew.

9:01 am
Madelyn's at home with Daddy. When I scheduled the appointment, they told me to plan on having her at home until lunchtime so the numbness would wear off before she tried to chew anything. I used that as something to look forward to after the appointment. Since she was as feeling fine, however, I asked if she wanted to go ahead and go to school. She reminded me that she and her Dad already made tons of plans for the day and she wasn't about to miss them! So home she stayed.

She's doing great and is no worse for the wear. I think she will still look forward to her dentist visits, and that's good. I was afraid she would not want to go back. She is so resilient and such a good sport. Great job, Madelyn!

Wizard of Oz – Activities

Coming up with ideas for Wizard of Oz activities was fairly simple thanks to, once again, Pinterest. :) 

I wanted to have some activities that allowed for the kids to play with each other without needing a lot of guidance. I think that worked out pretty well.

Photo Booth

This seemed to be one of the latest trends in parties, and it really did start out simple. I bought a cheap picture frame that we thought they could hold along with the props. But when Chris go twind of this idea, he decided to make an actual photo booth that the kids could stand behind and hold the props. He did a great job with it! I also found some Wizard of Oz photo booth props on etsy which made this activity even more fun!

Capture the Witch (Ring Toss)

Chris had some old cones that he hadn’t ever really used, so he spray painted them black and we added a sparkly green “buckle” to make them look like witch hats. We spent some time trying to come up with some type of ring, and while at Michael’s for some other craft items, I happened to walk by the sewing isle where I found the needle work hoops. Perfect! Although I think I should have gone one size larger (just to make it a little easier for the kiddos), they turned out cute. Chris spray painted them silver, which reminded me of the Tin Man. ;)

The kids really enjoyed coming to the ring toss area and giving it a try. Some kids spent a lot of time here, as did the adults.

Glinda’s Bubbles

As luck would have it, Valentine’s Day brought with I many items that made this party even more of a success. I found some great little tubes of bubbles that were only a couple bucks at Target, and added a label that said “Glinda’s Bubbles.” The kids also enjoy blowing bubbles. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be outside (75 degrees and sunny).

Glinda’s  Necklace Shoppe

I think this probably ended up being the favorite activity of the day. I bought some fairly inexpensive beads, as well as some rainbow colored strings. Madelyn and I had a great time one Friday night sorting the beads into separate tins (one for each color of the rainbow. But I think the best part of Glinda’s Necklace Shoppe was the Wizard of Oz Shrinky Dinks! That’s right, SHRINKY DINKS! I found some Shrinky Dink paper that was made for the printer, so all I had to do was add some Wizard of Oz clipart to a Word document and print it on the special paper. Then Auntie Kim helped me cut them out and punch holes so we could add a small ring to make it easier to add them to the necklaces. I purchased some cute clipart on etsy for 5 bucks that I was able to download pretty instantly.

Guess How Many Hearts for Tin Man

I filled a jar with candy hearts (again, yay for Valentine’s Day) and the guests could try to figure out how many haerts were inside. The one who came the closest to the correct number won the jar of candy! Papa actually came the closest, but he said to give it to the next closest which was Madelyn’s friend, Luke. 

Pin the Heart on the Tin Man

This was the only game that was really “formal.” After everyone finished eating lunch, we came inside and all the kids took a turn pinning a heart on the Tin Man. Each was spun around (the numbers of times equal to their age), and then had to try to get the paper heart in the right spot. There wasn’t a prize for this game, but we gave each kid a peanut butter heart for giving it a go! I think they all enjoyed it!

I used the clipart image of Tin Man and had it blown up at Staples.

Wizard of Oz – Food

It would be a crime to start this post with anything other than THE CAKE. Auntie Kim made a very special trip to Phoenix to do Madelyn’s Wizard of Oz cake. And it was nothing short of amazing! She did a rainbow layer cake (I sent her this idea to get started).

She covered the cake with green buttercream frosting and added a yellow fondant brick road. I really liked the fondant she used, which had white chocolate in it. She also handmade the little red poppies that wound all the way around the yellow brick road. This cake would not have been nearly the masterpiece without Dorothy! Auntie Kim created her from fondant as well, and it took her FOUR HOURS to design her. Isn’t she perfect?!? I especially liked the red glitter shoes! She also made a glittery red number five for Dorothy to hold.

The cake was so beautiful that it was hard to cut into it without feeling guilty. But we did. Grammy did the honors (I was too nervous) and cut everyone a slice. It was so fun to see everyone’s faces when she cut the first slice. The room literally echoed with “Oohs” and “Ahhs,” mostly from the adults. ;) The kids were pretty excited, too, though. They all thought they wanted a cupcake at first (I think because of the rainbow lollipop stuck in the top), but when they saw the rainbow cake, many of them quickly changed their mind.

Thanks, Auntie Kim, for flying all the way to Phoenix to create such a memorable cake!

I also wanted to make some of the food Wizard of Oz themed, too. Here are some of the ideas we came up with:

Tin Man's Pasta Delight (cold veggie pasta)

Tornado Chips (Bugles)

Lions, Tigers, & Bears! Oh my! (animal crackers)

Scarecrow Crunch (pretzels & candy corns)

Rainbow Fruit & Sweet Lollipop Dip 

"Eat your veggies, my little pretty!" (veggie tray)

PB&J Sand"witches"

Chicken Salad Sand"witches" 

Cheese Sand"witches" 

Melted Witch Punch (made with lime sherbet)

Wizard of Oz – Decorations

I’m not sure which of the decorations were my favorite, but they all pulled together nicely to create a cute Wizard of Oz theme.

I firmly believe first impressions are everything so I wanted to create a welcoming space outside that screamed Wizard of Oz. And we all know that the Wizard of Oz wouldn’t be complete without a yellow brick road. I researched a lot of different ideas on how exactly to do this, and ultimately came up with my own plan. I wanted to use something that wouldn’t rip, yet would be temporary. I decided to use yellow contact paper, cut into “bricks.” Fortunately for us, Grammy recently had surgery and was looking for “something to do” while she was laid up. We didn't hesitate to give her the project of cutting all the bricks out for us! Thanks, Grammy!

Chris had the job of “laying the bricks” and that proved to be quite a project. Auntie Kim and I peeled the backing of the contact paper just enough so he could quickly pull it off before sticking it to the concrete. After about 1 ½ hours, the yellow brick road was complete, and looking oh-so perfect!

Several weeks ago, we also began making red poppies (like those that put Dorothy to sleep in the movie). I thought these would look cute along the yellow brick road. I found red and black napkins at the Dollar Store in two different sizes. Madelyn and Chris even helped with this project! Madelyn trimmed and sliced many of the black center napkins (as did Chris), and I folded them together, tied them, and peeled them apart to look like a flower. These were so easy to make, and I couldn’t believe how good they turned out when they were finished. The link to the website I used with step-by-step directions doesn't seem to be valid any longer, but it was super easy!

We also included he Wicked Witch’s legs under our house. I found this cute prop on Amazon, and it was quite the hit with our little guests.

Can you spot the Wicked Witch legs?

We also lined the grass leading up to the brick road with these cute rainbow pinwheels. I happened to see these at the Dollar Store and couldn’t resist for a buck each. Who knew the Dollar store had so many great things!?!

As our guests entered the house, they immediately saw our balloon rainbow. This was one of the projects Daddy took the reins on, and it turned out perfect! I found the tutorial on Pinterest. We made it half the size as the one in the tutorial, but it worked out perfectly over the doorway in the living room. Chris added a tie in the middle so in our version it actually looked like a rainbow! :) 

Click this link to view the great step-by-step tutorial. 

As Auntie Kim and I were baking on Saturday, she asked me if I had seen another Pinterest idea that uses plastic table cloths. We looked it up, and decided since I already had rainbow-colored table cloths (from the Dollar Store, meant for another project that was reinvented). We also thought this would be a good project for Daddy. And fortunately for Daddy, Uncle Rick showed up just in time to help! It turned out great, and the little muchkins’ faces lit up when they walked into the kitchen! Here’s the link to the site we found the idea.

We also set up tables in the backyard with blue table clothes and added some red poppies as centerpieces. I had many, many poppies, and also put some in the grass. This really helped the look of the yard because all our plants recently suffered from four nights of freezing weather. (Yes! Freezing weather in Phoenix!) Some of the kids were excited to be able to choose a flower to take home (and Grammy decided she wanted the ones they didn't take for Easter). This made for an extraordinarily easy cleanup!

Each year I use Madelyn’s birthday pictures to cover the beer art we have hanging on the wall. This year was no different!

The Big 5

We have been counting down to Madelyn’s “5 Party” as she called it since right after Christmas. We had fun finding ideas we thought we could incorporate into the party. Once again, Pinterest to the rescue! Here, we found some fabulous ideas for creating the best Wizard of Oz party ever! Although, I’ll be honest and tell you that it did get to a point where Chris said (and I quote), “I am banning Pinterest from this house!” HA! Despite that comment, he admitted when it was all said and done that he really did enjoy putting it all together. Since we stole so many cool ideas, I thought I’d break up my posts into categories: Decorations, Food, and Activities. Kind of like Jeopardy. I’ll take Decorations for 300, Alex.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I found a cute idea on youtube for Madelyn's hair on Valentine's Day, so we decided to give it a try! I think it turned out pretty well considering I only practiced once (yesterday).

Happy Birthday, Madelyn!

Even though Madelyn’s birthday party isn’t until next Sunday, we wanted her to have something to look forward to on her actual birthday. So to celebrate, Chris and I got to spend lunchtime with her at school. And of course, since she doesn’t get McDonald’s all that often, she chose a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets for lunch. We had a great time hanging out with her! We brought one of Madelyn’s very favorite treats, ICE CREAM, for each of the kids. We brought the individual ice cream cups as well as toppings so the kids could make their own “sundae.” Chris and I didn’t stay for ice cream, but Madelyn said it was a hit!

Madelyn also got to choose where she wanted to go for dinner. She quickly chose Macayo’s because, according to her, “Grammy and Papa would probably come then, too.” J

Grammy & Papa brought two huge balloons and homemade cupcakes. Madelyn even got a serenade by the Macayo’s crew. She was especially excited by the sopapilla that gave her when they finished her birthday song!