Time To Par-tay!

The Sweet Man recently celebrated his fiftieth birthday.

I guessed he didn't want a Princess Party...

... and he certainly didn't deserve this:

I thought about what he liked, and hit upon Grumpy Cat!

I picked a photo, and took out the color and made it lower contrast.

Then I played around in Word*** until I had a letter on top of each picture.

I cut out the images, punched two holes in the top of each,

strung yarn through them, and voila!

It looked awesome.

I also used Grumpy Cat's image on the Sweet Man's birthday card,

got him one of these mugs...

...and set one of these little paper dudes in front of his presents:

(Click the link to download and make your own Grumpy Cat!)

This party experience made me think of other meme-related opportunities for banners.

What about instead of a lame stork theme,

you decorated a baby shower around the Ermahgerd! girl?

You could make a banner with Ermahgerd!  Berbees!,

have everyone bring their favorite baby Berk! as a gift,

and ask for people to wear pigtails.

(Hey, I'd wear pigtails.)

And what about Darwin the Ikea monkey for a going-away banner?

The banner could read "Miss You Already"

and presents could be wrapped with homemade Darwin wrapping paper:

In addition to a banner, it would be cool to blow this image up,

and use it as a photo-booth background!

I think even Grumpy Cat would approve.

***I have Word 2003, so it might be easier/different for you to make the banner images,

but here's what I did.  I wouldn't doubt there's an easier way, but I was messing around without the Sweet Man's help:

1)  I pasted/inserted however many images I needed, at the size I wanted.  I made them so there were two per landscape 8 1/2" by 11" sheet... or at least I tried.  Word kept fighting me, so I often only had one per page. 

2) After the images, I made as many letters I needed to spell out the message.  I made them red, so they would pop against the grey and white image.  It would probably be easier at this point to make your viewing 25%, so you can see what you're doing.

3) One at a time, I clicked on an image, went to Format, chose Picture from the drop-down, and then chose Layout.  Once at Layout, I chose Behind Text.  Before I moved onto the next image...

4) I copied the a letter and pasted it on top of the image.  The image kept moving around, but it should have the box around it so that you can grab it and move so the letter is centered.  (You'll want to chose "center" for the alignment.)

If you're still having trouble, you could try running the paper through your printer twice, once for the image and once for the letters.  It would take some futzing around,

but it would be doable.

Happy Birthday, Handsome Boy!

Twenty-one years ago...

... the Boy followed his sister into the world!

From the start, he was a sweet, easy-going baby.

A good sleeper, a good eater, and a good cuddler,

he explored the world around him and thoughtfully took note.

He was a funny-looking little manny; my ob/gyn said,

"He looks just like Mister Magoo!"

But he grew into a handsome boy and young man.

(Nope.  No trace of Mister Magoo here.)

While other mothers complained about their uncontrollable crazy-boys...

...I just replied, "I don't have one of those."

Oh, he liked his Legos and toy swords and wrestling with his buds,

but from an early age he loved to read, read, read.

We spent many happy afternoons at the bookstore,

reading and browsing and bringing home bags and bags of books.

(A boy in his natural habitat, on the couch with a dog and a book.)

His transition through puberty seemed to last about ten minutes,

because he went from being an thoughtful, kind, mature kid

to a thoughtful, kind, mature young adult

without making a stop at the exasperating out-of-control teen stage.

(Nope. Nothing familiar about this.)

He has a great sense of humor (which means we find the same things funny)

and he loves to find a video or story or turn of phrase to make the rest of the family laugh.

Although it's in his nature to be the designated driver,

on August eighth I plan to share a (legal) fruit-infused alcoholic drink

with my smoothie-lovin' boy.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

You are a delight.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Twenty-one years ago...

...the Girl (and her twin brother) arrived on the scene!

She was feisty and determined from the beginning.

Once she learned to crawl, she was heading down the hall to roust me from the bathroom.

"Mooooommmy?"

When she began to talk, she decided I wasn't playing "Where's Your Nose?" to her abilities,

so she took it upon herself to expand her vocabulary.

"Nose?  Eyes?  Mouff?"

She was tiny and big-eyed, and reminded people of Little Cindy Lou Who
(who was no more than two.)

(This Cindy Lou, not the one from the awful live-action movie.)

She's been an animal lover from the beginning,

and has added greatly to the menagerie that is our house
by bringing in rats, birds, dogs and cats.

(The crazy thing?  We actually have more animals than this.)

She was whip-smart from the beginning at school,

at bobbed at the top of her class from kindergarten through twelfth.

She balances her brains with craftiness,

and taught herself sewing, knitting, spinning, and any other handcraft she set her mind to.

(Yeah, this is a pretty accurate representation of her room.)

She has a great science-math mind,

but doesn't fit the socially-inept stereotype of the proud geek; 

instead, she interacts quietly but well with adults, her peers,

and the kids she leads at summer camp.

"Hey, kids, after some s'mores, let's make lanyards!"

She's a great kid who grew into a terrific young woman

and I'll be a proud mama on August the eighth when I hoist a (legal) drink with my girl.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

You grew up good.