3 is 5! Doc McStuffins Party on a Budget

Our third child recently turned five.  With four kiddos, we decided early on to only have big parties when the kids turn 1, 5, 10 and other significant dates to be determined.  Maybe 13 or 16?  We haven't gotten that far yet!

A Doc McStuffins party seemed perfect for the five year old.  She loves the character as do many other little ones her age.  We allowed her to invite 5 children, and along with her own siblings and a few other siblings who tagged along with invited guests.  In all we had 13 kids in our home on a cold winter day!  Here are some photos...

The invitation was made to look like a lab coat.  I cut an 8.5 x 11 sheet of white cardstock in half  down to 8.5 x 5.5.  I scored each end at 2 and 1/8 and folded them in to meet at the center.  I then folded the top corners down just a bit to make a lapel.  I used a small button punch to make the purple buttons from textured cardstock and the Wild Cards cartridge to cut the pink stethescope with a Cricut.  I cut the stethescope in half and glued each end down under the lapel. 

  

Inside I adhered purple and white striped paper to the center panel to resemble Doc McStuffins' shirt. I printed the important party info on pink cardstock and matted it to patterned paper.  I printed "5th Birthday" and cut it and a larger purple piece out with Nestibilities scalloped circle dies using a Big Shot.

We had quite a few treats including cake pops, chocolate covered pretzels made to look like thermometers, cupcakes, and a huge bandaid cookie.

I made the bandaid cookie in a large casserole dish and a smaller 8x8 dish, with icing for the heart in the center.  It doesn't really look like a bandaid but the kids ate it anyway!

The personalized cake pops were purchased from Do Me a Favor by Mijah. Each child and a few lucky adults were given a cake pop to take home.

We had healthy food too!  Apples and oranges, fruit salad, a green salad, a veggie platter and pizza of course.

I planned several activites, with much of the inspiration coming from Pinterest.  Each invited guest was given a doctor coat made from a small man's t-shirt cut up the middle (7 shirts for $12 at Walmart). I purchased clear plastic badge holders and cut cardstock to fit inside. Each guest wrote their name and inserted it into the holder. I attached these to the doctor coats with cute round paperclips from Walmart. 

Each kid decorated a purple "doctor bag" with foam stickers and markers.  The bags come in packages of 3 at DollarTree.  At the end of the party I stuffed the bags with a Big Book of Boo Boos (dollar section at Target), coloring pages, a travel pack of tissues (packs of 8 at DollarTree) and an assortment of bandaids, including Doc McStuffins themed bandaids.

The kids then made a stethescope from a headband (packs of 7 at DollarTree), ribbon and foam circles and hearts punched out with paper punches.  After making these, each invited guest received a clipboard (dollar section of Target) and a Doc McStuffins pencil (packs of 4 from DollarTree) with a healthy check up list.  I also had several coloring pages on hand.  All of the printables were free from the DisneyJr. website.

We also prepared a "the doctor is in/out" craft for the kids to make with popsicle sticks, but that proved to be a bit too ambitous for 5 year olds.  My almost 10 year old made one, but the younger kids glued about 3 popsicle sticks together (out of the 27 they needed) and quickly lost interest.

In the end, a fun time was had by all, especially the birthday girl!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Lil' Miss has private violin lessons, group violin lessons, private Spanish lessons, dance class and Girl Scouts. The Little Guy has private piano lessons and soccer practice. Lil' Cherub has a toddler class at the library and a gym class at the Y. We also have a preschool group that meets twice a month, a bi-weekly playgroup, a weekly co-op, and a playgroup that meets every other week. And of course, there is church, including weekly Bible Study.

We have so much packed into our schedule that it is a miracle we actually get schooling in! God somehow works that out each week. Not only have we found time to get all of the 3 Rs done (and other fun subjects) but we also manage to include daily practice for their musical instruments and Spanish.

With a life this busy, the year certainly flew by! I do hope that before the year is out, hubby and I will find time to spend together. We have been on two, maybe three dates this year. Our 8 year anniversary, a wedding, and out to dinner once. And I'm almost ashamed to say, we have not had a night alone since before our first child was born! Now that the baby is weaned and independent and bossing everyone around, maybe we can leave her with the grandparents and go away for a weekend sometime soon. Or better yet, stay in for a weekend!

Hope everyone is finding time to cherish the ones they love this holiday season!

Tiny Troubles

I'm so frustrated.

Lil' Miss is in a Suzuki program. They use tiny instruments to teach tiny children how to make beautiful music. We had a rough first year - with Lil' Miss being disagreeable in her private lessons, uncooperative in her group lessons, and downright defiant in our practices at home. We did not want to throw in the towel, thus teaching her to quit, but by the end of the year we had definitely decided that we would NOT register for another year of torture.

Well.... over the summer, her private teacher assured us that Lil' Miss was on the brink of excellence. She apparently has a "natural talent" that is going to "take off at the speed of light" once she gets the attitude stuff under control. I certainly could not see this talent, but then again, I never played the violin. Clarinet from grade school through high school - but never touched a string instrument in my life.

We had a real heart to heart with Lil' Miss - as much as one can have with a five year old. She chose to continue and changed her behavior to show that she was serious. One of her little group classmates even said, "Last year she didn't do anything and now she's doing everything!" He received quite the formidable glare from Lil' Miss.

Today, however, she did not want to practice. She really doesn't want to any day, but will usually comply and then feel good about it in the end. Today she dug her heels in and refused. At every request there was a whine, groan or complaint. "Please fix your bow position." "Whhhhyyyyyy????" "Get your first finger on the A string please." "It iiiiissssss!" "How is your pinky supposed to be on your bow?" "I dooon't knooooow." Most certainly not like it is in the shot I took of her above.

After half an hour of this, I gave up. Asked her to put everything away and I left the room to wash dishes. She happily skippped away, read through a bag of library books and then began playing with her baby sister. I wasn't really mad before, but now I am fuming. She thinks she can get away with not practicing and just go play? But what am I supposed to do? Trudge through the practice while she whines and draws it out for over an hour? Should I forget the whole thing and try tomorrow? Should I save my sanity and just quit altogether?

I finally calmed down, called her back in, and got her to finish the practice. It ended on a good note...but seriously, did it have to be so difficult? I pray daily for guidance with the kids, but maybe I need to begin praying before each practice. Maybe we should start each practice out by praying together! That would not only teach her a valuable lesson about prayer, but also hopefully put us in the right spirit to get through it successfully. Hmmm...it took me having to write this long post to figure that out!