Every holiday my kids bring home goodie bags and treats from their classmates…Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, birthdays, etc. Usually I feel terrible and tell myself that I will get my act together on the next holiday!
This year I promised that I would do a end-of-the-year class treat since I haven’t really done anything all year…or last year for that matter.
Pinterest is full of all sorts of cute ideas and a couple had caught my eye, but I hadn’t settled on anything and we only had a week left ’til SUMMER. {yay!}
I was trolling the aisles of 99¢ Only last week and came across some fun composition books. I immediately e-mailed Elliott’s teacher to get the girl/boy breakdown to gather the corresponding comp books. To my dismay, I could only find half the number of {boy} books at the two stores here in the area.
They DID have plenty of girlie versions in three different styles so I just wrapped a little yarn around them and attached a note to each one for her to pass out on the last day of school. After the fact, I thought the girls could exchange phone numbers and record them in these little books for play dates over the summer, too.
I decided on the collapsible water bottles for the boys in her class since they were such a hit at her birthday party…again from 99¢ Only and BPA-free!
{the tag reads, “Stay hydrated and have a great summer…see you in 3rd grade!”}
For Holden’s kindergarten class, I went with the “bookworm” idea that I’d seen on Pinterest awhile back. I did these for holiday treats in Elliott’s first grade class…
Individual bags of sour gummy worms, die cut worms, personalized labels and some washi tape later…
{gummy worms ~ Smart & Final, die cut worms ~ Dollar Tree, washi tape ~ Target}
*****
I always like to acknowledge the rest of the staff at the holidays and end-of-the-year. I usually deliver baked goods to the office, yard duties, custodian and aides, but this year I decided to go with paper products!
{typewriter notecards for the ladies in the office and mini purse-sized magnetic closure notebooks for the librarian, cafeteria staff and campus supervisors ~ all from Target clearance}
For our nice custodian who does SO much, I picked up a couple Monster energy drinks and CLIF bars to help get him through the day.
*****
Our principal is retiring and although our awesome PTA organized and put together an amazing gift basket for her, I wanted to give her something special from our family. I made her a nest pendant…she doesn’t have any children of her own, but has been a role model and friend to MANY children through her years as a teacher and principal.
The nest represents our school, the pearl represents our dear principal and the blue and pink beads represent all the boys and girls that are going to miss her so.
Going to get teary eyed delivering this one for sure…..
*****
Trader Joe’s has had so many cute greeting cards lately. If you haven’t checked them out when you run in there for groceries, you simply must…
Both the kids’ teachers are moving to different schools this Fall. I handpicked the perfect cards and wrote them a note from the heart letting them know how much we appreciate them and will miss seeing them on campus next year and included a gift card for summer treats.
*****
I’m emotional just thinking about delivering all these goodies in the next few days.
However, I am looking forward to slower mornings and filling our days with trips to the pool, beach, frozen yogurt or whatever comes our way. Having a virtually commitment-free summer ahead of us is so refreshing.
We cheated and celebrated Elliott’s birthday a little early this year {her actual birthday is May 29th} with a small sleepover {deep in the woods}!
She and I decided to do a girly campout by taking it up a notch and embracing all the joys of camping, but with all the benefits of home. I thought it’d be fun to get a huge tent and sleep out in the backyard, but after seeing a snake in the park at Holden’s soccer party the other afternoon and knowing that we have nocturnal critters that scamper around the backyard changed my mind real quick. We just went with the good ‘ol bring your sleeping bag, pillow and favorite stuffed animal and crash in the living room option.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, planning my kids’ parties is labor of love. I always have a theme in mind literally 12+ months in advance and pick up things here and there and stash them away until party time. I hit all the Target after holiday clearance sales and keep my eyes peeled for things at Dollar Tree and stuff throughout the year that fit with the theme.
For the invites, I just used some darling blank notecards that I got on clearance at Target for under $4. I spotted the camping stickers well over a year ago at the 99cent store anticipating a campout party in our future.
I’m loving the big chalkboard that I painted lately ~ it’s so fun to change up the message…this time it welcomed all glampers.
I was offered to take home a manzanita centerpiece with dangly crystals from our friends, Francis & Melissa’s, wedding about a month ago. I repurposed it in a little tin bucket and hung a couple hot pink paper lanterns in the corner of our great room.
After Easter I found some Spring-y decor marked down 75% at Target. I grabbed the last tablecloth and sort of worked off that color scheme. Oh and it didn’t hurt that we had her first holy communion party last weekend…I left up the balloons and hoops which coordinated well, I thought.
{cafeteria trays are from Target and collapsible camo water bottles are from 99cents Only…..and are BPA free!}
{banner is Spritz from Target and I added torn bandanas from Wal-mart}
I found matching jammies at Justice on super clearance and bagged them up in brown paper gift bags with glittered initials ~ just use a stencil or freehand your letter with a pencil, outline letter with school glue, fill in letter with small drops of glue, smooth around with a q-tip to cover the whole letter and then douse in glitter. Let sit for 10 minutes, shake off excess glitter and lay flat until completely dry. Gramma Kathy picked up the zebra peace sign tags ~ every second graders favorite combo. Thanks again, Mom!
{Moose Creek sign $1 @ Goodwill. Forest animal friends wrapping paper for photo booth back drop 90% off after Christmas at World Market}
I searched our three local Goodwill stores for some afghans for a granny chic vibe. It took a few months to settle on three that I really liked and that the price was right…
{to “disinfect” thrift store finds like these, just machine wash in warm water using your favorite detergent, add a little extra fabric softener than you normally would in your Downey ball, hang dry or dry in dryer and then spray with antibacterial Febreeze}
For the cake, I decided to do a DIY ice cream cake. I found the ice cream in a square box {at Wal-mart}, not a carton, and just tore open the box and cut layers of ice cream to stick in between the two layers of cake. I just baked the cake in a 9X13, cooled it, cut it in half before adding the layer of ice cream. I cheated and used Betty Crocker frosting ~ the smaller container covered this cake perfectly. Keep frozen, but let sit out 15-20 minutes before cutting and serving.
I sent Jay and Holden off to the movies and dinner and invited the mamas to come over and hang out for a bit. We ate chili and cornbread and the girls had biscuit pizzas, mac n cheese and Elliott’s favorite, cucumbers and ranch.
{cupcake liners and picks from Sur la Table}
{Goodie Bags are my fave ~ journals: free @ REI, mini notebooks: Target, branch pencils: TJMaxx, critter hair pins: Justice}
*****
We went to the pool for a couple hours secretly trying to get them tired out!
The girls got all showered and in their jammies at the pool…
{lots of screaming and peace signs}
After dinner my friend Hollie set up her projector and they watched a movie in the backyard…
…followed by ice cream cake…
Then a few photo booth antics before hitting the sack…
They were all tucked in their sleeping bags by 11:00pm watching something on the Disney channel…then at a surprising 4:45am they were all up chatting with the lights on! I went down and started a pot of coffee and cleaned up the kitchen. By 6:00am most of them were asleep again only to be awoken by the smell of donuts and icing & sprinkles waiting to go atop.
{Hello Kitty was on her best behavior}
I had a big thing to attend at church yesterday, so the campers were packed up and ready to return to civilization around 8:30…
*****
Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED, but obviously it was well worth it!
EIGHT is a big year….halfway to a driver’s license! Yikes. How can that be.
There was lots of swimming, squealing, Justin Bieber-ing, running, jumping and laughing.
I think it was perfect.
Thanks for sticking around through this long post and all the details. I love reading party posts on other blogs and learning about how they all come together.
I use this blog as a sort of digital scrapbook for down the road so we can look back and remember all the milestones, birthdays, celebrations and day-to-day goings on.
As always, I thank you for your readership and for following along!
This past weekend Elliott celebrated her first holy communion.
When given two dates to choose from, I decided to go with Saturday the 11th of May so that it would fall on Mother’s Day weekend. My in-laws and mom would be in town and we’d all be able to celebrate Mother’s Day together for the first time, as well.
But honestly the focus was on our sweet, sweet almost 8-year old and her special day.
I really can’t put into words the pride and joy I felt. We were given several blank cards to choose from at the communion retreat and instructed to write our child a note and give it to them the morning of their mass. I tuned out the hustle and bustle, sat and wrote her words from my heart, took her aside and had her read it. She immediately gave me a hug and said, “Thank you, mommy!”
She was confident. She was ready.
Some days she fights me when it’s time to go to CCD, but I’ve never backed down and every time we arrive and I walk her to her room, she runs in and doesn’t even say goodbye. I’m OK with that.
She’s memorized all her prayers and even got 100% on her cumulative quiz. She performed her first reconciliation like a {pro} in early February. I had NO doubt that she was going to make us just as proud as she received her first eucharist.
And proud we were….
{We found her dress at Nordstrom. It’s actually an Easter dress and was a fraction of the cost of their communion dresses sold on-line. I wanted simple and classic, yet with a twist and I think this was perfect. Her little shoes are from Payless and her veil is from the parish gift shop. ~ Thank you to Lolo & Lola for her dress and Gramma Kathy for her cross earrings and matching necklace! XO}
Jay and I hosted a little dessert celebration that evening and I had so much fun planning and preparing for that. Obviously.
I found some sweet notecards at TJ Maxx and used those for the invites. Again, I just format the text and run them through the printer for a “professional” look.
Of course the main color of the day was WHITE so I tried my hardest to stray away from the bright, vibrant colors that I love so much. I knew there was going to be some tulle involved since, to me, that is so light and delicate and reminiscent of the veils worn by the little girls.
I covered our huge Cinzano picture in brown mailing paper and then hung a few embroidery hoops from the tulle. I found a small remnant of while polka dot fabric at Joann’s as it complemented the little dots on her dress.
I’d also seen a balloon chandelier on Pinterest and went off memory when putting that up…
I had no idea what I was doing…just picked up a bag of 10 gold {accent color} balloons and some white iridescent curling ribbon, blew up the balloons, cut a long piece of ribbon, curled the bottom half of it and hung it with tape on the ceiling so that the curly part hung down. Simple as that. I hung all 10 balloons over the center of our big table.
We decided to just do desserts and drinks and I wanted everything to be white. I went with my favorite sugar cookie bars, white chocolate covered strawberries, white chocolate covered pretzel rods, TJ’s vanilla meringues and at the last minute we picked up an ice cream cake for the kids.
It was just lemonade for the kids and beer and wine for the adults…
I finally picked up the stemless wine glasses I’ve been wanting for years for the occasion.
I wanted all the families to go home with a little something so I found some small wall plaques at Dollar Tree, swapped out the ugly ribbon and repackaged them. I think we all can benefit from a little reminder of FaItH & hOpE once in awhile.
FAITH is inspiration for the future.
HOPE never falters or gives up.
Amen.
The kids chalked up our court with the help of the street lights. Elliott desperately wanted me to take a picture at 10:30pm, but I had to wait until daylight to best capture her work…
Here are some other favorites from the day…
*****
Thank you to all who came to the church for the mass and to our home to celebrate and for all her precious gifts ~ perfect reminders for her down the road of this special day and tokens of our faith.
It was a truly blessed day.
Can’t wait to do it again in two years with Holden.
A friend, and mama of one cute little red-headed, freckled boy in Holden’s class, welcomed a third sweet boy named Rowen on April 1st ~ no foolin’. Almost immediately, another friend spearheaded a Meal Train to come down the track and deliver meals to little Rowen’s family. I immediately jumped on board and signed up for a dinner date. I absolutely love bringing a home cooked meal to new parents who essentially need tooth picks to keep their eyes open during the first days…weeks…months with a newborn under their roof.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Mexican Lasagna is the dish that I’ve coined as my {dinner after baby} meal. It’s one of those dishes that just as good, if not better, a day or two later.
Normally I bake it and deliver it hot and ready to serve, but this time I decided to grab a disposable pan, assemble it and add a little note for how to heat & serve it just in case they didn’t want it immediately or something else came up.
They also have two little guys {a kindergartner and a preschooler} that like pasta {when you create a Meal Train profile, it gives you the opportunity to tailor it to the recipients likes/dislikes}. I decided to just do a simple Annie’s white cheddar shells and carrot sticks with Ranch for the boys. I picked up a couple tossable plastic containers and included a Capri Sun and a CLIF fruit twist for dessert. I also tied a couple Army parachuters to the top of their individual plastic containers to make it extra special for both big brothers.
I included a caesar salad kit, some sparkling lemonade, paper plates, napkins and a couple treats for baby.
And what is dinner without a little something sweet afterwards? Yesterday I whipped up a batch of my all time favorite Sugar Cookie Bars…with baby blue cream cheese buttercream, of course!
*****
Meal Train is a great way to orchestrate meal delivery for a variety of different reasons. It’s extremely easy to log on and select a date to deliver a meal to appreciative recipients.
It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to deliver a meal to a family with a new baby! It was so much fun to put this together and deliver it to their doorstep this afternoon.
I will never forget the kindness and thoughtfulness WE received after Elliott & Holden were born. Sweet friends bearing meals and gifts in those first days after coming home from the hospital are so vivid in my memory and were so very much appreciated.
However, I am at a standstill with meals and needing to channel some healthier options and am asking Pinterest to go steady again.
NOT that this post is about healthy options ~ one step at a time!
I guess this Crescent Roll Taco Braid could possibly be skinny-fied, but this time around I used ground beef and full fat cheese. I did use one reduced fat crescent roll and one regular. This recipe makes 2 big braids…perfect for leftovers and lunches during the week. I have NO idea how one would fit a pound of ground beef, a can of black beans, a can of Rotel and 2 cups shredded cheese into ONE crescent roll tube as the recipe suggests.
{followed directions, but used two tubes of crescent rolls}
{garnish with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, light sour cream, avo/guac & a shot of Cholula : other possible toppings : jalapeños, cilantro, salsa and/or olives}
The taco braid was delish! I left it in the oven a tad longer than 25 minutes to get nice and crisp, but not too overcooked. I doused mine in Cholula, of course, and used an Ortega chipotle taco seasoning packet for some more heat. For the Rotel, I used the lime & cilantro variety. I’ll definitely be making this again and next time will use ground turkey and lowfat cheese on the reduced fat crescent roll to cut fat & calories a bit.
The margs were perfect, too. Not too sweet, not too tart and a pretty shade of pink that would be perfect for a bridal shower or bachelorette party.
Or a Friday night on Spring Break.
Linking up with Jess over at Keeping up with the Johnsons…come say “Hi!” and click around to discover all sorts of Pinterest action!
On this Holy Week, I’m preparing for the arrival of my in-laws and loosely planning all the things we will do while they are visiting. I’m secretly shopping for little Easter trinkets yet reminding myself of the true meaning of Easter. It’s not about the baskets or the Cadbury Creme Eggs or the Peeps or the egg hunts. It’s about the holiest day of the year ~ without the Resurrection, there would be no Christian faith.
While yes I am scurrying around tidying up and vacuuming corners and gathering goodies for little baskets, this Easter is about so much more.
I am being baptized into the Catholic Church.
{my sponsor [and anchor through all this], Rhonda and I ~ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels}
The past 18 months of RCIA have been filled with reflection, prayer and forming a deeper relationship with the Lord. I’d be amiss to not mention the wonderful brothers & sisters I have met and bonded with throughout this process. We have met twice a week for a year and a half. We have shared things that are hard to share. We have listened to each other, comforted each other and prayed for each other. These people will be friends for life. The thought of this chapter of my life coming to an end is bittersweet. But again, there is so much more that lays ahead.
I’ve been attending Catholic churches with Jay for over 10 years now from Blessed Sacrament in San Diego to St. Philip Neri in Fort Mill, SC where Elliott was baptized to St. Cyprian in Sunnyvale, CA where Holden was baptized to Saint Mary’s in Gilroy to our current parish, Blessed Kateri {now Saint Kateri Tekakwitha}. As a non-Catholic at each of these parishes, I always felt welcomed and at home…always greeted by the warmest of parishioners and sent away with a feeling of peace and renewal.
In just about 5 days, I will be officially handing over my heart to Jesus and becoming a true Catholic.
{Palm Sunday 2013}
I’m ever so thankful to my parents for raising me to know that there is a God and always teaching me {Matthew 7:12}, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. And I’m ever so grateful for my in-laws for instilling their steadfast faith in Jay which in turn led me to be called to grow my relationship with Jesus and to serve.
I love you all! XO
*****
Speaking of serving, Julie has a heart of gold and is always thinking and doing for others. She recently put her creative Photoshop hand to work and designed a special printable to benefit St. Baldrick’s and their fight to help cure childhood cancer.
{just $5 ~ a great Easter gift!}
By purchasing this ROYGBV goodness from her shop for only 5 dollars, you’ll be helping Julie send a pot of gold over St. Baldrick’s way ~ she’s donating $2.50 from each purchase!
Within minutes of making your PayPal transaction, you will be e-mailed a downloadable {non-watermarked} copy of this bad boy for printing at home or sending to your local Walgreens, Target or photo lab of choice.
I printed mine out at home and it’s beautiful. Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring me a bright white frame to house it.
Can’t believe it’s been over a week since I posted….I was doing so well and then things got extra busy I guess.
Two weekends ago I took a little getaway down to Carlsbad and attended a ladies retreat that was hosted by Mission Hills Community Church. Some friends {Richelle, Julie, Stephanie & Amanda} were extremely involved in the planning and I was fortunate enough to partake and enjoy the fruits of ALL their labor. As I mentioned before, this weekend away was my Christmas gift from Jay and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
The theme of the retreat was “Blessed” as quoted in Jeremiah 17:7.
The decor team transformed the meeting room at The Carlsbad Inn into a colorful place of worship with burlap, adorable buntings and banners, milk glass, hoop art and the retreat’s color scheme ~ aqua and yellow. Every eyesore in the room was covered with beautiful antique and vintage pieces for the most pulled together, cohesive atmosphere.
Little handmade cupcake liner flowers peeked out of Mason jars and watering cans…
We were spoiled with all sorts of treats…tote bags, beautiful handmade journals, logo’d insulated plastic cups, darling coffee cozies and the most lovingly made {blessed} signs as we wrapped up and said goodbye to a wonderful weekend!
We had the chance to make necklaces with hundreds of little graphics and designs to choose from. I chose a seashell to remind me of this special weekend meeting and visiting with women all with a breathtaking ocean view as the backdrop.
It wasn’t too bad waking up to this view two mornings in a row…
{Saturday}
{Sunday}
We ate like queens with the most thoughtful continental breakfast spread each morning as well as Panera for lunch and a dessert table each night that was to-die-for.
For dinner we were on our own to explore the town of Carlsbad and pick from loads of little restaurants all within walking distance.
It was truly a weekend that I will remember forever. I met SO many sweet, godly women, but one of them will always touch my heart ~ thank you, Maria, for our chat. So grateful that HE paired us up and I had the chance to get to know you and hear your testimonial. XO
*****
Upon returning home to my little family that I missed so, was the usual Sunday evening frenzy followed by a busy week ahead.
We missed soccer practice the previous week due to a day of illness, but were ready to get some practice in for our first games this past weekend…
{One Ninja & one Pink Panther}
I also attended a first holy communion retreat with Elliott this past Saturday. She painted a glass, made a quilt square and kneaded her own unleavened bread to prepare for this sacrament in a couple months.We both thoroughly enjoyed it and I almost snuck a glass and painted one myself! So fun….
*****
Today, and everyday, I am counting my blessings. They are most definitely abundant and I no doubt recognize them.
Today I am blessed with new friends, a stronger faith, a healthy family and so much more.
I hope you’ll take a little time out of all the craziness and chaos and remind yourself how blessed you are!
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
This weekend is the perfect weekend to have three birthday parties on the agenda.
I am going to be out of town redeeming my Christmas gift from Jay ~ a Ladies Retreat down south.
I am SO excited.
I need it. There is something so powerful when a group of ladies get together and share, chat, laugh and even cry.
Knowing that you are not going through life alone and that you have an amazing support group other than your immediate circle of friends and extended family is always comforting no matter how perfect you think your life is. And while I know that my life is NO where near perfect, I feel blessed daily and I need to continue to do so.
Yes, even through the homework and the bickering and the losing my patience and the yelling and the dog hair in the corners and the sink full of dishes and the clean dishes in the dishwasher that need to find their home. We all need a moment {in this case about 48 hours} to ourselves to sit back and visit, make new friends, share stories and remind us that we are truly, madly, deeply blessed.
So, Jay will be with the children and doing school pick-up, dance class, Fish Stick Friday, Little Church and attending three birthday parties around town. I know he enjoys seeing Elliott & Holden interacting with their friends and watching them laugh and play with their peers.
It should be a win/win all around this weekend.
Although I’m sure I’m going to be the one that feels more refreshed and renewed when it’s all over, I hope that we can further appreciate our true gifts and blessings on Sunday evening when we’re all back together sharing stories of the weekend.
Thanks babe, for the chance to get away for a bit. I appreciate it more than you know….and I appreciate YOU!
What are YOU looking forward to as this week comes to an end? It’s supposed to be GORGEOUS!
When it comes to our kids’ birthday parties, I always have two things in mind….
Keep it simple.
Make it special.
This year we decided to have Holden’s party at the Wildlife Learning Center. We’d never been there, but learned that they do parties so I thought it’d be something different and educational at the same time.
To keep things extra easy, I scheduled the party in the mid-afternoon from 2pm-4pm so that I didn’t feel I had to serve a whole meal or heavy snacks since that would be harder to transport, keep cold, etc. I just made a huge batch of Safari Trail Mix for munching on and served two-bite cupcakes and mini ice cream sandwiches {the cutest & perfectly kid-sized ~ Ralphs/Kroger brand}. We had mini water bottles from Trader Joe’s that I covered in leopard print duct tape to keep with the theme.
{easiest party trick ever}
A big thank you to my talented friend, Richelle, who helped place and hang the decor as she is the event planning guru…
{embroidery hoops with remnant fabric purchased from Joann’s ~ all 3 hoops cost less than $5 to make}
{the “H” is just a piece of cardboard that I covered in yarn and the “6” is from the dollar bins at Michael’s}
The first 30 minutes of the party is a presentation of several animals with facts and a chance for all the kids to touch said critter.
{my fave, the porcupine}
After the live animal presentation, the kids went on a little tour of the grounds to meet more animal friends…
“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Holden, Happy Birthday to you!”
*****
I really try to make the party favors useful {which probably translates to boring for the kids, but perfect for the parents!}
The kiddos went home with some safari band-aids and a little mini B&BW hand sanitizer for their backpacks or lunch boxes…
The 3 and under crowd took home fun little monkey melamine plates…
…and the under 1 year old guest went home with a pair of giraffe mittens…
{ok, so I don’t know how useful mittens are in So Cal, but they sure were cute!}
*****
This non-profit was a pleasure to work with and the two ladies that ran the party were so great with the kids and very knowledgable. The only thing that bugged me was that the pavilion where the presentation and the party is held is right along the main thoroughfare and we had a few “party crashers”. I got irritated enough and kindly informed them that it was a private party and they went on their merry ways, but other than that, I think the safari-goers had a fantastic time and all seemed very engaged and interested.
The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful. I was a little worried since we had some rain and lots of wind earlier in the week. Holden showed up in shorts and flip flops. Cannot ask for more perfect February weather than that!
I am always reminded each year as we celebrate our kids birthdays of the special group of friends that we’re blessed with in our lives. I loved that this party was a gathering of old friends that have known Holden since before he was 2, new friends that he has made this year in kindergarten, sweet next door neighbors and friends & family that traveled all the way from Orange County and San Diego.
And then there are the same friends who, year after year, are my cupcake passer-outers, clean up crew and schlep-everything-to-the-car helpers. Thank you to my Stevenson Ranch ladies ~ Karen, Melissa & Janet for always lending a hand. We may no longer be able to meet at the park and chat once or twice a week, but I still love you, of course, and will always remember those times special times we spent together before school came and interrupted our social life! Darn it.
THANK YOU to all who came ~ we loved having you there to celebrate Holden’s special day with us.
*****
Cannot believe our baby will turn SIX tomorrow…
It’s been a WILD 72 months, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!
We love you to pieces, Holdy, and hope you enjoyed your party and celebrating with your friends ~ both animal and human!
