Quebec? Si!

I was so lucky to go on a trip with my mom and sisters this July to Quebec. Quebec is really, really old, and very pretty. And, people speak french there. Because of the break-neck speed of our summer I didn't do a lick of research before hopping on the plane to go there - and I was totally taken aback (and delighted by!) the frenchi-ness of the city. All the french being spoken unleashed the motley barrage of high school french I have carefully tucked away in my little brain - but unfortunately not before I answered si a couple of times to some horrified shop-keepers. Ah, american me.

my pretty little sister

Minding the unruly: 8 year old party

I was excited to throw my little-now-big 8 year-old a party this year, since last year we had to forego (it turns out you don't get a birthday party in our family if you cut all of your little sister's hair off). It was so fun and I was so, so proud of her for having a scissor-free year.

(a blind-folded birthday girl)

Elements of a successful party in our household include a very very loose theme (in this case, color), lots of balloons, games (bobbing for donuts - hands tied behind backs; button button who has the button; smashing dyed eggs filled with glitter; freeze dance); and candy. What kid doesn't love candy?

(my daughter is a cheater! look at those hands.)

a toast to the birthday girl! thanks for being such a delight, little one.

party poppers

Just a tiny bit of summer left for us - hooray for school and more peace and quiet, but boo for homework and the return of running around after school! Anyone else have a love/hate relationship with summer vacation? :)

Our last(-ish) summer project is my daughter's birthday party this week. We made invitations inspired by these festive party poppers...

...out of toilet paper rolls, tissue paper, wrapping paper, glue, and string. These are pretty simply constructed and you probably don't need me to show you how we did ours but just in case, I will.

Cover one end with a little square of tissue paper glued down around the edges of the tube (I used hot glue)...

and then fill the tube with confetti and a skinny little invitation.

Before you glue tissue paper on the other end of the tube to seal it up, poke a little hole through the tissue, thread your string through, and tie a big knot (this will be the pull string, to open the popper).

Glue the tissue paper on the other end of the tube, with the string hanging down outside of the tube (I'm writing that because I totally glued one of the strings inside a tube by accident).

Once both ends are covered with glued-down tissue paper, cover the body of the tube with wrapping paper (or any interesting paper you may have laying around). Voila! This could also be a fun idea for Valentine's Day*

*if your little one had a very small class.