Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Halloween Books!

Holiday books are my absolute favorite and I love adding new ones to our collection every year! BUT, before I buy them I like to rent them from our local library to make sure they are books Marlowe likes too!  Sometimes books have the prettiest cover, and look great on a shelf, but have boring stories inside haha. Here are some of our tried and true favorites that maybe you'll rent or want to add to your collection too! They are all linked below:)


1. Room on the Broom
The cutest book about a witch who meets a bunch of animal friends while she rides on her broom who end up saving her from a dragon! Plus, there is a video on Netflix to go along with the story.


2.  Skeletons Are Not Spooky
This one is pretty funny and has a bunch of reasons why skeletons aren't scary!


3.  The Gruffalo
Not necessarily a Halloween book, and great to read anytime of year!  It's about a mouse who outsmarts his friends, and a creature named the Gruffalo.  There is also a video to this book on Amazon Prime!


4.  Vamperina Ballerina
Marlowe's favorite this year! Has beautiful illustrations about a Vampire who is learning how to be a ballerina. 


5.  The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
A classic book.  Follows a pattern your kids can follow along to about an old lady who makes a scarecrow with the pants, jack-o-lantern, and t-shirt that followed her home!


6.  Bonaparte Falls Apart
A sweet story about a skeleton named Bonaparte who keeps losing his bones, so he adopts a dog named "Mandible" who fetches his bones whenever they fall off his body.  Super cute!


7.  Pick a Pumpkin
My favorite pick this year! A beautiful book with gorgeous illustrations about the process of picking out a pumpkin, cleaning and carving it, and putting it on our doorstep!


8. Creepy Pair of Underwear
Again, not a Halloween book exactly, but definitely goes with the "spooky" theme.  It's about a boy who picks out glow in the dark underwear at the store.  The underwear follow him wherever he goes!


9. The Scariest Book Ever
This one is more of an interactive book with a cute little ghost telling the story.  He is afraid to go into the woods, and so the "reader" goes into the woods for him and then tells him about the cute little woodland creatures that actually live there!


A fun book about a skeleton with hiccups who is trying to get rid of them!  Goes through all the theories about how to get rid of hiccups.



**11.  Where is Baby's Pumpkin
For your babies! All the Karen Katz books are great for the lift the flap feature!  Briar loves this one!

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Marlowe is THREE



Dear Marlowe,

I can’t believe you are three! I truly believe you were made to do such big things in this world. You have a gift of bringing laughter to every room with your hilarious little self. Incredible would be the word I’d use to describe you. Incredibly gifted, incredibly curious, incredibly funny, incredibly challenging and incredibly beautiful. I’m not sure why God chose me to be your mommy, but I’m so thankful he did. May you always know how much you are loved. Happy birthday bug!

Love, 
A very emotional mommy ❤️ 

Marlowe's 3 year old video.


  

Link to Marlowe's 2 year video, and 1 year video here!











Monday, August 26, 2019

Marlowe's Popsicle 3rd Birthday Party!




So excited to share Marlowe's 3rd birthday party with you guys! We all know I love a good themed party, and Marlowe was totally the inspiration behind this.  When I say she loves popsicles, I mean she LOVES popsicles.  We make them together often and she has yet to eat one she doesn't like.  Could probably eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  So I thought why not turn that theme into a fun party which happens to be perfect for my summer birthday girl.





The popsicle "truck" was just made out of two cardboard boxes taped together.  I just cut out a truck shape, and then painted it with whatever leftover paint I had in the garage! It wasn't perfect by any means because I either had a baby strapped to me while I was making it or a little girl trying to ride her scooter over it while I was painting.  But, it made for a perfect statement piece that is necessary for any party! We stuck a table behind it to hold it up, and put the cooler of all the popsicles on top.





When I asked Marlowe how she wanted to decorate all she could say was that she wanted balloons everywhere.  So that's what I did! I spent far too many hours trying to figure out how to make floating balloons work in our backyard but we ended up just using balloon tape to make a basic balloon garland (the trick for a beautiful garland is to use different sized balloons) and then used fishing line to tie it across the backyard so that they appeared to float above the tables.  I wanted all one color balloon that had a matte finish (not shiny!) and the lavender balloons went perfectly with her theme!  I also bought one pack of long balloons and turned them into popsicles that we taped all over the garage.  The easiest backdrop ever if you ask me.




For the kids table, I just made some homemade play-doh and put them in leftover baby food jars for the kids to take home.  I added glitter (because everything is better with glitter) and little pink spoons from Baskin Robbins.  I also bought some wooden masks from Joanne's that the kids could color, and then some bubble guns from Amazon!





For the centerpieces on the tables, I made a bunch of card stock popsicles using her color scheme and laid them on all the tables.  Then I took some basic iridescent party hats and added a pom to each of them then lined those down the tables.  Pretty simple! Another fun piece of cheap decor was made using dollar tree pool rafts.  We blew them up, and added popsicle sticks made out of cardboard so that it looked like big popsicles hanging on the fence!









I ordered a popsicle mold off Amazon and my mother-in-law spent a few weeks trying out all kinds of popsicle recipes.  You can literally freeze just about anything sweet and it tastes good.  I really wanted to make a ton of different flavors so that there was something for everyone.  We made some simple classic flavors like orange creamsicle, chocolate banana,  and fudgsicle. We made fruit only popsicles for those that couldn't have sugar or dairy (you literally just blend the fruit with a little water and freeze!) and made mango and strawberry/pineapple.  Then I wanted some funky flavors for the trendy people so we made an Ube flavored one (for my filipino family of course!) and a matcha-avocado one.  Also threw in a creamy mocha flavor for those that needed an evening kick and a strawberry yogurt popsicle with sprinkles for the kids!  They were all so delicious! I bought popsicle bags and tied them all off with some string and yarn!  They stayed perfectly frozen during the party using dry ice in a cooler!




The food was honestly just pizza, a veggie tray, and fruit! Nothing exciting here since the focus was on the popsicles!  I also had some popsicle shaped cookies made that went perfectly with the theme. I found some fun plates from Target that had popsicles on them, some cute sun shaped plates from Meri Meri and then some fun silly straws for all the cups from Target's dollar spot!






Marlowe picked out her party dress (obvi it twirled and had sequins), and I found adorable popsicle bows for her and her sister to match.



















Overall it was such a fun little party with all the people she knows and loves! We are so thankful for the people that continue to show up for her and are present in her life. 

Marlowe with her great-Lola!


Emily Noble | Copyright 2017