Dr. Suess 1st Birthday

The milestone has come and gone...the 1st birthday.  So bitter sweet.  My baby may be growing up but it is so much fun to watch.  He is changing everyday.  To celebrate I went all out Suess!  Everything was homemade by either myself or someone else with the exception of the cake and cupcakes which were provided by a local bakery.  

 Here is the Birthday Boy himself.  For his outfit I appliqued a one made out of the Dr. Suess Frabric I got to make his birthday banner.  On the back I placed a picture of the cat in the hat. 

 To make his sweet little hat I traced a cardboard party hat onto the Suess Fabric then stitched a seam down the middle and hot glued the fabric over the cardboard hat.  The red fuzzy balls I just picked up at my local Michaels.  

 These are the Adult Party favors that were handed out to the guest.  These were a lot of fun to make.  I bought the jumbo size marsh mellows and covered them red on the bottom blue on the top with melted candy melts (from Michaels).  I put blue sprinkles on top for a little sparkle.  They were supposed to be like Thing 1 and Thing 2.  The white circle was a white candy melt that I just briefly placed on the heat to melt just enough to stick to the red.  I then used food coloring pens to right on the circle.

On the back of the card was a Suess quote and thank you from Miles.  Everything was printed off of my home computer. 

The kids party favor was a packet of homemade soap in the shape of a Red Fish and Blue Fish.  A quote from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was on the back.  The soap smelled like watermelon and blueberry.  I purchased these from Mommy's Little Critters.  She has a ton of shapes and scents to choose from.  

This is the one of the banners I sewed for the party.  The Miles banner made out of the polka dot Suess Fabric.  I also placed Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the mantle chasing the fish bowl.  Again these were printed on my home computer and just glued to scrap construction paper that I had.  

This is the happy birthday banner that I appliqued and sewed out of the Dr. Suess Material.  

Guest were asked to take a favor and write a special message to the birthday boy in Dr. Suess Happy Birthday to you.  

The main beverage was Pink Yink Ink Drink (pink lemonade).  Each food item had a sign stating what it was, a picture from that particular book, and a quote as well from the book.  

The smash cake and cupcakes were purchased from Fiddle Cakes here in Nashville.  They were incredibly delicious.  Yum, Yum, YUM!!!!  I purchased a variety of flavors and icings.  

The food table.  Green Eggs were served (deviled eggs with food coloring), cheeseburger sliders, Truffula Fruits (fruit salad) from the Lorax, Poodles Eating Noodles (Pesto Pasta Salad) from Fox in Socks.  Yertles Turtles (Chocolate Turtles) from Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.  

 The turtles were super easy and VERY good.  You lay out pretzels on a cookie sheet place Rollo Chocolate candies on top place in the oven at 350 for 2 to 3 minutes.  Pull them out of the oven and place a Pecan on top pushing down.  You have to eat at lease one hot.  This very easy treat has such a nice balance of salty and sweet.

For the Green Eggs just make your deviled eggs as you usually would and had green food coloring.

WHAT A FUN DAY WE HAD
!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicago in August Part II

On my husbands day off we decided to go on a boat tour.  This is something we have both always wanted to do, so we decided to bite the bullet and be tourist for the day.  We decided to ride on the Architectural Cruise.  We learned a lot about the buildings situated on the river and a lot of interesting facts about the river its self.  The cost was 26.00/person for an hour ride.  Here is the kicker though.  I was extremely disappointed to find out that we had to pay 22.00 for our 8 month old who slept through the entire cruise on our lap.  I just felt like that was a steep price to pay.  Snacks and drinks are available but be prepared to pay for those as well.  Also be prepared if it is the summer time you will be sitting on the top deck exposed to the heat of the day.  I found myself in the lower air conditioned part with little Grumpencamper most of the time which was nice, but I missed out on seeing a lot of the tops of the buildings.  I got a lot of half views.

Wrigley Building

Chicago Style Pizza was next on our agenda.  You just CAN NOT leave Chicago without a slice or tow, no you can't leave without a whole pie.  One of Chicago's finest and most well known is Giordonos.  There isn't much to say other than to just try it.  there are locations all over the city.  Making a reservation is a smart idea if you can.  One nice thing is when you get there you can order your pizza while you wait for your table.  So its already been cooking when you sit down.

Of course one of Chicago's main attractions is Navy Pier.  If it is your first time I definitely recommend going.  I made a trek there one day on our walk.  I have to say I was disappointed.  I think maybe because it is so crowded with tourist and has become so commercialized  I would like to try out the children's museum there one day but little Grumpencamper is still too young for that so I skipped it.  Let me know if you have tried it out.  

One tourist attraction I do love and never get sick of is the John Hancock Building.  Check out the link.  It has some of the greatest views of the city and I would for sure recommend going up at night. General admission for 12+ is 15.00, 3-11 is 10.00 and under 3.00 is FREE!  They are open 9:00a.m to 11:00pm last ride up is 10:30pm so you have plenty of time to catch dinner and head on up for a romantic end to your night.  You can stay inside or venture outside on the observation deck.  

In my opinion one of the greatest cities in America.  We visit often so I will save some of the sites for another time.  Coming up is a great trip to Austin, Texas.  I have lots and lots of food recommendations for this city.

 

DIY---Clothes Pin Chandelier

Below is another Craft from the Camper or at least inspired by a trip on the camper.

I have been working hard on a lot of different crafts which is why I have been so absent from my blog.  This is a taste of what I have been doing.  

Clothes Pin Chandelier 

At first glance did you know what it was made of?  Honestly.  While my husband and I were at Austin City Limits this year we saw a 3 tier chandelier like this.  I have been wanting a chandelier for the back wall of my house and my husband said, "we can make something like that, no problem."  This was the perfect solution because I wanted something a little different and rustic.  So when we returned we headed to Lowes and Home Depot to collect supplies.  The cross bracing is plumbing pipes.  Chicken wire gives it its shape and then you go to town putting the clothes pins in the empty squares.  If I get enough interest I'll post some more pictures so you can see up close exactly how this was done. 

At night I love to sit and stare at the chandelier as though its the Christmas tree.  The clothes pins create an illusion of wood shingles and as the light shines through it projects some incredible shapes on the walls. 

Chicago August 2011

This will be a 2 part post since I am so far behind and want to get something posted for my readers.  With this post being about Chicago there is no way that I could write a short post.  There is just too much to share.  So here is Part I.

Ahhhh Chicago.  One of the great loves of my life.  Such a great city.  I had the privalege of living in Chicago for a while after college and it holds a special place in my past.  The "Grumpencamper" pulled into the city after we spent a week in Wisconsin for the Country Thunder Music Festival. 

We were there for Lollapalooza 2011 in Grant Park.  We had a lot of fun camping right in the Middle of Grant Park.  We were parked right next to the dog park which kept Miles very entertained.  He sat in the window off and on all day watching the dogs.  

While Jamie worked Miles and I explored the city on our own.  I will always recommend the public transportation system (CTA) and will never recommend renting a car.  Even with a jogging stroller it was very easy to manage.  One note though is that you make sure on the subway map you look to see the handicap symbol next to the stop.  If there is a symbol then there will be an elevator to get your stroller upstairs.  If there isn't one then its a rough climb to the top....trust me!

One of the first things we had to see was the new addition to the Magnificent Mile.  

The Marilyn Monroe

 She is located right across from the Wrigley Building just before the river or after depending on which direction you are coming from.  

One of the things I love most about Chicago in the summer time is that there is always something to do whether it is Monday or Saturday.  Every night we would take a stroll up and down Michigan Ave and stop by Dancing in the Park.  A swing band would play and people of all ages would be out dancing under the stars.  Its free to dance and free to watch.  We had such a good time watching the couples twirl across the dance floor.  Good clean American fun!  

(excuse the poor quality I only had my phone camera on me)

A Day at Gentry Farm (Franklin, TN)

The punkin with the pumpkins... 

($6 for everyone 2 and over pumpkins are $4 for lg and $2 for sm)

Two New Planters

Crafts from the Camper--Formula Planters

So I have had this empty shelf in my house for 2 and a half years.  I've been trying to figure out what to put there.  I knew I wanted something green so I decided to put some sort of planter there.  One day on the camper while fixing my son a bottle I was inspired.  I thought maybe I could do something with a formula can.  I took the label off, grabbed some scrap fabric placed it around the can and BAM there was my new planter.  I went to Michael's when we got home and purchased some 5.00 fake plants to pop in my new planters.  So far I really like them.  Picture to follow...