Birthday Season Begins...

July is always a crazy month around here with 6 family members and at least that many friends having July birthdays. On the 4th we're having an Independence Day / Birthday party for our moms, who both have birthdays near the 4th. Here is some of my inspiration so far...

Firecracker cake from Cooking With Sugar

Marshmallow Pops from Living Locurto. I picked up star shaped marshmallows yesterday to do a smaller version of these on toothpicks.

{Photo from Living Locurto.}

And these straws from Cupcake Social - this site will make you want to throw a party every day!

I'm working on a few crafty things for the party as well, which I'll post photos of later. (aka, as soon as I get my butt in gear and get some of it done)

Later this month is Fletcher's 6th birthday {GASP} and he's requested a Lego Star Wars party. While there are a ton of Lego themed and Star Wars themed party supplies, the Lego Star Wars stuff is not as plentiful yet. Inspired by this Superhero Birthday Party, I'm going to try to make the supplies myself. How cute is this banner made from comic book pages!?

{Photo: One Charming Party}

So far I've gotten these invitations printed and in the mail...

And some sparkly cupcake liners ordered. So much to do...

We took the West by storm.

It was more like a tornado, leaving destruction everywhere we went, but I like to remember it fondly despite the temporary insanity my kids seemed to experience.

Our June road trip took us through Utah~

To Vegas which, no matter what anyone tries to tell me, is not a place for kids. I don't know why we accepted the "There's plenty for families to do in Vegas these days." line, but we should have trusted our instincts on this one. Or maybe we were just bummed that we couldn't go to the clubs. Whatever.

The kids favorite part was Freemont Street.

My favorite part was when Macy and Felix shut down the pool at the Luxor by simultaneously throwing up in it. Oh wait, that wasn't my favorite part at all.

After spending two days in Vegas we proceeded to California and Disneyland! This was a perfect age for them to go for the first time - still young enough to be ecstatic to meet their favorite characters and go on some of the younger rides, yet old and brave enough to ride the fun rides like Space Mountain.

We could have spent more time at Disney if it wasn't for that pesky budget thing. Not to mention, Mr. Greenhab and I were more than ready for the relaxing portion of our vacation.

Since we aren't planning any other trips this year, we decided to rent a condo on the beach while we were in California.

I purchased a Groupon the week before we left for this....

...and the rental shop ended up being less than a mile from our condo. That makes us happy!

We had lots of good food...

Lots of shenanigans...

And saw some famous sights...

We spend so much time outside... (I think this was the longest my kids have gone without TV!)

Marc and I even started the Couch to 5K program while we were there, in addition to all of the walking, hiking, biking and swimming we did.

A good trip was had by all. Now it's back to cooking and cleaning and 87 loads of laundry and 32 product reviews I need to do and...reality.

We're baaa-aaack!

Here's a hint to where we went on vacation...

More to come. (Because everyone loves looking at someone else's vacation pictures?)

Nature's little helpers

With our new birdhouses in place (see yesterday's post) I was feeling a little guilty for ruining all the hard work the birds had done on their nests this Spring. The blog Chalk in My Pocket had a great idea for a DIY Nesting Materials Dispenser, so we used it as a craft project for the afternoon.

We followed her advice and checked out The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman from our library. It gave us several good ideas for nesting materials.

We gathered our bags - mesh potato bags I'd been saving for someday.

And set out on a hunt for nesting materials.

In addition to natural materials like pine needles and leaves, we used some other things that were recommended on All About Birds like stuffing from an old pillow, hair (I had just trimmed my layers up a bit), ribbon in 4 - 6 inch pieces, and dryer lint.

After stuffing our bags, we hung them outside for the birds to see.

I hope they enjoy creating their new nests!

If you're doing any summer reading programs like we are, this is a great little project for the kids. They get in some reading, time outside to hunt for materials, and creative time as well.

If you can't beat the woodpeckers, build them a house.

The woodpeckers here drive me insane in the spring time. They've drilled hole after hole into our already poorly insulated house, leaving it incredibly drafty...not to mention the incessant bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang...

I've tried everything "they" say to try from putting an AM radio in my window (in theory, they think it's a real person and stay away...except, in reality, they get hip to that after a few days) to nailing pie tins over the holes, to putting streamers up to scare them away. None of these things have actually work. I've checked bird sites and the Colorado State University extension office. I've checked out bird books and talked to the locals and, short of hiring a professional to come and relocate the birds, I've tried just about everything else.

Exhibit A:
Last year's solution - Cover holes with wood.
See also: Side of house.
See also: Front of house.

Exhibit B:
This year's solution - Put something reflective over the holes.
See also: CD recycling

Exhibit C:
Woody's latest and greatest hole. Measured roughly 4 inches high and 3 inches wide.
See also: Side of house. Eves of house. Front of house.

Last week the kids and I headed to the library to do some research and solve this problem once and for all.

We learned that our woodpecker - the Northern Flicker, actually - is extremely difficult to displace once he makes his home. Check. So we put our heads together and decided that if we can't beat him, we'd build him his own house.

All About Birds is a wealth of information, complete with diagrams for making houses and roosting boxes. With Super Uncle and several power tools, we ended up with three lovely boxes made from reclaimed wood.

And knowing how Super Uncle builds things, they're probably better insulated than our house is.

Up, up and away they go...

They also re-covered the newer holes in the side of the house. So far, so good.

Stay tuned for a new post on the nesting material bags that we're making today!

Garden Wars

Our garden officially moved from inside our house outside to the greenhouse this weekend. Woohooo! Spring has finally sprung here in hardiness zone 5.

Super Uncle and Mr. Greenhab are planning a fun-filled summer of home improvement projects and gardening. In fact, they seem to have a bit of a gardening competition in the works.

Super Uncle has built this mini grow box in which to start his seeds. It comes complete with light bulb warming system for the still-chilly evenings we have here in the mountains. How does he think of this stuff?

Mr. Greenhab will be nursing his seedlings in the trough system the boys built last year.

I have no understanding of the reasoning behind this, but it should be fun to watch.

iVillage / PBS Kids Summer Reading Party

We had a fantastic morning at the Evergreen Library hosting our second {and hopefully annual!} iVillage & PBS Kids Summer Reading Party. We've all heard the crazy statistics about how much knowledge a child can lose over the summer -- up to two-and-a-half months worth!

PBS and iVillage have teamed up again this year to help prevent that dreaded summer slide. If you haven't yet signed up, get thee to the community challenge page pronto! Beginning Monday, challenge coach (and creator of the show Super Why) Angela Santomero will be sending out daily tips, ideas and projects to keep the kids engaged in reading activities while they're out of school.

To kick the program off, we invited our friends to join us at the library for story time and activities. The library was also kicking off their summer reading program today, so the librarian was happy to read several books and tell us all about their One World, Many Stories theme for the Kids Summer Reading Club. (Check your own local library to see what they're doing this summer!)

The kids picked up Dinosaur Train books, reading bracelets, activity books and more from PBS, Scholastic and iVillage.

They brought books to trade with a friend...

...and made reading journals to track their progress.

Parents shared ideas for keeping the kids excited about reading and writing.

Some of the ideas included~

• Writing in our school journal about the events we do over the summer.
• Keeping books in the car for longer trips. Putting coupons for fun treats/activities inside the books, to be found by the child randomly.
• Keep a travel journal about your summer vacation.
• Pre-read to stuffies and siblings.

Of course there are many incentives from companies like Barnes & Noble and Borders too. B&N offers a free book after your child logs 8 books read, Borders for every 10 books.

Being the over-achiever I am, (Okay, maybe it's due in part to my cheapness love of freebies too.) we're taking part in all of these programs, plus a little side challenge put together by some friends to see who can read the most books this summer. If my kids slide backwards in their reading I'm not doing something right -- I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Happy reading everyone!