Cool School

Years ago in Seattle, we had some youth in our ward host "Cool School". They plan a fun day for kids and then you pay them a few bucks to take your kids for a couple of hours and completely entertain them. I LOVED it! So the past few years I have tried to get some girls in my neighborhood to start it up but no one ever did it. Well this year as I was telling someone about it, I realized that Maggie was old enough to host it (with a little help and supervision from me). She was so excited about doing it. We quickly made a flier and planned 5 days to have 8-9, 4-7 year olds come over for crafts, games, activities and lunch. She was booked solid before we knew it. We have had 3 of the 5 so far and they have been a big hit.

4th of July Cool School
We started with Fireworks painting. Instructions here


Then made 4th of July Flip Flops (love the $1 spot at Target for the flip flops). We just tied cute red, white, and blue ribbons and tulle onto the flip flops and most of the girls could do this by themselves (Bonus!!!).


Lunch consisted of hot dogs, chips, grapes and fun patriotic popsicles (homemade by Maggie). Recipe here


Our last activity was decorating sugar cookies. Some of the girls went all out with frosting and Sugar. YUMMY!



And of course what activity would be complete with out a favor of some sort for the girls to take home. Maggie made these for each of the girls. Instructions here
We used scrapbook paper to wrap around life saver rolls (nearly impossible to find these. We went to about 4 different grocery stores before we finally found them at our local mini mart. Why don't they sell life savers anymore?)

Our first Cool School... pulled off fabulously with a big bang!!!

Teddy Bear Tea Party

This was the theme for our second day.
We started by making crowns. What kid doesn't love to squeeze out lots of glitter glue and stick foam stickers onto stuff.



We then made necklaces and bracelets. They lost interest before many of them finished so we ended up having necklaces for the stuffed animals they brought.


We then brought out all of our dress-ups and the girls chose their outfit for the tea party and then we proceeded to have a fashion show for each of them to show off their outfit. My favorite thing of the day was that Preston wanted to join in on the fun, so amongst all the princesses, rock stars, and cheerleaders, we had "BATMAN".





We then went into the Dinning Room for a "proper" tea party. We had flower shaped sandwiches, pretzels,  fruit kabobs, pazookies for dessert and lemonade.


By far my favorite picture of the day. Batman having tea.

Our last activity was a foam princess paper doll craft. 

Party Favor: Flower Suckers. Instructions here
A last fly by.

Second Cool School...I do declare it was a most enchanting day.

Spa Day

We had all the girls come today in their pajamas and had plans to pamper them. Maggie and Lindsey set up pedicure stations and as the girls worked on a fleece pillow (Instructions here) they took turns giving pedicures. We had candles and relaxing music playing. We were excited for this day.




After everyone had their toes done, we had an assortment of meats, cheeses, crackers and vegetables for lunch. We also served fresh fruit smoothies.


We finished off our spa/pajama day by making flower hair clips.



The party favor...bath sponges.

The girls were exhausted at the end of the day and had to relax at the spa themselves.


Spa Day Cool School...Relaxing, Rejuvenating, and Beautifying

Maggie's Birthday Party

We had another birthday in the Kargis home. Maggie turned 11 a few weeks ago. She wanted to have a Hello Kitty party at Cowabunga Bay. I kept suggesting surf themes or beach themes but she insisted on Hello Kitty. We decorated the cabana the best we could and had a little decoration on top of the cake, but that was about it. It was one of the easiest parties I have ever given. The girls loved being at the water park and had totally tubular time!!! We gave little beach bags with hello kitty t-shirts and a few little other hello kitty things like pez dispensers, cupcake rings and stickers in the goodie bags. It was a fun 11th Birthday. Can't believe she's that old.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

4th of July

We had such a fun filled 4th. We started the day off with a neighborhood breakfast and parade. The kids love to decorate their bikes and scooters every year and always do a great job. We had a great little parade with medals and prizes and then had a wonderful breakfast with waffle bar and all kinds of delicious dishes. Thanks to the Youngs for a great party. We look forward to doing it again next year. We then headed down to Grandma Lis' for a BBQ. The kids always love to go down there and hang out with their cousins. There is always so much to do and they are always entertained (I love that aspect of it). And finished off the day by going to Stadium of Fire. I wasn't too sure if I'd like it so many people have told me bad things about it, but I actually really enjoyed it and all the kids had a great time. They were especially excited to see the Jonas Brothers. But I have to say, my favorite part was the fireworks. It was an awesome show. We are so blessed to live in this great country and enjoy all the freedoms we do. I love the 4th and we had a great one this year.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Birthday Dane!!!

Here's my little Dane 9 years ago. I was having some complications with high blood pressure, elevated heart rates and running the risk of having a 10+ lb baby, so the doctor decided to induce me 3 1/2 weeks early. After a fairly easy induction, Dane was born on May 22, 2000. Unfortunately his little lungs were not quite developed yet and after only holding him for a few minutes they took him to the nursery to give him oxygen and then shortly there after he was taken to the NICU and put on a ventilator. He definitely had size on his side. Weighing 8 lbs 4 oz, the nurses named him the king of the NICU. He got strong quickly and after only a week, we were able to take him home. Life with him over the past 9 years has been an adventure. Definitely highs and lows but I tell you, he is one of the sweetest, most loving, caring little boys that I know and I love that about him. Happy Birthday "Danegerous" "Danish" "Dane-o"!!! I hope you have a great year!

The Lego Party...

All right I have to admit when Dane told me that he wanted to have a Lego party I was a little bummed. What is the heck do you do for a Lego party??? I tried to talk him out of it, but that boy is obsessed with Legos and didn't want any other kind of party. So after some internet searching and creative thinking, I think I pulled off a dang good lego party. I have to say though that I could not have done it without Maggie, she was an awesome helper. I think she is following in my footsteps.

The Invite...I made envelopes out of colorful paper to resemble Legos and then glue dotted circles onto them to make them look like Legos. The invite was also printed using bright colors and invited the kids to a Lego Birthday Party at Dane's Legoland.

The Decorations...

I decorated using the same bright colors that I used on the invitations. We had colorful paper goods, streamers (which Maggie put up for me) and balloons. I then put some of his favorite Lego creations on the table as a center piece. he's been collecting all the pirate lego sets and had had most of them put together since Christmas which is quite an accomplishment.

Games...

We had some fun games planned. When the boys first came I gave them each a bowl and asked them to go up to Dane's Lego box and fill it with Legos. Then then had to come down and build something.


I swear for the first 30 minutes of the party I didn't hear a peep out of the boys. They loved it. We then gave each boy a prize for their creation. We had categories like the scariest, the biggest fleet, the sleekest, etc. then left them all out for display. 

Our next game was one that Maggie came up with and lead the boys in. She had picked out about 20 Legos and then dumped a bucket of legos on the floor and holding up one at a time had the boys search for the pieces. Another very successful event.

Our third game, I had the boys take their bowl of legos and I gave them each a pair of chopsticks. They had to use the chop sticks to take out as many legos as they could in two minutes. It really was quite humorous watching some of them try to use the chop sticks.

The Cake...

I made some Lego cakes which even though I am now where near a professional cake decorator, I thought they turned out pretty good.  Click here for complete instructions.

Presents...

And guess what Dane wanted for his birthday... LEGOS... and he got plenty. Thanks friends!!!

The Pinata...

Yes, we even had a Lego Pinata. Maggie made it for me all by herself. She is so creative. She came up with the idea on her own and carried it out till we had a wonderful pinata to smash.

The Goodie Bags...

Of course no party is complete without the famous "Goodie Bag". It's what all the kids go to parties for right? Well I made up the bags similar to the invite envelope with the circles and then printed each child's name in Lego font and tied it onto the bag. They each got a small bag of Legos, a bag of Lego candy (I was so glad I found these. Kholers is the best for this kind of random stuff), a bag of Bubble Gum (because I loved the colors) and all the candy they could get from the pinata. It was a great party with a few extra minutes at the end when all the kids played and put together all Danes new Lego sets.


Thanks to all of Dane's friends who came and made this party a fun one and definitely one to remember. Happy Birthday Dane I hope you had a fun party!!!

Emma's Graduation

It's hard to believe that my little girl graduated (from pre-school that is). She is growing up so fast and it shows in many aspects of her life. She finished her third year of pre-school this year (Sept. baby) and spent the past year in two wonderful pre-schools where she has learned to read quite well (I'm so proud!)
At her Bright Beginnings pre-school they celebrated this happy day with a great program that the kids put on for their parents and then received their diploma.
She had an amazing teacher Mrs. Olsen whom we will miss dearly until Preston gets to go to her. She was great and spent many hours this year teaching the kids and preparing them for Kindergarten.

Emma got to go to school with her cousin Jaynie. I think the only two of the grandkids that will ever get to go to school together. Lucky girls.

All in all it was a wonderful graduation and I was a very proud mama when my little girl got up and took a bow! What a kid!!!

Dance Recital

With the school year coming to an end our schedule is full of recitals, programs, graduations, and all sorts of fun activities. Last week the girls had their Dance Recital. "Dance Like a Princess". Both girls have throughly enjoyed their dance classes this year. Emma had a combination ballet/tap class and Maggie was in a jazz class. All their hard work and practice paid off at this great performance. Each of them even had a short solo in one of their dances.

Cowabunga Bay

All my kids can talk about these days is "Cowabunga Bay". Cowabunga Bay is the new Huish adventure. It is the new water park that my brothers have been building and it is AWESOME! It's not like any other water park you've ever seen. Yesterday my brother Shane was on KSL News introducing the park and giving a little tour. Check out the video here  http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6229355. The water park is in Draper, UT and everyday my kids want to drive by to see what's new. Tonight we get to go for a special preview tour. What's really cool too, is that my brothers have somewhere on the structure added each of the Grandkids names. They are all excited to see their names on a surfboard, direction sign, sand bucket or slide. The countdown is on and hopefully we will be enjoying water and splashes by early June.