HORSE PARTY - THE FAVORS

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Totally and completely inspired by these horses, I found a bunch of vintage/used toy horses to make some DIY chalkboard horses as the favors for Elliott's birthday party. They were really easy, pretty cheap, and turned out perfectly. First, I primed them and then added the chalkboard spray paint. Done and done! The kids seemed to like them so that's always a plus. I think it would be fun to have a whole stamped of chalkboard animals. The trick is to find ones that have smooth surfaces. We love them and Elliott thinks it's pretty awesome that he has a horse he's allowed to color on.

HIS DAY

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To stick with the tradition, we started Elliott's birthday by surprising him with a bunch of balloons in some garbage bags and dumped them out over his head. He loves it! Later he opened a few presents from us - all of which he is wearing in a picture above (a backpack, new shoes and big boy underwear!)
He also got a new horsey shirt! It's about time I got around to making him a new one. You can see his other shirt here, and what happened to it here. It's also the same horse shape as his party invitations.

It was a pretty fun day. He played with friends, got lots of calls from loved ones wishing him a happy birthday, and of course, had some cake!

And yes, he is blowing on a mini cupcake, not his sippy cup :)

HORSE PARTY - THE INVITES

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As if it would be a shocker to tell you, Elliott wanted a "horsey" birthday this year. While today is his actual birthday, the party isn't until next week (my mom will be here!) So here are the invites! They bring together most of the elements of the party that you'll see soon. I wanted the invites to be simple and fun for the kids receiving them.
They're shadow puppets! I hope the kids love them as much as I do. I made the horse on my computer, printed them out on heavy card-stock, cut them out, and attached them to dowel rods that I had painted with little stripes of neon blue and yellow. Easy-peasy! Except the cutting out part. I seriously had a cramp in my hand for an hour after that.

SICK DAY

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Elliott is a bit under the weather. Poor little guy is on a mostly fluids diet, he can't keep anything down. This is the first time he's ever been sick like this and I have to say, it's kinda heart breaking. He's been a trooper and pretty happy, especially about getting to take multiple baths in a matter of hours (I won't go into the nasty details, but you can imagine!) 

I have been a little stumped trying to think of ways to keep him in resting mode without letting him watch too much tv/movies. Anyone have any ideas? I'm all ears!