Chieu Anh Urban's Blog, page 8

Happy 4th of July!

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I'm surprising my girls with baskets of strawberry dipped chocolates.Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!

Operation Shower - Happy 4th of July!

[image error] I'm very excited to ship this Away We Go! diaper cake and signed booksto Operation Shower, a non-profit organization with a mission of providing joyful baby showers for military families to ease the stress of deployment. 



[image error] This is my second time making a diaper cake, but my first time making a five-tier cake.  I'm going to shrink-wrap this fragile baby, and let's hope it arrives in one piece.



Have a great 4th of July everyone!

Away We Go! Shapes and Transportation Activities

[image error]  Yay! I'm super excited to have Away We Go! preschool activities
and party printables up on my website.  Enjoy Away We Go! story-time with
your little ones, followed by fun shapes and transportation projects.
Check out the coloring, cut and paste, counting, and matching activities.




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Print the activities and party printables to your heart's content.
If you have an Away We Go! celebration,  please do share!
Great fun for birthdays, baby showers, transportation, and preschool events.




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How about snack time?!  Here's a template I created 
for a tasty shape-sorting activity.Be sure to lay down wax paper over the printable before beginning.




Strawberries make good heart shapes, and these stars are baby cereal puffs.
I also spotted some star-shaped crackers at the grocery store.




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These shapely fruit rockets were a big hit with my kids!



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Don't forget the crafts!  Candy airplanes are cute, and very easy to make.
The shapes highlighted here are circles, rectangles, and squares.



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A cool summer craft that really floats!Using foam sheets, cut out a 2 3/4" x 4" rectangle, and a triangle sail.Cut 7 slits, each a centimeter apart, as seen in the photo.Be careful not to cut too close to the edge.  Have your little sailors weave
three crafts sticks (4 3/8" long), and attach the triangle sail.



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Let kids be creative, gluing shapes together to make colorful, 
shapely transportation vehicles.  Here are samples of 
a spaceship, ice cream truck, and train.



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I'm reposting the Away We Go! treats.Check out my Book Launch Celebration blog post for details.Have a shapetastic time reading Away We Go! with the kiddos, 
and getting creative with shapes and transportation!

Away We Go! Book Launch Celebration!

Wow! A big thank you to my wonderful family and friends for coming and supporting my love of children's books. The book launch celebration for  Away We Go! A Shape and Seek Book was a lot of fun!Although my outdoor party got rained in, it certainly made the day more exciting. 

Special thanks and hugs to my sponsors:FUNFIT's Organically Grown Gym, for the awesome children's entertainment.DC Metro Aviation, for letting us party at the airport. Woo Hoo!Dave Swain Motion & Design, for your amazing, creative talent; 
thanks for sharing a teaser of the adorable book trailer!And thank you to Josh Chik for capturing the party.  The photos are lovely!


I started setting up for the party 1 1/2 hours in advance. The weather was beautiful and breezy, with a 50% chance of thunderstorms.I was counting on getting lucky, and hoping for the best.
{I seriously contemplated on photoshopping my fashion faux pas,
but who has time for that? Oh well... }


Everyone was so sweet and helpful. :)



At first, I was concerned how the chain link fence would look in the photos.The pictures turned out well, and I like the pattern and airport feel.Visit my website to download the banner printables.
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Everytime a plane flew by, the breeze would blow the tablecloth and treats.It was hard to keep the dessert table looking presentable, but I loved seeing the planes, and being at the airport.
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The kids gobbled-up the sugary sailboats; not a single one left!To make these, all you need are pretzel sticks, marshmallow squares cut diagonally, and fruit gummy slices.
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These marshmallow cripsy spaceships were a hit too, and easy to make.Cut rice crispy treats in half, lengthwise; use the other halvesto make the triangle top and sides.  Dip them in sugar sprinkles, and prepare yourself for a serious, sugar-buzz.
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I'm sure you figured out that Away We Go! A Shape and Seek Book is about colorful shapes and transportation vehicles.I'm really proud of this book!Grab the cupcake flag printables from my website.
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The choo-choo chocolate chip cookies represented circles.



The blast-away brownies represented squares, and were quite sinful.My other dessert cards kept getting blown-off.You can snatch the shape signs and missing cards from my website.


The guests started arriving.  I was so happy to see the kids!



FUNFIT's Organically Grown Gym pulled out this cool parachute.A perfect, fun activity for airport games.



The kids enjoyed various shapes and transportation crafts.



Face painting is always a crowd-pleaser. 



Kids stopped by to check-out the trailer teaser.It's adorable and fun, and I can't wait to share the complete trailer.Thank you Dave Swain Motion & Design!


My luck ran out and the clouds moved in.It started to rain and thunder...



... so here we are inside, rain or shine!Thank you DC Metro Aviation, you guys were SO nice to let us come in. 



Thank goodness I had lots of crafts planned.I will post the craft tutorials sooner than later, I hope! [image error]

The twins are super cute!Away We Go! coloring page can be downloaded from my website.



These girls should have gotten an award for "most productive crafters"!



And this sweet, little baby for "best smile".


Thank you to my friends and family for their fine cooking!



And a big hug to my friend who made this special cake.



I'm sorry I didn't catch everyone for the group photo;many had left, and everyone was such a trooper hanging around with the rain.Thank you again for making the launch so special.Away We Go!

Book Launch Preparations

I've been a busy bee getting ready for the book launch party. Away We Go! releases today!  YAY!The banner turned out nicely and will be availablefor download from my website soon. [image error]

Goodreads Book Giveaway

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Giveaway ends June 22, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Surprise Mermaid Party!

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My little girl asked for a "surprise mermaid party" for her birthday.  We worked on the invitation together and she provided detailed art direction -
A blue top and purple tail!






We had fun decorating for the party before she left the house to make
her grand entrance.  This mermaid banner designed by 
Ham and Pea was from her birthday party last year.  
Mermaids are still her favorite!



My daughter helped decorate the table with her seashell collection.  Usually I do all the baking for my parties, but with so much going on preparing for the book launch,
I can only take credit for the chocolate seashells.



 Imagine my surprise to see my her reaction when she walked through the door.  SHE was surprised!  Children are so funny and unpredictable.



The cupcakes were amazing!  My girls have food allergies and these delicious egg-free, nut-free cupcakes were baked by The Joy of Cupcakes.  The kids were so excited to have them.



The cake pops were a lot of fun and also from The Joy of Cupcakes.  This beautiful chocolate mousse cake was baked by Pastries by Randolph, and honestly the best mousse cake I've ever had.I just love the pretty chocolate ribbon on top of the cake.



The kids were tickled silly with curiosity from the adorable goldfish-in-a-bag soap party favors, thanks to Craft That Party.



Mermaid guests made tiaras from beads and pipe cleaners,
and the handsome pirates made pirate hats.  



It was heartwarming to hear my little mermaid say,"This is the best party of my whole life!"  Aww... how cute is that?She has the sweetest friends to celebrate with!

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Celebrating!

Woo Hoo!  I can't believe I'm finally getting this blog together.  Welcome!I'm gearing up for the launch of my children's book,  Away We Go! A Shape and Seek Book published by Scholastic. Stay tuned for some fun shapes and transportation activities, 
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