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24 September 2011

Little Lumberjack 2nd Birthday!

Whew! What a day! All the planning and stressing, and new etsy sellers totally letting me down, all came together for a great day for our little guy. Lots of family and friends and a whole lot of sugar!
Sharing a few pictures tonight, but I think my friend Stephanie, memoriesbystephanie, who is amazing with a camera took some that I am sure will be awesome! But I did take a few before all the craziness started so I could share tonight!


Details, details
Burlap and Paper Banner
I used some branches to make a wannabe tree and used the pillow box owls for some toddler treats, since there would be a couple little ones who are too young for all the good stuff. I just put some of the little yogurt melts in there for them.



When I thought about Lumberjacks, I thought they probably would use an old style lunchbox. I was able to find one for a great price so I used it to hold the S'mores pops! If I had a little more time I would have covered the Styrofoam.




We've had this truck for a few years, it was in the yard decor section at Michael's, it's been re- painted a couple times and almost made it's way to the garage sale pile a few times too. So glad I kept it, it tied in perfectly with this theme! The little "logs" are tp rolls covered in shelf liner and card stock ends. They are filled with little baggies of trail mix!


I tried to find some themed candies too! Harder than I thought!
So I have some black and red candies, not licorice, but it would have worked. Was trying to mimic the buffalo check that lumberjacks wear. And the little brown ones are some kind of maple candy. Lumberjacks and pancakes go together (I don't really get it) and pancakes make me think of maple... soo that was as close as I got!

And I don't have a good picture of them, but also in the front was a red bucket full of the little wafer cookies, they look like little round logs, which is why I picked them up!

Our local bakery has THE best frosting, and I really didn't feel like baking anymore yesterday, it was too hot. I had them make a little mini cake and just leave the frosting plain. I just used a little fork and made some bark lines, nothing too fancy, it's for a 2 year old who doesn't care much! And the F in the back, I am loving the monograms done on tables! I just used a paper mache letter and some moss and glue. Easy and I like the way it looked with everything.




And the big white stand, I just added some ribbon to the edges with hot glue,
 it came right off when the party was over! 
On the top and 3rd one down is Marshmallow Axes


I made the marshmallow axes with the flat stackable marshmallows, I cut each one in half then trimmed to this shape, stuck the pretzel through the small end and covered in red candy melts! Easy and yummy.

The second one down had these little mini cookie chocolate things. I hunted online for days and days to find something I could use. Finally found a flickr page with a picture of these, I had NO idea what they were called though. Thankfully Kim, at frostmeblog.blogspot.com is a super sleuth, she helped me find the name, not that I could say it, or spell it anymore. And I called all over town, found it at the Japanese grocery store!
Aren't they just the cutest?! And they are pretty tasty, they taste like the chocorooms kinda, but better.

The bottom one was cookies, just sugar cookies I spruced up a little. I didn't have a lot of time so I wasn't going to do too much detail. All I did was make the dough, chill it in the freezer, slice it and rolled the edges in coco powder before baking them. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I was hoping it would look like the darker bark. I used pb frosting for the swirls!


The whole thing

And the cupcakes, I did super simple decorations, but I did make a little funkier cupcake than usual.
I made vanilla, chocolate and also pancakes and bacon. Kinda weird but super tasty!





And I had a few activities planned for the kids! One was to decorate a planter and plant a little sapling, I was so bummed when the new to etsy seller didn't get the memo on how orders worked and couldn't get them to me in time. So instead I had hubby make some wood slices from a branch in our scrap pile, drill a hole in each one and made it a necklace for the kids to color and put a few stickers on. Wasn't my first choice but it turned out fine and the kids all had fun.


I also made a pinata to look like a log, out of an oatmeal box. But I didn't get any pictures, because I was busy making sure no one got hit with the big plastic axe they were using to hit it! But I think the little ones had the best time with it! Some of the girls especially! I love how excited they get!

The other thing I did, but most kids were not so interested in it, was a little photo op. The big plastic axe and a tie on lumberjack beard my aunt helped me with! I knot nothing about knitting or crocheting, she made me the main part and I added the "hair" I tried to get Finnley to wear it a little each day and he just wasn't having it :(

But a few were willing (or forced, or maybe even bribed!)



The party was fun and I can't believe he is 2 already!
We got him a cabbage patch kid, with glasses, since he JUST got them. I love how he loves it already! And it's so pasty and white haired, just like him!


I was just about to say that we have no more kid parties until February (Wonderland for her, Baseball for him) but now I am thinking maybe I should do a Halloween one, since I will have NO time to plan/prep and that seems to work well for me!
So watch for MORE Halloween party stuff!


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22 September 2011

Fall Cleaning List ~Living Room~


Think I have my Living Room/Family Room list done!
It should be a little easier because there isn't as much stuff in here!
And this year it will be even easier, we just replaced our couch and chair, so I can take upholstry cleaning off the list! And  the new one doesn't have removable cushions. THANK goodness! No more fishing for toys/cheerios and random other things.

My list isn't much different than most years!
~Wash throw blankets
~Fluff pillows in dryer
~Clean the rug
~Dust.. especially the fan!
~I NEED to change the pictures in our frames!
~Clean the windows, usually I just do the parts the kids can reach, but I should get the step stool out!
~Wash the walls
~Clean the baseboards
~Touch up paint
~Touch up baseboard paint
and when that is all done..
~Go through ALL my magazines (I have far too many)

country lliving
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Halloween~Mummy's

Ready for mummy's? There are a lot of cute mummy ideas!

Mummy Dogs
our best bites

Mummy Mini Pizza
Family Fun

Mummy Meatloaf

Cute Mummy pretzles

No idea where these candie apples came from, but they are adorable!

Mummy Candy Bars
The Idea Room

Mummy Cake Pops
Bakeralla (of course)

Cute Mummy Cupcakes


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21 September 2011

Fall Cleaning List ~Kitchen~


Finally got my kitchen list done, and I can't wait to start next week!
I usually do the kitchen first because it takes the most time!
I like to start at the top and work my way down before I clean the floors. But if there is something that takes a while to soak or work, start those first. Like a self cleaning oven, or filling in nail holes that need to be painted.

~Take picture down above doors
~Stuff that needs to work, or dry (nail holes, self cleaning oven, microwave vents)
~Dust, and get all the corners
~Vacuum tops of cabinets
~ Wash windows (ours are hard to reach for me, so I don't do it every week)
~Clean out cabinets. For me this means, purge, clean cabinet insides and organize.
~Polish the cabinets
~Clean out under the sink
~Empty and Clean the fridge and freezer (sides and back too)
~Empty and clean pantry
~Go through cookie cutters (and purge!)
~Clean baseboard
~Touch up cabinet stain
~Touch up wall paint
~Touch up baseboard paint

Obviously some of these won't apply to you (unless you are a cookie cutter hoarder like me,
or have recently taken down some stuff that left nail holes)
I actually have already started on a few of these! Those cookie cutters were bugging me.
I'm hoping I can get this whole list done next Monday!
How are your lists coming? What's on them?


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19 September 2011

Halloween~Pumpkins!

I think pumpkins are what we think of most when we think about Halloween!
There are some great pumpkin things, food, crafts and other cuteness!

little favor bags, Martha Stewart

Love these, from Hello Cupcake

I like how they used these on the candle sticks!

Midwest Living shared this smart little idea!

I love this door Decor!! Such a neat idea!

I love these caramel "pumpkins" cute idea to dress up apples!

And since pumpkin is such a yummy flavor, there are some interesting and different ideas using pumpkin!

Fluffy Pumpkin Dip


Pumpkin Fudge!

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Truffles

Whoopie Pies!

Pumpkin Caramel Cookies

There are lots more yumminess HERE!
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18 September 2011

Birthday issues!

Sorry, it's been a few days.
 Having some Birthday party issues, missing packages and stuff like that.
I am up to my eyeballs in a to do list,
 but I should be done by Tuesday (I hope) so I
will have some Halloween stuff soon!


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12 September 2011

Halloween~Vampires and Bats

Of all the Halloween creatures, I think Vampires are my favorite!
But there isn't as much as there is for ghosts and witches. Still a few goodies though!

I think my favorite ever Vampire Halloween thing is this invite, I don't know if I would use it for an invite, but if I could make it kid friendly my kids would LOVE it!


What a fun idea for Halloween breakfast!
Bakingbites.com

Gruesome Panna Cotta

ADORABLE! Love the bat in the middle cake!

Vampire Punch, from Hostess with the Mostess

Not sure where this came from, but simple and cute idea!

Amazon.com has these bat bites sandwich cutters
Cookies, like the pancakes from baking bites

All you magazine has a whole Vampire party, this included

These caramel apples from Homemadesimple are SO neat!
Nutter Butter Vampires
Better Homes and Gardens


It's been kinda hard to find kid friendly and not cartoonish!

Pinterest sure helps though!

I have a few more HERE and I am sure I will be adding some!




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