Unlike last year’s fête, we decided to celebrate the boys’ birthdays by hanging out with friends at the park, and having a mini party, just the four of us, back at our home. The party theme this year (because no matter how small the party, there must be a theme!) was rockets and robots.

Following this very hard-to-understand tutorial, Ryan built a rocket launcher out of PVC pipe, and we constructed rockets out of rolled-up newspaper ads. The entire project cost just a few bucks and the results are pretty awesome.

Back at home, we celebrated Dax’s birthday (three days after big brother Kai!) with a robot-themed setup in our backyard. I strung up lights to emulate a starry galaxy, set up a little activity table, and attempted to make tin foil robot hats, masks, and antennas with the kids. But they were much more into clearing the table and playing with the wind-up robots sitting out. These boys of mine! At least Kai enjoyed the new, and adorably illustrated Wall-E book we got him, Lots of Bots. And since I’m plugging a robot book, I might as well plug my robot invites. End plug.

We finished off the evening by singing to Dax and watching him devour his dairy-free, egg-free, sugar and corn-syrup laden Rice Krispie Treat cake. Happy birthday Dax-Man, also known as Dax-asaurus, or Dax-traction, or Dax-tronic, or Dax-atacdyl! Yes, we call him all of these names.

It was a happy, happy Saturday spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Auntie Lindy & Uncle Jay. To celebrate Kai’s birthday, Grandma and Grandpa got us all tickets to ride on a vintage train that took us to a pumpkin patch in Santa Paula. Firsts for Kai that day included a pony ride, a carousel ride (he finally got over some fears from years past!), and getting shot in the face with a fog blower. Nice!

I was quietly, though visibly, suffering the effects of sleep-deprivation from the night before, and the night before that, but there were lots of laughs, giggles, and smiles. It was a beautiful day and I can’t tell you happy it makes me to see how much the boys adore their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Happy birthday to our Kai bug!

That evening, Ryan and I took full advantage of Lindy and Jay staying with us and went on a date to see Where the Wild Things Are. I seriously could not get through a single day without reading someone’s update on Facebook on how awful the movie was, so I was dying to see what everyone’s critique was all about.

We actually ended up loving it. Full of metaphors and symbolism, it was beautifully done. Parts had me tearing up, other parts laughing. There is a definitive, tangible sadness to the movie, but an equal amount of sweetness and rough play that a mother of two boys can totally understand. And the ending is happy of course! So see it. But leave the kids at home.

We had a very lovely evening socializing and enjoying pumpkin-based dishes at our annual pumpkin party for all the ladies from church.

Despite some major glitches along the way (an entire string of lights shattering, missing tablecloths, missing committee members, and so on), everything came together perfectly at the end. We had to work within a ridiculously tight budget, so decorations were handmade or bought on the cheap, and I took full advantage of the outdoor patio/courtyard area our relief society room opens up to. To elevate the “budget” decor, I relied heavily on lighting, hence all the tea lights, luminaries, and string bulb lights.

This undertaking would not have been possible without an awesome planning committee (those that didn’t go AWOL on me) and amazing, amazing friends that came early and stayed late to help, just because. And husbands, I did not forget about you. Your prowess in hanging lights and managing extension cords is worthy of a gift certificate to any electronic store of your choice.

Resources and design notes:
Pumpkins – Martha Stewart tutorial here.

Luminaries – Vellum paper rolled and held together with double-sided tape. Paper trees cut out of black paper, taped onto battery-operated tea lights, then inserted into vellum luminary to create a spooky tree silhouette.

Battery-operated Tea lights – Best price at Costco; 24 lights for $12. Otherwise, order from Oriental Trading.

String bulb lights – Borrowed from dear friends Kaleene and Shawn. But can be found at Target, $8.99 for 25 feet. I know this because we had to buy them a new string to replace the one we broke!

Fall leaves – $1 for pack of 50, dollar section at Target.

Was noticing in my iPhoto library how pretty all these recent Holga shots looked next to each other.

And did you know there is such a thing as a Holga photography class? Coolness, right? But if distance is factor for you as it is for me, here are some tips to go DIY-styles with your toy camera.

Gray paint is magical. Crayon marks, mouth marks, 4ft tall wall etchings with a paper clip…all gone with a can of gray paint! I am overly excited to paint the rest of my home.

Our next big Relief Society activity is only a week away and my mind has been pretty preoccupied with all the party details, so I wanted to design an invitation that had no post-printing work involved: no folding, ribbon tying, stuffing into envelopes, etc. The result is a full-color, double-sided, 5″ square invitation.

And big props to my darling friend Angela who happily obliged to get dressed up and nails painted red (and hands dirtied with pumpkin guts!) for our little photo shoot.

A roundup of things that stood out to me this week:

Pretty plates – I know exactly where I’d hang these in my kitchen.

Typographic calendar – Love the design, love the concept.

School and office supplies – This store makes me wish I can rummage through my grandma’s old house and take home with me items I took for granted growing up.

Vintage circus posters – Isn’t the typography rad?

This dress – I’m a sucker for clothing with animals printed on it. P.S.: The price tag is ridiculous.

And last, but not least, my ultimate favorite thing this week:

Testimony about the Book of Mormon (QuickTime video) – This year marks the 10th year I’ve been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This talk by Jeffrey R. Holland touched me to the core and was especially poignant because the Book of Mormon is very dear to me, and was instrumental in my decision to join the church. Hearing his testimony made me recall all the feelings I had when investigating the church, and rekindled that same fire I felt reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

{Pic of Kai above trying to hop into some beached kayaks at Harbor Cove}

I heard them perform live on Morning Becomes Eclectic a couple weeks ago, and instantly fell in love with their sound.

As for the kids, their top songs right now are the Star Wars theme song and Ghostbusters.

Today is a lazy, sick, pho-craving day for me. I was hoping Kai would go down for a nap so I could too, but I still hear him pulling toys out and making airplane sound effects. Guess our lunch of sugary, mini-pizookies wasn’t such a great idea. But wouldn’t this be a great idea for a party? I just spooned cookie dough into muffin cups, placed cups onto cookie sheet, underbaked slightly, then topped off with a scoop of ice cream. Would get extra style points with sprinkles on top.

I celebrated the completion (for now) of my store by indulging in cupcakes from Vanilla Bake Shop that Raya picked up from LA. Not only are they “Mmmm! Ishes!” as Dax would say, but their mini cupcakes will compel you clap your hands and say yay.

And. This is the most awkward segue ever. But now I’m going to tell you to enter the giveaway for my goods at Simple Blueprint: two winners, any item in my store for your choosing. Good luck, and huge thanks to Joanna for being a kind host!

ENTER GIVEAWAY!

Ryan had Thursday off to make up for an extra day at work this week, so we went down to Long Beach for fun. Still can’t believe everything we managed to pack into the day; Saw the ship the Queen Mary, went on an old Russian submarine, drove through the incredible Port of Long Beach as well as through Retro Row (vintage shopping galore), picked up some supplies for my Etsy shop, visited the beach, ate at Five Guys and a frozen yogurt place, and lastly Ikea, because us Venturans would never miss out on a chance to drop into Ikea if we happen to drive right by it. Plus, it’s tradition to pick up a couple of packages of pretty napkins.

I kiss his cheeks and smoosh his toes to my face probably ten times a day. It usually ends with him slapping or kicking me in the face.