Simple Suburbia: May 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

DIY Gift for the Hubster

Last Friday was our five year anniversary. FIVE. I can't believe we got married 5 years ago and I also can't believe 2008 was 5 years ago! I'm getting old. I bought Nick a Garmin GPS watch/heart monitor for his running, but I also wanted to make him something. Before I get started, let's reminisce together....

So my DIY gift I decided on was Pinterest inspired: a Date Jar! The basic idea is that you write a bunch of date ideas on craft sticks and stick them in a jar. When we want to go on a date (family or couple), we can just pick a stick and skip all of that planning and "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do YOU want to do?" Ugh, we're so bad at that!

Date Jar

What You Need
Craft Sticks
Jar
Marker to write on sticks
Stickers or colored markers to color code your sticks (You could also try to find colored craft sticks)

How to Make
1. Make a list of date ideas. I asked a few of my friends and even googled. I wanted to be creative and not just write down our "usual" dates.
2. Write your date ideas on the craft sticks (one per stick).
3. If wanted, color code your sticks. I have family dates, couple dates out, and couple dates at home.
4. Decorate your jar.
5. Put the sticks in the jar.

Seriously, it can't get much easier than that!

Here are some of the dates I included in the date jar. Some of the dates are dates we can do with Carson. Some are dates for home after Carson goes to bed. Some are dates that require a babysitter for Carson. I tried to include a variety!

"Rent" a movie (Netflix, Red Box, etc.)
Firepit date in our backyard
Blanket fort and movie
Wii game night
Take out + board games
Visit our favorite restaurant
Movie + Dessert
Cooking classes
Mini Golf
Ice Skating
Bowling
Coupon Date (go somewhere we have a coupon for)
Thrift Store Challenge (each person gets $5 and we have to come up with the craziest outfit)
Trampoline Park
Coffee Date
Dessert only Date
Bike Ride
Food Truck Date
"New to us" restaurant
Bakery
Restaurant Hop (one place for appetizer, one for main course, one for dessert)
Fro-Yo/Ice Cream
House Hunters (visit Open Houses for fun)
"Hiking" at a Metro Park
Family Lunch Date
Farmer's Market
Feed the Ducks
Park
Water Fun (sprinkler, pool, water table...all at home)
Pool Day
Children's Museum
Zoo
Picnic (home or at a park)
Find a new park

Here is the original pin:

Source: sprinklejoy.net via Emily on Pinterest

I'm linking up today:

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Carson's First Birthday Party!

Before I recap Carson's FIRST birthday party, can we just talk about how much he has grown in a year? Crazy. He has just about tripled his birth weight and he has grown almost 10"! I still can't believe it was over a year ago that we were meeting this angel in the hospital!

Last weekend (5/18) we had Carson's first birthday celebration! We had a WHALEY great time. Corny enough? In all honesty, I didn't want the party to look too whaley so I focused on blues and greens and just added some whale stuff here and there. Here is a look at how it turned out!