Past Halloween Costumes

With Halloween coming up, I thought I would share my boys' previous costumes. We bought the costumes they wore when they were new babies, simply because it is easier to plan a head that way. Caleb has had a costume made by my mom every year since then.

In 2009, at was just over a month old, Caleb was Yoda.

While I was still pregnant we joked about how all babies look a little like Yoda and thus this costume was chosen.

My husband is also a bit geek/nerd and that has played a bit of a role in all of Caleb's costume choices. 

Cute this one is, yes.

Then we changed him into a cute little pumpkin onesie and hat.

 How cute was that, right? I mean, do you see the writing on the itty bitty feet???

The next year, 2010, he was still too young to have too much input. He was just barely 1. 

After brainstorming Mom came up with the idea to surprise my husband with a Green Lantern costume. 

It is the hubby's favorite super hero.

Mom used a pair of PJs as a pattern and then painted on the emblem.

He hit a growth spurt right before Halloween so it's a tiny bit small but I loved it then and love it still!

How adorable are they?

In 2011, he was two and very opinionated about his costume choice.

He was very into robots that year. His birthday party was even a Robot Party.

This year we had even less cooperation from him standing still for pictures.

The costume was a silver tunic with silver leg covers that he wore over a black turtle neck and black fleece pants. 

.My Mom hand painted the gears.

I made a jet pack out of a couple of two liter soda bottles and a hat out of a plastic food container.

I used chrome colored duct tape and cut the shapes from the Robotz Cricut cartridge.

He loved it! He wore that jet pack around the house until it was broken beyond repair.

I've promised him a new one, so I may do a DIY post about it. 

Last year, 2012, was the year of the super hero.

His 3rd birthday party matched his costume  for that year once again.

He chose Captain America.

She used the same basic idea from the Green Lantern costume.

She made this one out of a spandex material and painted on the details.

He wanted to wear his adult sized mask and we had his shield but we totally forgot to snap a picture with it. 

We made the boots out of red duct tape and knee socks.

We cut them off at the end of the night.

 My sister is the bestest and made a quick Thor costume. 

She dresses up with some of the other instructors where she teaches. 

Last year they all did super heroes.

This year they are doing Ninja Turtles. She's crazy if the thinks I won't be posting pictures. :)

Liam was a lion.
He was Liam the Lion before he was born, kind of like Caleb has always been monkey. :)

While my Mother-in-law and Father-in-law were out shopping they ran upon it and bought it on the spot. They knew we would be on board with it. 

And we were. he loved be snuggled up in it. 

We also had a back up for him too, like we did when Caleb was a baby.

He wore his spooky onesie with his brother's pumpkin hat. 

This year Caleb is going a Jack Skellington and Liam is going as a Minion. I'm planning a post on how to make the Minion costume. I'll post pictures of Caleb's Jack costume. I truly wish I could share a tutorial but once again my Mom took care of it and I didn't even thing the have her snap progress shots. He wore it on the Disney cruise they went on a couple of weeks back. He loves it and it is my favorite yet! He was asking to be a orange dragon with purple wings that spit real fire and would fly. We were super happy he was on board with the Jack idea since her nor I know anything about pyrotechnics! 

Currently.

Yeah, so, I've been a bit absent lately. My bad. But I was doing this. That and being sick, again. You know what? I'm over it, not the party, the being sick thing! Anyway, moving on. Oh, and if anyone who went to the party has any pics of the boys blowing out candles send the to me please!!!! I forgot the change the setting on my camera and they were too bright and blurry.

You. Must. Make. THIS! I mean seriously! Make it! We had them last week and I have been craving them since. I foresee them being added to my menu for this week too.

And these! Oh yeah, they're are happening!

I'm starting my plans for another homemade Christmas. When you make majority of your gifts you have to start early. I may have already been listening to A Very She and Him Christmas to get myself in the mood. And with that I realized I turned into my mother...

I cannot wait for my shows to come back! I've managed to go through all 9 seasons of CSI NY and I'm half was through CSI Miami and re-watched How I Met Your Mother beginning to end this summer. I've been high-fiving people a lot and saying Legendary way too much. It's time to watch something new.

Okay, am I the only person that isn't ready to let go of summer produce? I'm so over the heat and can't wait for fall weather but I am not ready to turn my watermelon, peaches, tomatoes and cucumbers loose! My husband on the other hand, is so excited for butternut squash, pumpkin and apple season he can't stand it. I made the menu for the next two weeks last night and I have a couple of summery salads listed and I asked him for requests and he asked for my Thai Butternut Squash Soup, clearly we are NOT on the same page.

Also, how weird am I that I am whining about the end of summer yet I am eagerly making Christmas plans?

My little dude asked to have his hair cut short last weekend. He's always wanted to grow it out but he got so hot in the bouncy house at his birthday party he was OVER IT! So my mom cut it off for him a couple of days later and well, I love it and I hate it. He is always so handsome and the style is much more versatile but now he looks like a little man and that is not okay with me!

Speaking of cutting off hair, I'm seriously considering chopping mine off. Of course but chopping it off I mean not shorter that shoulder length. When your hair hangs all the way down your back that's a lot to cut! If I do I'll be donating it. I've been growing out my hair for 5 years and I love it, but now is so long it won't hold any curl it has no shape and I think its making me look older, and we cannot have that! Look my age or dress my age, NO WAY! So I'm on the hunt for a new do but I think I want to go outside my comfort zone! I will be dying it for sure probably super dark but I really really want to add dark purple to the bottom. Apparently my brain didn't get the memo I'm now 30. Yikes!

Oh and at 13 months my little Doodlebug has finally decided that after two months of faking us out he is really going to walk! He's been taking several steps at a time for the past two days. It's been all in his head that he couldn't. He obviously had the balance and muscle tone seeing that he could stand and bounce unassisted for 5 minutes (yes we timed him) at a time but he would panic and lunge at us knowing we would catch him to stop him from slamming his head onto our hardwood floor. Needless to say I am one proud Momma!

I'll be back tomorrow with a Photobooth post and hopefully again on Thursday with recipes from the party. If all goes according to my plans the next couple of days. Which translates to if the heathen nap like they are supposed to!

Mickey Mouse Party Part 1: The Table Decor

  Last weekend we celebrated both boys' birthdays with a Mickey Mouse theme.

I'm quite happy with the outcome. 

 This post is just a few shots of the table.  I'll post links and recipes next week and post about the photo booth as well. I'm also planning on making blank version of the menus in PDF form for download soon, along with blank mustache menus too. 

We did this party on a shoe string budget but I still feel like it turned out amazing. It does help I have an arsenal of craft supplies already. I had the kraft paper and black paper to make the banner and polka dot streamers. I used foam core from a dollar store to make the Mickey silhouette. I owned the picture frames, the baskets, cake plate and platters already. The black tablecloth is a random queen sized sheet that I've been using as a tablecloth for a couple of years. The boys had that Mickey Mouse in their toys. The streamers, plates, napkins and forks came from a dollar store and that little bucket was found in the Dollar Spot at Target, along with the wrapping paper I used for the table runner. 

To make the polka dot sreamers I (by I, I mean I begged my husband to do it since I was busy) used a one inch circle punch and about 5 sheets of black card stock to punch the circles and stapled them onto black curling ribbon. It was a totally free craft for us but even if you had to buy the stuff the cost would be minimal. 

To make the Mickey, we traced a large circle and two smaller circles onto foam core, we used a large toy bucket that normally holds building blocks and one of the buckets from Caleb's sand toys. We used a knife to cut it out, sand paper to smooth the edges and touched them up with black paint. Once we were ready to assemble, we laid out the circles and traced the curve of the of the big circle along the smaller ones so that they would fit onto the curve like ears. Then we attached them by inserting toothpicks and running a line of glue and pressing them together. Once he was dry we punched a couple of hole in his ears and hung him by tying with black curling ribbon. This project literally cost $2.00 and it was so easy. 

And the very last thing is the drink table, it was no biggie and nothing special. We had a bronze bucket of ice on one side and a wash tub of bottled water on the other. The small bucket for the straws came from the Dollar Spot at Target and the large glass containers came from Target as well, my Mom and I use them to store our flour and sugar. I already had the gingham fabric from the table cloth and we bought cheap cups and straws from a dollar store. 

Well, that's the basics of the table decor. Hopefully you can draw some inspiration for a festive party on a budget by just keeping your eyes peeled for good buys and looking at things you already own in a different way.

*** UPDATE: For more info on the party look here, here and here. ***

Mustache Bash {Liam turned 1}

Its been almost three weeks since we celebrated Liam's first birthday. We had a "small" dinner with Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, which is small for most families, it was 16 for us and that isn't everyone. To make things easier we did a pasta bar. We put out three types of pasta, three types of sauces, two toppings, salad fixings and homemade bread with a dipping oil for dinner and we had two desserts, cupcakes and chocolate pavlova. I made a couple of cute menus to go along with and called it a day. Easy right?

My menus looked like:

I grabbed a couple of snap shots of the food with my parent's camera since mine was dead and we were saving it for shot of the birthday boy and his "smash" cupcake. I'll try to update the post when I get those from them. But for now all I have is dessert shots. We didn't really decorate beyond that, we just used white serving dishes and mason jars. In fact any decor we used was just left out from our Family Cookout two weeks prior. Good timing huh? 

Vanilla Confetti Cupcakes with Swiss Buttercream and Chocolate mustaches. I bought my mold at Bake It Pretty. 

Chocolate Pavlova with whipped cream and strawberries. 

I know my husband took some pictures and/or a video with the camera with barely a charge but they have disappeared into oblivion. I've searched the entire computer and they are gone and I wiped the memory stick after I uploaded them. I don't know what I was thinking?!!? The one time I try to be efficient it backfires. Oh well, we have out pics from our phones

and the shots I put on Instagram and the pictures my sister put on there as well. 

Currently.

My Doodlebug turned 1 last Sunday, y'all. I don't like it one bit. He's not supposed to grow. I still owe you a post for that. Next week, I promise.

Also, I'm going to apologize in advance for there being spotty posts for the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure what is going on with me but I don't feel well. And for me to admit that means I really don't feel well. After the hubs business trip, in a couple of weeks, I'm scheduling an appointment with a doctor. Other than while pregnant, I haven't been to a doctor since I was probably 16. And before any of my family gets any ideas; No I am NOT pregnant! :) But hopefully a doctor can either help me or point me in the right direction. 

Tonight (Friday) is usually date night so I was going to try to cook a real meal for us, which hasn't been happening much lately. But now he's working late, so we are having these, swapping the blue cheese for mozzarella. Unlike me, the husband HATES blue cheese. We've had them before and wow, I mean WOW, why didn't I think of this? (Also, I'm writing this the night before posting it so I'm not crazy I do know what day it is, usually.)

I've been window shopping the internets for a couch for a bit, we won't be buying for a long while, but ours has seen better days and since it was an impulse buy that has not lasted nearly long enough, I'm prepping before we dive into another. But I kind of really want this dude. Its so impractical and I'm sure, won't be around when we get around to it but, I love it! Plus he doesn't match my color scheme at all. I would have to redo the whole living room and hope the boys didn't ruin it. Guess I'll keep searching and find something a little less in your face.

While I'm sitting here typing this I get a text from Bob, she's my cousin, yes SHE, but that's another story for another time, yeah so back to the point, she sends me a text saying she thought of me because she and her Mister were making ham and couldn't decide if it was country ham or city ham. Back earlier in the summer we, along with my bestie, went to see NKOTB and Boyz II Men, your totes jeally right? (I apologize for the end of that sentence, I am definitely not hip/cool/not awkward enough to pull that off!) So, you're saying what do they have to do with ham? Wellllll, give me a minute, I'm getting there. So we stopped at an awful waffle, which I LOVE by the way, and although we had all eaten there a trillion times we had never seen this before, there was an option for country ham and city ham. We, being the county bumpkins we are, had no clue what that meant started snorting with laughter and Googling this phenomenon. Guess it not really a phenomenon but whatever. We were all shocked that there was such a thing a "city ham" although we had all eaten it throughout or lives we just called it ham! It also made me start singing this spicy little tidbit Monkey watched over and over on my phone. You should also watch the Grandma's Special Pants video. Makes me think of my Granny. Shhhhh... Don't tell her, she's mean, y'all.

Judging by my last paragraph I think I'm sleep deprived. I blame the one year old, he's got teeth coming in like CRAZY!

Here are a few of my favorite recipes that I'm dying to try from this week.

This handy little number is on the menu for the week the Daddy Monsster is out of town and the munchkins need some cheering up. I love anything s'mores but frozen s'more pops! Whaaaatttt!?!!? This one isn't from this week but this ice cream needs to be in my mouth pronto! This cake is on the to make list.

And if you want a totally obnoxious amount of recipes and party pins follow me here.

I made this to hang over the boys play kitchen, which is going to be making its way into my kitchen so they can get the chef on while I get my domestic goddess on.

One year ago today... (a little late)

*** This post was meant for Sunday morning, when Liam actually turned one but we were too busy celebrating and I forgot to post it. We also had our traditional family dinner for his birthday, I'll post pics soon.



One year ago at 6:08 Liam was born and my life changed, again. I transformed into a mother when Caleb was born almost 4 years ago but I didn't know if my heart could hold enough love for another precious human being. It did. I had no idea I was capable of loving two people so much and so similarly and so differently. Liam has changed our house, he has changed each of us.
We all adore him and he knows it. His brother loves him more than we knew would be possible but he also annoys his brother more than we knew possible too. He worships his brother like nothing I have ever seen. Liam lights up when Lee walks through the door every night from work. He loves playing with his daddy and he adores him more that he realizes. He looks at me with a love that I have never seen before. Caleb loves me, but he is as much a daddy's boy as he is a mommy's boy, Liam on the other hand wants to be with me 24/7. He looks at me as if I am his whole world, and I am in awe of him. Caleb loves to play with him and wants him to do everything thing he does, as long as he doesn't have to share his food. My favorite thing though, is watching them play. Caleb loves to grab him and sing to him "Baby Doodles, Baby Doodles, such a cute baby" and Liam cracks up laughing and wraps his arms around Caleb's neck like he never wants to let go.

Of course they fight already too. There may have been a baby, blanket burrito situation where Liam was really annoying Caleb and he may have wrapped him in a quilt and rolled him off the couch, while I was running through the house, in what felt like slow motion doing the whole "Nooooooooooooooooo" slow motion voice thing too. He was fine, in fact he thought it was fun and started trying to roll off the couch and bed himself after that. But when asked why he did that Caleb solemnly looked at me and said "Mommy that was plan B." What, the what? I know Lee and I will be breaking up fights in the future but I know they will be as thick as theives. This boy has made our home so much louder, chaotic and crazy but he has also made it happier, more joyful, and brighter. I would not change a thing and I cannot wait to see who this little sticker becomes. He is such a happy baby and so smart too. I know all Mom's think that but truly my children are the smartest! :) Liam has made our home feel complete.
Happy Birthday Liam Mommy and Daddy love you!

Currently.

I can't stop eating this salsa, I have eaten it with a dollop of sour cream and tortilla chips for lunch everyday this week, and once for dinner. I mean, wow, Pioneer Woman, wow!

I have been trying my best to nurse this poor sad little rose bush back to health, I honestly thought all hope was lost. Somehow I didn't kill it and noticed my little bloom when I pulled in the drive way last week. Maybe by next summer it will have a several. In the process though I think my hydrangea my be a goner. I have to dead head it but even the leaves are brown. :( I'm heartbroken about this.

In less than a week my baby will be one! Where has the time gone? No seriously, tell me! Feels like a month ago I was sick with worry, holding back tears while some doctor I didn't know was telling me to trust her and that they were going to induce my labor over 5 weeks early. But now I wake up every morning and realize that I have a totally happy, healthy, fat, silly, laughing, crawling, refusing to walk baby boy. Seriously, he could walk if he wanted to but he would rather be carried or crawl because its faster. He can stand up and even bounce unassisted, without holding onto anything. But take a step, nope, he won't. He leads with his giant head and loses his balance. Its actually pretty funny to watch. He is a total Momma's boy and I am hoping it stays that way for a bit. I'll take all the snuggles I can get. I miss my snuggles from the big one so I' going to take advantage! This Sunday we will have a traditional birthday pancakes and a family dinner and do a smash cake to celebrate my not so itty bitty baby. All of this makes me want to have more, then my husband reminds me that my body always tries to kill me when I'm pregnant and I think remember why we are stopping with two and that feels like enough. 

Somehow on my mission to save money and combine the boys parties we have gone from the boys splitting one big party and having a small family gathering for each on there birthday to actually having a theme on those get together! We are having a mustache themed party for little man and a Minion themed party for not as little man. And their big party is a Mickey Mouse party. I blame my mother! She is a bad influence, we need no excuse to throw a party. I've been working on the menus for the past couple of days. I'm not sure if I'm done or not but this is what I've got for now. 

Mickey Party Planning

Since my boys' birthdays are so close together (1 month and 11 days) we are combining our party this year. Choosing a theme that satisfied my almost 4 year old and a 1 year old was hard. Originally it was Dr. Suess but even though Caleb loves the books he did not approve of the theme. We also kicked around Scooby Doo but I really wanted something fairly classic for Liam's first birthday but was still fun for Caleb as well. Caleb really wanted a "Plants Vs Zombies" party and I would have done it had it been just his party. Instead we are having a mini party for him on his birthday. We already get together with family for dinner on his birthday and this way both boys can have a day all about just them but we can celebrate both boys together will all of our friends and family. As for the theme, I finally nailed it! We are doing Mickey Mouse.

The Menu:

The Dessert Menu:

The Drink Menu:

This is for the treat bags.

For the photobooth:

Clubhouse poster for the bounce house: 

That is it so far. I have a longggggg list of projects to get started on. You know me I love a good DIY party. This year it will be a little more detailed because last year Liam was a newborn last year I made it pretty simple for myself. This year I just couldn't help myself I was inspired. 

*** UPDATE: for more info on the party look here, here and here. ***

What's for dinner??? And other random stuff...

Some of these things aren't actually dinner, but whatever, who cares, I don't. Do you? Good, besides we ate them and they were delicious. These are things that I am either still tweaking the recipes or won't be blogging for one reason or another. I post these because often time I'll look at a recipe and don't follow it, I tweak things and put my own spin on it so, I post these pictures as a jumping off point for other people to get ideas. I also like to look back at them and get ideas for myself. 

California Chicken Burger
a chicken burger with teriyaki mushrooms, bacon, avocado, spinach and horseradish.
Sooooooo good!!!!

BBQ Chicken Nachos 

tortilla chips covered in shredded BBQ chicken, colby cheese, monterey jack cheese, jalapenos and sour cream. Not great for the diet but great for a pig out night in front of the TV with the honey.  

Chicken Tikka Masala

My old favorite, it's regular repeat around here.

Fish Tacos 

grilled tilapia with cumin and lime and friend in a taco shell served with honey lime slaw fresh mango and guacamole. I will post the recipe for this one day but I've yet to make them the same way twice. Once I master it I'll be sharing it. We eat these weekly in the summer. 

Homemade Tomato Soup and Gruyere and Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

Fudgy Chocolate Doughnut with Salted Caramel Glaze

Tweaking this recipe as well. These are wonderful but I'm nit quite satisfied.

Mango Oatmeal with Local Honey

Twisted Chicken and Waffles 

blueberry wholewheat waffles with coconut chicken and blueberry coconut syrup and candies bacon.

Sounds weird but was really very good.

Summer Salad 

mixed lettuce with turkey, white cheddar, mango and avocado and citrus vinaigrette  

Coconut Fudge Cupcakes

coconut cupcakes with fudge frosting and fresh coconut

Texas Sheet Cake

Now on to the other happening around here aka picture of my kids....

 My Monkey playing in the yard just before Spring.

 Bathtime snuggles with the Doodlebug

 Someone stole his brother's cracker and since has been eating table food only.

No more baby mush for this guy. 

My Hydrangea is blooming!!!!

Monkey has really been enjoying gardening with me aka digging for worms . He has been having conversations with them too. He can't seem to understand why they are scared of him.

Also gardening with a 3 year means dirt fights. I had bugs in my hair. Gross! Boys are gross!