From Pedicures to Puddles

Boy Birthdays: The Fire Station

So, what is a 9 month pregnant mom to do when her son's 4th birthday is a meer two weeks after the new little ones scheduled arrival? Well you move the oldest's birthday up a month! That is exactly what we did. Back in October I decided it would be smarter to celebrate early rather than try to plan a party 2 weeks post partum. I looked into one of the best boy birthday options in our area...The Frisco Central Fire Station!

The best part about this option is that it is FREE to those that live or work in the city. The hardest part about this option is that they offer 1 party option each saturday of the year...so it's first come first serve! We were able to get the day we wanted and I promised my husband that I would keep it low key (ie: 1/3 of THIS party). Well I worked hard to keep to my word and we had a great party!

The set up. We actually get to use the fireman's table and their kitchen. The fire station provided the fireman hats and stickers. We added the dalmation favor ("Thanks for a Smokin good time - Cohen"), Juice box decorated like a walkie talkie, and Fireman's Feast lunch box filled with goldfish, a fruit cup and an uncrustable sandwich)

My Father came across the Captain jacket and we added it to the back of Cohen's chair. Also, a closer look at the lunch box.

Perfect cake made by Piece of Cake Bakery

cake plate made of fire hydrant (hobby lobby) and a plate charger glued to the top!

cupcakes: Sam's

cupcake toppers: Piece of Cake Bakery

Making a wish!

Flaming Firehouses: twizzlers

silver table runner: adhesive sign roll found at garage sale

Don't Play with matches...Eat them! edible pretzel matches

The firemen did a presentation about fire safety, showed us how they get in their gear, then took us on a tour of the station. Complete with a look at their dorm, and fire trucks.

This year's theme was working smarter, not harder and I think we accomplished that. Check your local fire station to see if you could have your next party for free!

We had a smokin good time and would love to feature your little ones party too!Feel free to pass them along to pedicurestopuddles@yahoo.com.

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Sutton's Nursery

When we found out our 2nd child was going to be a boy, I was stumped on a direction for his room. My first stop was Chic Cheap Nursery. This is an awesome blog with tons of real nurseries featured (with lots of other great finds).

I kept going back to THIS nursery. I loved the calming feel to it and the modern furniture. This became my muse.

(photos from Chic Cheap Nursery)

In the spirit of sharing, Chic Cheap Nursery does a great job of telling us where the different elements of the room came from. I was then able to recreate the mobile (lantern cluster) exactly!

Sutton's Nursery

(our version)

Bedding: Made by my amazingly talented Mother (Owner of The Mulberry Bush) :o)

Fabric: ordered from Fabric Guru

Mobile lanterns: Martha Stewart on Amazon & star from the Paper Lantern Store

Crib/ changing table: Babyletto Modo from All Modern

Swing/ Infant Insert: 4Moms MamaRoo

Curtains: Bed, Bath & Beyond

Curtain Rods: Ikea

Rocker: Gift from Mother in Law

Pillow: World Market

Shelf: Lowes

Diaper bag: Tory Burch

Plush elephant: Build a Bear (mini friends)

Sleepers: gift from friend (bought at Frisco Mercantile)

Wooden Sign: "We loved you even before you were born" Uptown Country

Dresser: Refurbished by my parents, knobs from Hobby Lobby and chaklboard stickers listing the sizes in each drawer from Cherry Hill Designs

Lamp: Lowes

Hanging shelf: Ikea

Standing shelf: Ikea

Chalkboard Contact Paper: Amazon Where I take my belly pics (idea from pinterest)

Canvas Sign on shelf: Made by Me! (idea from Pinterest)

Closet dresser: refurbished by my parents, knobs from Hobby Lobby (always 50% off!) and chalkboard stickers: Cherry Hill Designs

Green Baskets: World Market

Shoe organizer: lowes

I Love You Alphabet Printable: Free printable from Sprik Space

Hope I have inspired you! I would love to hear your thoughts.

This post is not sponsored and 100% my opinion

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Fun Find: Parking Pal

I don't know about you, but I love a goooood deal! One of the best deals around is keeping up with Mama Bargains website. I love a good deal and hate to miss out on them. Mama Bargains has several bargains a day; however when it's gone it's gone and they move on to the next bargain. Following them on facebook keeps me up to date on when a new bargain is offered. I got a good deal this morning and I wanted to share!

With the new baby on the way, I am often trying to think through the logistics of having 2 boys out and about. Parking Pal seems like a step in the right direction in getting them both out of the car safely.

What is the Parking Pal?
It is a fun colorful magnet used by parents, grandparents, or any other caregivers to help teach children responsibility in parking lots and around vehicles. It is a visual for kids to know where to stand while their parent is loading/unloading another child, digging for keys, etc.

I love the safety involved, the bright colors available and know The Buddy will love it too. I plan to stock up for gifts. If Mama Bargains is out of stock...head straight to Parking Pal to stock up. What a fun find! Would you use it?

This post is not sponsored and 100% my opinion

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Summer Fun

This fizzling fun kept The Buddy busy for the longest time! ( a feat of it's own) As a momma, I'm always looking for a creative and fun way to keep the buddy busy. It is a plus that this ended up being a great science lesson too~

My go to these days (as I'm sure for you too) is pinterest. I found this fun pin that included baking soda, vinegar and food coloring( I only had gel, but it worked find)...super easy!

I chose a small container to fill with baking soda, taught The Buddy how to use a dropper (given to me for free from the pharmacy!) and filled 3 small bowls with vinegar and food coloring.

He went to town dropping the colors into the baking soda and watching it fizz.

He tried so hard to color all of the white parts. If I had given him a bigger canvas, he might has continued for a full 30 minutes! We will definitely be doing this one again! Let me know if you try it out :o)

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Summa, Summa, Summa Time

Well, another year is in the books and I am now settling into summer time. I hate that I have such a hard time juggling this blog during the school year, but I really just do. I am hoping a few of you boy moms are still out there and ready to talk boy stuff!
I am happy to share that:

That's right! We are expecting baby boy #2 in 7 short weeks. I am excited to continue as a boy mom and am busy working on the nursery now. I will share as soon as it is ready.

I am looking forward to sharing lots of fun finds this summer! In the meantime....I will leave you with a comment I received from one of my sweet first grade boys. (keep in mind that I am a full 4'10" tall and started showing very early)

"Mrs. Nelson, I've been noticing that your back is getting skinnier!" :o)

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"It's a bird! It's a plane!..."

No! It's Mrs. Nelson's Super Learners!

I have been spending the last week or so working in my classroom and looking foward to meeting my new firsties! I decided on a Superhero theme and have run wild with it. (at least my husband thinks so) I really like the idea of encouraging them to see that our good manners and kind words are our super powers.

Here is my attempt at making my board 3D. I added a wire with a bird and a paper airplane. Designs were created by Paper and Pigtails.

The soon to be student led word wall

This area will eventually be our comfy classroom library where they can cozy up and read a book.

The calendar/math wall

My favorite wall! This is our word chunk wall. The Super Vowels as I call them are superheroes with a vowel on their chest. We will add our word chunks under the vowel they begin with. This wall was a big help last year when they were writing. Here is last year's Word chunk wall:

Being a "boy mom" makes me wonder if the superhero theme is too boyish for my girly first graders. I plan to add a superhero girl to the library wall, but will that do the trick? What do you think? I tried hard to use the likeness of kids and cartoon superheroes rather than commercial superheroes (batman, superman, etc)

My gut tells me it is fine, but I am trying to look at it from a parent's standpoint. I would love your thoughts.

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I love a good Blog Party!

If you are a Pedicures to Puddles reader then you know that this is a place for women that have boys in their lives to laugh, relate and share what it is like to be a "boy mom". If this is your first time stopping by, Welcome! I am Tiffany, a First Grade teacher by day and a superhero fighting, lego building, light saber swinging momma by night. Cohen or "The Buddy" as I call him, is soon to be 3 years old and is where I get all of my material for this blog. Especially in the "You know you're a boy mom when" posts. The Buddy's current favorite bedtime story ( one of at least 3 a night) is I Love You Stinky Face. He now recites it with us and it is really cute :o)

I like to share fun shopping finds that pertain to boys as well as fun boy birthday party themes. If you like something you see, please feel free to rate it at the bottom of the post or comment about it. I LOVE comments! If there is something you feel is missing, let me know and I will seek it out. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your stay! I do hope you will come back soon :o)

I am linking up to M.O.B. Society. Click link to see allllll the boy moms out there!

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You won't want to lego these ideas! hehe

I remember loving lego's just as much as The Buddy does. I figure we aren't the only house stepping on legos in the middle of the night (ouch!) :o) Check out these fun finds for your buddy's obsession.