February birthdays can be kind of a bummer. I know because I have one--and so does my son. So I try to throw parties for him that make people with summer birthdays jealous. There will be no awesome tail gate sledding party for you, Gemini. Ha ha!

This year, my son wanted a winter picnic party on the ice (take that, Cancers). Also requested were, marshmallows, glow sticks, a cake shaped like a 6, and popcorn. All birthday wishes granted! I wasn't too sure how the cake would turn out, but it seems there is nothing more frosting can't solve.

I stumbled on these glow swords at Target, and wow! were they a big hit! I had planned to have some sort of balloon game with glowing balloons (a la pinterest), but you need 1. clear balloons (not just white ones), 2. super bright glow sticks (not the skinny, cheapy ones from target), and 3. actual pitch black, not 7pm.   Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

The kids didn't seem to mind.

Before the epic glow battle, we built a big fire and roasted marshmallows. By the way, roasted marshmallows in your hot chocolate is the best thing ever, which is also how my son described his party.  I have to agree--nothing better than turning 6 with a giant fire on a frozen lake!

We've been making this and that for valentine's day this week: some hearts, some secret grandparent gifts, and some popcorn.

This popcorn falls under the category, "ridiculous things pinterest makes me do." Also in the category are watermelon stars and temporary tattoos on bananas. Party popcorn--awesome name by the way--is melted white chocolate poured over popcorn and then covered in sprinkles. I added a little crunchy salt too, because it's aways delicious.

My children were so unbelievably excited about making this and said many times, "this is the best thing you have ever made, ever." I'm not a fan of popcorn or white chocolate, so I'm not the best judge, but I believe them. You can't really go wrong when you pouring chocolate on something.  I found a few--printable!--pop-corny puns thanks again to pinterest.  A few staples later, Bob's your uncle, and you've got 18 valentines ready to go!

Did you already do your valentines? Or are you a last minute scrambler? I've got a tutorial for a super quick Me Hearty Eye Patch, if you are still searching for ideas. There are so many good ones out there. Got any favorites?

We took out our advent calendar and hung it up yesterday. The children were ecstatic--their mother less so. I'd like to make a new advent calendar, something sparkly and with more candy involved.  Sounds like an easy sell to a bunch of kids, right? Oh no, my daughter started asking about advent activities before Halloween. I do love many of the things we do during advent, but around the 20th I run out of energy. If my kids weren't such sticklers for tradition, these are some of the advent calendars I might make:

Books! 24 christmas books! Looks awesome, but sounds expensive, right? All the books don't have to be new: use what you have, hit the thrift store, wrap a library book (why not?!). I think this is a great, simple, no-stress advent calendar. The kids get the excitement of opening a present each day and you all get to cozy up together on the couch every evening.

Many Christmas songs and traditions come from Germany, so why not an advent calendar too? All 24 of these sweet boxes are printed with a christmas scene or saying (in german). And they are available as a free download!

I love the idea of lighting a candle every night for advent. And I love even more the thought of having 25 candles burning for christmas dinner!  Here is another advent calendar that uses tea lights and a tutorial for numbered luminaries.

Martha Stewart always makes office supplies look awesome. This would be a great advent calendar for flat gifts: stickers, temporary tattoos, coloring pages, more stickers, cards, other flat things.

Yes, this is an activity advent calendar, but it's free and printable and totally awesome! Plus Mr. Printable is a great site for (flat!) things to put in all these advent calendars too! Go check him out.

Delia from delia creates made this super huge! super fantastic! countdown to christmas advent calendar. Pop on over to her post to see this and so many more amazing christmas things she made.

Have you unearthed your advent calendar yet? Or are you making one? Or are you going the chocolate calendar route?

I wasn't going to make my kids anything for christmas (what a horrible mother!) but then dammit, all my friends were making these beautiful robes for their kids. Basically I am 33 and was peer pressured into this sewing project.

Of course I'm glad I did sew them, because my kids look pretty adorable in their cozy flannel robes. The robe pattern came from Sewing For Boys, which I reviewed here.  The pattern comes together very quickly. Leave off the pockets and you could have one finished in a few hours. Make your own fiddly pocket pattern with contrast piping and it will take you a lot longer.

There is one mistake in the book. You must connect the two front pattern pieces before you cut your fabric, but that important step is missing from the directions .  I only realized this after I cut out all my pieces from the PLAID FABRIC! Oh, what's that, you can't tell? That is because I'm the master-plaid-matcher!

The fit of the robe is straight up old man robe. So sizes don't matter all that much. I made the size 6/7 both for my 6 year old daughter and almost 5 year old son.  The fit is great on both. For their 2 1/2 year old brother I made the 2/3 size, but I should have gone a size up. His robe did get a little shorter because of the plaid matching I had to do, but a bigger robe would have fit him better and for longer too.

A few other things I would do to the pattern if I make it again:

• shorten the sleeves a bit.  They are meant to roll up, which is why they are so long, but they roll up a little too much for my taste.
• make the ties a least a foot longer. Makes it easier for little hands to tie (around those big bellies).
• lengthen the pattern a bit--especially for the smaller sizes.

A couple things I did right the first time:

• I made a hang-y up-y loop that I sewed inside each robe. It makes clean up time a tiny bit better.
• I skipped the belt loops and just sewed the tie to the back of the robe in one spot. That way the belt cannot be used as a leash or a jump rope or weapon.
• I read the fabric requirements. Each robe, each one, takes about 4 yards of fabric!

me hearty eye patch tutorial

I was going to make super hero heart masks for all the kids in my daughter's class (like this fantastic one), but they were fussy and each one was taking way too long. My daughter and I came up with the eye patch idea together. An hour later I had whipped up 17 of them. Super fast, super easy, good for girls and boys (and grown ups too), and not full of sugar. Eye patches arrrrgh the best!

materials:

• felt, 2 3in squares per patch
• 1/8in wide elastic, 16-18in piece per patch
• straight edge

1. Cut two 3in squares of felt for each eye patch you are making. Then cut a heart from one out of each two squares: if you are making 5 eye patches, you started with 10 squares and now will have 5 hearts and 5 squares.

2. Take a heart and place a straight edge (I used an envelope) across the middle. Then tilt the edge 1/4 inch up on one side and 1/4 inch down on the other. Make a tiny mark on each edge. This is where the elastic will be attached to the patch. Really you only need to mark 2 or 3hearts. After that you can just eyeball it (ha!). No really.

3. Place the marked heart on top of a felt square. Cut a piece of elastic so it's 16-18 inches, smaller for smaller people bigger for bigger people.  Sew 1/8 inch from the edge all around the heart, inserting the elastic where indicated.

4. Trim away excess felt, holding the elastic as you cut (so it doesn't get cut, silly).

5. That's it! No go make 20 more because Valentine's day is tomorrow! Here are a few awful pirate puns you can use:

Will you be my matey?

You arrrrgh my Valentine!

I want to capture you, Valentine!

Yarrrr the best!

I treasure you!

I'd walk the plank for you!

Ahoy, me hearrrrty