Turkey In The Mountains

Happy Turkey Day to everyone {as my youngest would say}!  Hope yours was as festive, family filled, and fun as ours.  We've just come home from a fabulous four day stay in the mountains with the Cibula family.

There is nothing like being locked in a cabin with your family for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The kids and I seriously adored every moment of it.  I mean, how could we not?  We had Grammys, aunts, uncles, and cousins from the minute we woke up to the minute we laid down our weary heads.

And yes, we were most definitely weary by day's end.  Our mountain house was incredible.  We could have never left and been perfectly entertained.  We had foosball, air hockey, a pool table, an outdoor play set, a fire pit, a hot tub and a table filled with crafts that Jack and I put together for the trip.  Not to mention a stack of board games and more than enough players to solicit for a friendly competition.

My kids could have seriously moved in and never missed their cottage in the city.

Thanksgiving Day was filled with the usual.  Lots of cooking, amazing aromas wafting about {mainly thanks to Aunt Catlin}, and lots of family time.  We spent endless moments at this table whipping up some Thanksgiving crafts and activities.  The teenage and tweenage cousins were such troopers.  Many thanks to Whit and Larkin for coloring, gluing and scavenger hunting with my trio.

We are so thankful for both of you!

It was a lovely surprise for the kids to have Grandma visit for the day.  She made the drive up with a car full of desserts.  The kids loved seeing her {as did I}.  Lucy immediately staked claim on Grandma and took her outside to enjoy the GORGEOUS weather.  They made their way down the lane to visit the real live giant swan in the pond...it was a pretty incredible sight.

While I spent most of my time crafting with little ones, Aunt Catlin and Daddy manned the kitchen.  What?!?! Yes, I said Daddy...had to make sure I got a picture of that.  Enjoy it....you may never see that again.

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful.  And the company was even better.  So so so much to be thankful for {excuse my sentimental mushiness}.

The kids and I were so worn out by the end of the day.  I do not lie when I say we were all passed out with pjs on by 7:30pm.  The four of us apparently missed a great fire pit night.  Oh well!

We spent the rest of our vaca hiking in the woods and creek hopping.  Great fun with this crew!

...And visiting Apple Orchards...

I had promised this to Maggie many moons ago.  However, apple picking season is over. Womp...womp:(  But, we made the best of it and actually had a great time.  Next September,  if you are still up for it, I promise Maggie!

We spent our last evening grilling out and making s'mores on the fire pit.  The kids and I made sure to stay awake for this one.  It was well worth it.

We truly had a terrific turkey vacation up in the mountains.  So thankful for the family I married in to and the family we've made.

Now, I must be off...the kids are begging me to pull out Christmas decorations.  Awww...deep breath...here comes the most wonderful {and busiest} time of the year!

{and on another note...still waiting on Maggie's birthday pictures...they are supposedly on the way...I've had the worst luck with party pictures here lately...promise to share as soon as I get them}

Happy last few days of November!

Budsies

I am way over due on this post.  But between weddings, Halloween, and birthday parties, it kind of  got shoved to the back burner.  Better late than never, huh?

So I just have to share the cutest company.  Apparently it was featured on Shark Tank {not one of my shows}, I actually found out about it from one of my really "social media savvy" neighbors.   Which I have never claimed to be...that is "social media savvy". 

The premise of Budsies is basically they turn you child's artwork into a stuffed creature.  Now, I am the first to admit, I could happily live my life without ever seeing a single stuffed animal.  But you have to admit seeing your child's artwork brought to life is pretty fascinating.

The attention to detail is incredible and the quality of the final product is amazing.  They actually sent us an email every step of the process to let us know how our Budsie was progressing.  The kids had so much fun getting the emails.   And literally went nuts when the final packages arrived. 

From the initial artwork turn in to the final shipping, the entire process was about 6 weeks.

For the sake of this post not taking another month to publish, I'm leaving you with a few iPhone pics.  Excuse the quality, but I'm sure you can get the just.

Cute Christmas or Birthday present idea, huh?  And they also do Selfies and Petsies...stop the cuteness!

Thankful For Kindergarten

It's a pretty well known fact that I adore Kindergarten.  I mean it was my grade of choice {and 1st too} as a teacher.

But, I never realized exactly how thankful I was for it, until Jack went off to 2nd grade.   Shall I explain?  There are so many opportunities to get in the K classroom, so far not much in 2nd.  Maggie comes home with the sweetest school work and Jack comes home with a bunch of numbers that make my head spin.  I get a giant hug and smile from my Kindergartener when I'm in the school building and hardly a nod and wave from my 2nd grader.

And most recently, K had a Thanksgiving program and 2nd, you guessed it, did not.  Boo!  I'm holding on to Kindergarten as tight as I can and feeling SuPeR thankful for it this season.

As much as I enjoyed the Kindergarten program, clearly Maggie did not.  Seriously, being a pumpkin is a lot of pressure.  Surely, you agree.  

As you may recall, my Mags has serious performance anxiety.  Can't say I really expected anything else.  Some things never change...

But....on a much brighter note, post performance all was well!  Maggie took us back to her classroom where she had the sweetest Thanksgiving treats waiting for us.  My absolute favorite was that "Thankful Box" spilled out on the table next to her.  Just a few things Maggie is thankful for...her Mommy, Daddy, Jack, Lucy, her dog, her fish, her teachers, and....her fists?  Still trying to figure that one out.

Then we had the amazing pleasure of watching the Kindergartener's Pixie Projects on the big screen.  The phonetic spelling just makes me melt!  

And as if that weren't enough to be thankful for, we enjoyed the Thanksgiving Feast in the cafeteria.  And it was suprisingly tasty...thanks to Chef Reggie.  {Yes, we actually have a professional chef at our elementary school.}

  

Just a couple more days of school until a much needed break! I am so looking forward to having my little trio home for a whole week of thankfulness!

Maggie Is SIX

Although we celebrated Maggie's birthday with a party this past weekend, she actually woke up this morning as a real live 6 year old!   It's official...November 9, 2015...Maggie is 6 years old!!

Oh how I remember this exact day six years ago.  Maggie stole my heart and has yet to give it back.  I adore this precious angel and couldn't even begin to imagine this family without her loving smile.

I snuck into her room this Monday morning with the usual birthday greeting...a camcorder and  a camera.  Immediately she busted out into that irresistible Maggie smile and I serenaded her with Happy Birthday.  She was beside herself giddy!

She headed off to Kindergarten for her first day as a 6 year old!  I met her later for lunch and passed out doughnuts for all the kiddos.  GG and Lucy joined me and Mags couldn't get enough of all the special attention.  She was sporting a birthday crown and ecstatic to tell me how her birthday had been announced on the school's morning news.

When Mags came home, GG had a special afternoon planned for the birthday girl.   There is nothing my Maggie loves more than baking.  GG and I stopped at the store and grabbed a plethora of ingredients and decorating tidbits.  Maggie had a blast.  Not to mention she got to make amazing memories with her GG.

Some of my favorite memories are of me and my Grandma in the kitchen.  Love that Maggie gets to do the same.

But even before Maggie could hit the kitchen, she bolted upstairs to change into one of her birthday gifts.  She begged and pleaded to wear it to school.  As you can imagine, I had to nix that plan.  I mean it is November folks.  However, it did make for a swell "at home" birthday celebration outfit.

We celebrated Maggie after dinner with one of her baked goods.  I mean can her cake get any more girly?  GG, Grandma, and our family of five were here to celebrate our precious Magpie!

I assume she felt the love.  She beamed all the way to bed.   Either that or she was on a major sugar high.

Oh my, my baby girl is 6!  Can someone pLEaSe just tell me where the PAUSE button is?!?!

Maggie's Butterfly Garden

We celebrated Maggie's 6th birthday with a Butterfly Garden per her choice.  She had made this decision months before the actual date which worked out well for me.  I was able to snag a few springy/summer items on sale before Fall hit.

I couldn't have imagined how fun this party was to plan.  I literally submersed myself in flowers, garden paraphernalia, and of course butterflies for the weeks {okay, you know me better}, for months leading up to the big day.

Maggie also requested a colorful party.  Which I'm pretty sure we pulled off beautifully.  The only factor I had no control over was the weather.  While I had envisioned a picture perfect party sprawled across my luscious lawn and growing garden, the rain, rain and more rain, put an end to that.

Because it was still warm enough we opted to have the party outside on the covered patio.  Happily, our RSVP list was full of yes's which in turn meant there was no way to fit all those sweet butterflies inside.  It worked out, the kids stayed dry, had a garden-licious time, and everyone fit!

So we shall we start will all the delicious details?

{Oh and I must note, if a picture is good, meaning not dark and not blurry, just assume I took it.  If it's the latter, the photographer took it.  I'm not even kidding.  But, let's not get started on that}

When it comes to food, you must know by now how much I adore naming it to fit with the theme.  I also think the backdrop for the food has got to be an eye catcher.  So I spent endless hours working on tissue paper flowers to fill the wall with.  I added a few butterflies from the Dollar Store, yellow fabric,  and wah-lah...

I found these precious watering cans at Michaels on clearance in the summer.  I literally filled an entire cart full of them and used them throughout the party.

The food included "Blossoming Bites" which were these great flower cups {that are supposed to be for snow cones} filled with popcorn.

"Garden Goodies" which were cucumbers and carrots in paper cups found at Tuesday Morning. A "Berry Patch" which were strawberries and blueberries in these cups from Sweet Peach Papiere.

The menu also included "Butterfly Wings and Flower Petals" which were sandwiches cut out as butterflies and flowers.  I don't seem to have a photo of those, imagine that.  I mean, honestly I'm just lucky I got a hold of these pictures at this point.

The dessert table was filled with cupcakes, butterfly lollipops and "Butterfly Nectar".

For fun, I had four stations for the girls.  I am all about centers {comes from my teaching days}.  The first was "Flutter Face Painting".  Maggie really wanted face painting at her party.  I thought of hiring someone and then remembered, no need.  Grandma is a fantastic artist.

I grabbed a face painting set at Michaels and set Grandma up on one of my patio couches.  She literally had a line of anxious little girls.

The second station was "Beautiful Butterflies".  I literally threw every kind of art supply I could find into this flower platter.  I then had foam butterflies {from the Dollar Store} and butterfly masks {from Michaels} for the girls to decorate.  My sweet friend, Cristina, helped me man this table.

Another station was "Create A Canvas".  I bought 8 x 10 canvases at Michaels, cut out a butterfly on my Cricut, and then traced the pattern onto the canvases.  We did have a couple boys in attendance so I made caterpillar canvases for them.

The kids got so creative with the painting and had a nice little take home to boot.

The final station was my favorite.  It was so fitting for a butterfly garden party.  This was the "Plant A Garden" activity.  Logistically I had other plans for the supplies, but with the rain I had to improvise.

I set the painting supplies and garden stakes up at a table.  I literally squealed with delight when I saw these garden stakes in the dollar section at Michaels.  Aren't they cute?

Out in the yard, I set up a tent and my Grandma {GG} as a place for the kids to actually plant their flowers.

GG has a glowing green thumb so this was right up her alley.  She was in heaven with her fingers in the dirt and little girls all around her planting flowers.

I found the butterfly flower pots on Oriental Trading.  And got the flowers from our local Home Depot.  Maggie went with me to pick out the colors and flower types.

After the girls planted their flowers, they brought their pots over to this table to plant them.  They used chalk to write their name on a garden stake and stuck it in pot.  It was another cute keepsake for the kids.

From there all the sweet girls sat down and ate while Maggie the Butterfly Hostess served them.  That may have been her favorite part.

I found the cute grass placements on Amazon.  And each girl had butterfly wings and a butterfly wand at their place setting {both from the Dollar store}.

The runners on all the tables were just rolls of wrapping paper.  The humidity from the rain got to them a bit, but they still looked pretty cute and were disposable.

Before we knew it, it was time to sing to our little birthday girl.  I'm disappointed to say there were not a lot of pictures taken of this.  Why?, I'm still trying to figure out.  I mean it is the most important part of the party.  I digress.

However, I am super thankful for the pictures of my family with the birthday girl, even if the quality is lacking.

Oh and if you are wondering about my amazing butterfly sweater.  That was compliments of my sweet Grandma.  I mean, how could I say no?!?!

The guests left with these goodie totes filled with butterfly glow wands {from the dollar store}, a butterfly craft, and butterfly nets.  Not too mention they took home the crafts they made and the wings and wands.

I made the totes with iron on vinyl and my circuit.  I had them adorably hanging up on a wall with a favor tag so the kids could choose their favorite when they exited.  Sadly, there isn't a picture.  I'm not bitter, right?!?

And it only seems fitting to end with these pictures...serious sweetness!

Thank you to everyone who helped to makes Maggie's day special.  We are so thankful for GG the gardener, Grandma the artist, all of Maggie's darling friends, my Cricut, and Tracy at Sweet Peach Paperie, who as always nails it with her paper products.  Have I ever mentioned I LOVE her?

Thanks for fluttering by to check out Maggie's party!