Halloween Madness at our house! :)

Our Annual Family Halloween Party!

Once everyone shows up an oohs and ahhs over all the fantastic costumes we eat dinner!

* I make some homemade chili and Mac N Cheese for the kiddos... everyone else brings the fixins' and the drinks!

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 Then we hit the pinata! Almost every child--- ages 1 and up want to take a hit at the pumpkin pinata- fun fun!

Lily takes a hit at the pinata!

 Then Scarlett gets a chance to take a WHACK!

 

We go smallest child to biggest child--Our 6 year old friend broke it open this year! YAY! CANDY!

(everyone makes a run for the candy!)

 

Next comes the "line up"! We used to do this on our couch every year... too many kids to do it on the couch anymore!  Now we lined up on our fence in the backyard- Say CHEESE!  

(I am still missing about 3 or 4 kiddos in this lineup.. .sheesh!)

 After the line up we get our glow sticks and go trick or treating on our cul-de-sac... 

the perfect amount of houses for little 2, 3 and 4 year olds!!

Lily  (aka Cinderella) says "Trick or Treat!"

 My favorite of the night--- Chim chimeney, chim chimeney, chim chim cher eee!!  

Love my BURT AND MARY POPPINS! Too Sweet! :) xxoxo

I hope you and your kiddos had a fun and spooky Halloween too!! 

xoxoxo

Birthday Party for Two Princesses

Last week I manage to tackle putting together a PRINCESS party for both of my girls.  We decided to do a joint birthday party this year because even though their birthdays are in two different months they both LOVE princesses and they both would want a princess party anyway! Plus it will save me from being overwhelmed with trying to throw Scarlett's party in December amidst the holiday chaos! :)

Thank goodness it wasn't raining because we had about 27 kiddos come to the party as well as their parents- and we did lots of activities outside.

I set up a table outside for a craft activity when the kiddos arrived.. Scarlett wanted to make hers before everyone got there. She is decorating her royal princess crown.

Boys and Girls got to chose a hat or crown and then decorate them outside with stickers and glitter.

 

I was able to convince my sisters of a FABULOUS gift for the girls birthday:

 

Dressing up as Scarlett and Lily's FAVORITE princesses!

My sisters were very kind  to do this for them! :) Thank you girls!

On the left is the beautiful Cinderella and on the right is the fabulous Ariel (little mermaid)!

Scarlett and Lily were in LOVE!! Scarlett later told me this was her favorite part of the whole party!

Awww.....

 

My husband drove the tractor princess carriage and gave all the royalty rides around the backyard.  

What FUN!

 

Then it was princess PINATA time!! Whoo hoo!  Everyone got a few turns to break open the pinata and they were LOVING it I tell ya! :) It was so cute to watch some of the littler ones hitting the pinata.  Then- out came the candy! Yum! Yum!

 

CANDY!

  

Princess Cinderella read a story called Polite as a Princess to all the lords and ladies... 

and then...

 

Time to sing Happy Birthday to my two princesses (here they are blowing out the candles!)

 

I made strawberry cupcakes and regular white cupcakes with sprinkles as well.

 

More tractor rides with Daddy!

 

Ariel helped with the game "pass Cinderella's glass slipper". We played UNDER the SEA music and when it stopped whomever had the glass slipper got a little bean bag fish from Ariel for a prize!  (Note: They were sitting on a parachute... afterwards we played parachute with all the kids- that is always a favorite!)

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When our ROYAL guests were leaving Scarlett and Lily handed them a thank you bag with little gifts fitting of their age.  There were glow in the dark swords, bubbles, bouncy balls, princess crayons, rings, necklaces, princess chapstick, etc. in the designated bags.  

 

Gosh I love my two princesses! :)  I hope they had as much fun as it seemed they did- lots of smiles, giggles, and excitement all day long.  Hugs and Kisses to my Scarlett and Lily!  xoxoxo

April Showers Bring May Flowers... and a BABY BOY TOO!

In April, I  threw a baby shower for my little sister-- she just had her baby in May (Jacob Michael) and I still haven't posted until today- aghhh!!
I threw her baby shower on a Saturday afternoon toward the end of April. I really wanted an outdoor baby shower in the backyard, BUT the weather in Dallas decided to follow my theme and it "SHOWERED" all morning!! Therefore,we had the baby shower in my house- it turned out really nice even if it was a bit crowded!! I just want to thank my sister in law for helping me with everything- she was so wonderful and fun to work with and also my BEST friend (who is also my Fairy Blog Mother) for her help taking the pictures. Thank you!!

 

Invitation for the event: 

April Showers bring May Flowers and a little baby boy, 

Let's shower Claire with lots of love for this bundle of joy!

 

Gorgeous chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with Umbrella Toppers and little "raindrop" flowers.  I worked with Charynn to create my own unique cupcake toppers - I found her from Two Sugar Babies on Etsy - check her out! She can do the most amazing stuff with fondant- Thank you Charynn!

I also worked with Tabitha from Proud Grits on Etsy- she was so sweet and we actually talked about lots of ideas for my baby shower- she really knows her stuff! I ended up having her make me some cute umbrella confetti and she threw in some little paper flower confetti as well- it was absolutely adorable on the tables!

 

Sign in table for Claire's Shower- we used her baby book to sign in and had a M&M counting game at the sign in table too!  Claire dressed perfectly to match her yellow and blue baby shower colors- she is so cute!

 

One of the guests counting the M&M's in the baby bottle!

Another game we played was measure the Momma! Each person had to take a piece of string and cut it at whatever they thought the circumference of Claire's baby belly might be.  It was pretty funny- some cut very small lengths of string and others cute humongous pieces!! LOL 

The winners received a cute little candle and notepad for a prize.

 

My other little sister, Claire, and my mom helping open a gift.  If you look behind them on the fireplace you will see a "bunting" type banner that says Baby Shower in cute lettering- with little baby boy onesies hanging on the rope with clips.

 

Here is an up close of some of the umbrellas we put around the house.  We cut raindrops and hung them with clear string to the yellow and blue umbrellas.

 

More cute umbrellas, balloons, and raindrops!

 

We served some light snacks since the party was around 3 in the afternoon.  We had fruit and veggies to nibble on as well as some quiche and some mini pizza rollups. Yummy!

At the end of the shower, we gave small umbrellas as thank you gifts to the guests...we used raindrop paper and wrote "from our shower to yours" on the paper attached to the umbrella- since it was raining those umbrellas really got used!! LOL

Claire's shower was really a success! She literally got a room FULL of gifts.  It completely filled my living room area- it was amazing! Definitely thankful for all our family and friends that were able to attend!

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SOME OTHER THANK YOUS! Check out all these great sites!

When I was planning this party, I went to some experts to get advice on what kinds of things would be neat to do for the baby shower.  I talked with Brittany from One Charming Party because she has the most awesome, beautiful ideas!! I wasn't expecting this but she actually hooked me up with a free inspiration board from her friend Becca from Birthday Girl Blog and oh my gosh it was the coolest April Showers Inspiration Board!!  I love these two girls ideas- they are absolutely fabulous and can come up with some really unique ideas if you need something for birthdays, showers, weddings, etc.  Check them both out and give them lots of love from me!!  Here is the PRECIOUS inspiration board that Becca sent me- so many cute ideas- for anyone that might be interested in doing a "rainshowers theme!".

 

Another sweet lady that sent me some awesome ideas was Shelley from How Does She? Have ya'll ever seen this blog?  It is so cool- those girls are amazing and their blog is so much fun to read! Check it out!!

My final shout out is to Amy from STEM parties- she also sent me loads of adorable ideas and places to check out online!!  

All of these ladies are busy, busy, busy and yet they each took time to write me back and I will be forever appreciative of that!  I hope good things are coming  to each and every one of the ladies that helped me with this shower. HUGS TO YOU ALL!!

REINDEER PARTY- Part 3 ( FINALLY... huh?!??)

I am sorry it took me weeks (literally!) to post the final reindeer party blog... if you have seen my recent blogs I explain why... Any who... Here it is! :)

(Both sisters excited for the Reindeer Birthday party later that day!!! As you can see Lily is still in her pjs!)

Scarlett's 3rd birthday party was absolutely wonderful! It just turned out great!

We decided to do an afternoon party (after the kiddos nap) and have snacks and cupcakes for the party.  And so that is when I decorated our "enclosed garage" for the party! 



I covered Scarlett's "preschool table" with a  red table cloth... tied up red and white balloons... cut out and laminated cute Christmas paper placemats and set out our Reindeer snack cups that we had made.  I also used red and gold streamers on the ceiling and had 4 big gold stars hung around the room.  We also had some blow up reindeer that we got from Dollar Tree- too cute!   The look on Scarlett's face when she got up from a nap was priceless!!!!

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Once the party began, (and each child had a set of reindeer antlers placed on their head when they arrived) we started with a reindeer ornament that I got from Hobby Lobby (think I saw them on Oriental Trading as well)  It was an easy craft with foam parts that either stuck or were glued on to make a cute little ornament.  It was great to start off with this because families trickled in over the 1st half hour and this kept the little ones busy (and the parents too!)  lol

After the ornaments were finished it was on to Pin the nose on Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer!

 Each child was blindfolded, given a red nose with double sided tape (I just put them right up to the picture of Rudolph- they are too little to spin around! ) It was pretty cute to watch them and they seemed to really enjoy it!  The winner received a cute set of reindeer ornaments for their Christmas tree!

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Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Scarlett and eat reindeer cupcakes!

 Here they are!  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting... Large Pretzels snapped in half and stuck into the top for antlers and regular M&M's for eyes (blue or green) and Red peanut M&M's for the nose!

Plus a fun christmas cupcake wrapper too! I think these were a holly berry design.

Afterwards, we went to the Christmas tree and opened all of the birthday presents!  This was one of Scarlett's favorites- Melissa and Doug Magnetic Dress up- so much fun!

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After the presents were opened, Santa Claus came for a surprise visit!!!  He passed out candy canes and took pictures with the kids- this was the perfect age- they were all very excited!

Another PRICELESS moment... when we saw all the expressions of the little 2 and 3 year olds!

So much fun!

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When it was time to leave Scarlett handed out little (party favor) green "chinese food" boxes that had reindeer on them... (got them at Dollar Tree)  Inside they had reindeer cookies that we baked, magic reindeer food (to bring the reindeer to your house on Christmas Eve, a christmas ring to wear, and some candy.  Many of Scarlett's friends have little brothers or sisters that are Lily's age... so we gave them a cute Reindeer Board book as a party favor.(the first picture on this blog shows the party favors in the background on the table)

I have more 'in -depth" detail about things that I did for the party in my Part 2 blog - but this was just a follow -up blog to let you know how it went (you NEVER know with 2 and 3 year olds!!) 

But.... this party went FABULOUSLY!   It was super fun for everyone!

Thanks for reading!   ;-)

Jo

REINDEER PARTY- Part 2

(Just a note... our Tot school this week was mostly activities & crafts to get ready for our reindeer birthday party on Sat.) 

So, I posted about the invitations.... now I am going to show you what we have been up to the past few days. There will be a PART 3 which will show BEFORE  (tomorrow morning) and AFTER (tomorrow evening) the party and I can let you know how it went, ok?  :)

First, we made some reindeer cookies--- they are large and so we are going to put each one in a plastic baggie and it will go in the little treat box (reindeer Chinese food boxes from Dollar Tree) that each child will get to take home... We got this idea  from  Let's Explore   --- but we kind of tweaked it a bit... I just bought store bought sugar cookie dough (I know this is very easy to make- I was being lazy!! LOL) and  then just molded them into a shape... we used chocolate chips for eyes, small (broken in half) pretzels for antlers and M&M (red or brown) for the nose... I was going to do all red noses because I liked that best but Scarlett once again reminded me that there was only ONE Rudolph... sheesh!  She did finally decide to make a few red noses though...

Also inside the Reindeer Goodie boxes we have Reindeer Bells (or Santa's Belt bells) a cute snowflake plastic ring,  and Reindeer food (to guide the way to your house on Christmas eve).
I got the idea for the Magic reindeer food from Preschool Playbook.
But used this saying from another blog---(can't find where it is from!!)

Sprinkle on the lawn at night.
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This will guide them to your home!

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We have insulated our garage and I have been using it as the girls Homeschooling "Preschool/Tot School" room- I love it!  We put in some large rugs and we have a heater (and insulated too recently- yay) and we have a nice long table for doing lots of ART!   We are using this table for the party for all the little ones to sit at and I am going to cover the table with red plastic table cloth... and these ADORABLE cups that I found on (my favorite blog) Confessions of a Homeschooler .

 

Scarlett really enjoyed making these... while I made ones with red noses... she was determined to have some brown nosed ones as well (hey, it's her party!!)

I really think they turned out cute!! These will decorate the table... at first I thought we could use them as cups for drinking but then I realized we are talking about 2 and 3 year olds... with all the "stuff on them" that might not be wise!  So... we will use them as snack cups (which is what they were intended for in the other blog) and I bought chocolate milk boxes for the kiddos instead!

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Decorations:  Red and Gold  Tinsel Garland crisscrossing the ceiling.... Balloons (a must for my parties!), Red plates and napkins, and 4 blow up reindeer (also from Dollar Tree). 
 ( Oh did I mention reindeer antler headbands for all the kiddos to wear when they arrive??) 
-NOTE: --Also from Dollar Tree!!  (thank you Dollar Tree- my shopping oasis!)

Activities- We are playing Pin the Nose on Rudolph (found a great picture to use HERE)  and then we are also making a foam reindeer ornament (very simple) from Oriental trading...  At 2 and 3 years old I didn't want to do too much and also BECAUSE..... (bells jingling in the distance)

SANTA IS COMING TO VISIT TOO!!!!!!!!!--- He is going to read them the Rudolph the Red nose reindeer book and give them their gift bags as well (doesn't that seem appropriate?) We will probably sing Rudolph the Red nose reindeer as well because that is Scarlett's favorite song... ( I used to love it too- had the record- my parents used to have to hide it from me when it wasn't Christmas or I'd listen to it all year long!)

He is just coming towards the end so we can focus on magical Reindeers and such... but I think it will be fun!

So, hopefully there will be lots of "reindeer games"... & our party will "go down in history!" (in a good way!)Look in tomorrow night (or Sunday if I get lazy) and see the "play by play"!!!

Check out where the places I linked up to as well!! :)

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Sugarplum Creations
Confessions of Non- Domestic Housewife
Ramblings of a Crazy Woman
Preschool Corner