designergirl007

Double Bubble. Double Trouble. The Twins 1st Birthday!

Boy has this last year gone fast! When thinking about what to do for the twins first birthday I thought about Noah's arc (you know, the 2 by 2 theme seemed appropriate), I thought about Thing 1 and Thing 2 (you know how I love this Dr. Seuss theme), and I thought about just using an alphabet theme like I did for Jack's first birthday. I thought all of them had potential but I wasn't completely excited about any of them so I kept thinking and looking for inspiration. 

My creative instinct said, "Be patient, just wait, and something will come along that you'll get excited about." Be patient? Really? I kept brainstorming and ended up on one of my favorite invitation sites (this is where I have always purchased all of Jack's birthday invitations) Traylor Papers. I found double bubble invitation and something clicked, and I got excited about a double bubble party! It was something different and I was excited to see how it would all come together.

Above is an example of the invitation
I would love to give you the link for these invites but they don't sell them anymore and I have "Googled" and can't find them anywhere else. I am going to work on some double bubble invites  and I'll post on the designergirl007 etsy site in the future where my other party materials are available if you would like to have a double bubble party! :)

I had the theme, now, to come up with the decorations. My sister-in-law, who I have talked about on my blog before, is super duper creative. We were talking over Christmas and she had received a cake pop book. The book was full of great ideas and once I knew the bubble gum theme I knew the cake pops would be a perfect fit. They would be the perfect little gumball shapes on top of the sticks. I also knew I could buy double bubble wrapped gum and gumballs (small and large) to decorate in bowls around the table. By the way, the cake pops are sooooo good!

This picture shows the cake pops in the different sized bowls. The sticks are pushed in styrofoam in the bowls. Some of the cake pops are plain and some have sugar sprinkles in the coordinated icing color on them. To cover the styrofoam in the bowls I used the small and large sized gumballs. I had a fun platter I piled with the wrapped gum and used a photo holder to hold one of their invitations. I had also made tags to go on a few of the cake pop sticks. I'll talk more about that in just a bit. If you are interested in making cake pops here is a video from youtube that was a lot of help to me when I made them. Here is the cake pop book my sister-in-law had that provided a lot of inspiration as well. These are so cute I can see them making a lot more appearances on my blog. 

The other idea was to either have the kids do a craft using construction paper and make portraits of themselves, but because I didn't have space for that and I thought the kids would just like to play we didn't do the craft. I think they would have really enjoyed it though. What we did instead is we took our pictures, then I used Photoshop to cut out the background. I then, printed each of our pictures and cut a slit where our mouths were. Next, blew up balloons and pulled the tied part of the balloon through the slit in the paper. This helped with all the kids running around to keep the balloons in place. If I had just taped them on the photo they would have fallen off. Here are our photos - so fun!

The other fun thing I found were little double bubble gumball machines. They were party favors for the kids Jack's age and above. They loved these...

The other thing we did was we took balloons (the color of gumballs of course) and blew them up to different sizes then wrapped them in iridescent tissue paper. We tied each side of the balloon with white rafia ribbon to make it look like wrapped gum. For a final effect, hung a bunch from the ceiling, set them around by the drinks, and put them in a large glass jar above my stove to spread the theme around the kitchen.

Finally, we had the cakes, tags for the cake pops, banner and candy boxes. We had a large cake to serve everyone and then Jack picked out the small "smash" cakes for the twins. He chose a bakugan cake for Jake and a spiderman cake for josh. I am not sure who liked them more the boys or Jack? I made a banner to hang across the windows that said "Happy Birthday" on either side of the bubble gum character that is blowing bubbles centered in the middle. I will include these once I get it all pulled together and let you know where you can find the materials for your own double bubble party. I used the bubble gum character in a smaller version and printed them smaller to fit on top of little chinese take out boxes that were full of gumballs and wrapped gum. These were favors for the adults and kids as well.

This party was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to have a great time. Especially the twins, who had cake for the first time. Josh wasn't so sure about it, but Jake, well... as you can see he has a sweet tooth!

What a great first birthday party. The final thing I did was create a video that covered the boys first year. I did this with Jack and couldn't leave these boys out so I hunted and gathered photos and started putting it together. In the video I put pics from when I was pregnant up until their party. The songs I used were: Blessed by Elton John, My Wish by Rascal Flats, Forever Young by Bob Dylan, Life is a Highway by Rascal Flats and Let the Good Times Roll by Shirley and Lee. Yes, I got up at 4:15am to finish the video and cried, I laughed, as I looked back at the last year. After the boys demolished the cakes they were taken straight to the tub. After eating the cake and all that excitement they were ready for a nap. We are very blessed to have these 3 boys and what a great day of memories! Now on to year number two and as the end of my video says, "Our 3 Sons. Let the Good Times Roll!"

Forgot to mention the other thing that helped pull all this together. We were covering all senses during this party - even smell! I put the bubblegum scent in my Scentsy warmer and it smelled like bubblegum! How fun!!

Bling Baby Shower - It's a Girl!

Pink, pink and more pink. These are words that aren't heard or seen very often around my house of boys. So needless to say I was super excited to find out that my neighbor was pregnant with a precious little girl. She has two fantastic boys who are going to make wonderful big brothers but a girl is bringing about something new to their home - pink, girly stuff! Oh how I love this. I think I may just have to sit in the middle of her nursery once in awhile just to get a shot of estrogen when the testosterone gets to be too much over here. 

Well, we are so excited for this family my mom and I couldn't wait to jump, run, leap and sprint at the opportunity to throw them a baby shower. It did pose a challenge - it was for a girl and I am not kidding when I say this, every - I repeat - every baby shower I have thrown has been for a boy. I love boys. Okay, maybe that came out wrong but you know what I mean. I have a house full and wouldn't trade them for anything but the opportunity to host a girly girl shower made me tickled... pink. :)

My mom and I brainstormed on ideas and came up with some fun ideas to add to our "bling" baby shower. This theme was inspired by the baby bling theme on the blog hostess with the mostess. I love this site and if you haven't explored it - you should - it's fabulous!

So with the inspiration and brainstorming underway here is our version of the baby bling shower.

These are plastic champagne flutes filled with pastel colored candied almonds in some of the glasses and jelly beans in other glasses. I put tissue paper in the tops as an added effect and to make sure a certain 6 year old didn't sneak any candy. The guests grabbed one of these delicious souvenirs as they left.

The little glass "blingy" frame had a printed piece of paper inside saying "Cheers! Thanks for coming." I had the silver chargers already and just sat the glasses on them to keep them all together.

This is the table with all the goodies for the shower. The table is covered with white table cloths and then I had chosen some different scrapbook papers to line the middle of the table. I used scrapbooking embellishments to create the words like "Baby" that you see on the table and the rhinestone embellishment on the flower vase. The vases are just glass vases I had around the house and I covered them with scrapbook paper and added embellishments. I found a variety of acrylic diamonds at our local hobby store in the wedding section. I also noticed these at our local Wal-Mart the other day as well. I sprinkled these around different areas. 

Of course the pacifier cookies made an appearance. These are one of the top items viewed on the designergirl007 website. Click here for instructions on how to make them.

This was one of my favorite things. The way they announced they were having a girl on Facebook was with a photo of her making a heart shape with her hands holding a pink ribbon. I don't know about you, but I LOVE this idea and couldn't help but make this party a little personal by including it. I took the photo from Facebook, printed it and framed it. I took the white matte and covered it again in what else but... pink. I had the sugar cookies made with the pink bows to help tie it all together. 

We played two games. One of which was the Guess the Bling game. I put a variety of the acryllic diamonds in this vase and everyone put their name and guess on the slips of paper and then the person with the guess closest to the actual number of diamonds in the jar won the prize which was some Hard Candy glittery lip gloss.

The other game we played was baby shower mad libs. I created my own sheets and it was fun to read the story.

The shower was fun and of course I enjoyed the pink and diamonds - what girl wouldn't?.

Kim received a lot of nice gifts for her new little one and it was especially nice to be able to meet her friends and family that I had heard so much about. This little baby girl is so loved and treasured already and she hasn't even arrived. If you see a beam of light coming from our area this Christmas season it won't be the bright Christmas lights brightening the neighborhood it will be the beams of joy and pride from my neighbors house as they welcome the newest addition to their family - their daughter. Her brothers will probably teach her to shoot a nerf gun, and sword fight with the best of em', her mom will teach her to dance and to cook, and to be gracious to everyone, her dad will show her how a girl is to be treated as she watches his relationship with Kim and he will teach her how to have good sense of humor. These are just a few things through knowing this family I can say she will be able to learn very easily. I wish many blessings for this family and a very, very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Army Birthday Party

This year for Max's birthday party he wanted an Army theme. He loves his arsenal of Nerf guns and I find the little foam bullets all over the house, stuck on windows, behind cabinets and in couch cushions. I have to say, Ross enjoys the Nerf guns as much as Max so there are always foam bullets buzzing around. He also likes army tanks and helicopters and the little army men so I began my search for planning the perfect designergirl army party for my little Private.

I found a lot of ideas on the internet then tried to improvise a bit. I thank all the wonderful creative ideas that helped inspire Max's 5th birthday. The cake idea I found at this cool cake site I searched for army tank cakes and went through the list until I found one that seemed fairly easy (since I am NOT a baker). I had the pans and decided to practice the weekend before the party. I HIGHLY recommend this, especially if you have never baked a birthday cake before - like me. Ross thought Max would like a chocolate cake so he picked out chocolate cake box mixes and I don't know what I did but the cakes didn't turn out. The icing was great - found from the old faithful Betty Crocker Cookbook - but the cakes were horrible. The photo below is of the "good" cake that I baked on his birthday that turned out fantastic!

I baked the "practice" cake and some boys from next door were over playing with Max. One of the boys said, "Hey! is that a cake?" I said, "Yes, but it didn't turn out, it really isn't very good. That is why I am practicing before Max's birthday next week." He said, "Oh, I bet your just saying that. I bet it tastes just fine." I handed him a fork. He lifted a piece of cake on the fork and put it in his mouth, then looked at me and said, "You are right - this cake is horrible!" I laughed and said, "I told you so." So, practice makes perfect and the following weekend when I made it for his birthday I used a white cake mix and it was FANTASTIC!

When we started planning the party we started about a month in advance. I purchased a brown roll of paper from a craft store to make the banners. This was a great way to let Max be part of planning his party. He enjoyed making the banners and signs and it was fun to do it together.

In the above picture we were creating the sign to hang on the outside of the fence welcoming guests to the party. 

We also, went to the local army surplus store to purchase his birthday outfit. He was Private Max! Ross and I wore green t-shirts that said ARMY on them.

Next, the invitations. I purchased some paper from a scrapbook store but wasn't sure what I would do with it and this is what I came up with. The wording was courtesy of this party website that provided a lot of the inspiration for the party. I used a scrapbook piece to make the circle logo pop off the invitation. I used brown and camo paper as the piece across the top and printed from my home ink jet printer on army green card stock. There was a map on the back with the little army kid next to it as well. Each invitation was personalized to "Private (name here.)" Here is the wording used on the invitation...

ATTENTION! All recruits are ordered to report to Basic Training at Fort (last name here) Military Base for a special mission... to celebrate Max's 5th birthday!

Private (name here) these are your basic training orders:

Location: Fort (last name here) Military Base (map on back)

Date: (date goes here)

Time: 1800 hours - 2000 hours (6:00 to 8:00 pm civilian time)

Privates: Please report for basic training wearing your camouflage (or green and tan). We request that all "weapons" be left at home. Gear will be issued, food rations (small snacks, cake and ice cream) and MRE's (S'more packets for roasting around the fire-pit) will be served.

Confirm Your Orders at the Command Post, the day of the party. Use the "password" Happy Birthday to ensure that the enemy cannot call in reference to the party. You will also be issued classified directions at that time. Hope to see you there!

So, the day of the party we had the sign Max and I painted welcoming our guests posted on the fence to the backyard. (And yes, I am blurring our last name)

It was the perfect day for a day at our Fort. It was slightly cool and damp. When they walked through the fence, they first came to the "Command Post." the Command post had music playing as they walked in. Songs like: army band music of It's A Grand Old Flag and some cadence songs. As they stopped at the Command Post they checked in, could paint their faces with camo face paint and picked up their camo treat bags. I purchased the Camo bags from Oriental Trading Company.   Inside the camo gift bags were ration tickets I had made for them to trade in at the "Mess Hall" for treats, dog tags that we wrote their names on so they wouldn't lose their gift bag, and a canteen. The website listed for the dog tags and canteen is where I purchased the other treats you'll read about as well throughout the rest of this post. The image below is an example of the ration tags that were in their goodie bags and this was the logo also used on the invitations.

The Mess Hall was set up under a tent in the middle of the yard. This is where the ratio tags were turned in for snack size bags full of goldfish crackers, pretzels, and we found gummy army men that were in bags as well. Although I didn't get a final photo of the Mess Hall outside, here are the pieces I had inside before moving them outside. We also had a bowl of red, white and blue gummies for the adults, drinks in a cooler and a section of MRE's. The MREs consisted of tin foil pockets wrapped around a large marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate to make s'mores over the fire.

Next, we had stations and signs to help guests navigate themselves around our Fort. For example...

Next, we had stations for the kids to keep them entertained. First, we had an Agility Course.

The Agility Course and all other station signs were marked with a sign (using old real estate type signs or political signs I placed my sign over the top - always good to recycle when you can) and an American Flag. The Agility Course also had a treat once you completed it and that was the little airplane that you see posted on the sign above. Also, you'll see in the picture above there are little round signs. These helped the kids know where to start and where to go next. They just followed the numbers and this was a good exercise for them since they are all learning their numbers.

The first step of the Agility Course was the rope swing. We took all the swings off his swing set and bought an inexpensive rope at a hardware store and tied a knot in the bottom. The kids could step on a little stump we had and then swing across the rope - this was step 1.

Step 2 was  "the Climb" climbing into his tree house using either the climbing wall or the rope ladder.

Step 3 was sliding down the slipper slide back to the ground.

Step 4 was doing the belly or bear crawl to the tunnel.

Step 5 was crawling through the tunnel we made with camo stuff, mostly duck blinds we borrowed from friends. Thanks everyone! The boys LOVED this! This was the "in progress" photo of pulling it together.

Step 6 "Dodge the Danger" I had helium balloons weighted down to bob in the wind as well as spray painted some empty boxes green and brown and placed around for the kids to run around. The boxes, some said "Danger" or "Explosives." The photo below shows some of the boxes before we put the balloons out. the balloons were of course black and greens for camo colors.

Step 7 of the Agility Course was the "Grenade Launch." The kids loved this station as well. You can see the beginning of it in the photo above. We used an old ammunition metal box and placed black water balloons inside. The kids would pick a water balloon, throw it against the fence and run to the end of the course.

Another station we had was the "Paratrooper Drop." We had hay bales set up as steps then we painted a bullseye on a piece of cardboard box that we had cut into a square. We purchased paratroopers (army guys with parachutes) and the kids were to drop them from the top hay bale and try to get him to fall in the center of the bulls eye. With the wind added in it made it a bit challenging and a lot of fun.

We also had a "Man Hunt" station. This is where I made a map of our backyard (it was on foam board that I stapled to the fence at the height of the kids) showing basic shapes like, where the house was, fence, swing set, etc. so the kids could reference. Then, I hid little army men around the yard and placed a red X on the map where the army men were hidden. Parents helped the kids look at the map then search out the army men. Whatever army men the kids found they got to keep and put in their gift bags and then they also received a pack of lifesavers for saving the army men.

The firing range was where I had 2 tubs with assorted hand held Nerf guns and foam bullets as well as the large Nerf Gun (Vulcan) Max got for Christmas last year. Boy, was this a popular station. We had created a bulls eye like we did for the paratrooper drop and stapled it to the fence then set up a little table with spray painted soda cans for them to knock over with their foam bullets. They received some candy at this station for showcasing their talents at their firing range.

The final thing we had was the S'more roast over the fire pit using the MREs from the Mess Hall. Overall, it was a lot of fun and the amount of kids was perfect. This was the first year we invited only kids from Max's class instead of friends of our family etc. and it worked out pretty well. They kids played together and had fun. Of all the parties we have done (alphabet, fishing, camping, superhero) this was one of my favorites, it ran really smooth and they boys had a great time.

If you need a party idea I would highly recommend an Army theme. We also tried to find an old Army vehicle to park in yard to let the kids climb on and take photos but we couldn't find one and didn't need it after all. I love parties at home and am thankful Max does as well. They may be a lot of work but after the party he went up to Ross and said, "This was the best day ever, Dad!" and that is what it's all about. 

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower Idea for Twins - Thing 1 and Thing 2

I had a baby shower for the twins from a group I use to work with and they are a creative group which showed through by the theme they chose. It was Dr. Seuss theme from Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and Thing 2. I thought this was just adorable and very clever. 

In the photo above, you will see they purchased a gift bag from the internet somewhere with a Thing 1 doll and Thing 2 doll as well as 2 red onesies that said Thing 1 and Thing 2. If they fit, I'd love to bring the boys home from the hospital in these cute little outfits. 

Using the same theme, they made little tags and placed them on clothes pins. Each little tag had either a picture of Thing 1 or Thing 2 with the boys name on a tag and each person attending the shower received a clothes pin to play the "baby" game. If someone said the word "baby" you took their clothes pin and the person with the most pins at the end won a prize. Of course, I saved some of these tags for their baby books.

Another thing using the Thing 1 and Thing 2 theme was, they created cards which people at the shower wrote advice, etc. on one side and their address on the back. This was great. Not only to read the advice but when writing thank you notes it was really convenient to have everyone's address.

 The above photo show some of the items described above as well as red velvet cup cakes with blue icing - sticking with the Dr. Seuss theme. A wreath the girls made with blue and red colors and the boys names on ribbons in the middle as well as Pacifier Cookies, which are featured in the recipe section of my blog.

Shows the welcoming wreath on the front door... and yes, I teared up. Seeing their names written out makes it all seem so real, it just warms my heart.

I not only have wonderful and creative friends but they are great cooks. The food table had hummus dip with crackers, one of my favorite recipes Warrens Famous Cheese ball and crackers, homemade salsa and chips, cupcakes, pacifier cookies and a super delicious punch. I have asked for the recipes for the salsa and punch and as soon as I receive them I'll post them for you. I will also post the Warrens Famous cheese ball recipe which is super easy and delicious.

This might be the only photo I post of myself ever on the site but I wanted to show the long sleeve t-shirt. This was a present to myself when I found out we were having 2 boys and we were over 19 weeks. I thought it was super cute and helps answer those questions about Oh! are you due in November? (nope. Just growing, growing, growing) I didn't know you were having twins! (yep) etc. 

I really enjoyed this theme and thought it had some great ideas for the next shower you have for someone, with or without twins!

Laid Back Easter Dinner

Our Easter dinner this year didn't consist of a traditional ham and wouldn't be limited to just eating at Easter.I am so glad we had our Easter egg hunt and celebration yesterday because today when I was ironing my shirt for church, I saw a pair of sweat pants on the dryer and thought, "Hello, friend! We will hang out all day today. See you in a bit!" It is cold and rainy here so it's a great day to curl up with a book or movie and relax - which is just what I am doing.

The idea for the meal was partially inspired by the Food Network Magazine. The meal consisted of London broil, creamy garlic spinach, rustic garlic bread, secret ingredient salad, homemade onion rings and for dessert a chocolaty coconut surprise. (This is a dinner for 6)

The table was decorated with some small round  votive candle holders I found at Walmart for 50 cents. Instead of candles, I filled each with some moss looking grass stuff (do you like that description) from a craft store and put some eggs we colored earlier in the day on top. There were 3 at each end of the table. The tulips were purchased at our local WalMart as well, I just trimmed them and placed them in some metal cups I had around the house. One of the cups is more rustic from Restoration Hardware and the other is more polished mint julep cup I had. The "Jesus" sign was made by Max at Sunday School, he was very proud to have his project displayed on the table.

The center wooden dish that held the onion rings was also an object I had around my house, remember the decorating post?

I took the wooden bowl, emptied the contents, using the small pebbles in the bottom to fill the little nests we rested our colored eggs in. This is what I used to hold the onion rings and the main part of the table decoration. Using things you already have around your house always leads to a new discovery of seeing things in a new way and it is a way to decorate on the cheap! Gotta love that!

The other thing about this dinner is it is pretty economical. The 3-1/2 lb. beef top round was $17. This will feed 6 or more people which is equivalent to about $2.80 a person plus sides. The other items on the menu were reasonable as well considering we were feeding 6 family members. Since they were family, I tested this recipe on them - I hadn't made London Broil before. Luckily, they were all willing participants and it went off without a hitch. We couldn't have eaten out for about $3-$4 a person with this type of meal so every had a happy Easter dinner and left with full bellies.

Creamy Garlic Spinach

What You'll Need

2 bags of baby spinach

8 oz. of cream cheese

10 oz Monterrey Jack Cheese

1 teaspoon garlic salt (more to taste)

Method

1. Put the 2 bags of baby spinach in food processor and chop into fine pieces, not pureed, just small pieces. When all spinach is chopped, place in 8x8 glass Pyrex dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

2. Warm cream cheese in microwave, about 45 seconds to a minute until soft. Add to spinach in Pyrex dish and stir until spinach and cream cheese are well combined. Add 1 teaspoon garlic salt and Shred Monterrey Jack cheese (8 oz.) and mix into cream cheese and spinach. Spread evenly in dish. Sprinkle final 2 oz. of cheese on top of spinach mixture.

3. When ready to bake. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place dish in oven for approx. 10 minutes. or until cheese on top is melted. Remove from oven, if needed add more garlic salt, stir then spoon into bowls for serving.

Secret Ingredient Salad

Whenever I make this salad I use whatever I have in my pantry as toppings. I used a variety of lettuce, some grape tomatoes, sunflower seeds, sprinkles of bacon, purple onion and the secret is the dressing. I used Champagne dressing (see image below) that I purchased at our local WalMart. It is super tasty! I dress the salad and place on the table. Use whatever you'd like on the salad, almond slices, croutons, etc.

Rustic Garlic Bread

Get a good bread. The bread I chose was a rustic bread that was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I melted butter and sprinkled some garlic powder in the melted butter and mixed. I then brushed the top of the slices of bread with the butter and placed them in a 400 degree oven until toasted. The left-over bread, if there is any, is yummy dipped in the garlicky spinach, or really... why wait for left overs - dip away!

Homemade Steakhouse Onion Rings (Food Network Magazine Feb/March 2009 issue)

What You'll Need ( I made extra onion rings so the recipe is a little varied from magazine)

4 onions. I used sweet yellow onions

2 cups of milk

1 large egg

2 cups of flour

2 cups of cornstarch

1 teaspoon of salt

4 inches of vegetable oil

Method

1. Cut onions into 1-inch rings. In shallow bowl, whisk milk and egg together. Soak onion rings in the milk mixture for 30 minutes.

2. In another bowl, add flour, cornstarch and salt. After the rings have soaked for 30 minutes, toss each ring in the flour mixture then repeat dipping in milk mixture then back in flour mixture before adding to oil.

3. In a deep fryer or heavy bottomed pot filled with 4 inches of vegetable oil heated to 365 degrees F, add rings to hot oil. Fry in the oil until golden about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and season with salt.

London Broil 

What You'll Need

1 beef bouillon cube

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Worcester sauce

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 top round London broil steak (for approx. 6 people I had 3-1/2 lbs)

Lysander's All Natural Meat Rub for Beef

Method

Because this is a less expensive piece of meat that wouldn't be as tender as a filet, etc. I purchased it at our local meat market. 

1. Prepare the steak - Dissolve the bouillon cube in a cup of hot water in a bowl and set aside to cool. Whisk in 2 tablespoons olive oil, the soy sauce, Worcester sauce, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place the steak in a large resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade and seal. Squeeze out the air and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 1 day. I marinated mine for 24 hours, turning halfway through in the fridge. 

2. About an hour before cooking, take the steak out of the fridge and bring to room temperature. Heat grill on high. When ready to cook, remove steak from bag and place on cookie sheet. Lightly sprinkle rub on each side of steak. Place steak on oiled grill and grill on each side for approx. 7-9 minutes, depending on doneness. After removing from grill let rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Okay, here are my "secret" ingredients for the salad dressing and rub for the London broil. Shhh, don't tell anyone. :) The rub was purchased at my local meat Market.

The finale, a sweet ending...

Coconut, Chocolate, Almond Dessert

What You'll Need

1-1/2 cups of Vanilla Ice Cream

1/4 cup coconut flakes

brownie mix

chocolate ganache

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolates

3/4 cup Heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Fresh Strawberries

1 bag of frozen strawberries (you will have a lot of sauce left over for ice cream, smoothies etc.)

Splenda

Almond slices

Method

1. Bake brownies according to brownie mix directions. I use Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix and baked in an 8x8 glass Pyrex dish. After removed from oven and cooled a bit I cut small circles of brownie out of dish with biscuit cutter and set aside.

2. Take ice cream and soften a little by microwaving so it is easy to mix. Add coconut and mix ice cream and coconut together. When well mixed place back in freezer until time to plate.

3. Defrost bag of sliced frozen strawberries and place in blender. Blend on high until pureed and add 3 packets of Splenda to sweeten. Pour into squeeze bottle and refrigerate until ready to serve.

4. Prepare the chocolate ganache. In medium metal bowl place 8 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate morsels and set aside. In small sauce pan over medium heat, add heavy cream and butter. Stir together and when begins to boil remove from heat and add to immediately add to chocolate morsels. Stir with wisk to make velvety smooth.

5. To plate: Place round brownie on plate, remove coconut ice cream from freezer and place 1 scoop on top of brownie. Drizzle chocolate ganache on ice cream. Place fresh strawberry on place and squeeze strawberry sauce around plate. Sprinkle almond slices around and over dessert. Optional - dollop of whipping cream on top (Max's favorite!)

This is a meal that is pretty easy with a little planning and a lot of these ingredients we always have on hand anyway, frozen strawberries, chocolate morsels, spices, etc. So, I really didn't have to purchase much. Let me tell you that all the items are even better the second day so when we got home from church today, everything was ready to be warmed up to eat.

Max's First Birthday

The stress of a first birthday can be a lot to handle. For me it was the first time I was able to have a b-day party as a parent and I had looked forward to it for a long time. Max, couldn't have cared less but I worked for a week getting everything just right. For his first birthday we had an alphabet theme. Since it was just family we kept it pretty simple and I made most of the decorations.

 

The confetti was made using a circle die-cut hand punch from a hobby store. I punched out colored paper then used a stencil to write all the letters on them. I also took a ribbon and glued the circles together with the ribbon between the two circles to make a garland that I hung around the house.

I also made a DVD using iMovie/iDVD on my Macintosh. I had photos from the year and set them to the song by Travis Tritt, I See Me. If you haven't heard this song, you should listen to it, you may need a tissue but it is worth it. The cover of the CD was also circle themed. His photo was in the middle with little circles screened around the cover. Inside the circles I wrote all the different milestones he went through during his 1st year. One circle said, "Dada" since he said Dada his first year, "Smile" was in another circle, "Crawl" was in a circle, and so on.

Max probably won't remember his 1st birthday party, but I will and I am glad I have some photos and the DVD to help remind me of everything he did that first year. As time has gone on, the days, weeks and years are going faster. It is hard to remember what I did yesterday, let alone what happened 4 years ago. Now, if I ever forget about the long nights up at 2 a.m. or that little rear shaking as he crawled across the floor I can just pop in the DVD and be reminded of all those times.

Paint Your Own Pottery Party

This weekend Max was invited to a birthday party for a girl in his preschool class. The party was at a Paint Your Own Pottery, this was right up my alley so I was excited to see what it was all about. After my morning workout, I headed over to the party to meet Ross and Max. I was exhausted but anxious to see the creativity the kids could come up with. First off, the birthday cake was incredibly cute. I thought they had bought it at one of the local bakeries but the mom of the birthday girl said she made it. She was up until 4am working on it but look how fantastically cute this is. It makes me want to take a cake decorating class - I just have to find a class and the time and I'm there!

 

I looked around the store and there were a lot of different pieces you could paint and make them your own. Each kid received a tile they could paint. All the kids really enjoyed this. Max's tile is a mixture of every paint color available on the table. He wasn't trying to paint a certain thing he just wanted to see what happened when certain colors mixed together. One little girl was resistant to paint at first, she wasn't feeling very Picasso, at least until her dad gave her an excellent idea and she decided to paint her boyfriends picture on her tile. I didn't see the finished portrait but I bet it would have fallen in the abstract category. Very clever parent.

 

In about 2 weeks we'll get our tile back after it has been fired and glazed and will find the perfect location for it. He enjoyed the party even though he was a little cranky at the end. After the party we headed off to eat lunch and Max chose a local Japanese restaurant for some California rolls. He is so funny, he sits right up at the counter so he can watch them make the different rolls. He orders water, California rolls, extra crab sticks and then pours everyone low sodium soy sauce in their individual containers. He ate all but 2 of his rolls and all of his crab sticks - with a full belly said, "Let's go home and take a nap." I couldn't have agreed more.

Painting pottery, sushi lunch and a nap - that made for a pretty great Saturday.

Superhero Birthday Party

If you have read my blog, you know my son's fascination with superheroes. He loves to dress up and all things involving superheroes. When Ross and I were talking to him about what to do for his birthday this past fall he said he wanted a superhero party. We wanted to put a spin on just a superhero party so we decided to have a Superhero Academy party.

Basic Premise of the party: An academy where you learn to be a superhero. We'll teach you everything you need to know to make you whatever type of superhero you dream to be....

When the kids arrived they stopped by a table where they picked out their cape, mask, and superhero belt. (Templates from Family Fun Magazine for the following: Masks, belt buckles, and cape.  I didn't use this cape template but it will work. I bought bright colored liner fabric from Hancock Fabrics and traced a cape Max had adding some material for the ties - which I put velcro on to easily remove and to remove the possibilitly of choking) They could decorate their belt with some sticker letters, etc. Once they had their costume, they picked up their gift bag, which had a can of silly string, some stickers,a spiderman pen (the pen was a pen, had bubbles in it and a stamp on the end), and candy. I created a logo for our academy as seen on the bags. The logos were also used on t-shirts I made for my husband and I. They were black t-shirts that had "STAFF" on the back and the logo on the front. 

1) The silly string cans were used for the "Vaporize a Villain" station. This was the first station that taught a valuable lesson needed to be a superhero. I placed villain photos on the fence and had helium balloons with smaller villain photos on the strings of the balloons. The kids would take the silly string and spray the photos. The balloons danced in the wind, which made those villains especially difficult to vaporize! This was a party for a 4 year old so nothing to challenging - this worked for all age groups.

Here are some other stations we had set up:

2) After the Vaporize a Villain station we had hay bales set up like steps, 4 total hay bales, and this was called "Leap Buildings in a Single Bound." They could climb and jump off, crawl over, whatever their superhero abilities allowed them to do.

3) We had a lava pit. This was a big hit. We took a wide board and placed it over a small swimming pool. The board was held up with cinder blocks and then we had a fog machine to add the element of atmosphere. The kids could walk across the board. We added red food coloring to the water to make it look like lava.

4) "Magnificent Minds." This station was for kids and adults. There was a small and large jar filled with candy. The adults guessed how many pieces of candy were in the large jar, kids guessed how many pieces were in the small jar. The person who guessed closest took the jar of candy home.

5) "Batcave." For this we used his swing-set/tree house. On the tree house part of the swing-set we draped black crepe paper/black sheets and had cutout bats hanging from strings inside. The kids had to climb up into the batcave and retrieve kryptonite from inside (the kryptonite was a glow stick). The kids kept the glow sticks for their gift bags.

 

6) One of my favorite stations was the "Mighty Muscle" station. We took 2 large Styrofoam balls and painted them black, put them on a dow rod - also painted black and used stencils to paint "100" on each to look like it was 200lbs the kids were lifting. This was a great photo area. I would recommend taking each kids photo here to send home with them. Very fun.

We served burgers and Chik-fil-a nuggets with sides and of course a superhero cake complete with the Incredibles figures on top. You have to keep up your strength to be a superhero!

Graduation from the academy.

When each kid left the party they received their certificate showing that they had completed all the needed requirements to become a superhero. They were able to chose their superhero name and then they had officially graduated from our academy. Here is what the certificate said:

 "This certifies that the superhero listed below is a member of the Justice League. They have performed all tasks enabling them to be part of the league as credited by the Superhero Academy. (Members include: Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman...many others and now you!)." 

The bottom of the certificate said, "To become part of the league you have accomplished the following. You have vaporized a villain, shown mighty muscles, captured kryptonite from the batcave, crossed the lava pit with bravery, used magnificent memory to guess the candy in the jar and chosen your superhero outfit. Congratulations!"

 

For all your little superheros, this was a great party. Some kids came in costume, some dressed up at the party. It was fun to see the superheros come alive as their own imaginations took off. 

The superhero party items are available at the designergirl007 etsy site. Please let me know if you have any questions. You can purchase items as kit or separately. Enjoy!

Dinner with Friends

Saturday, Valentines Day, we had some friends over for a Valentines Day dinner. It was just a small group that got together to share the day together. We avoided long waits at restaurants, the pressure of the evening and just relaxed together and shared the day. The setting was ready... now, we just needed the conversation...

The table was set with a robins egg blue and white plate with green and white flowers as centerpieces.

Cost savings tip: Instead of buying white napkins, we purchased white flour sack dishtowels. Okay, get over the fact of the word "dishtowel" and go with me here. We got 18 for the price of what 8 white napkins would have cost. Who isn't in for saving a little dough? They worked just fine and we rolled them, tied with raffia and placed a flower with each to dress them up a little. I like the mix of casual and formal together. It makes it nice but not intimidating.

Dishes and table cloth from Target, vases are from Hobby Lobby, and the flowers are from Sam's Club,

Glasses and black table and chairs are from Pottery Barn.

The dinner included a salad and toasted bread for starters, followed by grilled steaks, baked potatoes (with all the toppings), and mushrooms. The Valentines dessert, was a chocolate brownie cut with a circle biscuit cutter and placed in the center of plate, topped with vanilla ice cream, homemade hot fudge sauce, and whipped cream. We drizzled a strawberry sauce around the plate and garnished with a ripe juicy strawberry. Chocolate and strawberries... is there a more perfect way to end Valentines Day?

Camping Birthday Party

As you know. I like birthday parties. When Max turned 3 we had a camping party in our backyard. This is my type of camping - enclosed area, bugs are limited, no snakes and the best part... not more than 10 feet away is running water, air conditioning, a clean bathroom, and all of the amenities we have grown accustom to.

For the campers we pitched 2 tents in our backyard, had a campfire set up with stumps for people to sit on. We also had a canopy since it was a little warm that people could sit under until the sun went down. Max's battery operated 4-wheeler was a big hit, they rode it all over. I had taken images of animal tracks and printed them out in different sizes and colors and put them around the fence and put some on the tables. I then, took photos of the animals that matched the animal tracks and put the pictures up in different areas with the animals name and a smaller image of the animals track. I made sure the color of the animal tracks matched the color on the actual animal poster as well so the kids could match by color or animal track. 

He had a camping cake that matched his invitation. I have to say a great place to find unique invitations and where I have gotten Max's invitations every year since he's been born is www.traylorpapers.com.

We then roasted S'mores. Each little camper that came to the party also received:

1. A small flashlight with ribbon so they could hang it around their neck. 

2. A water bottle that they could decorate with paint pens and fill with juice or water.

3. I found extra large pixie sticks, tied a string to one end with a paper fish on the other end of the string and put them all in a galvanized bucket for the kids to pick their fishing pole.

The campers LOVED the flashlights. Once it got dark they were all about them, running in and out of the tents. It was a lot of fun. Even if your not a camper and don't enjoy the outdoors, I think you'll really enjoy this party idea and it is sure to make everyone invited a bunch of Happy Campers!