A Good Reason for a Party!

So there's this really great girl I know...she is a wife, a mother, an employee, a runner, oh and did I mention - she's now a CPA! As you might know, my SIL Melissa recently passed the final stage of her CPA exam. After many years of school, several years of study - the wait is over! Now, I am not one who has to look hard to have a party but this one was a while in the making and boy was it a blast to do! Primarily because, Melissa deserves it!

If I were half the blogger I hope to be I would've been better behind the camera, Melissa did alot of picture taking and I'm too impatient to wait for copies so I'm posting what I have.

Here is a little behind the scenes:


The balloons kept Braden busy for a while - he would gather them all up while standing in a chair on his tippy toes and then move them to the other side of the room and then proceed to do the whole thing over again!


The party was a numbers theme (Lisa so loves a theme and as my like-minded party planning friend - we ate that up in about 30 seconds flat) We used black & white with "splashes" of yellow since that is said honoree's favorite color. It turned out really cute. Our prize area was this dessert table. Whatcha think?

This little area was kinda cute too - props to Lisa who bought that candle stand for 25 cents and painted black was quite a hit.

This is an after party pic with the silver candlesticks missing but this looked pretty neat too - very grand with the silver candlesticks - as I said - blogger in training I guess.

p.s. - this number banner for the mantle was my absolute favorite part - probably because it was my brainchild and I did the work myself on this part - either way, I thought it was cute and can imagine so many different ideas for different themes.

We had some little darlings running around too who were quite proud of Mommy as well (and Mommy's cupcakes!)

And of course, very little darlings who enjoyed a little special time (or at least the big one enjoyed her time with the littlest darling)

Once again, a super HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Melissa and a huge THANK YOU to Lisa for helping put this together - it was certainly a highlight!

A Quick Card

and super easy! I just cut a piece of white paper to the width of my chosen envelope and folded it in half. Then I cut the pretty "Vera Bradley" style paper (Abbi's words) to be just shy of all four edges. Instead of cutting a white oval and placing it on top - I cut out an oval from the patterned paper and then placed the letters across the opening. I used my slick writer to line the inside just to ground it with the black letters. This card took a total of EIGHT minutes! Sweet easy and used up some supplies - a good thing!


Hope you can use this for your next "on the fly" card - Happy Tuesday:)

Candy Crazy!

**disclaimer*** these are not in perfect order - just too many to worry about that! also, my children can make some "ugly" faces so please don't judge?!?

These two finally got to have their party and boy was it a party - sugar of every shape and size was in attendance. Here is their pre-party pose (thus showing all kinds of faces)


Our wonderful friend, Sis. Jennifer, made us a "crooked" cake upon Abbi's request and just iced it plainly for us. We (and with a little supervision, I mean they) took over from there. They added skittles, M&M's, gummie lifesavers, candy buttons and a giant lollipop - it was quite the hit (and tasted GREAT too!)


Here is a view of it all - not really but that was IMPOSSIBLE!


Can you see the excitement? His quote: "This is the best party I have ever been too, except for mine" Hilarious!

We decorated our own cupcakes and Taylor was totally into it - I picked this pic to post (say that fast 3X) because you can see the intent look on her face as she decides where to place her candies.

Bella enjoy hers!

See: proof of "ugly" faces - what was that?!?

Exhibit B: "ugly" faces caused by too much sugar.

We tried to do some "minute to win it" style games and this one apparently needs special 2 liter bottles and some crazy strong tape/glue or whatever. The kids enjoyed it but it wasn't quite Golden Globe worthy execution on our parts.

We had a bubble blowing contest - Daddy would've won had he been eligible to compete - apparetnly Dubble Bubble gum isn't the best choice - oops again!

Grant tried but bubble blowing is not his forte:(

Kids of all ages rediscovered their love of candy - Bryan sharing Fun Dip with Tori - gotta love those eyebrows she has!

And the end of the goodie bag line - a new TOOTHBRUSH - figured that might come in handy and be cheaper than a trip to the dentist!

Over all it was fun party, the kids had a blast and will have great memories to share. Thank you to all who attended or played even the smalled part in making it all happen! We love you:)

Why I Am A Crazy Lady (this week anyway!)

because it's PARTY TIME!!! Although the twins birthday is in December (just 5 days prior to Christmas) we always do their party in January because it's supposed to be more calm. Not sure that theory applies this year but, oh well.

So of course once you begin making hand-made invites, the kids expect nothing less, and truthfully, I would be disappointed to change plans now. So here is what we started out with...cardstock, buttons, brads, ribbon, lollipop sticks, a circle punch (thanks to my hero Lisa for stepping in there!), and some pop dots (think that gets it all)


After much deliberation - these are the final product - of course a boy version and girl version. The bow wasn't Mason's fav part. Actually kinda happy about that!


I think the green one turned out to be my favorite overall. Now we are waiting on our shipment of gumballs,lollipops, sweetarts, zots, and rock candy - can hardly wait! Gonna be a fun, fun party.


Happy Thursday!

Christmas in January???

Well, not really, but this post is WAY late but I think I'm in the swing of things a bit better now. The new year brought some not so welcome events and we are just getting back to ourselves. Hope you enjoy these Christmas pics and descriptions. On to the new year with the next post!



I was actually relatively pleased with this family pic - no ridiculous faces, or eye-rolls, overall, not too bad.





The present from Aunt Terri - air hockey table - Braden likes to say that this is "the present that was too heavy for Aunt Terri to carry!"



We always read the Christmas story and have prayer before we open our gifts. Sometimes we read from the Bible but this year Braden read most of it so we used this very accurate version so that he could read - I tried to upload the video but it would work - super cute though!


The gift of the season - homemade bathrobes by their mother! They were SUPER thrilled as these pics show - love that the homemade item made them the happiest!

Of course, a Vera Bradley lunchbox will bring a smile to this girls face too and runs a close second to the robe. She is obsessed:)

We had Christmas with my family on Christmas day and although Tori was there she didn't really pose for too many pics so Taylor gets the spotlight here. She loved the princess roller skates we got her but.......

The Cinderella dress-up from Aunt Teresa stole the show - she wanted to get dressed immediately!

Hope you enjoyed these and I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with something more crafty!

Before Christmas can truly begin....

our boy & girl has to turn ten! It is hard to convey the emotions that these few days hold. If I had posted this before Tuesday I'm sure some of it would've held different emotions - maybe not. This week was not an easy one for us for multiple reasons. However, my love for these sweet children is still the same.

Our first celebration started Sunday night after church with Aunt Lisa & Uncle Roger. When the "birthday desert" came, the singing began. Aunt Lisa sang desperately out of tune on purpose and poor Abbi could barely contain herself - note the bright shade of red and plugged ears.


I don't know that I've ever seen her face this red (the blushing seems to be a new thing) but it was funny for us to watch.


"Old" friends surely make the best friends - I love you Lisa!

We celebrated the actual day with a dinner to Outback - they opened gifts, ate, and enjoyed more birthday dessert.

The poor girl had been salivating over black nikes ever since her Daddy and Brother got a pair - finally her new "kicks"

Of course, the video game makes this one all smiles.

I love this sweet boy but sometimes it's not easy. The next day was truly one of the worst days I've had parenting him. Who knows how one child can be so different from the others in the home. I am writing this more as a release for me than for your benefit (of course) I never want him to question how much I love him, I want to be able to show him that, help guide him in the right paths, use his gifts to the fullest of potential. I pray that we have both learned from this week. I know I've said this before but being a parent is beyond words the hardest job on earth! I will never understand it all I just pray the Lord helps me to be the best mother to him I can. Thank you to every person who has ever encouraged us, prayed for us, or just been our friend. Thank you so much!

May this next year hold great joy and peace for all of us as we struggle to please the Lord and walk in His perfect will!

Happy New Year!

Finally...

a crafty post! I haven't taken much time lately to do anything crafty but the closer Christmas gets there are a few cards necessary - so I get to make them and this one was inspired by a very simple card but I like the geometric nature of it none-the-less.

Two version:
This is just cardstock and jewels. Don't worry - these are the kind that come in a strip so I didn't sit and put each one on individually - HA!


Version 2:
I can't decide which I like best - this one is going to Braden's teacher who LOVES some bling - hope she likes it (of course she'll probably enjoy the handwritten note by him on the inside saying she is a cool teacher the most)


And to finish off this post - a rare shot with all 3 looking the same direction, at the same time, with a version of a smile - a true Christmas miracle!


If I don't get to blog again before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS and enjoy all your blessings - thre greatest being our Savior Jesus Christ!