A Busy week, Graduation Party, and Adorable Chubby Legs!

Phew... it has been a crazy busy week! Not a roller coaster ride-- just an exciting all over the place train ride busy-- if that makes sense. Very excited that our church's Circle of Moms group had our first park and play date and it went really well-- a lot of moms came out and I am just so excite for September when we begin our meetings! God's hand has been guiding us right along and it has been a very pleasant experience!

On wednesday, we went with Aunt Joy to Oregon Dairy Farm Days and I will post pics later-- but it was a lot of fun! Plus, when we came home, I had my welcome letter to begin selling 31 and I will post more on that later too when I get everything figured out with the website ;)

And, I was asked to cater a graduation party for a family at our church. This is so humbling since if you have ever seen my kitchen it is beyond teensy tiny-- I don't know if you notice, but a lot of food pics are taken either on my oven or at our dining room table since those are my two "prep" surfaces. But, I love that when I commited it to the Lord, He has done some big things and taken me "big" places. Anyway, it is such an honor as I have no formal food training or credentials-- so a big leap of faith on the part of this family, but it has been really fun getting to know them all better. I am very excited because they asked me to do a candy buffet-- so here are some of the candy jars I made with the college logo (they'll be filled with red and white candies):




Now, onto my favorite little pair of chubby legs (imagine my silly grin right here). I love this little boy and his perfectly shaped little thighs. Isn't he so funny still wearing his shoes?! he cracks me up-- he tried to keep them on tonight for his bath too, but I have to draw the line someplace ;) Just an fyi-- he was on his way upstairs to get a new outfit after trashing his other one at lunch. We try not to make it a practice to let him run around half naked as the poor kid is approaching two... sigh... but, back to those chunky monkey legs-- aren't they dreamy...

Joy's shower-- the decorations

These pictures are two months overdue-- but here is my sister's bridal shower. We went with an aqua and lime green theme with all the lettering in Navy as that was the only color she gave us. I made everything myself with some fabric, the cricuit, and a whole lot of hot glue ;)

been busy with a shower

no, not that type of shower-- a wedidng shower. been busy planing my sister's shower and phew, since she snooped and found out about it, i can share some pictures with y'all about how I am progressing. The shower is this saturday and I have been diligently working on it here and there for weeks now so as not to have the last day party stress hit me (and the family) head on. My husband called home from work and tentaviley asked how stressed I was and it was with a happy heart that I said we're doing good.

Then I hung up.

And I began to stress, was I doing good? Should I have something else for dessert? Will the fondant work? Will people like it? Will it look, horror of horrors, tacky?

So after a small, teeny, tiny panic attack, I regrouped, packed my china up (we're using special woman in my sister's life real china as a special touch, and well, i guess I consioder myself important-hehehe), finished the pretzels (the extra dessert), and then relaxed.

Because a good host should be a relaxed host.

I did take some new steps for me-- I accepted help on a few (minor) things for the shower and was pretty loose-ish-ish with decorating help (okay, I oversaw it, but I let my sister help and even pick a few things out-- shocker, I know.

So, we are almost done and I am so hoping for a nice smooth finish and a beautiful shower of blessings for my sister.

Happy Birthday to my Baby!!

Can't believe that my little guy is not just one-- but almost 14 months! Our camera was out of comission when he turned one, so I finally got these from my mom's so thats the reason for the delay friends :) We had a small family party where I made his favorite food-- Italian! Made meatball subs, baked wagon wheels, minestrone soup, dips and appetizers (I shaped one cheese ball into the shape of a pumpkin), and maybe a few other small things. I did a race that morning, so I was dragging by party time, but so worth it to see how happy he was eating his little cupcake-- Love at first bite! I do believe he may have seconds ;)

Fall themed Birthday Party

the setup was fun and as always, budget friendly :) I actually used one of my older son's sheets for the tablecloth, bought the leaves fabric and then cut it up and stretched its uses, and made all the goodies and decorations myself. The cookies are a chocolate sugar cookie with orange icing, the cupcakes were pumpkin pie with cream cheese icing, pumpkin pie with a pumpkin on top, pb and chocolate brownies, and then I also set out some candy corn and carmel corn.

My son's Toy Story Party

This past saturday we threw my son's fifth birthday party and we went with a toy story theme. I have just begun to dabble and get into all these party planning and dessert table blogs and they really inspired me to begin taking it to the next level. Of course, I still do things my way and thats with a budget and always with my birthday child at the forefront! I spent about 120 dollars on all the food and decorations-- I just did it all homemade. I made homemade pizza (since Andy goes to Pizza Planet), hot dogs, chicken ka-bobs, salads, and dips for the main meal. Since it was summer I was able to get 90% of all the veggies right from our garden, so that was a huge money saver! I made a cute banner for outside and decorated with curled ribbons everywhere-- I have to be honest, I am not a big balloon person since they pop and make obnoxious noises and are a choking hazard for young guests, so this cut down on cost too. I didn't get any pictures of the outside stuff, but here is the dessert table.








The cupcake ideas came from http://hubpages.com/hub/Toy-Story-Birthday-Cakes. I already had the cake platter and got the two candy holders at the dollar store. I made the brownie toppers with pictures I had found online- so free :) These aren't pictured since I couldn't put them out due to the heat, but I made chocolate covered marshmallows by freezing them and then dipping them in the chocolate and they were a big hit with the kids and adults. The party was so much fun! The weather was great and we are so blessed to begin another year with our special little guy :)