Care Bear Party!!

Today we celebrated my little one's 2nd birthday with some of her friends and their families. It was a Care Bear party because it is her nickname. I have been planning and thinking about this party since Christmas! Although not enough to actually order anything online so everything was what we could find.

Invitations: I looked everywhere for Care Bear invitations but to no avail. I made my own on my new computer: just copied/pasted a graphic from an online source and even downloaded the Care Bear font! Fun!

Cake: I got this idea from a Semi-Homemade magazine and from this site. (She has some great cake building tips too.) I altered it on the exterior with marshmallows (lg & sm) to mimic clouds. (The Care Bears on top were mine as a child.)

Other yummies:

Rainbow fruit platter - 1 fruit for every color of the rainbow: strawberries, oranges, pineapple, green apples, blueberries, and grapes. I wanted to make a rainbow with marshmallows on the ends like a pretty little rainbow, but I didn't have a platter big enough. I decided this would work just as well.

Teddy Grahams - mixed with marshmallows in the bowls and scattered on the cloud like cotton

Skittles Candy Bar - I separated a bag of candy and let kids put whichever colors they liked into colorful silicone cupcake wrappers.

Decorations:

My sweet hubby blew up 50-something white balloons and we created cumulus craziness in our living room. Of course, we had helium balloons, and crepe paper to make it look like a party instead of a house.

Game:

We played "Cloud Pick Up": the kids (in 2 different age groups) gathered cotton balls that were hidden under the white balloons. Even our 1 year old guests played. There were no winners just a celebration when all the "clouds" were picked up.

Favors:

Each guest took home a cello bag filled with their very own piece of a cloud (poly-fill), bubbles, and play dough. I tied one of the balloons on each bag.

The Truth

I'm really not a great blogger. I want to be. I think about my audience so much - all 5 of you. I often think about all the things I want to blog about. But, I just don't feel like I can post anything without a picture and that stresses me out. Sorry. I'm going to try to be better. How the heck do people do this for a living? Ugh.

Yummy Cranberry Chicken

Here's another yummy crock pot recipe for you!! I made this on Sunday and it was delicious!! I thought it might make for a good post-holiday recipe and it won't heat up the kitchen. (Clean up's a breeze too if you use a liner bag.)

Cranberry Chicken

3-4 lb chicken pieces
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 c barbecue sauce
1/4 c minced onion

Spray (or line) your crock pot and combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 4 hrs or low heat 6-8 hrs. Makes 4-6 servings.

Serve over stove top. (That only takes 5 min in the microwave.)

Hope this helps you stay out of the kitchen and play with the kids this holiday season!!

A New Plan

I am fed up with my lack of willpower these days and now I'm trying to decide what plan to follow to lose weight. I know I need to exercise more but it's the eating that I can't seem to figure out. I lost 20 lbs about a year before I got pregnant with my first and after each baby I think I did a pretty good job of getting back to normal (even though I seemed to get pregnant again 15 months later).

However my eating habits have changed. Life is faster with a full family and I am always trying to get my kids to eat anything for dinner so I haven't been very picky about what I'm making lately. I have no idea which plan to follow. I looked at Dr. Oz but it seems very complicated and, let's be honest, expensive. I don't think I can do South Beach again but I guess it's possible. Who knows. Something's got to give!!! and I hope it's not my waistline. . . .

Happy Halloween!

Here are my little angels on our way to a Halloween party. Jayci was Tinkerbell. Cade was Spiderman. And Karis was Piglet. She told me an hour before we left, "No pig'et," but eventually gave in. We had a great time & made out with a loot!

Gonna Miss This

There is a song out on country stations called, "You're Gonna Miss This". It's about realizing that where you are RIGHT NOW is life. Wishing it away will only keep you from seeing the blessing of the moment. You're gonna miss this time in life, wherever you are.

I used to work really hard at not missing the moment. When Jayci was a baby, I was very careful to not wish for the next phase of her life . . . rolling over to sitting to crawling to walking, etc. I think I set a good precedent for myself. I was very cautious with my other 2 as babies as well. I have slacked a bit.

I must admit since my oldest started Kindergarten this year, I have missed some of the things we used to do with all our kiddos. Although I am thankful for the free childcare (as I've been calling it for a while), now we have to plan fun trips for the weekends like everyone else in the world (zoo, Wild Animal Park, beach, etc.). We no longer get to do things during the week with ALL 3 like we did just a few short months ago. I miss that already.

I have a renewed commitment to live in the moment, to savor the morsel that is currently in my mouth (so to speak). I realize I will have tons of time for things later like shopping without little fingers grabbing everything off the shelves (of course, I'll have to leave Matt at home then too), for quiet dinners with friends, for soaking in the bathtub AND getting all my chores done . . . . More likely than not, I will have time for all those things but I can never have my children in these stages of life again. I can never rewind to the days of them begging for the tickle monster to come back, begging to go play at the "fire truck park", begging to go to McDonalds (yuk). I must drink it in now.

I have a friend in Texas plugging through cancer right now. I did not get to be with her long before we moved to CA but I believe God crossed our paths for a very important reason. (The story is too cool. I'll have to share it another day.) She is in maintenance chemo right now but she has struggled with this crappy disease for several months now. She is savoring the moments with her boys. Of course, she does laundry, cleans dishes, and makes beds but she savors the faces she does these things with. She lives in the moment. I am jealous of her right now. I wouldn't trade my health for anything so I hope I can learn this lesson through her and not have to learn this the hard way. (I love you, A, and I'm praying for you.)

Drink it in, people. It's the only today we get.

I am so blessed . . .

(See my original post: Soakin' Up the Day)

Retail Rant

So, I found a little money (from my birthday stash) and needed a little retail therapy. Little did I know that it would be so difficult to buy some sanity! First of all . . .

JoAnn's
Coupon craze week is a sham!!! I am probably not the first to say this but there is absolutely no point in printing all those coupons. They print a million! (I got 3 sets between my mail, visiting the store the week before, and the newspaper.) You only get to use them if you are buying an item that's not on sale and everything is on sale. That doesn't sound like a bad thing right? BUT, the coupons are mostly for 40% off (of a non-sale item) but most of the store is marked 20% - 30% off. What a load of it!! It would be better to go in with 3 - 40% off coupons on any given week and get the best discount. UGH!

Target
Did anyone else notice the new jeans styles they have??? The prices are really good but it is a little confusing on which style and fit I wanted. I mean, they have 6 different hip-styles: relaxed/curvy, how far below the waist they sit, etc. However you can't get any style in any size. Some sizes are juniors, some women's. To add confusion to chaos, there are different leg-styles too: boot cut/straight/skinny. You can get all these leg-styles in the 6 different fits. WHEW! SO if you're looking for a good pair of inexpensive jeans, Target is a good place (I bought 2 pair) but don't take anyone (husband, children, friends) that cannot be patient enough to wait for you to try on like 60 pairs of jeans . . . .They probably need to be willing to do some leg work too . . . .

Wal-Mart
Now, this complaint is not only for our dear friends at Wally-World but this is where I experienced this phenomenon. How cool is it for the clothing industry to have JUNIORS sizes and WOMENS sizes . . . What is up with that?? So a SMALL is not a SMALL in every department of the store. I usually wear a small in the Womens section but needed a LARGE in the Juniors! Now come on . . . why the discrepancy?? I see the need to go up or down a little, based on designers, but really? In the same store??

I just needed a venue to vent a little. I'm sure you can understand. And yes, I did find some good stuff!