Birthday Party for Jesus!

    We I have been so busy lately, I just got laundry folded that has been piled on the couch in my bedroom for almost a week! I noticed I really needed to get on those this morning when I saw Jim walking around in reserves.  It's all my fault. I am way too task-oriented and have always got something going, whether it is in the kitchen or in the craft closet. It would be so much easier to just buy stuff, but it's so much more resourceful and fun to make things yourself. Those things mean more to me anyway. So today, when we got home from playgroup, I made it a point to sit down and fold the laundry {sister on speaker phone the whole time, so I didn't feel like I had to do it by myself} so then I could feel free to tell you all about my wonderful playgroup, how much I appreciate our weekly get-togethers, and the oh so cute ornament we made today!!!
     I have the best playgroup friends around...us mommies have decided playgroup is as much for us as it is for our kids! It has to be, we'd go nutty otherwise! We all have our own little circus, it's great, just set us all up in our own little tents and we could make a fortune!!!! It's a blessing in itself to just know you are not all alone under the Big Top!!!  Today we had our Birthday Party for Jesus!! Jennifer and Kasey made some oh so yummy cupcakes and oreo balls. The other girls and myself provided tons of other food to graze on! We sang Happy Birthday, had the VeggieTales Christmas DVD and the real Christmas story to share...I was working on ornaments, not sure if any of that actually got carried out though, besides the singing, I do remember that! We had 12 kiddos there, making for 20 total, I think. Last week we made the cutest little block ornaments with our kiddos' pics on them. You can see Kasey's here. You can be looking for my post with it's tutorial, but it won't be until after I have given the ones I made to the recipients...can't ruin the delight just yet!
     Today's ornament was a borrowed idea from different preschools who have done this, and here is proof that you can do it with an 8 month old as well! I bought big shatterproof ornaments at Walmart...12/$5, perfect for our group today! I already had all the paint supplies in my craft closet so all else that was needed were the hands and our munchkins provided some perfect ones!

After writing each of their names on one side of the ornament, we painted their hand with white paint and pressed it against the other side of the ornament...Cristina has that pic...I'll post it when it arrives!

Then I added a top hat, face and his buttons all the way down his torso using puff paint. Then I used orange paint for a nose and scarf.

The handprint doesn't have to be perfect, as you can see here by Andrew's....he only has 4 snowmen...the way you accessorize yours will determine how good he looks regardless of the handprint.

Taylor had some good ones! Tie a cute ribbon and add it to your tree!

 Come to think of it, I need to go back and write the year on them.

Thanks girls for such a wonderful time today and for the last year of weekly playgroups! It has been a blast. Can't wait to see what 2010 brings for our Big Tent of circuses!