Friday, August 31, 2012

1st Day of School 2012






August 28th was the first day of school this year.  M started Junior Kindergarten, and A started First Year Preschool. M did great and is just getting use to going 4 days a week, because last year she only went 2 days a week.  Every day she comes home happy and tells us about what she did.  We chose Junior Kindergarten for her because she misses the cut off for Kindergarten by 10 days and is very smart for her age so we needed a program that would keep her interested and not bored.  A is not doing as well. He is a big mama's boy and has never been away from mommy other then with family members and a good friend for a couple hours.  The teacher says once A calms down he is perfectly fine and enjoys class. He always comes home happy and tells us what he did, but does not want to go back. He only goes 2 days a week so it will probably be a bit longer before he goes to class without screaming and crying.

6th Wedding Anniversary



This past Sunday my husband and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.  The kids spent the night at my husbands parents house, and we went out for dinner.Then went home to a quiet house for some time to ourselves. How do you celebrate your anniversaries?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Candyland Party


My little girl turned 5 this month, and we celebrated by having a Candyland Birthday Party for her. We wanted to do something non gender themed because we have a lot of boys in our family and a lot of friends with boys, so we didn't think they would enjoy a princess party. I thought I would share some pictures that I took before the party started so you can see what I made.  If you have any questions about anything feel free to ask.


 This is the outside of our house.  I made suckers that lined the sidewalk. Made wrapped candy and peppermints to hang from the front of the  house.  Then on the door is a balloon wreath I made. The picture below is a little close up so you can see some of it better. That is the birthday girl in the picture.






 This is the dessert table.  I made sucker topiaries for each side of the buffet table.  Then there were heart cookies and cupcakes for the children to choose from. I had them iced and then they got to choose from the candy in the picture below to decorate their cookie or cupcake.



I had several activities planned for the kids.  First we made jolly rancher suckers which I have blogged about before.  Then they got to build using gum drops and toothpicks.  No pictures to share because I did not get permission to share them since other children are in the photos. Then we all went outside to play games. Two games I don't have pictures of are the pixie drop and gumball race.  For the pixie drop each child was given several pixie sticks and they had to drop them while standing straight up into the jar that was at their feet.  The gumball race required a spoon and a gumball.  Each child had to race across the yard while keeping their gumball in the spoon.  Some of them found it very hard to keep on while others figured out tricks to keep the gumball from falling out.  Then we also had the following games.

 Each child was given one of these wrapped candy which was just wrapped balloons in cellophane, and a half of a pool noodle.  They go to bat the wrapped candy around the yard using the pool noodle.

 This was the candy dot punch box.  Each child got to take a turn punching one of the dots out and they got a surprise that was hidden inside each hole.

The last game was Pin the Gumball on the Gumball Machine.  I blindfolded each child and turned them around and they had to try to pin the gumball cut out in their hand as close as they could into the inside of the gumball machine.


The party was a lot of work but well worth it.  The kids all had a blast, and I had a few moms ask if I would plan their kids parties. Unfortunately, I will not be going into event planning for parties. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and maybe something inspired you for your own kids parties.  Again, if you have any questions on anything please feel free to comment and I will answer them for you.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Short-Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer




Short Straw Bride is a Christian Historical Romance.  I enjoy romance but was not sure I would enjoy historical romance, but ended up loving it. I have to say I love the main female character Meredith.  She is very courageous and stands up for what she believes.  When Meredith heard of a plot to burn the Archer land, she felt that she needed to warn them especially since Travis Archer had helped her when she was injured on his land plus she had dreamed about him.  What ends up happening on Archer land changes Meredith and the Archer brothers lives in many ways.  I don't want to share much more of the plot because it would give away what happens. Even though this is a Christian book I did not feel that it was preaching to you like some books. Karen Witemeyer gets you hooked right away and then you don't want to put the book down because you want to know what happens.  This was Karen's first book I had read, and plan are reading more of them now, and will also look for other historical romance books to try out.


I received a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers for an honest review.

Monday, August 6, 2012

August Sale at Unique Creations by Tracy


During the month of August, everything is 20% off in celebration of my daughter's 5th birthday. Enter code 5thbday to get 20% off everything. There are a lot of great handmade crochet items that would make great gifts for baby showers, birthday, and Christmas. Here is a picture of just a few things I have in my shop.






Now go check out Unique Creations by Tracy!

Dreaming of Candy


I am dreaming of candy lately.  Friday is my daughter's 5th birthday and we are having a Candyland theme party for her on Saturday.  For the last week and now this week I have been working on all the decorations and everything else for the big party.  I have never had so much candy in my house before.  The picture above is one of the two sucker bouquets in flowerpots that I made.  Once the party is over I will be sharing more pictures of the things I have been working on for the Candyland theme.