Easter Baskets

I had so much fun making Easter Baskets for the kids again this year. 

Despite my initial worries on how they would turn out, I was really pleased with the end results.  However, basket arranging is clearly not my strong suit.  :)

Luckily between the cute baskets, wrappers, and awesome polka dot ribbons no one will be the wiser.  :)

Penguin Goodie Bags

It was almost time for the big day - the big party. So of course there were more goodie bags to be made. :)

As soon as I read the part about the Aquarium party at Moody Gardens including a behind the scenes penguin encounter I knew these penguins would be perfect.

I also stumbled across these great Nemo nightlights that I thought would be a wonderful addition as well.

And of course there must be sweets and treats. Though the packaging of all of it turned out to be a bit challenging.

I went through several iterations of the before I settled on just the right one.

Yeah... I want one of these, too! :)

Lost my Marbles

I totally lost my marbles. There is simply no other explanation. It all started in band camp... Wait. I wasn't in the band. And I can't save a musical instrument to save my life.

It actually all started with procrastination. You see it's rough to have a February birthday. In most parts of the country it would simply be too cold to even contemplate doing something outside. But here? Where we live? The end of February can range anywhere from fozen popsicle all the way up to the mid 70s. With one one day, and the other the next. And sometimes even on the same day. You know the saying - if you don't like the weather in Texas hang around a few minutes and it will change. Or something like that? I am sure someone said it. They might even have been famous.

So while I was trying to decide if I should be insane enough to risk an outdoor birthday party like the Old McDonalds farm fiasco of '10... What you don't remember that one? We had decided to go to Old McDonalds farm for their birthday, invitations had been sent, RSVPs received, and I watched the weather - 10 day forecast, 7 day forecast, 5 day forecast... it became apparent that the weather was going to be on the hairy edge. Starting off in the upper 50's to low 60's, and warming up to a respectable high in the 70's later in the afternoon. But weather.com was showing a chilly 58 when our party was scheduled to start at 11am. So at the last minute I called frantically to every indoor venue I could think of and booked a bounce house instead 3 days before the party.

We later went to the farm just for the day and had an absolute blast. So as I was once again trying to decide whether we should risk it or not and if we did what our back-up plan would be I had an epiphany. Nemo. Fish. The Aquarium? Moody Gardens? A few hours later I had my heart set on the aquarium at Moody Gardens. Only when I emailed them they didn't have availability on the date I wanted. But they did in early March. So we decided to have the boys' party there this year.

Only there was this one little disturbing line - 32 people. MAX. Including adults. No matter how I sliced it we wouldn't be able to invite everyone we wanted to in the event that even half of them accepted. So I hatched a hair brained idea. We would do a toddler party at Moody Gardens, and then have everyone else join us at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner afterwards. It sounded like a swell plan so I booked Moody Gardens. And then I called the Rainforest. And you know where this is going right... No where good...

It turns out the weekend we picked was a double whammy. Not only was it the end of Mardi Gras in Galveston it was also the start of spring break, and wait for it... the start of a huge cheerleading competition, too. Because that's just my luck, right?

So I called everywhere. There wasn't a single place that would take reservations, or wasn't already booked. So we moved on to plan B, C, D, E, and then I think to F.

And that's where this story picks up... Getting ready to celebrate the boys' birthday with Kevin's family at the Rainforest Cafe. Which meant rainforest themed cake and goodie bags.

And I had way too much fun with these.

Seriously? Adorable.

I want one!

And I don't even like Tootsie rolls. But I totally planned to use them to make a road on the Lightening McQueen cake I was going to make for the boys' birthday. Which thankfully I will now be spared from making. Plan F remember?

So then there were the cupcakes. Which Sams doesn't make anymore by the way. No cupcakes? You have to be kidding me. Thankfully Costco still does. Though the bakery lady thought I was far too high maintenance. I wanted a Cars theme (rings), on the side, hold the mess. But in more than 2 colors, okay? No. Why not??? After 10 minutes we finally agreed on something I could live with.

Don't ask... really you don't want to know. So when I came to pick them up the rings were no where to be seen. So I asked for them? And well... umm... we don't have any. That's why they aren't in the bag. Thank goodness I hadn't be planning to actually use the cars rings on these particular cup cakes. Because I had other plans for them. Rainforest theme, remember?

Sooo cute! I love these picks, too.

Birthday Party at School

The boys celebrated their 3rd birthday with their friends at school on Friday.

Given they were going to have more than their share of cake before this whole birthday celebrating thing was over I wanted to do something a little different. My original plan was to do bullseye donuts (chocolate iced donuts with whipped cream and sprinkles in the middle) at morning snack. Unfortunately school vetoed that plan with some nonsense about too much sugar so early in the morning. Plbbbtt!! So we decided to do a cookie cake instead.

We arrived just a few minutes before their scheduled snack time to discover that they were taking a late nap. When they woke up and found us there they were super excited to see us. Several kids in the class were excited about the "pizza!" we had brought as well. Apparently several folks really enjoy delivery. :)

So as the kids sat down for their snacks they sang Happy Birthday to Ryan and Connor and then dug in to their cookie cake. It was the first time the boys had ever had it. And I am not sure they knew what to make of it at first.b

Chocolate chip cookies, frosting, and cheese. YUMMY!! At least Connor thought so. :)

Afterwards the kids headed outside for afternoon play time. We stayed and watched them play for 20 minutes or so before heading out.

But not before grabbing our goodie bags on the way out the door. The boys were super excited to get theirs. Connor picking a Buzz Lightyear, and Ryan a Rex the Dinosaur. Surprisingly we made it all the way to the car before they managed to pull out the lollipop, tried to drink out of the [empty] bottle, and insisted their figurine be removed from its packaging while they pried open the snack cups to see what was inside.

Operation: Kids Christmas Treats

I really thought I would have Disney up before now, but I got a little distracted...


The kids' Christmas party at school was at the end of the week and I hadn't figured out how I was going to package everything up.


I knew I wanted to do "snack" size popcorn bags, but I wanted something vertical, not horizontal. Luckily I found these great tall treat bags at the dollar store. I finished them off with a little topper. I loved how they turned out.



I also had some trouble finding bags to get all the rest of the stuff in. As it tuned out standard gallon size ziplocs were a hair too short. Thankfully a trip to Walmart yielded some tie top bags that worked out perfectly. I threw in a Christmas card, coloring book, plush elf, popcorn treat, candy cane, and box of colors. Then I added the piece de resistance - an initial ornament. Topped with a matching topper and voila! Operation Kids Christmas Treats. Done. And hopefully a resounding success.

Easter Baskets

When I first started picking things up for the boys' Easter baskets I had decided that I wanted to make bags/baskets for all the little kids at the family Easter gathering. I blame a variety of things for the temporary insanity including but not limited to the pinwheels, the bubble wands and the cutest girls baskets I think I have ever seen. Not to mention all those Easter goodies that I remember enjoying as a kid that were labeled age 3+. Especially the ones that came conveniently in packages that would leave me an extra or two. :)

Tonight I assembled all the bags/baskets. I think they turned out pretty darned cute. I especially liked the boys' (in their Lillian Vernon personalized baskets that I got for them last year that look surprisingly like new given they are white and were dragged through the dirt, pine needles, and leaves galore last year.)

I also thought the little girls' baskets (see what I mean?? Why didn't I have a girl??) were just precious.

The boys got little race cars instead of baskets. I thought they would appreciate them more. :)

So now that I have got the baskets out of the way I suppose it is time to figure out what we need to dye some eggs tomorrow...

For the Teachers

Of course the teachers needed something, too... I saw these adoreable marshmallow owl suckers at Walmart. I made a little tag to go along with them and tied it on with a ribbon. So cute. I wanted one. :)


The boys gave them to their teachers this morning. Connor was so happy to help deliver them. He tried so hard to give his to his teacher who was busy doing something else, but he didn't give up. He just kept trying. Stretching up on his tiptoes. So determined. So cute. Such a good little helper.

School Easter Treats

When I dropped the kids off at school last week I saw sign-up sheets were up for the upcoming school Easter Party. Parents had volunteered left and right to cover everything except favor bags. Having done the Valentines' Day bags in February I decided to let someone else have a turn. Day in and day out over the next week I noticed the favor slot stayed open. Needing to grab some things to fill the boy's Easter baskets I thought I would keep an eye out while I was shopping to see if there was something I could do for school as well.

At lunch one day I found some pinwheels and marshmallow k-bobs that I thought would be perfect and easy. So I picked them up and put the boys' name on the sign-up sheet. I arranged everything in baskets and was all ready to go.

Then I made the mistake of going back to the store to pick up just one more thing for the kid's baskets.... Item after item jumped into my cart and before I knew it two items had grown into an entire goodie bag.

In addition to the pinwheel and marshmallow kbobs there were now Annie's bunnies, a 5 pack of sidewalk chalk, a box of jelly beans, a 4oz bottle of scented bubbles, and a three inch tall milk chocolate bunny. I couldn't wait for the kids to see them. :)

I had fun putting them together, and the looks on the kid's faces when they saw them and got to take them home was just priceless. I couldn't even get the boys to let go of them when we got to the car. Needless to say I think they were a big hit.

Proof of Concept

The cows and lambs I ordered for the boys' birthday favor bags came in a couple of days ago so I decided to make a sample favor bag for the boy's bday party. I think I mentioned how much I loved those mugs didn't I? :)  I made a cute barnyard design to match the boys invitations, etc. for the kids at the party. 

Thought it turned out super cute of course.  :)

In addition to the customized barnyard mug and the cow or lamb I decided to do play dough (though I found some from the same store, same manufacturer, etc. that was labeled 2+ instead of 3+ go figure), the swirly straw and a bag of animal cookies. I think they are udderly adorable. :)

Getting Crafty

The sign-up sheets for the class Valentine's Day Parties at school were up on the door last week. By the time we got there the only things left were healthy snacks and goodie bags. I decided to give the goodie bags a try. I picked up create-your-own travel mugs, pencils, raisins, an assortment of choclate hearts, and an assortment of boxes of candy hearts (including some Tangy ones that I had never seen before but loved so much that I had to go back and get some for me, too!)

In a matter of time I turned this pile of miscellanous goodies into one of these.

And before long into a whole pile of them.

I thought they turned out super cute. Especially the mug design.

And of course I had to do something for the teachers, too, so I picked up these heart shaped lollipops.

I even managed to get them done almost a week before I need them! :)