Happy Father’s Day to all the daddies out there. Daddies make the world go ’round. Special shout out to my Daddy. Missing you!!!
Ajax thought the Father’s Day brunch looked too delicious to pass up. Totally busted him eating yogurt when I was setting the table!
As I mentioned before, we’ve moved. Please excuse the spotty posts as we adjust and get our little one settled into a new environment, new home, and new school.
photo//Erika Firm
It’s hard to believe my little one is already eight years old! This year for his birthday he requested a beach party scavenger hunt at Seaside Beach in Cardiff-by-the-Sea.
The kids got “a little” wet (some of them actually went swimming!) and had a blast searching for treasures like sea anemones, feathers, shells, lobster, surfers, swimming dogs, and whales. We spotted nearly everything on the list (including swimming dogs, excluding whales).
We celebrated with pizza, cupcakes and lemonade for the kiddos … and yummy cheese, warm coffee and cupcakes for the parents. One of the best parts of the party for me is the crazy easy setup and break down … all I brought was snacks, a drink bucket, a rollup portable table and some picnic blankets. I let Mother Nature do ALL the decorating! I did put together some goodie bags for the kids, with custom stickers, candy and a whoopie cushion. They are 8 year olds, after all. What could be better than sugar and a whoopie cushion?!
Happy birthday to my little guppy!
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A few weeks ago, just before school started, John and I invited the neighborhood kids (and their parents) over for a S’mores Party. It was a hot sticky mess, but also a ridiculous amount of fun.
I designed fun brown and white S’mores party invitations, as well as a few party accessories like brown cocktail napkins, but that’s as fancy as it got — overall the party was super low key. My dad made brats and we had a wagon full of beer, the kids ran around the yard playing tag, and patiently waited for dark so we could make s’mores. One of our neighbors brought over homemade marshmallows drizzled with caramel (we ate most of them before the fire was hot!).
Some s’mores party tips: 1. Buy cheap wood dowels at the hardware store for disposable s’mores sticks. 2. Keep a box of wet wipes nearby to help little ones get “unsticky.” 3. Put each ingredient in its own big jar with wide mouth, for easy access. 4. If you want to try something a little fancy: replace the Hershey’s bar with a Reese’s Cup. Trust me on this one.
//Top 3 photos by Erika Firm; bottom photos by Jessica Davis Photography
Hello friends. I Hope you are enjoying yourself this long holiday weekend. Take some time to relax, okay? I’m trying to follow my own advice and am planning an afternoon at the beach with friends Sunday, and brunch by the pool on Labor Day.
photos: TreeHouse Workshop
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Photos: Barbara Butler
For Father’s day, my dad got a new chainsaw. Having trimmed all the bushes and trees on the property, he decided to move on to a fun new project: building a treehouse for my son! John and my dad put in the floor over the weekend, built a rope ladder, and the all-imporant dumbwaiter (for loading snacks up to the fort).
I’m feeling inspired by these beautiful treehouses by TreeHouse Workshop and Barbara Butler. After seeing these, I think we may need to revisit the original blueprint for the treehouse:
Alexander drew a plan for his treehouse. Note the fun slide!
photo: Erika Firm
I’m in New York for the National Stationery Show (I promise to report trands and scenes from the show soon here and on my other gig, Creative-SoCal), but meanwhile just had to post these pictures from my son’s first grade classroom. The class read the book “It’s Okay to be Different” and then had the idea to write additional “pages” to the book. I love what they came up with!
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Yes, this really happened. I really did see a dog swinging on the swingset at the local park (Del Mar, Ca). That’s the pampered pooch’s master pushing him. He said the swing was part of his dog’s daily routine. I kid you not. My cousin (the adorable toddler in the photo) was not the only one confused by this. The doggie did seem amused, I must admit.
Only in Southern California.
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photos: Erika Firm
One of my most treasured childhood memories is making Valentines with my best friend in first grade. I can still visualize the pink construction paper hearts and the pots of paste.
This year my son is in first grade, and his class is planning a “friendship day” Valentine’s Day party, complete with exchanging of cards. I was super thrilled about the idea, and set aside an entire afternoon to make all the cards with him. I wrote all about it on Mom Inc. Daily, so please head over there to see more photos and read all about the process.
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Left: my son making Valentines. Right: one of his masterpieces.
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For the whole scoop and more photos, please read my post on Mom Inc. Daily.
Our son just turned 7 and we had a Root Beer Kegger! See part 1 for the inspiration; part 2 for the color palette; part 3 for party decorations/inspiration; part 4 for root beer kegger food ideas; and part 5 for root beer party prep.
The Root Beer Kegger was super fun! The kids got all sugared up, played Legos until the entire city was destroyed (all in good fun), ran around the house like maniacs and had a great time. Of course I did the typical party host thing, and totally forgot to take photos. Many thanks to all our guests, who picked up my camera and snapped nearly all of these shots for me!
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I know it sounds a little nutso, but we made two cakes. The chocolate frosted one at left is a gluten free vanilla cake with fresh strawberry filling (several of the guests have wheat allergies); the Bûche de Noël at right is my mom’s masterpiece. She used Grand Marnier to flavor the mascarpone frosting. Delicious!
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The buffet table. The big empty plate at front is where the Paninis were placed. It’s crazy, but all of these props (the wood stump boxes, the cardboard 3-d stars, the owl, the acorns, the faux moss) I already had in my collection, props from my trade show days.
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Favors for the kids: I found cute glass mugs, filled them with root beer barrel candies, and also gave each kid a bottle of root beer to take home. I tied a green and white striped paper straw, with their initial on the tag. Tip when preparing candy bags for kids: make sure each bag has EXACTLY the same number of candies in each bag, or tears may ensue. Photo at right is my breakfast treat day after the party: a root beer float. I was so busy chatting at the party I forgot to make myself one!
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I created these custom root beer kegger birthday party invitations, along with the matching coasters, tags, place cards, flags, cake toppers, stickers, favor bag labels, etc. Lets just say I get carried away with paper stuff. Of course I forgot to take photos of most of these things! Whoopsie!
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The kids, getting a heavy dose of sugar with root beer floats, before tackling the cake.
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Morning after the kegger, he had the breakfast of champions: leftover root beer from the keg, and day old cake.
Overall, it was a great party. A few problems: invites got lost in the mail, took us a while to figure out how to operate the keg (stop snickering… it’s different from the ones we had in college. I swear), and I totally forgot to take photos. But everyone had a good time, especially the birthday boy, so this root beer kegger was a smashing success!
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Our son is turning 7 and we’re having a Root Beer Kegger! See part 1 for the inspiration; part 2 for the color palette; part 3 for party decorations/inspiration; and part 4 for root beer kegger food ideas.
Tomorrow is the big party! Last night I freaked out a little because I realized that only people who live out of town rsvpd (no) to the party but nobody local had responded. After a few calls I found out that most locals had not received their invitations!!! I have no idea what happened, because I sent them all on the same day. I’m glad I sent email save the dates, so most everyone is able to come even though they didn’t receive invitations.
To keep the stress level down, and to make it easy for friends and family to help set up, today I began the party preparation. 1. I made a shopping list for the food I need to pick up this afternoon 2. I pulled out all the dishes and serving bowls that match the décor and stacked them in one spot to make it easier when I start setting the buffet 3. I bought all the party favors (tiny root beer barrel candies) and will package them up for favors later tonight while I watch tv 4. I assembled the “fancy” party favors for the kids 5. I stacked up extra invitations so I can use the paper to cut up and use for display tags 6. I set out all the glasses and paper straws (I had some green and white paper straws left over from an old photo shoot!) 7. I pulled out all the fancy cheese knives 8/9. I put sticky notes on all the serving pieces I plan to use tomorrow with the name of the food item that goes on it. Then I placed everything on the table in the correct spot. This will really help out tomorrow, so I a. remember what food item goes where and b. other people can help without too much supervision. Later today I will go out to pick up the food, bake a cake, and make the goodie bags. Tomorrow I’ll just have to assemble the sandwiches, salad, put out the cheese, pick up ice and party!
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How cute are these custom kids valentines from Cardstore.com? I love the cute owl one, and I know my son will love the train! What a cute touch to add your child’s photo to make it more personal?
*note the top right elephant valentine card is designed by Delphine : )
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photos by DELPHINE
FINALLY! The plaid dresser is done and put in A’s bedroom. To be fair, I must admit that the dresser started with light blue and white stripes, so we had a head start.
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Ever since we finished the room the cat has started hanging out in there.
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Thought I’d give you a little update on A’s room. All his furniture has been painted. The step stool used to be pink, with white sponge painted details (it was in my bedroom circa 1985). I also painted a boring white shelf from Target — it is now painted grey and is stenciled with meaninful numbers and letters. I WISH I had thought to take a before photo of the bookshelf. It was in really super bad shape. We bought the bookshelf, the paint and the stencils for less than $20. It took a few hours, but stenciling was fun, and totally worth the effort.
A has been sleeping in his “new” room for a week now and he loves it. We have yet to hang the shelves and the curtains (which means he is in OUR room at dawn now, to report “it’s dawn.”) On the agenda for today: hang the curtains!!! Once everything is placed and cleaned up I’ll post some after photos, along with photos of the plaid dresser. Yes, I said plaid. Trust me, it’s cool.
If you have any questions or comments about the room re-do please leave a note. I’d love to hear what you think so far.
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These are some of the things that inspired A’s “big boy” room renovation. Each of these things has been approved by our son. He’s especially keen on the owl lamp and the hopscotch rug!
1: Owl Table Lamp (West Elm) “Oh, Mommy, I really need this for reading” 2: Pictorial Dictionary (Chronicle) is more for me than him, I think … I love the old illustrations 3: Alphacritters mouse pad (Alexa Pulitzer for Anthropologie) has been purchased — yay! 4: Hopscotch Rug (CB2) is THE missing link to tie the room together … hoping it will go on sale soon 5: Green sand hourglass (CB2) would be awesome for helping to limit computer time 6: Grey stripe flannel pillow (CB2) would be great for the reading chair (which he also needs) 7: Cool white and steel gray metal trunks (CB2) for a secret stash of Legos 8: A picked out these pretty mercury glass knobs (Anthropologie) and I picked out no. 12 knobs (though we decided to keep the clear glass knobs he already has on his furniture). 9: Wire basket would be a perfect “jail” (aka storage) for stuffed animals (Wisteria) 10: Wire shopping basket — fun for putting the kitty in jail, A says (similar at Wisteria) 11. I love the idea of C clamps for book ends (West Elm)
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1: Vintage radio (West Elm) would be nice … but I think A wants one that he can plug an iPod into, because he’s only into “music that rocks, and they don’t play music that rocks on the radio.” 2: We have a little mahogany writing desk like this one (sorry, I can’t remember where I found the photo) that we will put in his room as a “homework” desk (to be used for computer games, I’m sure) 3: Menlo lamp (Anthroplogie) is cool — but A really wants the Owl, so maybe Santa will pull through. 4: I cannot remember where I found these vintage looking metal bins — they would be perfect for storing toys (though I may steal them and put them in my studio) 5: Zinc Letter A (Anthropologie) is the perfect accent for his room. I’ll be using lots of initials and numbers in the décor and furniture design 6: A LOVES to read. I think a cozy wing reading chair like the Ellery chair from West Elm would be sweet in his room. He picked it out himself. 7: We used this Rust-Oleum magnetic paint to apply a giant stripe on his wall. He loves it and can’t wait to start “magneting stuff.”
Progress report: the baseboards are in, the bookshelf is painted, and the bed has been put back in the room. We have to finish up the baseboards (fill the nail holes and touch up the paint), paint the dresser, and re-install the curtains.
UPDATE: I fixed the linnk to the key piece, the hopscotch rug from CB2. Thanks to everyone who let me know the link was wrong. Sorry about that!
