Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Thursday, March 6, 2014

frozen birthday party!


When my soon-to-be eight-year-old declared she would like a Frozen Party, I scoured Pinterest for ideas--there are almost too many to choose from! The Happy Birthday sign was purchased HERE. I tacked up white lights and covered with cello wrapping paper and draped some pink tulle over the top and sides.

My fabulous mom made the "Anna" dress for Faith. We pieced together a couple of random patterns and picked out the colors of her dress. She was thrilled! I drew and colored OLAF out of tagboard and we found some sticks in our yard. Isn't he cute?


For a simple centerpiece, I grabbed some sticks and spray painted them white. Did you know you can purchase cheap white spray paint at Wal-mart for $0.97? I then added some spray adhesive and some thick clear glitter that I had on hand--though it's hard to see in this picture. It was really pretty in person. I already had the blue glass beads--purchased long ago at the Dollar store.

We aren't coffee drinkers, but I happened to have a ton of coffee filters on hand that I had used for a previous craft. Instant snowflakes! I used clear thread and scotch tape to put them up.

This cake was relatively easy to make. I bought a blue-raspberry box mix and a pink lemonade box mix and made two separate 9-inch cakes. I froze them until the day of the party. 

 I found this cake HERE. I used her frosting recipe which my frozen cake kept cool during the party. I used her blue ice candy recipe and didn't have great success because I didn't have a candy thermometer. I then purchased a candy thermometer and followed the candy directions on the box and was successful. I love the icy look!

The only healthy part of my table was the Olaf parts. Carrots, stick pretzels, raisins and ranch dip. We also had blue Jello cubes, blue and pink jelly beans and mini-chocolates with Frozen wrappers.

Water bottle wrappers purchased HERE.

I had no idea these were so easy to make. Insert straw, dip in water and then dip in sprinkles. 

These candy wrappers were a part of the download I purchased HERE for $1.99.

As the girls arrived, they made "Frozen" bracelets from Oriental Trading. They weren't really "Frozen" bracelets, but they had snowmen and snowflakes and the girls loved them.

This game was a HIT! I split the girls into two teams. Each team was given a full roll of toilet paper, gloves, a hat, a scarf, a long carrot for the nose, and three pieces of coal cut out of black construction paper--with scotch tape on the back. Whichever team could use the entire roll of toilet paper first and decorate their snowman was the winner. SO FUN! The carrot "nose" went in the mouth which they all found to be hilarious!

We played the game "Minute-to-Win-it" with mini marshmallows and straws. Each girl bent her straw in half and had to pick up marshmallows ONE AT A TIME and put in their empty bowl. Whichever girl had the most marshmallows in one minute was the winner. We did this in pairs until all the girls had participated. The two girls with the highest scores had a play off round in the end.

About to blow out the candle!

We made "Olaf Parts" treat bags to send home with the girls. Pretzel sticks, candy corn, mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips. The treat bag toppers are from the same $1.99 download.

Such a fun and memorable birthday party . . . now if only I could get the song, "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" out of my head!



Saturday, November 17, 2012

home again

We are home from our amazing vacation! We ended up not going to the Redwoods as it was predicted to rain the entire time. There was so much to explore in Mendocino, that we stayed there two more days. Here are a few more highlights . . .









Hope you are having a good weekend!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

ft. bragg adventures

There are so many beaches to explore in Mendocino County. If you every get the chance to visit Northern California, I encourage you to get away from the city and enjoy the coastline. We love being here during the off season when there are not too many people about!

Today we spent time at the famous Glass Beach. Tim and I hadn't been here in 14 years--it has changed a lot! Our kids were fascinated by all the glass "trash" that they found. Amazing that people used to dump trash into the ocean until the 1950's. Seems so recent to me.

We also made our way to a beach with tide pools! We spent a couple of hours here and only left because the sun was starting to fade.



We are off to the Redwoods tomorrow! Hope you have a great day!




camping on the coast


We are in the middle of our first trip with our recently purchased 5th wheel. We have always thought it would be fun to travel the country and homeschool at the same time. We are only on the road for a week this time, but someday we'd like to make it a longer trip! Here are a few highlights of our trip thus far . . .

The view from our first two nights in Bodega Bay.

 Discovering tide pools

 I love this little man!

 I'm an ocean girl at heart.

Having the time of their lives!


As we drove up Hwy 1 we discovered this fabulous lighthouse. I heart lighthouses! More to come . . .

p.s. These last two panoramic shots were taken with my new iPhone 5 (first time to have an iPhone) and I LOVE the PANORAMIC feature! So easy and fun to use!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

halloween 2012






We trick-or-treated for two hours last night and got home just before it started pouring rain! We weighed our candy stash and it was 15 pounds! A local dentist in our area pays kids $1 for every pound of candy they bring in and then they send it to our troops in Iraq--a win-win for everyone! We had them each pick out their 10 favorite pieces and the rest we are bringing to the dentist first thing this morning! Hope you had a fun night!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

the pumpkin patch




 Last week, we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Tim always takes a day off of work for the festivities so that we don't have to fight the crowds on the weekend. It was the perfect day!

 Tim's mom drove up from Southern California to join us for the festivities. It was a special treat to have her along! It was her first EVER trip to a pumpkin patch! She was impressed with all the activities they had.





 
This hay has a trampoline (or something bouncy) underneath. It is always a favorite with all the kids!

My animal lover.





I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy these kinds of outings with my family. Enjoy your day!