I saw it on Pinterest - Sesame Street Party

While planning Baby D's second birthday party, Pinterest came in handy with lots of ideas for his Sesame Street party theme. I wanted it cute. I wanted it simple. I wanted it fun. And I wanted it cheap!

I started a party board for him about six months ahead of time to glean ideas. There were so many cute things I'd have liked to do but didn't want to pour too much money into decorations. I did purchase a few packages of pipe cleaners at the dollar store which entertained the kids with twisting and creating for much longer than I expected!


Elmo inspiration (wow, isn't that a fun table!).

One thing I've learned over the years is to put money and/or work into things that guests will actually notice. Why buy cute but pricy tablecloths if you are going to cover them with your lunch spread? Or expensive plates with Elmo's face when they're just going to get ranch dip all over them?!

I bought dollar-store tablecloths and then cut a strip of leftover wrapping paper for a simple and colorful table runner. Cheap...and my guests actually commented on how clever the idea was.

I pumped up about 12 balloons that I had on hand and tied them with curling ribbon to the posts of our patio. At the end of the party we cut them down and gave them to the youngest party guests to take home with them.

Another thing I've learned over the years is to use what you have on hand and from around the house. This dessert table was decorated with a standing Tickle Me Elmo doll that we already had. I used a silver tiered tray from my dining room table for holding cupcakes. And because all I had were glass trays that I didn't want to get knocked off the table, I decided just to spread the Elmo-breadmen directly onto the table.



And honestly, don't spend a ton of time making elaborate desserts because frankly, kids don't care! Truly, they just want to EAT it! So if you want to make it cute just know your efforts are only for the grown ups who will ooh and ahhh over the sweetness. Seriously, do not mess around with rolling out fondant or taking an hour to painstakingly decorate one sugar cookie that will get devoured in 3.2 seconds. Know your audience; Kids will not appreciate the time or effort you put into the treats, they just want them in their bellies!


Drooling in anticipation!

I made a simple chocolate cake from a box mix, smeared on leftover cream cheese frosting and tossed some colorful sprinkles on the top. Super easy. If I'd had time I would have made one of these fun banners for the top but alas, I was actually still frosting the cake as my guests were arriving!


Pinterest inspiration

I did spend more time than usual making these Elmo-breadmen cookies because I knew that they kids would adore them.


Elmo-breadmen!

I already had the dough premade and frozen so it just took defrosting, rolling out and baking. Royal icing is a bit more work but I'd already had it made (you can keep it for about a month) so I just had to mix the three colors. I made it into flood icing as per Sweet Sugar Belle's instructions and using a squeeze bottle method I had these fuzzy red guys made in no time, with different expressions to boot! If you do make decorated cookies take my advice and break up the work. Make the dough one day. Roll out and bake the cookies another day. Decorate them the day before the party (or even earlier and just freeze them until the day before the event). These cookies are oversized and were taking up a lot of icing which is why I just outlined the bodies and filled in the icing on the head. Nobody complained and the cookies were gone in a flash!

I also knew that Baby D was going to need a coordinating outfit and well, since that is sort of "my thing" I whipped him up an appliqued tee with Elmo! He was totally delighted. If you need your own Elmo tee, I *ahem* sell it in my Etsy shop!


Happy #2 Baby D!

Here are the Cookie Monster Cupcakes that I saw on Pinterest.


Pinterest version


My version

I was not going to pipe frosting onto these, I didn't have time for that. I simply colored store-bought cream cheese frosting with a few drops of blue gel coloring and then patted the frosting on with an angled mini spatula to make it look fluffy. Mini Chips Ahoy cookies were simply shoved into the mouth position. The tutorial I saw on Pinterest had the baker cutting out a little section from the cupcake to insert the cookie but I didn't have any issues with just pushing the cookie down into the cupcake and none of them popped out. I found the premade sugar eyes here. Ta-da, super cute! I made them with a Blue Velvet Cake mix and with a slight blueberry flavor, they were yummy. The kids and grown ups loved them!



Finally, I kept goodie bags simple and only for the littlest guests. A simple pack of crayons and Sesame Street stickers from the dollar bin inside red & white striped paper bags (I bought a pack from Pick Your Plum and used the rest for Christmas treats). I wrapped them in a bit of twine and they were just precious.





There you have it, my Pinterest-inspired Sesame Street party. To reiterate, use what you have, keep your audience in mind when party planning and spend money and time only where it's most noticed. Simple, fun and cheap! But still cute too, of course.

The Big 4-0 in NYC

You might recall a few months ago when I won this trip to NYC from Armitron watches.

Well, the time has come!!



We leave tomorrow morning, bright and early, on what happens to be my 40th birthday.





I know some other women dread this milestone, but I honestly have no worries about turning 40. Yeah, I have to color my hair every six weeks. I don't get carded anymore. Whatever. Okay, so things are a bit squishier in the middle than I'd like. That's life. I don't mind getting older, as long as getting "wiser" comes along with it.


Fifth grade, guessing I was around 10

In any case, my birthday will be spent flying to New York City with my husband, walking the city streets and enjoying a lovely dinner at Lavo. Over the weekend we will be touring the 9/11 Memorial site, walking through Central Park and getting pampered at Bliss Spa.


Senior high school picture, age 16

I'm excited, of course. A chance to celebrate a milestone with new adventures! Happy Birthday to me!!


Summer 2013, age 39

Fun things, finally!!

I suppose it's been WAY too long since I posted.

To be honest, I was waiting for something good to happen. Something fun!

But well, that wasn't much likely around here, not with all of this year's drama. So add to the list my stepdaughter's overnight in the hospital for some mystery infection and extreme dehydration, another night in the ER with my dad after he had a transitory stroke and then a 12-hour stomach flu hitting every single one of us (it caused the baby to pass out it was so violent and sudden and that was another ER visit for us).

SO...another dramatic few weeks for us. And I was hoping for normal. Boring is underrated. I want boring. I really want boring!!


The Elmo video that we watched over and over because it bought me 30 minutes of rest time when I was laying around with the stomach flu!

Okay, enough of that. I do have a few fun things to share, finally!

We should be closing on the house in the next few days. We have the final walkthrough sometime this week and can start moving in at some point after that. The water & electric is already in our name as the current owners were having it shut off. Ack, it's finally starting to feel more real! We have quite a bit to do around here but most of the stuff is packed just not the daily things, like our clothes, dishes, food, computer, pots and pans or soaps yet. That will have to wait until the actual move-in day, we need most of that stuff until then.

Another fun thing. It was The Girl's 9th birthday this weekend.


All three

My husband had to work overtime so I packed up all three and we headed to Balboa Park for the morning. It was crowded as there was a science fair and the St Patrick's Day parade scheduled at the same times so parking was difficult.


The kids in Balboa Park

But a little walking didn't bother us and we enjoyed the nice day. They had a release of painted lady butterflies in the Zoro Garden that was lovely. We ate lunch at the cafe, walked around and looked at the exhibits and admired the pink cherry blossoms in the Japanese Friendship Garden.


At the butterfly release

And walking back through the Art Studios, there was a booth with ice cream, hurray! Brownies & cream for the baby and I, peppermint-chip for The Boy and plain ol' vanilla for The Girl. It was a nice treat and something we don't usually do so that made it even more special.


Ice cream cones!

The kids ran around on the grass a bit after they ate their cones, chasing butterflies and enjoying the grass and sunny weather.


Running around on the grass

We headed back home in the afternoon and the baby napped and the kids watched Disney Channel until Danny got home, then we headed to Costco for pizza.


Waiting for Dad to get the pizzas

We met the family at my parents, ate pizza and salad, drank Fresca and beer, sipped root beer floats and nibbled rainbow cupcakes (The Girl's request).

It was so great to have my dad up and about, able to eat without discomfort and socialize outside. During the last party (for his birthday) he was in so much pain from the chemo. The doctor has postponed any more treatment for two months until his health is improved. But he's off the oxygen, moving around fine and most importantly, has completely stopped smoking. My prayer for the last 30 years has been answered!


A snuggle from Grandpa

As the weather cooled down, Danny fired up the logs and we sat around the fire pit chatting until long after the sun had set. It was a wonderful evening or as The Girl said, "The best birthday ever!".

And finally, a day to write about!


The birthday girl with her new backpack

Disneyland Holiday Weekend -Day 1

Saturday was finally the big day! We'd been concealing the surprise for five weeks and finally the day had come. I'd been building up to it, letting the kids know that we'd be doing something fun for The Boy's birthday. They'd been trying to guess but I wouldn't give it up.

Saturday morning they got up at their usual weekend hour of 6am, ate breakfast and we had them get ready. We piled our luggage in the truck and took off. About 30 minutes down the freeway, The Boy finally said, "So WHERE are we going?!" I handed him a birthday card from his grandparents that held a card that said, "Happy Birthday and enjoy your day at DISNEYLAND!".



I told them about how I'd won the Grand Prize from a radio station's website and they were thrilled to hear the story. The Boy was over the moon excited, I was so happy to see! We arrived at the hotel and checked in. It was wonderful not to have to hand over the credit card! She gave me a packet with our hotel keys and the four tickets, good for two days and "Park Hopping", so we could go between Disneyland and California Adventure on the same day.



We started off at California Adventure. The lady at the front desk had given The Boy his birthday button and he wore it proudly the entire weekend. I would bet that he received over a hundred "Happy Birthday" greetings from cast members through the park! He loved it.



We picked up our Guest Assistance Card for The Girl and headed straight into Elias & Co. to see Santa. The Girl was not pleased.



She wasn't up for riding anything fast this trip so Tower of Terror and California Screamin' was out of the question for her. The bumper "bugs" in Bugs Land are always a fav, though.



And Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, another fun one she loved.



And despite a brief fast section, she still loved the Radiator Springs Racers.



The guys rode the fast rides multiple times over the weekend though, they both love the fast rides.



The Girl and I did a lot of patient waiting for our guys while Baby D napped.



It wasn't too long before we were hungry for lunch. We'd decided to go all-out with the meals this time around since the trip had been paid for. We had money on our Disney Visa Redemption card so we used that for all of our meals the entire weekend. In all, we spent less than a hundred dollars (including filling up the gas in the truck) which was a great price for a weekend trip! We ate at three restaurants that we'd never eaten at before.

First meal - Wine Country Trattoria

Danny ordered the sea bass served with fingerling potatoes and tomatoes. He was in heaven, he said it was wonderful. And this is from someone who A.) Doesn't like to eat in restaurants, B.) Doesn't like to spend money on food and C.) Is a fisherman who knows fish and is picky about quality.



I ordered the lasagna which was also very tasty. The kids ordered off their menu (spaghetti & meatballs for The Boy, grilled chicken and broccolini for The Girl). And of course, lots of beautiful rosemary rolls with olive oil and cracked black pepper on the table. I also ordered a glass of wine, which I never do! I got something called a Snapdragon, nice and fruity...just how I like it.



This tree in the Paradise Pier area was amazing! Covered in gold and red ornaments, all in a seaside theme (see the shell tree topper?). Did you know that Disney frequently uses "forced perspective" in their parks? They use ornaments at the bottom that are very large and the same design of ornaments at the top of the tree that are smaller so they look really far away...clever, huh?

And under the tree was Donald Duck, taking photos!



The baby's favorite ride? Toy Story Mania! The funny yellow glasses helped, I'm sure!



Around 5pm we headed over to Disneyland with the intention of staying there for a few hours but the crowds...oh, the crowds! They were preparing for the Candlelight Processional and were diverting (cattle prodding?) the crowds through the busy Main Street. We walked to the back side of the park towards It's a Small World. I loved Daniel's reaction when he saw the ride lit up with a million tiny rainbow-colored lights. He gasped with the surprise of it! I didn't get a photo of it because I was terrified to let go of the kids' hands for fear of losing them in the mob.

That was the only ride we went on that night. We took the Monorail out of the park (instead of braving the Candlelight crowds on Main Street again), exited at Downtown Disney and walked to the Grand Californian. We had reserved seating for dinner at the Storyteller's Cafe at 7:45, a time we would normally be headed to bed!


Gingerbread house in the restaurant

Second Meal - Storyteller's Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel

Dinner offered us the ability to order either of a set menu or choose the buffet. Danny and I ordered the buffet and the kids just shared a plate of nuggets and fries. The yummy bread basket was constantly full so they filled up on bread and butter too.

The buffet choices were simple but quality. I had a salad (there were no fixings, just plain lettuce and two dressing choices), corn chowder (which was so delicious I had two bowls!), strip loin, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed veggies and two mini-desserts (the cheesecake had a tiny white chocolate square with an impression of Santa). My husband loved the salmon, he had quite a few filets. I don't think I ate enough food to make up the cost of the buffet but I liked the quality of the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant was pleasant at the end of a long day.

Next up, day two and our adventure at the Big Ranch Barbeque!

Party Planning {Handcrafted Paper Decorations} -The Big ONE

So in less than two months, my little guy will be turning ONE!

Of course, I'm already party planning!

Duh, been doing that for months already, pinning cool ideas. But now it's time to move into action and start the actually hands-on creating.

My big 10 month old boy!
In between sewing up a million of these that I've gotten orders for from Etsy...

And between getting the Halloween costumes done...


A little costume hint...

I'm planning on making a few very easy decorations for the party. Something cute and practical that can be reused for the next party, for sure. And I plan on keeping the buying to a minimum (my husband thanks me for that!), so I'll mostly be using what I have on hand.

I have large stacks of cute scrapbook paper in storage at my mom's house, so I'm going to haul that out next week and see what I have to work with.

Here are a few of the paper projects that I hope to try my hand at:

Source: peanutblossom.com via Julie on Pinterest

A banner for the cake

Source: projectwedding.com via Julie on Pinterest

Mini pinwheel decorations

Source: marthastewart.com via Julie on Pinterest

What about these little pinwheels attached to clothespins? These would be sweet clipped to the top of a favor bag

Source: juicy-bits.typepad.com via Julie on Pinterest

These paper strip mobiles look easy, huh?

Source: wifey-in-training.blogspot.com via Julie on Pinterest

Definitely want a display of Baby D's photos through the year, this banner is the start of a good idea.

Source: danamadeit.com via Julie on Pinterest

Another fun one, just need to get a circle cutter though...

Source: ourhumbleabowedblog.com via Julie on Pinterest

This one would need a circle cutter too...

Source: etsy.com via Shelby on Pinterest

And more circles...

Source: homebylinn.blogspot.com via Julie on Pinterest

These stars could be reused for Christmas decorations too

Source: onecharmingparty.com via Julie on Pinterest

Well now, that's about the cutest thing ever!! I love the wavy flags!


Okay, so it looks like I should have been getting ready for this, oh, maybe back in February, right?! I'll start working on it next week for sure. And probably teaching the older kids how to use a circle cutter!