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Goodbye, Sweet Summer

September 14, 2014 by dailygnome 4 Comments

I love this time of year. My two favorite seasons collide. Overlap and trade places for a couple of weeks. Hot afternoons telling me that summer hasn’t closed up shop, but a chill in the morning reminding that sweater weather is near. Almost time to pass the baton and put out the welcome mat for those muddy boots.

Hello to soccer practice and early mornings, packing lunches and a chill in the air. But not before paying homage to the spectacular summer that was…

Lemonade stands, mastering the two wheeler, skateboards + slip n’slides, face painting + festivals, morning runs + mountain hiking, cousin time, road trips, backyard projects + bbqs, hot tubs + hammocks, ice cream + more ice cream, float trips + friends, swimming holes + s’mores, gardening + golfing, Bosley boy + beach trips, fire pits + forgoing work…

Frozen Birthday Party with Scavenger Hunt

August 3, 2014 by dailygnome 5 Comments

Even I couldn’t help catching Frozen Fever planning Hadley’s 6th birthday. With the soundtrack on constant rotation combined with Hadley’s contagious excitement when the party wrapped up I just wanted to give Olaf an endless supply of Warm Hugs. On a recent balmy Sunday afternoon our house transformed into the Kingdom of Arendelle:

Pin the Nose on Olaf Party Game:

Thanks to Jason’s mad freehanding skills he cut out Olaf using simple foam sheets from the craft store.

Photo Booth:

I put together a pop-up photo booth and found some downloadable props on etsy. I had the print shop down the street adhere them to chip board and the kids loved hamming it up in character. With my instant Polaroid everyone took home a pic or two.

Frozen Themed Scavenger Hunt:

It’s become a tradition to include a scavenger hunt at our birthday parties and Hadley had fun helping put together the clues and prizes. We started at Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post {and Sauna!} where they collected shopping bags and received their first clue.
Download all clues here Handing out “Olaf Noses” in the garden The “Love Experts”

The cake {ice cream, of course}: Lots of Warm Hugs for Olaf! Happy Birthday Miss Hadley! Some people are worth melting for. Menu:
Sven’s Antlers {pretzels}
Olaf Noses {baby carrots} with greek yogurt dipping sauce
Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches
Kristoff’s Ice Blocks {blue raspberry finger Jello}. A Pinterest fail but I set them out anyway
Frozen Grapes {forgot how tasty these are on hot days}
Melted Snowman {ice water}

Resources:
Arendelle Printable Banner
Frozen Printable Bookmarks
Snowball Playdough Recipe
Frozen Character Props
Frozen Printable Tags

Party of Six

July 19, 2014 by dailygnome 2 Comments

All six cousins together at the beach. Sun and sand, games and celebrations. Excursions and crabbing. And lots of doting on baby Nat!

Girl cousins!

Open For Business

July 5, 2014 by dailygnome 1 Comment

Hello, summer. We laid out the welcome mat for bike riding, ice cream truck chasing and lemonade stands. Trying to work a lighter schedule for these three precious months to give the kids that 70s summer. Bring it.

The C+H Lemonade Stand opened up shop on a blazing hot afternoon this week when many neighbors were out of town. After 20 minutes and no customers Carson opted for an aggressive marketing strategy and went door to door announcing they were open for business. Offering two flavors: Berry and Regular. It worked. The Berry was a hit. When it ran dry they decided to hit the strawberry patch and rebrand the regular. Then the late afternoon rush hit. Sold out. Time to close up shop. Successful day.

lemonadestand