Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me!

Hey there lovelies! We have had a busy week! My "baby" turned four last Thursday! I can't even believe how quickly four years flew by. I'm sure I'll be saying that every single year from here on out. I feel like life is flying by. It's so hard to grasp how quickly my newborn babies became toddlers and now I have a four year old and a nineteen month old! Just crazy to me!

Teddy is always into something new but has been into pirates for awhile now. I figured that would be the type of party that he would want, so I began to mentally prepare myself. Then with how January began for us, I put party planning on the back burner and wasn't really feeling up to it but I knew we would have to have a party because he had been asking for one for months! So, I woke up one morning realizing I needed to get a move on and start planning. I planned this party in a 2 week period and I am happy to say that it was great and just as I'd hoped it would be. All Teddy asked for was a "jumpy, Chick Fil A and goody bags for his friends." Easy enough, right? I told myself that I wouldn't go overboard this year and for the most part I didn't and it was such an enjoyable day for me as well. I feel like most of the parties, Sean and I are cooking the whole time and we don't get to enjoy anything and by the time it's over, we are just like "Thank God it's over!" Having this party catered was the best idea! Thank you Teddy! We paid extra and had CFA deliver as well and that was even better. Since the party began at 11:30am, our morning was jam-packed and delivery eased a lot of stress! I was exhausted at the end of the day and still am, but it was a great day and fun was had by all! I have gotten emails and texts from some parents saying how much fun they had. Really makes my heart happy to hear this!

We based the theme off of this Teddy lookalike. :) I purchased this pirate wrapping paper at my beloved Paper Source to add to the invitations.

I downloaded a pirate font and went to work! I printed the invites on paper bag colored cover paper.   

Then I stamped and embossed this skull and crossbones stamp on top of each invite. I LOVE how it turned out!!! I burned the edges of each invite to make it look like an old map. I had a couple issues...burnt my toe, got in trouble from Sean for burning in the house, etc! Haha! But, again I LOVE how they turned out, so it was worth it!

I added these little gold stickers that said to dress like a pirate and for parents to plan to stay with their kids. We invited a couple kids from school that I didn't know and I hadn't met their parents so I figured it was better to address that it was NOT a drop off party, just in case anyone thought it was! :) I have heard some crazy stories about people just dropping their kids off and leaving...

One of my plans was the put each rolled up invite into a plastic bottle, but I could only find glass at our local craft store and was out of time to order plastic. I really loved how they turned out, so I'm glad the bottle thing didn't work out! :) We had to hand deliver each invite so it took me a few days to get them to all the places they needed to go! I tied an eye patch (to start off each kid's costume) and a Pirate Teddy to each invite and wrapped with baker's twine.

Next up was the goody bags. I decided to keep it simple and just give each child, gold dablooms(chocolate) and telescopes (Teddy's request). I hate when my kids come home from parties with a bunch of toys that we just end up throwing away, so I try to typically give something that is food (cookies, mouse ears are what I have done in the past) or not junk toys. These telescopes might be considered junk...my kids have had the best time with them though!

 I stamped each bag with my skull stamp or my anchor stamp. I thought they turned out so cute! I thought cotton bags would be perfect for a pirate party and purchased them here. Love how they turned out!

I displayed them in a mini treasure chest that I already had. I have a lot of these little trunks/chests that worked perfectly for this party theme! Teddy handed one goody bag to each of his friends as they left!

 As each child walked in, I had pirate hats for them. I had planned on monogramming each hat with the child's name on it, but we had a lot of people cancel due to sickness, so I decided to scrap that idea at the last minute and not spend the extra time doing it! I had done the little presidents' hats to start with to see if monogramming was even possible, so their hats had their names on them! Reagan's even had a bow!

Here is my cute little pirate all dressed and ready! Love how his outfit turned out! I ordered the shirt and bought black yoga pants in the toddler girls section at Target and just cut them and they turned out perfect! He was so excited about how he looked! Love that! :)

 I made the cupcake toppers. I was planning to use my cricut machine to cut the circles, but it was not working and I didn't have time to figure out the issue, so I ran out and purchased a circle punch and I love it! So fast and easy! Will be using this a ton I am sure! I stamped the toppers with my anchor and skull stamp and embossed them and then hot glued toothpicks to them. Simple! I also ordered the cupcakes from our favorite bakery, which was another huge time saver. I have made them myself for a few parties and this was just easier and less stress than baking and frosting myself!

Besides nuggets, chicken minis(the best things ever! I think I ate 6!) and wraps from CFA, we also had fruit, Pirate's Booty (Of course! We are addicted to this stuff!) and fruit squeezees! Again, I just displayed them in the little chests that I already had!

 I used plain red plates, red and white stripe and black and white napkins and white plastic silverware. Simple and cute! Love these tin buckets! I use them all the time! Red is a common theme around here. I sneak it into a lot of parties! I am pretty positive that I bought them in the dollar bins at Target a few years back...

We set up two long tables outside and I had planned to use cloth tablecloths but saw these striped skull clothes at my precious Target, at the last minute and grabbed them! So easy and cute and all I had to do was wad them up, with all the food and drinks still on them and toss them in the trash! Such an easy clean up and I loved the stripes and skulls!

At the last minute I decided to scrap my idea of decorating with treasure chests and just use the balloon bouquets and gold dablooms, necklackes and extra telescopes! It looked perfect!  Sometimes the best ideas are the one you come up at the last minute! 

Then there was the jumpy! My favorite part! I am obsessed with these things! This size was perfect and I plan to order this exact one for all future parties! Even my own birthday if we have a party! :) Everyone enjoyed it so much! I wish I had it in my yard, every day! I got a horrible burn on my arm from the slide! Teddy got a thumb to the face but other than that it was a crazy blast in that thing! We jumped until it got dark!

 

We love our stripes! :)

Me with the birthday boy! I forgot to take pictures of our drink buckets, but I served beer, Sofia (I am obsessed with these fabulous little pink cans of deliciousness!), water and juice pouches. You need a little beer and champs to get through a kids party. :)

Me with my other pirate! She had the time of her life! :)

Teddy was full of so much joy during the whole party! It was just so sweet! 

I bought a piñata and we ended up not doing it! The jumpy was enough, so I know for next time! :)

 I couldn't be happier with how the party turned out. It is so fun to have a vision and watch it come to life! Seeing the joy in my own kids' and the other kids faces was seriously the best thing ever. My heart is so full from this past week and weekend. Four has been a special birthday. Teddy really understood the concept and we had so much fun celebrating him, for days! :) More to come on how we spent his actual birthday! Hope you all had an amazing weekend! We are so blessed and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to celebrate these precious birthdays. :)

xoxo,

Ashley

Homemade Crayons

Hello there friends! This post has been a LONGGGGG time coming. I made crayons for Teddy's classmates and friends for Halloween and then I did it again for Christmas gifts for his buddies! I really enjoyed the whole process. I thought he would want to help me, but both times, he said "I want YOU to do it, mommy!" Haha! I'm sure at some point he will want to help me with these things! :) But, if not, I'm okay with that too. I love doing this stuff!

I started the Halloween crayons on a Friday night that the hubs was gone, so after I put the kiddos to bed, I poured a glass of wine and watched Parks and Recreation and got to work, peeling! That is what takes the most time and totally messes up a pretty mani but it is totally worth it! 

  I can't ever over how many crayons I peeled for this batch! 

 Here are some of the finished crayons! I LOVE all the bright colors mixed together! 

So happy and fun!!!

Here are the bags that I made. I couldn't find a jack-o-lantern stamp anywhere! So ridic! So, I made one quickly! I had purchased a bunch of the stamp making essentials awhile ago, so I had them here thankfully!

The treat bags were purchased from my precious Paper Source. I couldn't find them online but I linked an adorable polka dot version! I know the store always has the basic brown paper version that I used. The washi tape was purchased there as well. Again not online. I think it's because it's a fall color!

In each bag, I included: crayons, stickers, pads of paper, glow bracelets and bat rings. I added a lot to these bags because I signed up to bring bags as part of the Halloween party. :)

So fast forward to December! I made little Christmas trees and gingerbread men! Love how they turned out!

Just loved how they looked all ready to be baked!

Massive amount of peeling and the crayons! 

I used mini treat bags again from Paper Source. I love having one of these so close by. Seriously a huge lifesaver. Now, if only I had a Hobby Lobby around the corner, I'd be happy...well, maybe I need a Jimmy John's too and then I would be happy! :)

I'm so happy with how they turned out and Teddy was so excited to give them to his buddies! 

I baked my crayons at 250-275 for about 10-15 minutes. You really have to watch them. I also swirled them after I took them out of the oven to give them a more swirly look! :)

 You can purchase the pumpkin silicone mold here, the Christmas tree silicone mold here and the gingerbread man silicone mold here. I am amazed by all the molds that are available. I am going to overdo the crayon giving if I'm not careful. Ha! Luckily I can use these all again and again! I thought this and this would be fun for Halloween and Christmas as well. You could give each child, one huge crayon as opposed to a few small crayons! Just a different spin on it!

Anywho, crayons would be a blast to try for Valentine's Day if you haven't already given them a bunch this school year like we have! :) You can purchase heart molds here! Now go make some crayons and make sure there is wine involved! :)

xoxo,

Ashley

Presidential Donuts

Happy Thursday! This week flew by! No surprise there! It was quick but also long on some days. I think the past few weeks are catching up to me. Monday was MLK day, so no school for the Tedster! He had given me a mini donut pan and some donut mix for Christmas and I have been wanting to try them both out. I decided late Sunday night, as I was going to bed that I would make some donuts for the kiddos since Teddy had the day off and we didn't have to race him to school! I knew that Teddy probably wouldn't eat the apple cider donut mix that he gave me so I needed a different recipe. When I got home from my gym class that am, I was searching online and couldn't find a recipe quick enough, so I had a crazy thought that I'd try to come up with one. 

I bake quite a bit so I figured a main cast of characters would suffice! I threw together some flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, etc and figured it would either be great or awful! Ha! I was pretty happy with how they turned out! Reagan and I loved them! Teddy is such a picky eater so I never really gage anything on him. Ha! I had to scrape the Valentine's colored sprinkles off his and re-dip his in chocolate sprinkles and then he ate it and loved it...to me all sprinkles taste the same, but whatever! They were enjoyed by all! He ate two more the next day...I made the second batch all chocolate for him! :) He actually decided that he wants to take these for his class, next week for his birthday treat at school, so I'll be baking these again next week (Still can't get over the fact that he is turning FOUR next week!)! 

I think they turned out adorable, as well as delish!

A random fun fact about me, my parents owned a small donut shop for a short time. These donuts turned out pretty delish but not overly sweet, which was a good thing to me. Whenever I eat a donut in the am, I feel awful the rest of the day. Too much sugar in the am is not good for moi! I wanted them on the less sweet side and that was the outcome that I achieved! Woohoo!

We spent the rest of the day off, hanging out! 

This little lady is such a daredevil! Makes me so nervous, but I love how much joy she had from hanging on the bar like a big girl! :) Please ignore my hair...still icky from the gym!

 Teddy enjoyed his day off! Seriously love the crazy "cheeeeeeseee!" smile that he gives me lately! And I love the bow tie. Makes any outfit, fancy! :) 

Posing. :)

Here is the donut recipe in case you want to try the exact ones that I made! Again, this is just a random recipe, so I can't promise that it'll be the best donut of your life, but we thought it was pretty good!

Presidential Donuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 cup All Purpose Flour (might try gluten free flour for Teddy's class)

1/2 cup of Sugar

1 cup of milk (I used nonfat. might try almond milk for Teddy's class)

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 egg

Mix all ingredients together. I threw it all in my Kitchen Aid and mixed on low until it was smooth. I baked then for about 8-10 minutes. You really just need to watch them though! 

This made two pans of mini donuts.

Glaze 

(this is more of a trial and error to get the correct consistency) 

1 cup powdered Sugar

1/4-1/2 cup milk (start with 1/4 and add more if needed. Glaze should be pretty runny)

1/2-1 teaspoon Vanilla

I just dipped the warm donuts into the glaze and stuck them in the sprinkles immediately. Worked out perfectly! Let me know if you try them!

Hope you have all had a nice week so far! I am ready for a relaxing weekend!

xoxo,

Ashley

A few of my favorite things!

Hello lovlies! Since I haven't blogged since September (Seriously? Really? It's January?!) and even though, I have at least 8 half written posts, to finish and publish, I decided I would start out 2013 with a list of a few of my favorite things right now!

First up is always a winner in my book! Sugar Advanced Lip Therapy by Fresh! This stuff is amazing. I go through it like crazy! I prefer to use the advanced therapy version at night, sans the SPF(in the one that I use during the day), too much of the SPF seems to dry my lips out.

For the daytime, I use the Sugar Lip Treatment with SPF 15. I love the clear and rose color. I always have these in my car, purse, diaper bag, etc! Love them! I have been using this lip treatments for over a year now and am always recommending it and giving it as a gift. I just love it! 

While we are on the Fresh products, I am also loving their Soy Face Cleanser. It is seriously amazing. I have tried LOTS of face wash products. This one takes the cake! It removes makeup like a dream...even mascara which is a huge bonus and time saver!

I have also started using their Black Tea Age Delay Cream and Face Serum and Age Delay Eye Cream. I have to admit it stresses me out a tad to start "age delaying" products, but the sooner the better I suppose! Ha! Fresh may need to hire me as their spokesperson. :)

I just discovered The Wet Brush! I'm not sure how I am just now hearing about it?! My hair gal told me that it was a necessity for me, as she was brushing out my dreadlocks a couple weeks ago (I go to bed with my hair wet a lot and my hair is just so knotted...brushing it is just the worst)! So, I bought one for me and one for my sister, who also has horrible knots and we both love it! I am about to order another  for myself and mini one for the little presidents' hair too! Anywho, I can't say enough good things about this brush...life changing for sure!

These Driving Moccasins from Gap are seriously so comfy. I bought for my mom and sister for Christmas too! I am wishing I would have purchased in every color because now they are sold out in my size! :( They had pink, green and blue too! The brown are such a basic staple color, so I am thrilled that I snagged them, especially with a 30% off coupon! Woohoo!

These Lula Glitter Ballet Flats from J Crew are another favorite of mine. You can add sparkle to any outfit by wearing them. They make me smile...just like the glitter on my fingernails and the glitter on my iPhone case. Just little happy makers that bring a random smile to my face
throughout each day! :)

I had been wearing Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer for as long as I can remember and suddenly this fall, it started making me break out on my chin...no thank you! Time for a change! I tried this VitaZing SPF 15 Energy-Boosting Moisturizer with Mangosteen per the advice of a guy who was helping me in Sephora one day and I am in love! It's awesome and even lighter weight than the tinted moisturizer that I had been wearing for all these years. I think my skin just needed a change. :) It feels great on and totally blends in with your skin tone. 

Onto Pjs or Jams or Jammies or P-jammies (as Teddy calls them). I have become obsessed with the Xhilaration brand Pjs at Target. They are seriously adorable and some of the coziest jammies that I have ever worn. I ended up buying a bunch and monogrammed the pocket to give as gifts and of course for myself. They were a huge hit and now I am searching all Targets to buy more to keep on hand for gifts, etc! They are too cute! They were on clearance when I went two days ago and they had pretty much nothing left...so the search continues for more, but as of now, I have three new pair of comfy, cozy and monogrammed pjs to sleep and lounge in! :)

Since Reagan and I can't resist bows, I am loving these bow print cords from J Crew for moi and these bow printed skinny jeans from Gap for her! Seriously too cute! 

I have a little obsession with fun pants! Clearly! I think of them as a collection! These sequin leggings from French Connection were an early Chrsitmas gift from my hubs and I absolutely adore them! I wore them to a family dinner with a black top and blazer a couple weeks ago and I also wore then during our quiet NYE here at home, with a big cowl-neck sweater! They are just so fun! 

I feel like I have a bunch more to add to the list. I think I might have to try and do a "what I'm loving" post weekly. As we enter into the new year, I am hoping to find time to blog more. I want to document more of the daily life of the little presidents and keep track of what is going on with them! We shall see if I can keep up!

*I wrote this post before New Year's Eve and am just now publishing it! Time flies! We had a rough week last week and I am still is a bit of shock of all that occurred. Just trying to get back into the swing of being back home! I am praying the rest of 2013 is pretty uneventful for us and our family and friends. I hope you are all happy and healthy and that 2013 is blessing you so far!

xoxo,

Ashley

Don't drink the Kool-Aid!

Clean your dishwasher with it! 

I spent most of Saturday "Fall Cleaning."There were a few things I just hadn't had time to in a long time or ever for that matter! 

Our dishwasher was looking pretty gunky and I finally decided I had to clean it and we were spending the day around the house watching football anyway. I googled and came up with some interesting ways to clean it! The first thing I found was to use Kool-Aid! Can you believe that? I have only ever drank Kool-Aid maybe a handful of times because that was never allowed at our house growing up. The amount of sugar is insane, so now I understand where my mom was coming from! But that aside, I trust Real Simple. They have yet to steer me wrong, so I figured I'd try this method. It seemed to work well. It definitely cleaned up a few areas and made the dishwasher smell fresh. It didn't smell badly before, but now it has a fresh lemon scent when I open it. 

Before I tried the Kool-Aid method, I spent 30 minutes scrubbing certain extra gunky areas with a toothbrush. I used baking soda and water paste that was ever so simple to make. I think that was a key factor in the cleaning process too. Then I removed the silverware baskets and the lid/wine glass holders (I don't know what these are called, but they came with the dishwasher and I use them to hold wine glasses upright and for sippy cup lids. I soaked those in a HOT water, baking soda and vinegar combo. It was random but seemed to work. I also scrubbed certain gunky areas of all 6 items as well. While those were soaking, I poured two cups of vinegar into the dishwasher and then I ran it on a antibacterial setting. Then right after that was finished, I started a regular dish load (empty) and used the Kool-Aid! I am amazed by this process and think the Kool-Aid will be a new monthly or bi-monthly procedure to keep everything clean and fresh! Happy Wednesday friends! If your dishwasher needs cleaning, try this method! :)

xoxo,

Ashley

Zucchini Lasagna

Hooray for the weekend! This has been a weekend full of catching up around the house, cleaning, baking, cooking and all being under the same roof at the same time which is a rare occasion unfortunately. It has been so nice and much needed. I made a delicious dinner Saturday night that I just had to tell you all about! Zucchini lasagna! It was delicious. Very time consuming with making the sauce, etc! I was reminded again why I can't seem to get dinners like this on the table during the week since my kiddos require most of my attention and my hubs is away. I don't think this would be great to make in advance mainly because of the watery factor of zucchini squash. Even after salting and grilling and blotting each piece, it is still very watery when/after cooking, so I am not sure this is a great make ahead meal. Though I am planning to attempt to freeze it, thaw and then bake it...but again it may be a problem with zucchini being a watery veggie. Will keep you posted! It was delicious and will definitely be in my meal rotation from now on (at least on the weekends!). I served a crusty sourdough bread with it and a simple lemony arugula salad with shaved parmesean. Really a light and yummy meal. Italian food can be light if you don't use actual pasta! This recipe is from one of my favorite meal websites Skinny Taste. This site has become a huge meal resource for me since I have been on this working out/watching what I eat regime. I love it and she uses a ton of zucchini which is one of my favorite veggies to cook and eat! She has amazing meals on there! Love it!

Another post to come on how I cleaned my dishwasher. I am fascinated by the method that I used!  It's the little things! :) Happy Sunday! I am off to spend some time with the fam and then off to celebrate a sweet friend's birthday with margs and shopping! 

xoxo,

Ashley

Busy Bees

Well, it's officially "fall." It's still 85 plus degrees here, with awful humidity, so I'm still thinking summer at this point. School started back last week, so we have been even more busy around here, as if that was even possible! This weekend was the first weekend in a long time that we had absolutely nothing going on. It was so nice to just sit and relax and enjoy each other. It came at a great time too because college football is here! Woohoo! While we relaxed a lot, I also worked quite a bit. I had taken a small break from taking orders...just needed some time off. I am now back in full swing and took this weekend as an opportunity to make some things for the little presidents. They get left in the dust a lot when I am swamped with orders, so I am trying to get a few things finished for them asap. :)

This sweet little shirt is for the little prez to wear when she watches the Texas Longhorns play. 

Hook 'em Horns! I love how it turned out. It will have a matching pair of shorts/pants, as soon as I get some more free time. :) Big brother has a shirt on the way as well!

This has been a LONG time coming. I have been wanting to make monogrammed wine/liquor totes for awhile now and again, I just haven't had time. These are the perfect host/hostess gift. A mongrammed tote filled with alcohol of some sort?! You can't go wrong! I have a feeling these are going to be a hot item!

Here is the finished product! This one has a leopard print pocket that you could add something special for the host...a wine stopper, bottle opener, etc! This turned out so cute. Seriously the perfect gift with a bottle of wine/liquor inside! I am so excited for the Christmas themed totes too. I have them all planned out! Expect lots of leopard, burlap and tartan plaid! :) There will most likely be a couple fall related totes as well! LOVE these!!!!!!

These pockets are so awesome!!! I am obsessed with them and thought adding a monogram was perfection.

I already have more of these in the works for my little guy. The possibilities are endless! He may only wear monogrammed pocket tees from now on! Ha! Loving this look! 

I plan to make myself a few tees too! :)

I was burning the midnight oil Saturday night working on all of this stuff, so Teddy was so excited and surprised when I showed him his shirt the next morning! 

He had to model it immediately. Love him.

Little miss R has been in desperate need of more bibs, so I hammered out a couple cute ones for her. Hoping to get a few more made this week. Teething is non-stop around here and the drool is insane...these bibs come in handy!

This is an order for place-mats and napkins. My son's school requires the kids to use place-mats each day for their lunch, so I make his and a friend ordered a set for her son. The picture is awful, but you get the idea. They turned out so cute. Random funny, Teddy said to me "oh, I really like the belly button fabric!" Belly button fabric being the polka dots! Haha! He is too funny!

Here are Teddy's sets. He picked the main fabrics and I picked coordinating fabric for the napkins. I actually need to make him one more so we have one for each day of school. As you can see, I haven't monogrammed Teddy's yet! At some point I will get to it! ;)

Pretty productive weekend here! Love that! Hope you all had a great weekend and have a happy Monday!

xoxo,

Ashley