Elephant theme baby shower: The Decor

One of my good friends is having a baby,  and another friend and I wanted to bless her with a baby shower.  The first thing we had to do was to come up with a theme.  Since each of her children has a first name that begins with the first letter of the alphabet in order, we knew that this baby would have a name that begins with "E".  My friend also said that she likes elephant items for her 5th baby.  When you put those two together we knew that we had our theme: Elephants and Baby E.

The first thing that we did was to find plates that we liked.  The Mom to be did not know if she was having a boy or a girl which made it more challenging to find a neutral elephant theme.  We decided to go with a pink and blue theme with yellow as an accent color. I found these plates at  1st wishes website.

Plates and Napkins

 One of my other friends was so gracious to let me borrow her Cricut to help me come up with  these wonderful decoration, but if you don't have a Cricut or a friend that will let you borrow one like me, you still can do most of these decorations.
To make the napkins holders I cut out 25 elephants using the Cricut's Animal Kingdom cartridge and glued them to a small strip of paper.  I rolled up the napkins a one end and placed the napkins holder around the napkins.  I think the napkin holders really give it an elegant feeling.

Decorations

This banner can be time consuming, but it looks so cute I could not help myself from trying to make it.  I used my Stampin' up big shot machine to cut out the squares and the letters.  For the elephants I just cut out one of the elephants from each paper plate and glued it to a square piece of paper.

Wall Hangings 

We put up lots of balloons in pink, blue and white.  We also had two elephant balloons that went with the plate theme. We played soft lullaby music in the background.  On the right of the Television  I made a wall hanging that says "Baby E".  I gave it to the Mom To Be after the shower so that she can hang it in the baby's room.  On the left of the televison I had two wall hangings of elephants cut out of pink and blue card stock using the Cricut.  

For the water bottles, I cut out elephants to 1 1/2 inch on the Circut.  Using tweezers, I carefully placed googlies eyes using a hot glue gun.  Then I glued them to strips of pink or blue paper.  To make sure that they did not fall down the bottle I put a small dot of hot glue on the back of the paper and the water bottle.  

Centerpiece

Centerpiece on the kitchen opening:  I had to get creative. to make the top so I used the Big Shot machine to cut out the scalloped square and the smaller embossed square (to embossed the square I used a stamp'n up embossed folder).  For the pink elephant I cut out a 1 1/2 inch elephant (with the Cricut using the Animal Kingdom set).  The letter were also cut out using the Cricut. ( I also made another side to this so that you have something to look at from both sides.  I glued both sides together  putting a dowel between the squares.  I placed a yellow ribbon on the dowel and tied it in a bow (the bow was some how shifted). The dowel was placed in the stand.  To make the stand I used the Cricut.  To make the stand stand up I placed pennies in the bottom and covered them with pink tissue paper.  The two elephants on either side of the stand are from The Little People zoo collection (one is my child's and one is a friend's child's).  It took a long time to make, but I think that it is really cute and adds to the overall theme.

Centerpiece for the Table : I used the same base as the kitchen centerpiece only I used pink paper, with a blue "E" on it.  For each of the four dowels I cut a square paper.  On each square paper I put, "E", "is" , "for" and a cut out of an elephant.  To make sure that he dowels stayed in place, I filled the base with peanuts.

We filled this box up with M&Ms for the guest to munch on.

Favors

Last but not least, what is a party without favors.  To make these I used the Cricut's Tags, Bags Boxes & More set.  They are the cutest size; just right to put a bite size candy bar into.  One one side they have a blue or pink elephant and on the other side they have "Baby E" written on them.

PS To see the  Elephant cake check out Elephant theme baby shower: The Cake and Games

School Days are Here Again

Today is the day that all the kids go back to school.  It has been a fun summer, but I am ready for them to go back to school and back to learning.
My oldest is now in 7th grade, and I cannot help but ask myself "when did that happen".  I cannot believe that I am so close to being a parent of a teenager.  He did not want the summer to end, but is happy to see his friends again.
Mare Bear is going into the 3rd grade today.  Although it doesn't really matter because she is in a life skill class and has had the same teacher for 3 years.  She was so happy to go back to school, see her teacher and play with her friends.  She also enjoys riding the bus and was so happy when she saw the bus rounding the corner of our street this morning.
Little Man is really going to miss his brother and sister.  It will be so hard for him not knowing where they are, or when they will get home.   However, it will be nice to spend some quality time with my Little Man.

Little Man is 11 months

I was looking at the calandar today and realized that it is the 10th of August.  That means that it is only one month until my Little Man 's 1st birthday.  I am already planning the party.  I have picked out the theme and ordered the plates.  I am working on an idea for goodies bag.  I am not a fan of goodies bags, but a small one with some treats inside might be nice.  It is so hard to believe that my little man is 11 months today.  He is so big, and he has learned so much in just one year.  I cannot wait to plan his first birthday party.  It is not just a celebration of him turning one , but also a celebration of how far we all have come from that moment in the delivery room to him walking and talking.

You're Never to Young for Chores

My Oldest is always complaining why my other two children do not have chores.  I have tried to explain to him that they are not capable of actually doing chores.  You see my daughter has Rett Syndrome and is not able to speak or have purposeful use of her hands.  (check out her page to learn more about Rett Syndrome).  She is not able to hold her own drink much less wipe down a table.  As for my youngest, well he is only 10 months old.  What chores could he possible do? Well, more then I thought he could.  My Oldest son caught this video of my youngest sweeping the floor.   He is only 10 months old, but man can he work a broom mop.  I guess his first chore will be to sweep the kitchen with the mop broom.  Now if I could just teach him to vacuum! (just kidding).

Book Giveaway: Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

Book Giveaway: Closed

If you have had a chance to read my book review of the book Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory you know that I think that it is a thought provoking book.  I also said that you should read the book and then give it to a friend. So I am practicing what I preach.   Since WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Company has so graciously give me another free copy of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory, I am going to pass it along to one of my readers.  This Giveaway will be for one NEW copy of the book Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory.  Giveaway ends on August 30th at midnight so get your entrees in today.



Here is a list of what you have to do to enter the giveaway:

• Mandatory: Rate my review of the book and leave a comment tell me you rated my review.  If you would like to see my full review click here.  You can give my review of the book between 1 to 5 stars.  Please leave your e-mail or blog so I can contact you if you win.
• Leave a comment about what question you would ask Jesus if you had dinner with him and get an additional entree.   
• Follow me on Google and get two additional entries (make sure that you  leave two separate  comments that you are following me on Google to get the two entrees in the giveaway).

 click here to go to my full review to the book of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger.



Disclaimer: The book Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory was given to me for Free by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Company throught their blogging for books program. The Giveaway will end on August 30th at midnight.  I will use a random.org to select the winner. I will announce the winner on this blog as well as e-mail the winner.  The winner with have 5 days to contact me or I will draw another winner.  I will mail the copy of the book using the media mail option at the US postal service.  I am not held responsible for mail loss by the US postal service.  You must be a US resident with a US address to enter this contest.  

The winner of the Giveaway is:

Congratulations to The Kalk Family you are the winners! 

  Here is what you have won:

2 coupon for 1.oo off ball real fruit pectin
2 coupon for 2.oo off any case of ball or kerr jars
2 coupon for 3.oo off ball canning discovery kit
1 Beginner guide to Canning Recipe Booklet
2 (0.4 oz) sample of classic pectin
1 invitation to join the National Can-it-forward day. 

  

You (the winner) will have until August 10th to contact me with your address, or I will draw another winner. 

DISCLAMER:  I was given these products for free when I was chosen to host a house party with Jaden Homes.  I did not receive any monetary compencation for these products.

A book that answers your deepest question:

As a member of the blogging for books program, I am asking to read books and then to write a review of what I think of that book.  This is a book review on the book Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory.  This review is my own honest personal opinion of what I thought of the book.

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger:

 Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory is  a book about one man’s quest to find the truth.  The main character, Nick, is invited to a dinner with Jesus of Nazareth.  Nick assumes that someone, or some church is playing a trick on him.  Out of curiosity Nick goes to the restaurant to find out who is behind the invitation.  When Nick arrives at the restaurant he is surprise to see that the man that invited him to dinner is someone he has never met.   Nick is compelled to stay and have dinner with this man and to ask him questions.  At first he does not believe his dinner guest is Jesus, but as the dinner progresses he suspends his disbelieve for the sake of  the conversation.  Nick ask Jesus poignant questions about the different world religions, and why he is the only way to God.  They talk about why there is pain and suffering in the world. Throughout the book Jesus answered all Nick’s question as to if God really exists.  Gregory leaves the book open for readers to come to their own conclusion about God.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  It is a small fictional book, but it is pack with real truths.  Many of the questions that Nick asked Jesus were the same questions that many of us would want to ask Jesus.  This book will help answer question to those that are seeking answers about God.  After reading this book I came away with a  better understanding of God purpose for my life.  It may be a fictional book, but it is also biblically accurate.   I recommend that you read this book, and then give it to a friend that is seeking the truth.  

For an excerpt from this book:Dinner With A Perfect Stranger book excerpt

  Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Press as a member of their Blogging for Books program. I was only asked to give an honest review of the book. All opinions are my own.