Little House links.

http://homeschooling.suite101.com/article.cfm/little_house_on_the_prairie_art_project_ideas

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/56505/planning_a_themed_birthday_party_for.html?cat=25


http://www.makingarrangementsblog.com/party-proposals-little-house-on-the-prairie-party/#more-2593

For anyone thinking of doing a similar party, I am posting these few links to the websites I used to help me plan Honor's party.

Little House on the Prairie birthday party.

Today was Honor-May's 'Little House on the Prairie' birthday party. My first tip for a successful childrens party is to hire a couple of flippin' brilliant adult helpers. In this case my good friend Lisa and Zoe the local Supernanny voluntered to become Mrs Oleson (actually Lisa was not very happy about that!) and Miss Beadle, the levely teacher of Walnut Grove. I, of course was Ma and Hubby was Pa... and we wore badges to prove it!.

Of course Ma and Pa were busy preparing for this for at least, hmmmmm 10 days beforehand. We put an advert on Freecycle for some hay bales and luckily a kind chap donated some which served very nicely as seating. The table is a pasting table with the legs cut down. We also had a CD of fiddler music playing in the background.

We started the Party with 'school' - groan! (You should have seen the kids faces!)

We have had a LOT of rain the last couple of days. The first activities were indoors. After being divided into two teams - the Lauras and the Nellys - the children were sent to school to do a wordsearch and a spelling bee. A spelling bee (for the English) is a spelling competition. I do not know why it is called a bee! The Nellys won.

After school the children had to do their chores. Well, that is how it was in 'Little House'. So far there were quite a few bemused faces as they wondered 'isn't this supposed to be a party?' but as they got stuck into making butter (shaking whipping cream vigorously in a lidded container) and washing very dirty baby clothes with bars of soap and a scrubbing brush it did look as though most of them were enjoying themselves. The competitive spirit had certainly kicked in and strangely enough the Nellys seemed to be the most determined to win. I was also amazed at how clean those girls got the baby's clothes. The Lauras only lost a point because there was a slight stain on one of the jumpers. But otherwise the girls got some very dirty clothes spotless!

After the 'chores' the teams did crafts - making peg dolls and lemonade. By now there were a few cries of 'is it time to eat yet?' Well, yes - nearly. The lemonade was put on the dining table. I had a box of Capri suns ready for those who might not like the lemonade but I think only 2 got used... and probably in addition to drinking the lemonade. I think kids are more likely to enjoy what they are eating/drinking if they have made it themselves.

After the food I announced the winners...

The Nellys! Typical! The losers, however, accepted their defeat (and their booby prize of a lemon) with good grace. The Nellys got a kit-kat!

I think everyone enjoyed themselves - I know I did!


Ps. I have some much better, really fab, pics than these but as I don't have parental permission to post them, had better leave them out. Must say though that I loved the outfits that the girls wore and one of them even came with the Nellie ringlet hairdo. Cool!

Bon soir!

Oui, c'est un soir bon.

Just getting in the mood for the impending Eurovision Song Contest later this month. Yes. May is the month for many great things; typically devoted to Mary, bluebells, putting out the summer bedding flowers, my birthday, Honor-May's birthday (and that is how I chose her name... in honor of Mary) and... the Eurovision Song Contest. Well - I like it, okay?

Anyway. Hubby and I are still busy, busy, busy, preparing for our lovely little half-pint's party tomorrow. I've just finished preparing the wordsearches while watching Britain's Got Talent and Hubby is cooking more drumsticks and sausages... because when they came out of the oven they smelled so good we scoffed a few too many!

Honor had another party to go to today. T'was a skating party. There she is looking a little worried. I sent Henry over to Grandma's for a sleepover (so we could get a bit more done.) When I popped in later he came to the door wearing her gold earrings! Bless!

Party plans.

I'm a bit more relaxed about the birthday party, now. The plan is coming together. Just a bit disappointed that it looks as though the soap making stuff that I ordered online won't be here in time. So a contingency plan is needed. Perhaps we'll do some cooking instead.

At least I have a fair idea of what we are going to do, which is more than can be said for the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem parties.... hee, hee, hee! (see what I did there?)

Happy Birthday HM!

It is big sister's 9th birthday today. She got lots of books. I bought her the last Percy Jackson adventure, my Mum bought her a lovely box set of classics such as 'Treasure Island' and 'The Railway Children' and Hubby's Mum bought her another box set of all the Enid Blyton 'Adventure' series. As I've mentioned before, her party is on Sunday. Today we kept the celebrating quiet. After the younger two had one to bed, we cuddled up on the sofa together and watched a film with a choc-ice. I hope she won't be too tired at school tomorrow.

Here is Hope playing with her 'kitchen treasure basket'. It can be difficult getting on with things with a toddler hanging on to your leg, but this helps.

Small successes

1.) (Quite a big success, actually) I voted in the General Election. I haven't done this for many years. However this time I've made the effort to research the manifestos and while I (like most people, I should imagine) can't find a party that fully represents what I'd like for this country, I did come to a conclusion. Without being specific (!) I decided that while I think Gordon Brown possibly has the best strategy for coping with the recession; to vote for what I believe in the most and that would be marriage and the family unit. Even though, rather pessimistically, I think it is probably too late to bring British society back to the ideal of marriage, I felt that it was right to support it with my vote. I think the Government could save a lot of money spent on benefits and 'initiatives' to improve the welfare and prospects of deprived children if they simply supported married couples who work hard to support their families and inspire their children.

2.) I've managed to organise some bits and pieces for Honor's 'Little House' birthday party at the weekend, including getting a CD called 'The Best of Country Fiddle'.

3.) I've slept quite well!

Busy Bank Holiday

It certainly has been a very busy bank holiday. Aren't they always? Do we simply spend three whole days relaxing or do we think 'right, three days coming up. Let's see how much we can accomplish in that time'? Well here's the thing. Maybe it is Hubby that hopes for a bit of a rest but after 11 years married to me probably has come to dread the long weekend. Certainly something for me to think about, particularly as there is another one coming up very soon. But in the meantime I'm very delightedly posting about what my dear Hubby did accomplish this weekend.

Firstly though, we did have some fun when his relatives came to town for a family celebration. My super-dooper sister-in-law brought us a belated Christmas present. Look at this! A 'Little House on the Lees' house sign. So now we are official! What a lovely present. I nearly cried.

And now to the hard work. Lots of birthdays at the moment. Mine is coming up soon and this is one of Hubby's pressies for me. Another little gravelled area for my swing seat at the bottom of the garden.

Honor and cousin Eve are also celebrating their birthdays this week.

More presents were exchanged.

And here's the family party we went to. Looks like somebody had too much marshmallow!

So pretty!

So tired!

N'night!