Currently...

Working on this:

We did end up going with the park I talked about here. So now I get to stress about possibly not getting the covered party area, along with the weather, crafting 1800 things and everything else that goes into a party.

But once we get to party day, everything will work out or get tossed and she'll have the best time ever! I cannot believe my tiny 5lb baby is almost 4!

Party Planning

Yesterday I started thinking about Layla’s 4th birthday, yes it’s in August but July and August are super busy for us. I had plans for a camping party, with just close friends and family but then my Dad and Step Mom decided to fly up from Fresno, CA and there’s no way my Mom would camp with them. Agh annoying, it was years ago, let’s get over it. My next idea was a Cowgirl party with a pony! But then I realized we live in BFE and I doubt enough kids would come to make it worth it. So now I’m thinking a party at a Discovery Playground, which is close to her school. We drive about 30 minutes to her school that is close to my work. I’m thinking more of her classmates would come if the party was close to that… Plus the park has all these cool features:

Sun Gateway and Basalt Boulder Play

• Gathering plaza, climbing boulders and a bridge over a dry creek bed

Steelhead Trout River Bed "Splash Pad"

• Basalt water sprays, trout sculptures, seating and jumping water jets

Fossil Maze

• Herb garden, fossils, benches and a raised planting bed

Outdoor Classroom

• A quiet group gathering area

Secret Garden

• Wavy walk, bridge, larger-than-life objects, vine tunnel and sensory plantings

Bear Den Sand Play with Mammoth Fossil Find

• Bear den, mammoth and fossils, water spigot and raised sand table

Big Horn Sheep Challenge Steps, Double Slide and Sensory Garden

• Shallow and steep steps with wrap-around garden, and sculpture/seating/talk tubes

Eagle’s Nest Observation Deck

• Watershed and salmon wall, glacier rock slide, climbing wall, giant eagle’s nest sitting circle, swings, spinners, fish climbing sculpture and boulder seating

Elk Valley Picnic Plaza

• Shelter, tables, seating, boulders, sundial, fossils and split rock

Musical Elements

• Musical elements in seating nooks with a larger musical area

Landscaping

• Features Eastern Washington flora with a variety of scents, textures and colors

Discovery Pavers and Hidden Walk

• Educational pavers leading along a pathway with benches

Accessible restrooms

The best thing being the Splash Pad! BUT you can’t reserve it. So should I plan a whole party around a place when we might not get the shelter? I would be totally willing to get there early and try to steal the picnic area but it majorly stresses me out that it’s not a for sure thing. Would you do it? Or should I find a place that I can reserve?

And because I hate a post without a picture here's Layla before school this morning.

Weekend Round Up!

Busy, Busy Weekend! Friday we went dinner then home to put the kiddo to bed. Then Ben started cleaning and I started making decorations. Back story tomorrow is my older brother Eddie’s 31^st birthday. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been trying to get him to make a plan for it. Although in the back of my head I always knew it was going to be at my house. So Wednesday night his girlfriend calls and asks if we can have a get together. Everything was quickly thrown together but I think it turned out well!

Anyways Saturday morning my Mom picked up Layla and I left Ben to clean some more while I went to get my hair done! Lol thanks, Benny! Here’s some shots of the decorations, nothing too fancy since I only had a few days. All taken with my celly, sorry.

Drink Area. I love my Chevron wall!

Cute 31 Banner I made

Eddie Banner

We had a taco bar, Eddie’s favorite! The food was so good! Thanks to Eddie’s girlfriend for helping with that!  

Sunday since my Mom had Layla we slept in! Till like 10am! It was amaze! Then we hurried our butts out to get her! Breaks are so nice, but man do I miss her!

Happy Monday!

I'm Back!

So I missed the SUYL... Vacation was crazy busy! But more on that later. I am finally done with party craziness August! The last party was a Bridal Shower for BBF Becca. Get ready for some pictures!

Prep! Gluing tea cups together, this one was my favorite!

A super cute banner I that was made by Pluff Mudd Studio's she also made the invitations.

Table set up, right before the guests showed up the wind blew and knocked over a lot of my glued teacups.

A few more of the table and a few guests. The guest of honor is i the white hat.

The night before the party at oh about 10pm I realized Ben had forgotten the tables he was supposed to borrow from his work. Panic mode set in but after some creative thinking, a dresser, a table top and  two speakers we were able to figure it out.

The food table, made with an old table top and two speakers

Drinks! This is going to be Layla's dresser but I haven't gotten around to refinishing it yet. So I lined the top drawer with extra table plastic cloth and filled it with ice and drinks. It was a big hit!

TP dresses!

Becca and I have known each other since the 6th grade. My Dad and Step mom were sweet and sent her a huge flower bouquet!

All in all it turned out well. It was extra hot that day so we were fanning with some plates but everyone had a great time!

3rd Birthday!

Not sure if  I mentioned this before but Leo's take over my life! My husband (8/2), my BFF Bec (7/24) my Momma (8/11) my Step Momma (8/21) and my Layla (8/15)! The end of summer is a very busy time for us! Adding to it this year is BFF Bec's bridal shower (8/27)!

Layla's favorite color is blue and months ago she asked for a blue birthday party. (How fun is it, when they start asking for a birthday theme?!) I thought about it for awhile and decided to go with a Blue Bubble 3rd Birthday Party!

Here's a sneak peek, her invitations:

I found these on Etsy made by Pluff Mudd Studio's the invite started our colorful but the Seller was great to work with and changed it to fit the blue theme! Again I printed them at Vista Print on note card size card stock. They turned out perfect!  

Beer Party!

Saturday night was Ben’s Beer Tasting Birthday Party! It was a lot of fun! It wasn’t exactly sure how the tasting would work, so I just kind of winged it. I had three stations set up for Lager, Ales and Darks/Stouts each with a bucket with ice, a opener and some cups. I just said if you see something you want to try open it up and pour some in a glass! Easy!

Here are the invitations; I used Vistaprint who was amazing! Very easy and quick. This was actually a premade template that I just customized to what I needed.

The 3 Stations

Desserts, I kept them easy just Ben's Guitar Cake and cookies

I made these cute labels for all the food!

It was a great time! I will post some more of the party pictures later. Again I got the idea for this party here and then added my own spin on things. It's a little insane all the beer we have left over...

Happy Friday!

Busy weekend ahead of us! First off, growing up in the Arm Pit of California (Fresno) I can't remember a time not being able to swim. It was/is so freaking hot there my childhood was always in a pool, river, lake, slip in slide tarp (yeah I was cool) some sort of water! A few weeks ago when we took Layla to the Aquatic Center and she was timid in the pool and not having a great time, my heart sank. I love being in the water and wanted her to love it too...

Flash forward two weeks later and after her first week of swim classes, my girl is HOOKED! And I could not be more proud! (She actually had a fit today when she realized she didn't have a swim class)

Look at those ice cream scoops & leg kicks!

Loving the water!

And since tomorrow is Ben's birthday party (actual b day is Aug. 2nd) Here's one of the signs I made for the tasting tables. I can't remember if I saw this somewhere and made my own/copied it or if I was a genius and thought of it myself!

Have a great weekend!!!

Hats!

One of the parties I am planning in August is a Mad Hatter Tea Party Bridal Shower. (That's a long name) I am the Maid of Honer at my best friends Becca's wedding. We've been friends since the 6th grade! Here she is last year at a friends wedding:


(I'm not sure why it's so gainy looking)

Anyways so hats! I own a few, but nothing for a Mad Hatter Tea Party. Here's a few I am thinking about that I found on Amazon

I like this one, but I think it's more sun hat then fancy hat. But it is only $12.95 Via

I love black and the bow is so cute! $34.99 Via

I like how huge this one is!! $45.95 Via

And some more Fancy ones, which I think I am leaning more towards:

$13.95, much better price! Via

This one is very Mad Hatter-ish $24.19 Via

$2.26??!!! What?! So cute! Via

Parties & Weekend Round Up!

This weekend Ben went on his works annual camping trip, which sounds like a company event and that families should be invited but it’s not. It’s a bunch of guys from his work that go camping together and have a weekend drunk fest. I’m totally fine with some girl time though! Friday night Layla and went out to dinner with my friend Kaylene, it was interesting… When I picked Layla up from school the first thing her afternoon teacher said, she didn’t nap very and has been pretty grumpy… Great we already had plans! We only had one time out and she did fairly well. I’m always nervous going out to dinner with someone who doesn’t have kids with my kid!

Saturday: My mom came and picked Layla and I up. A town about 15 minutes away was having town wide yard sales! AMAZING! I got absolutely no pictures but I got a bar cart for outside $5.00, 4 patio chairs $10.00 and a ton of brand name barely worn clothes for Layla.  After that we went to a quick lunch cause Ms. Layla was getting close to break down mode. When we got home we were walking up our front steps, I was holding Layla and my flip flop caught on the top on a stair and down we went! Luckily I didn’t fall on her but she fell into the next step with her back. Agh I felt awful! She’s fine; I’m fine just a little bruised. After my Mom left and she was down for a nap I had a little breakdown about it.

Sunday: Ben came home! We just hung and were really lazy! In the evening we washed my car and the tent trailer. After Layla went to bed I watched some Real Housewives Reunion and passed out!

Parties! My life is consumed by parties right now! From friends birthday parties to Ben and Layla’s birthdays to a bridal and bachelorette party! I am in the process of planning 5 different parties right now!  4 of which are happening in August! Its nuts! Luckily I always start planning Ben and Layla’s birthday’s way in advance. There birthdays are 13 days apart and I want both of them to feel special! Agh, good thing I like to make lists!

Preview

Just a little preview of the Ugly Sweater Holiday Party....

My table, with pom poms and decorations

My coffee table wrapped, I need to remove the baskets.

The dessert table

Another one

Snow fakes hanging on my large mirror. It's hard to get a picture of a mirror...

Have a fantastic weekend before Christmas!

Easy Gift!

We have a ton of friends! Ha! That sounds funny. As much as we would love to get everyone a present for Christmas, it's just not going to happen. I saw this recipe for Infused Vodka last year in Real Simple. I adapted it just a little and added sugar to the fruit before I add it to the vodka.

Infused Vodka

Total time: 5 minutes (plus 1 week for infusing)

What You Need:

1 liter vodka (I make a lot so I use a half gallon)

Flavorings, such as 1½ cups fresh pineapple chunks, 4 vanilla beans, or 3 halved and seeded jalapeños ( I always go the fruit route, this year was Blueberry/Blackberry)

Glass bottles with tight seals

This is the hardest part of the project, finding bottles. Michael's has some small bottles for a $1.00 each. This year I went with something like these:

I know I won't completely fill the bottles but I got them at the Dollar Store and know all my friends will reuse them. It's like 2 gifts in 1!

What to Do

1. Divide the vodka and desired flavorings among the bottles. ( I make it in 1 large pitcher and remove the fruit or add in's before giving as gifts)

2. Refrigerate until the vodka reaches the desired level of infusion, at least 3 days and up to 1 week. Remove the flavorings after 1 week or instruct the recipient to do so. Keep refrigerated for up to 2 months.

So Simple! Or Real Simple...

Let me know if you try It and what flavor you used!

3rd Annual Ugly Sweater Party…

We throw an annual Christmas party every year; I think it’s been like 5 or 6 years running. 3 years ago we decided to turn it into an Ugly Sweater Party! (A party where everyone is required to wear a hideous holiday sweater. Most are purchased from Goodwill) It turned out to be a hit and now it’s a party everyone looks forward to every year! The last 3 years we’ve done the party at my friend Jen’s house, she had a large basement and room to handle all the people that come. This year since we have the new house (& 3 bathrooms YAY) Ben and I are hosting. I. Cannot. Wait!

I think I might have mentioned this before, but I love to entrain and plan parties! I could do it every day and sill loves it! Anyways here are some of my ideas for the par-tay!

A dessert table! Featuring these:

Via

& Chocolate covered pretzels, Tiger Butter, Cupcakes, Cake Mix Cookies, and Candy Canes.

My house is pretty much decorated with all my usual Christmas decorations but I plan to wrap a few pictures that I already have hanging and I am going to include lots of green and red tissue paper pom poms! These things are so easy and make a huge pop! And lots of candles, I would like to keep the lights low and let the Christmas lights do most of the work. We’ll see, it might be too dark.

Via

I’m also going to set up a photo “booth”. I purchased antler ears and a few other things for props. Can’t wait to see the pictures that will develop from this.

I’m going to run some fun wrapping paper down the center of my bar and the center of my dessert table then load them both up with food at different heights. I’m kind of stuck on real food though, I want easy finger foods. So far I have meatballs… Yeah. I need to get thinking about this. My downstairs is currently decorated with snowflakes and I think I am going to leave that pretty much the same. I have a small tree down there that I need to add some decorations to. It was supposed to be outside but for some reason our house only has 1 plug in outside so that was quickly used up for lights.

And the rest will come later as I figure it out. The party is December 18th so I have a little bit of time but I really need to get down to business! Have a fantastic Tuesday!