Halloween Finger Puppet Ghosts

Hellooooooo September!

I truly thought that with BOTH kids being in school it would free up a lot of my time, but not quite. I volunteered to be "room mom" for my daughter's kindergarten class only to be promoted to grade level mom. They have been keeping me busy!

As the grade level mom one of my responsibilities is to come up with crafts to do for the big "celebrations" throughout the year. This includes all three kindergarten classes, so approximately 65 or so kids. While our first celebration isn't until the end of October I thought I would get a head start and start brainstorming some ideas (thank goodness for Pinterest!) 

Besides being fun there are some things that I have to consider when planning an activity. The craft must: 

1) be age-appropriate and doable by kindergarteners; 

2) be completed in an allotted amount of time (in this case, one hour); 

3)be budget-friendly (doing the crafts via donations by the parents...either asking for supplies or cash) and;

5) meet the core standards for the kindergarten grade level. (The core standard for this particular art project is to create a 3-dimensional object.)

At the suggestion of a girlfriend (Thanks, Betsy!) my girls and I tried making some finger puppet ghosts. The end product turned out adorable! We showed our samples to Momo's teacher and she loved them as well! So I guess you can say this craft is mommy, teacher, and kid-approved! I am looking forward to sharing this with the rest of the kindergarteners in October!  

Here are our little ghosts:

The total time to make the ghosts? Less than 30 minutes! (Allow for more time if working with more kids.) Here are some more pics of the process:

Important note! While the supply list shows "Plaster of Paris" you need to have plaster STRIPS/cloths/bandages.  The packaging I bought looks like this:

There were other brands/sizes to choose from (please note, these are Hawaii prices - hopefully you can find the plaster cloths cheaper where you live!):

Hope this helps! Now go and make some little ghosts! :)

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Win a Happy Hapa Apron!

(Happy Hapa? What is that? Well, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for friends of mine that had no idea that I sew) it is my Etsy shop! I also have a shop Facebook page too. Come say "hi!" Keep reading to see how you can win something from me!)

My girlfriend from Sew Fierce Boutique and A Pocket Full of Buttons is celebrating her shop anniversary with a giveaway! Several shops have donated items to win, including myself! Here is your chance to win not one, but possibly several beautiful, handmade items!

Here's what you can win from my shop: 

 

Other items up for grabs include beautiful dresses, headbands, gift certificates and much more!

The giveaway is open until Monday, August 6th so go enter! Be sure to read the rules first, then start commenting to win! Good luck....and congratulations to Sew Fierce Boutique!

PS - Planning on updating my own shop very soon. Have a bunch of stuff to sell but still need to upload pictures! ACK!

Words of Advice for my Kindergartener

Yesterday was the first day of school for my fifth grader. Today was the first day of school for my kindergartener! Technically it was only a parent orientation/student assessment but try telling that to Momo.

As promised I made Momo a cake (see previous blog post for the story). Well, it's not REALLY a cake....it's actually a pan of brownies but that's what she wanted...

 

.....with sprinkles, of course. But she doesn't want to EAT the sprinkles. She just wants them on the brownies. I'm sure all moms understand.

As I send her off to school I think of all the advice that I should be giving her: be nice; make friends; listen to your teacher, etc. Instead, I think these are more important: (limiting it to five. Trust me....I can think of a whole lot more!)

1. DO NOT SAY "DONKEYBALLS" (like you did to your swim teacher yesterday).

2. DO NOT take your shorts/skirt off the minute you walk into your classroom like you do at home.

3. If you have to poop while in school do a good job of cleaning your butt. Nobody else is going to clean it for you. (Also - if you have to poop.....please don't announce it to everyone and/or show them your work.)
 
4. Do not threaten to do karate on anybody. 
 
5. Do not expect Pulehu ribs and a Diet Dr. Pepper for lunch (like you requested at Play School).
 
And those are the ones I got off the top of my head. Just imagine if I put a lot of thought into it!

**********************************

 
Update: She had a great day and did none of the above mentioned. One of the first things she said was, "Mom....they didn't take us to the cafeteria! They didn't feed us!" As well as, "Mom! I didn't get into trouble today!"

Sounds like a great start to me!
 

 
 

First Day of School!

Goodbye, amazing summer vacation! Hello, new school year!

Yes, you read that right. School has started here in Hawaii! Seems like just yesterday I wrote my last blog post, "It is Officially Summer!" It's hard to believe summer has come and gone!

While there were moans and groans about school starting there is one thing that Kailani looks forward to on the first day of school, CAKE! 

It's a tradition we started back in kindergarten. Every year I make her a cake with the new grade number. Since she is entering the 5th grade this year (WHOA) her cake has the number "5" on it spelled out with her favorite candy, Hershey's Cookie and Cream Drops:

This year I actually have to make TWO cakes, since my youngest will be starting kindergarten! Momo starts tomorrow, so I will post her pics then! 

Check out Kailani's first day of school cakes....all the way back to kindergarten!

 

It is Officially Summer!

Yay! School is out! Let the summertime fun begin! 

In addition to getting back into the groove of blogging (fingers crossed) I am planning on doing a lot more of this:

Lots of fun in the sun! Time to stock up on sunscreen!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Hair Cut Nap

Crazy girl fell asleep while getting her hair cut! I ended up having to hold her head still so the girl could finish her cut! 

For more Wordless Wednesday pictures visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Gum Pole

 

Not nearly as beautiful as a gum tree.....

*Shudder*

For more Wordless Wednesday pics check out 5 Minutes for Mom

Pinterest Project: Silhouette Hair Bow Holder

Did you see my last blog post about my daughter's Harajuku party ? It was good fun! She received a ton of new fashion accessories (her favorite thing!) and now has quite the hair bow collection! I decided I needed to find a way to store them all, although I am she would prefer to wear as many as she could at one time:

Pinterest to the rescue! There were so many amazing ideas but one particularly caught my attention. A silhouette bow holder! (Click on the link to get the tutorial.) Check out our befores and afters:

I love the polka dot fabric used in the original tutorial but since we live in Hawaii I thought a Hawaiian/Aloha print would be more fitting. The girls picked their fabric from my stash and then painted their frames. (Thank you, Walmart for the $5.00 frames!)

It was a fun project! But now my girls want MORE hair bows!

Thanks to Jessica from "Sew Homegrown" for the step-by-step tutorial!

After the fact: I noticed that Kailani's face (blue background) should have been turned a slight bit more towards the camera....causing her silhouette to be off a bit. Of course I am going to obsess about it! (Shake it off....shake it off!)

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Harajuku Girls Party!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my youngest, who just turned five!

For about a year now Momo has been planning her birthday party. Up until the last minute she wanted an adopt-a-puppy party, like the one we threw for her big sister years ago. I was already in the planning stages when I came up with another idea: how about a Harajuku Girls birthday party?

Not sure what a Harajuku Girl is? Without getting all technical, Harajuku is town in Japan known for it's street fashion. Think combat boots and a prom dress....and that's putting it mildly. Harajuku become even more popular with Gwen Stefani and her back up singers/dancers she called "Harajuku Girls." I've had the pleasure of hanging out in Harajuku as a teen when we lived in Japan, and since my kiddo already tries to dress like one, why not?

The next question was WHERE? We don't have the room at home so we opted to have her party at a local karaoke joint. PERFECT!

 

My girlfriend (from LiCa Hawaii)made me some tissue pom poms to hang from the ceilings. Gorgeous! I plan to hang them in the girls bedroom next!

The party gave me an excuse to finally buy the 4-pack of miniature vases that Target sells. I put cherry blossoms strands in each one to decorate the tables. The party guests also got to take one home as a party favor:

 

I also made a Hello Kitty inspired bow for each of the kids:

So kawaii!

We asked our party guests to come dressed up as a Harajuku Girl....and they did! Their outfits ROCKED and their hairstyles were amazing!

Momo and her big sister wore wigs:

 There was also some crimped hair and big, beautiful bows:

Colorful hair extensions:

And even hair that was constructed into a heart!

It wouldn't be a karaoke party without some singing! Not that it was ALWAYS singing. Give some little girls a microphone and anything can happen! Regardless it was always fun (or funny!)

 

Some of the singing must've have been better than others because:

Even some of the moms got in on the karaoke action but since I value my life I won't post any of those pics! :)

Of course we had to have accessory stations! Tattoos, hair extensions, bows, and nail polish! The older girls were a great help! 

 

 

When they weren't singing everyone was still having fun:

One of my most favorite pictures of the night is probably this one. The birthday girl isn't even in it.....she was on the far right and was actually falling off the couch when I took this pic! But every one of the girls was doing their own thing:

A Very Happy Birthday Girl!

It was finally time for cake! Well, cupcakes. Originally we were going to do something different - have a doughnut cake! I even bought some miniature doughnut baking pans and we tested it out. My girls had a fun time decorating the donuts:

Funfetti Double Glazed Miniature Donuts 

But while shopping at Sam's Club Momo saw these and wanted them:

Less work for mama!

  

I usually have the kids wait until we get home to open gifts but before I knew it gifts started getting passed back and forth and Momo was happily mobbed by her friends:

Lots of FUN, COOL, accessories for the accessory queen! Hair clips, clothes, hats, jewelry, make-up, etc! She especially loved her hats:

Pug Hat made by Lica Hawaii

For party favors each of the girls took home their vase, Hello Kitty bow, and a bento box (versus "goodie bag". Their bento boxes were filled with Japanese candy, snacks, origami, etc. Oh! And a Ring Pop....because it is girlie, of course!

On our way home Momo said, "Mama....my birthday party was so much fun!"

Awwwww. :)

She was EXHAUSTED: 

And so was I!

Birthday party - SUCCESS!


Happy Birthday, baby girl! :)