I need closure.

Last week, I had a baby-free girls' night with my friends. For those of you who have kids, you know how glorious (and kind of surreal) it can be to do anything without children. Grocery shopping in particular is one of the hardest things to do with kids - especially when you have 2 kids. When we shop, my husband pushes my daughter in the shopping cart and I push my son in his stroller. This leaves us with 0 hands free. That means while someone steps away to get food, the other person has to guard our son from potential kidnappers in the Wal-Mart deli aisle (hey, this is Memphis) while also keeping our 2-year-old from doing a backflip out of the shopping cart into the chip display.

Parenthood is not for the weak.

So, knowing that I'm nursing and don't get the opportunity to go out much, my husband offered to watch the kids for the night so I could go out with the girls. I don't know what he was smoking when he offered to watch them, but we need to get more of whatever it is.

I was thoroughly enjoying my Baby Einstein-free drive to Bonefish Grill when I got a call from my husband.

"I have big news, HUGE news!" he blurted out.

I immediately thought Connor had taken his first step or something. Yes, I know he's 7-months-old. I mean, he's a genius. It could happen.

"Marina has been replaced on Fresh Beat Band!!!" he said.

O.M.G.

You might already know about my daughter's Fresh Beat Band obsession, but if you don't, let's just say we have every episode of Fresh Beat Band DVR'd and watch them every day. Several times a day. I wake up in the middle of the night to feed Connor, and the songs play in my head. Do you know how frustrating it can be to try to fall asleep with "Friends Give Friends a Hand" playing on repeat in your brain? Try watching the show once, you'll see what I mean.

The Fresh Beat Band show was the first TV show my daughter actually sat still and watched, and since then, it's been her favorite show. For Haley's 2nd birthday, we threw her a Fresh Beat Band party which I'm very proud of considering there aren't any Fresh Beat Band party supplies available (you can read more about the birthday party HERE). So you can understand how the Fresh Beat Band have become like family over the past year. And now, one of our family members was gone. This was huge news.

 source

Marina (played by Shayna Rose) is the redhead in the photo above. Shayna was the only member of the Fresh Beat Band cast that had any actual acting experience. She allegedly quit because she was getting married and was replaced by Tara Perry (below).

source

As I watched the new episodes with Tara Perry in them, it just didn't feel right. I missed the old Marina! I missed her "hip hop and pop" catch phrase, the way she always crushed Twist's big ideas, I even missed her bad dancing. I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye! 

The other Fresh Beat Band members didn't seem to notice that the old Marina had been replaced by a phony. Even her outfit had been modified. I wanted to shake them, to yell "she's a fake, can't you see?" but they never noticed, they just kept on singing their way out of every problem they ran into. Haley didn't even seem to notice. She was just enamored with the fact that this was a new episode she hadn't seen 8,000 times before.

There was no warning, no slow transition, Old Marina was just gone. Gone and replaced by New Marina.

And I didn't even get to say goodbye.

Fresh Beat Band Birthday: The Big Day!

My daughter turned 2 yesterday, and if you've been reading along, we celebrated by throwing her a Fresh Beat Band-themed birthday. If you don't know who the Fresh Beat Band is, imagine High School Musical meets The Wiggles and there you have it. They're happy, they're colorful, and if they ever get in a bind, their problems can always be solved by a song or two. If only life was that simple right?



In any case, my daughter LOVES the Fresh Beat Band. If they ever go on tour, you better believe we'll have front row seats. She calls them "my Ba Beats," and if she's ever upset about anything, we can turn on an episode of Fresh Beat Band and it cheers her right up. After a year of watching Fresh Beat Band, I know every song, episode, and catch phrase of each band member. They've practically become members of the family. Like second cousins who show up to entertain our kid then leave after eating all the good snacks.

For Haley's second birthday, I wanted everything to be Fresh Beat Band themed from the decorations to the goody bags and the food. Considering there are no Fresh Beat Band party supplies out there yet, I think I did pretty well with what I could find or create. I was rushing around to do so much so I ran out of time and I unfortunately didn't get as many pictures of the table as I had wanted.

It was all about color color color. All of the partyware and decorations were bright and colorful (since everything and everyone in the show is colorful.) Rather than choosing one color, I thought it would be more appropriate to use a variety of colors based on those used in the show.

The musical notes I cut out were hung from the living room fan as well as over the table - which I didn't get pictures of , grr.

The Food

The food was my favorite part of the party. Everything was themed around the show. I even made individual tags for each food item with catchy names like "Hip, Hop, and Popcorn" and "Groovy Orange Smoothie." Call me corny, but I thought it was a fun touch.

Everyone's favorite part was the Oreo Truffle Pops (I've got to come up with a better name). There was only one left after the party was over! I make Oreo Truffles pretty regularly for my hubby who is obsessed with them, but for the party I decided I wanted to make them kind of like cake pops. I made the truffles as usual, then added some sprinkles on top and stuck them on popsicle sticks. I then made some  tags for the pops, which I modified from these cake pop tags on Bakerella.com. Using Photoshop, I just changed the colors and wording to fit the theme. They turned out so cute!

 

I think they were Haley's favorite too :)

The Cake

Of course we had to have a Fresh Beat Band cake. I made the cake myself with the Funfetti cake mix, then my husband made the icing (I gotta give the man credit, the frosting was awesome!) We used a recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting from MarthaStewart.com and added a little more confectioner's sugar because it needed a little more sweetness.

For the topper, we ordered an edible sugar screen print of the image that I made for Haley's birthday invites from a local baker. All we had to do was peel the topper off and place it on the cake. It looked great, and it was super easy. I used more of the frosting to decorate the edges and that was it!

I had to help her blow out her candle. She was a little confused as to why we would want her to get near a flame when we've continually told her that fire is bad.

Goody Bags

I went the simple route and used clear cellophane bags and ribbon for the goody bags. Each one is filled with crayons and the coloring pages I made in this post, plastic musical instruments, and bubbles shaped like guitars. They also each got a "Backstage Pass" that I printed off from the Fresh Beat Band printables on NickJr.com.

Since the show is centered around music, the little instruments were perfect for the kids. Their parents might not agree with me though :)

To quote the Fresh Beat Band, it was a great day. Haley had a ton of fun at her party playing with all of her friends and eating nothing but sugar all day. It's just hard to believe she's already another year older. Every day she seems like she's doing or saying something new. When we ask her how old she is now, she'll even tell you "two!" ... and hold out five fingers.

We're working on it.

I'm linking up here:

• Craft Gossip
• Be Different, Act Normal
• One Pretty Thing
• U Create
• Tip Junkie

Fresh Beat Band Birthday: Goody Bags and Giveaways

Besides the food, the giveaways are probably the second most fun thing about birthday parties. Well, to me anyway. Maybe I'm a little bitter that adult birthday parties don't involve goody bags ;) I guess that's half the fun of having kids though, I get to relive my childhood through my kids again.

I'm not gonna lie. After blog browsing around for a few days, I'm pretty intimidated by all of the amazing themed birthdays I've found out there like this Unicorn and Rainbows party, or this Nutcracker Suite Ballet party. I realize that this is for a child who is turning 2, and who probably won't remember the party anyway, but I still want to make it the best that I can with what I can find on a budget. And it became totally worth it when I showed my daughter the Fresh Beat Band invitations I made and she got a big smile on her face and said, "my Ba Beats?" We're working on saying the word "fresh," which she can say by itself, but not when combined with "Beat" for some reason.

After I found the decorations and partyware at WalMart, I decided to look around for some ideas on things to put in the goody bags for Haley's little friends coming to the party. Since the Fresh Beat Band is music-themed, I wanted to include items that fit the show. I think the WalMart gods were reading my mind.

How perfect are these?? In the party aisle, I found little assorted plastic instruments and bubbles in the shape of guitars! I also picked up some clear plastic bags to put everything in and blue curling ribbon to tie the bags closed. As much as I would like to create individualized little goody boxes, I'm not crazy. Birthday on a budget? Check. I know my house is going to be full of noise on Saturday, but I think I can handle it for a couple hours.

Aside from the plastic instruments and bubbles, I wanted to also include coloring pages for the kids. Since there isn't any Fresh Beat Band themed ANYthing out there yet, I had to (again) get creative. I know I've mentioned how cool Picnik.com is before, but seriously, I can't say enough good stuff about it. It's a free photo editing site that's perfect for those of us who aren't pros at Photoshop. I used Picnik to make my banner and edit most of my photos. And for the birthday party, I also used it to make these coloring pages:

They turned out a little grainy since they were small images so they distorted some when I stretched them, but I'm still pretty happy with the outcome. It's so easy to turn any picture you have into a coloring page. How cute would it be to give your child a book of coloring pages full of photos of themselves? Come back tomorrow, and I'll post a tutorial on how to turn your pictures into coloring pages!

I used 1 of each coloring page per child, and rolled them up into scrolls. I also bought a pack of Crayola crayons and tied 4 of them together with the curling ribbon to add to the goody bags.

The crayons went into the goody bags, and I tied them each with the blue curling ribbon. To finish off the bags, I went to the NickJr.com website and printed off some of their Fresh Beat Band Memory Match printables. These made perfect tags for each bag.

And finally, it wouldn't be a true Fresh Beat Band birthday without backstage passes, would it? I got these off of of NickJr.com as well. That website has been a lifesaver since I don't have anything else to work with.

I just printed them up, folded them and added some tacky glue to hold the front and back together. Add some yarn, and instant backstage passes for your little VIP! I think the kids are going to love them. And if not, I'll make the adults wear them :)

Saturday is the big day when my baby turns 2! I'll be posting a blog next week about how everything turned out. I just can't believe another year has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday she was blowing out her first candle...

Fresh Beat Band Birthday: Partyware and Decorations

As I scoured the world for Fresh Beat Band decorations, I was sadly disappointed. The few resources I found pointed me in the direction of the Bright Dots party theme, which would have been perfect.....if they had more than just the cups available. Unfortunately, cups alone do not a party make.

I searched my local party store, and nothing was perfect. There were plenty of other themes available, but nothing that screamed "Fresh Beat Band". After searching for awhile, I decided to check my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart. While they didn't have Fresh Beat Band-themed supplies, I did find lots of colorful partyware that fit the theme perfectly. They even had square plates, which goes along well with the colorful squares that show up in the show and materials constantly.
 

Rather than picking up a single color for the partyware, I chose to get each piece in a different color. I think this will actually turn out better anyway because by mixing all the colors, they match all the colors in the show. We also bought balloons in a variety of colors as well.

I also plan on taking advantage of the free printables Nick Jr. has available on their website. They provide printable posters for each character along with a printable memory game that I'm planning on using as tags for the goody bags I'm giving to the kids who come. I also decided to make my life a little harder and make my own hanging musical notes out of cardboard.

We recently bought a new treadmill which came in a HUGE cardboard box. It seemed like such a waste to just throw the box away, so I thought, why not use it to make some free decorations rather than spending lots of money on flimsy ones? The cardboard papercuts aside, prepare to put some time into this one if you decide to make your own cardboard notes. And whatever you do, use a box cutter, not an X-Acto knife. Not like I tried that or anything..... If you suck at free-hand drawing most things like me, just ask a talented friend to draw them for you. I'm planning on painting them black and hanging them from some fishing wire.

My daughter seems to think all the decorations we bought for her party are supposed to be new toys for her. Maybe we should have gotten her cups and plates instead of toys for her birthday?

Note the band-aid on her left knee. She fell and scraped her knee a over a week ago, and ever since then, every time you mention her scab she'll begin to whine and hold her knee. She's working on perfecting the art of manipulation.

I can't believe my baby girl will be 2 in 4 days. Is it too early to start crying?

Happy Friday and National Reading Month

Happy Friday everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has visited my page to check out my 2-part Baby Glam series! If you missed it, you can find the tutorials for the Rockin' Necklace Tee and Rockin' Tie Tee in the "Tutorials" tab above.

A special thanks to Craft Gossip, One Pretty Thing, and Tatertots and Jello for featuring me on their sites. Go check them out and leave some love!

I've been loving your versions of the Baby Glam projects! Lauren shared this version she did for her little girl, She also made a onesie for a friend!

Cute cute cute! Keep your submissions coming!

For those of you who recently started following my blog, thanks for visiting! If you like what you see, please suggest My Own Road to your friends! I have a bunch of new tutorials upcoming, including some projects for the home, kids and *gasp* some for adults as well. I love to re-fashion thriftstore finds, and I have a drawer full of stuff waiting to be worked on.

Here's a peek of some upcoming tutorials I'll be posting:

Bubble Magnets, Placemats, Kids Dress to Toddler Dress, Scrunchy Flower Tank

I'll also be posting more on the details of my daughter's upcoming Fresh Beat Band-themed 2nd birthday. I already made and passed out the invitations, but that was the easy part. I'll show you what I did for decorations and goody bags, and then the final outcome (which hopefully is a success!)

March is National Reading Month!

 

Helping Little Hands is hosting a Read Along, which I plan to participate in. Head over here for more details on how you can participate too!

 

A Fresh Beat Band Birthday - Invites

Whew! Say that 5 times fast!

Friends, it's time to go bananas. If you recognize that line, then I know you must have kids...or a lot of free time. As I've mentioned before, my daughter is obsessed with the Fresh Beat Band, so of course they will be the theme of her upcoming 2nd birthday. Unfortunately since the show is still so new (it's currently in its second season), there aren't any commercial party supplies being sold yet. I've found a couple different sites like this one with moms like me who have improvised their own Fresh Beat Band birthdays and their suggestions have been helpful, but ultimately I've come to realize that I'm on my own.

Over the next 3 weeks, I'm going to be doing my best to come up with ideas for the most stylin, hip hop and poppin' Fresh Beat Birthday. Brace yourselves. Will my (almost) 2-year-old remember this? No. Will I take lots of pictures of the theming to remind her of all the time and effort I put into creating a birthday centered around her favorite show? You bet.

First thing's first- birthday invitations! Like I said, there aren't any Fresh Beat Band birthday products out there (except a few odds and ends on eBay) so I had to get down and dirty with Photoshop. I found an image I liked online and then used Photoshop to clean everything up and add in some catch phrases from the show. I'm not a graphic designer, so it's still a little pixellated, but that's probably just my perfectionist side coming out.

Here's the front of the card (Image courtesy of Nick Jr.)...

 ...and this is the back.

Not too shabby huh? I'm pretty proud of my Photoshopping skills. I think I've graduated beyond "complete hopeless amateur" in the past year. And whatever I can't do, I just go to Picknik.com for the rest. If you haven't been there, stop right now and go. It's an amazing site for those of us who don't understand the complexities of Photoshop. Plus, they have fun stickers and frames you can add to your pictures. AND it's free for the basic version! I used Picnik for the pictures in this post to colorize and brighten them.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll get to some decorations tonight!