Throw a Kids' Summer Party

Source http://www.myhomeideas.com/
Written by Cathy Still Johnson
Provided By Shelley Dudley

Who's afraid of bugs? Not these kids! Check out our easy, inexpensive ideas for hosting a backyard party that's sure to win over every creature.

Bugs and Butterflies

When it's time for your child's next party, try our bugs-and-butterflies-themed celebration. The crafts and goodies work for boys or girls, and our budget-friendly party plans will make you smile, too. We set the scene outdoors, but these festivities can easily be moved inside. So grab your little critters, and get ready for a fun-filled afternoon that everyone will enjoy!

You're Invited

Begin your party planning with a kid-friendly invitation. Download our invite -- choose from our full-color design or a coloring page outline -- and let your little one personalize her own invitation. - http://www.myhomeideas.com/static/pdf/invitation-print-out.pdf

Tip: A festive, colorful invitation can set the tone for your party. We based our colors, patterns, and design ideas for the celebration on this cute creation.

Dress the Table

Our custom-made tablecloth is lively enough for a child's party yet sophisticated enough for afternoon tea. A small investment that will last through many celebrations, the vivid colors and pop art daisy print set the tone for cheery afternoons. You'll need about eight yards of fabric to make this tablecloth.

Pop Garden, Pop Daisy Fabric

$8.38 (per yard)
Available at Fabric.com

Tabletop Arrangements

Tin pails and painted wooden containers brim with live flowering plants -- something you can easily transfer to your garden later. Punch up the color with gerbera daises, and add an ornament of garden art such as oversize metal flowers and pinwheels.

Fanciful Cake

Take your theme the extra mile by creating or ordering a cake covered in fondant ladybugs, caterpillars, and butterflies. This sweet sensation was created at Pastry Arts Bake Shoppe.

Tip: Before ordering from any bakery, bring along some party accessories to let the bakery help provide a consistent look. Be sure to allow your baker plenty of notice -- especially during wedding season.

More Munchies

Mini cupcakes are perfect for little hands. Fill pails with gummy worms, pretzels, and cheese crackers for hungry bug-seekers. Don't forget mini water bottles and adult beverages to keep moms and dads entertained.

Wings and Things

Let little ones fly with imagination. Check out Bugs-n-Blooms or your favorite party store for nylon fairy wings, vibrant butterflies, and dragonflies. Along with fun dress-up attire, you can also affix butterflies to tablecloths, floral arrangements, and suspend them from trees. And give the children a new way to look at the party by trying on silly sunglasses with magical lenses.

Kids' Craft Station

A child-size folding table offers plenty of room for crafty kids. Pile supplies in metal paint cans. We stocked ours with project materials simple enough to eliminate adult instruction: Popsicle sticks, pom-poms, glue, and pipe cleaners for creating fuzzy caterpillars. Also, provide colorful party bags with a stash of sparkly stickers. The kids can use them to carry take-home artwork.

Tip: You can rent a small folding table at rental stores for around $8, and metal paint cans are only $2 each at home improvement stores.

Whimsy Smocks

Colorful smocks protect kids' clothes from messy crafts. We adorned these plain canvas aprons with bugs, butterflies, and floral interpretations of the invitation's illustrations. Use scraps of fabric and hot glue or simple stitches to craft these whimsical critters. Looking for inspiration? Try simple outlines from children's coloring books.

The Bug Hunt

Plastic bugs scattered about the garden are a playful version of a traditional Easter egg hunt. Send the little ones out with bug boxes (perfect party favors!) to capture the critters. After they've gathered them, see if they can identify the insects.

Tip: Buy plastic bugs in bulk from your local party or toy store.

Face Painting Fun

You don't have to be an artist to paint a smile on a child's face. Line them up for a magical makeover with a face painting kit. Simple strokes and paintbrush tickles delight innocent faces.

Inexpensive Extras

Use your own easels (or borrow them from friends) to make paint stations.

For a popping backyard, rent a bubble machine.

Stock up on these no-fail finds from closeout or dollar stores: bubbles, sidewalk chalk, stickers, and pinwheels.


Looking for a home to start your summertime fun in? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Choosing the Best Home

Provided By Realty Times
Written By Carla Hill

After weeks of searching for your next home, you now have it narrowed down to two great options. One offers a shorter commute, but the other offers more square footage for your growing family. How can you make the best choice?

There are several strategies you can employ in your decision making process. Above all, be confident in your decision making abilities. "The fear of making serious decisions is a new kind of fear, called decidophobia," proclaimed by Walter Kaufmann at Princeton University in 1973. Worry and procrastination do nothing to aid the process, so buyers, be confident that you will make a sound choice.

Pro/Con list: In this case, you are deciding between two houses as your prospective home. For each house, divide a sheet of paper into two columns: pro and con. Be realistic about what the positive and negative factors would be for each purchase. Considerations could include: price, location, schools, repairs, square footage, floorplans, street noise, neighborhood value, comparables, and gut intuition.

Brainstorm scenarios: Chances are, whatever house you decided upon will be your residence for many years to come. Try and think ahead to situations that may arise in the future, and how each residence would affect those situations. Do you have aging parents that could move in? If so, then which house provides the best floorplan for this? Planning on having children? Check out ratings on local schools.

Do the math: Business executives might call this the "cost/benefit analysis." Buying a home is a huge financial decision, and while personal preferences (e.g. location, schools, square footage) all come into play in homebuying, many purchases are based on what makes the best financial sense. Discuss numbers and neighborhood comparables with your real estate agent. One home may be a smaller dollar amount, but the other may be a better deal in the long run. Some neighborhoods are up and coming, while others have come and gone. Are either homes overpriced or underpriced for their neighborhoods? Do either homes need repairs or updates?

Priorities list: Yes, you know you want the pool, landscaping, granite counters, close proximity to work, extra bath, and the list goes on. But when push comes to shove, and it might, what items are your priority, really? For some, driving a longer commute is worth having a larger house or a cheaper price. For other buyers, the exact opposite can be true.

Change perspectives: Sometimes you simply must step out of your own shoes to see a situation clearly. There are many different ways to approach this decision. You can look at it from an emotional point of view (which home do you love), an intuitive view (what does your gut tell you), and even a devil's advocate view (what if). Experts consider this the "Six Thinking Hats," introduced by Edward de Bono in a book of the same title, where you put on six different hats during a decision making process. Try and see the buying process from the perspective of your spouse, your children, friends, and even your worst enemy.

Finally, be realistic in your own abilities. While the final decision rests on your capable shoulders, you should rely on the professionals that are by your side. This includes your agent, lender, attorney, and even your family. And while you are the final say, remember that you have a team to help give you information to fuel that sound decision.

Are you looking for the best home for you and your family? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Sea Life Aquarium is coming to Grapevine Mills

Published By Dallas Business Journal
Written By Kerri Panchuk

Grapevine Mills is getting a Sea Life Aquarium in the summer of 2011 to further expand on the shopping center and the city’s plan to turn Grapevine into a destination for families.

Merlin Entertainments has reached an agreement with The Mills, a Simon Co., and the City of Grapevine to create plans for the $15 million Sea Life Aquarium at Grapevine Mills.

The new attraction will sit across from Legoland Discovery Centre, another hot spot for family-friendly entertainment.

The aquarium will be Merlin’s fourth Sea Life attraction in the United States. Plans call for a two-story, 45,000-square-foot aquarium that will house 30 different marine life displays featuring starfish, seahorses, sharks and rays.

“The Sea Life Aquarium will be the perfect complement to Grapevine Mills' already celebrated shopping and entertainment experience. We look forward to our partnership with Merlin Entertainments and are confident that families will revel in the deep sea wonders that the aquarium will bring," said Gregg Goodman, president of The Mills.


Are you interested in a home near the Grapevine Mills area? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Senate OKs New Tax Credit Closing Deadline

Published By Inman News
Provided By RECON

CLARIFICATION: While the Senate has amended HR 4213, the "American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010," to extend the closing deadline for the tax credit, it has not held a vote on the amended bill itself. Senate Democrats have reportedly trimmed $60 billion in spending from the bill in hopes of passing it this week. The House and Senate must resolve differences between previous versions of the bill passed in both chambers before it can become law.

The Senate has amended a bill to give homebuyers who were under contract on a home purchase by April 30 an additional three months to close the deal and claim the federal homebuyer tax credit.

Extending the deadline for closing from June 30 to Sept. 30 would allow lenders more time to clear a backlog of 180,000 homebuyers nationwide, said amendment sponsor Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The amendment to HR 4213, the "American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010" -- which primarily extends unemployment insurance benefits -- was approved in a 60-37 vote Wednesday. The vote on the amendment was mostly along party lines, with only four Republicans in favor and one Democrat opposed. The Senate has not yet voted on the amended bill itself.

"While I am disappointed that more Republicans did not support this common-sense measure to strengthen the economy and reduce the deficit, I am committed to ensuring that more Nevadans and Americans can become homeowners and that this amendment becomes law," Reid said in a statement.

The House passed an earlier version of the bill in December, which the Senate amended and approved in March. The House and Senate must resolve differences between versions of the bill before it becomes law.

The National Association of Realtors supports the amendment, saying Realtors have reported that as many as one-third of qualified applicants have been told by lenders that their loans will not close before June 30 because of the sheer volume of loan applications in the pipeline.

The amendment does not extend the deadline for homebuyers to qualify for the tax credit, NAR said in urging lawmakers to approve it, but simply extends the deadline for closing transactions already in contract.

"Since these applications were already in the pipeline and figured into the program's cost, the extension of the closing deadline should not incur any further government costs," NAR President Vicki Cox Golder said in a statement.

There has been some speculation that some homebuyers will attempt to submit fraudulent claims for the tax credit by backdating documents showing they were under contract by April 30, and that extending the deadline for closing would expose the government to more fraudulent claims.

Would you like more information regarding the new tax credit closing deadline? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Ranked 3rd out of the 10 Fastest Growing Counties in America

Published By CNN Money
Provided By Blair Baldwin

Rockwall County, Texas
Population: 81,391
Growth rate since April 2000: 88.9%

After averaging more than 7.5% population growth during the first eight years of the decade, the Dallas
suburb saw its growth rate drop to 4.6% in the 12 months ended July 1, 2009. Despite that, it held on to its title as the third-fastest grower in the nation during the 2000s.

Texas real estate never bubbled as in some Sun Belt states. There was always lots of inexpensive land available suitable for development and few regulatory burdens to overcome to put in new housing. That meant supply easily grew to keep up with strong demand and prices remained very stable.

The nation's economic woes have affected Rockwall County little, according to Keller Williams real estate agent Blair Baldwin. Growth has slowed, she said, but not greatly, and a new harbor facility on Lake Ray Hubbard, with many shops, restaurants and community facilities, has helped attract buyers.Few foreclosure problems have surfaced; only 29 Rockwall County residents had their homes repossessed in May, one for every 425 households. Still, that was the third highest rate in the state.

Do you want to live in the 3rd fastest growing county in America? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com!