Barnyard Birthday Bash

Both of my boys have March birthdays, so they take turns each year having the big party.  Last year Micah turned one, so we gave him the big celebration with a barnyard bash.  This year, Carter turns five, which was a BIG marker in my family growing up, so I've already begun to contemplate ideas for his party.  In the process, I've been having fun looking at two party blogs--u create parties and The Birthday Blog. 

I have no ideas yet for Carter's party, as his wish list and themes change daily; but I thought I'd share some pictures from Micah's barnyard bash last year.  We live in a very populated, suburban area, but quaint San Juan Capistrano is just down the road.  We booked a morning at a local petting zoo with a barnyard party area.  The party had pony rides, lots of animals to pet, rides on the mini train, and the great backdrop for the barnyard theme.

I made a barn cake for Micah to "eat" and dozens of chick, pig and sheep cupcakes to serve to the kids and adults at the party.  I got the idea here.

The sheep cupcakes are just pink frosting, mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips.

For the chick cupcakes, I dyed sweetened coconut yellow, used half gumdrops for the beak and mini chocolate chips for the eyes.

The piggies had half a marshmallow under pink frosting to make a snout.  Gumdrops cut up made the nostrils, mini chocolate chips were eyes and the ears were triangles cut from fruit roll ups.

The barn cake was simply decorated with red frosting, graham crackers, pretzels and dyed coconut.

Here are some of the cakes at the party.  We got the cow print tablecloths from Party America.

The birthday boy is enjoying his barn cake.

Big brother is loving his slice of cake. 

The birthday boy!  The cute animal hats were from Oriental Trading Company.

We found cow patterned balloons at Shindigz.

I loved the rustic, western feel of the party area.

The cow pinata.

One of the cousins enjoying a treat

Horse back riding

Even the older cousins enjoyed the train.

Ride 'em, cowboy!  I love this shot compared to the bucking horse picture on the shed behind him.

Having fun, but little does he know there is CANDY inside!

This little piggie went to a party.

I shared this link at:

Hair Accessory Gifts

So, I showed my husband what I made today and his first words were, "You should have had a girl."  Well, God gave us two amazing boys who I love dearly, but I do love to shop for and make stuff that a girl can wear.  Fortunately, I have four amazing nieces and also friends' daughters who will benefit from my crafting items like these. 

Before I show you pictures, I have to give credit to two blogs where I found beautiful pictures and tutorials.
The first blog is Sugar Bee. 
                                    
Mandy over at Sugar Bee is the sweetest thing--extremely encouraging and her blog is EASY to understand.  Her projects are crafts you would actually use too! If you click on my link for her blog, it will take you to her post where she actually has a video of herself showing readers how to make the twisted fabric flowers--sooo easy!

The second blog is called Trey and Lucy. 








This was the first blog where I saw the idea of headbands and hairclips wrapped in ribbon.  Tanya shows how to add nice finishing touches to her projects--which I always need help doing.  I still need practice to make the pom poms for the headband she shows (you won't see one yet in this post), but I think it will be worth the effort to practice--darling!

So here are my first attempts. 

First I collected the supplies and broke out my very old and very used glue gun.  This particular glue gun has seen years at home and the classroom, so I don't mind the fact it has seen better days.  We are like old friends.

I have a crush on the shabby chic fabric headband.  The twisted fabric flower and the colors are so fun--especially for little girls.  I tore my fabric to create the rough and stringy effect that makes it unique.

This headband is more subtle, but how cute are the black and white buttons?  This look could be for my older nieces, especially with the white and black color scheme.

Here is a close up of the barrette I made.  It is a clip covered in ribbon and then covered by a twisted ribbon flower.  I used red bandana fabric, which would be so cute for the little girls when wearing a denim dress or black and red outfit.

This looks like a headband, but it is another barrette (I used the headband to prop it up for the picture).  It is very small and dainty, made with black and gray felt flowers.  I covered the clip in black ribbon, just like the other barrette I made.  Again, this color scheme and proportion make it a clip that could be worn by my younger or older nieces.

That was fun!  I love having an hour or so of naptime to get some crafts done--it was really that easy and fast.  I hope you enjoyed the post and found some inspiration for your own creations!

I linked up this post on Sunday at Craft Envy and I Love Naptime.

Christmas Card Carousel

This morning I stumbled upon the sweetest link up idea:  share a post with your Christmas card.  So, I am joining the Christmas card carousel over at Walk With Me by Faith. 
Our Christmas card is a big deal to me each year.
1.  I want to make sure we share our faith and hope somehow in a verse, salutation, etc.
2.  I stress myself out in attempts to be creative and get the cards out early (I hate things hanging over my  head--figuratively, of course).

This year we moved, and I never did a change of address card to friends and family.  So, my Christmas cards went out the day after Thanksgiving with a change of address slip of paper in the envelope.
Here it is:  (I have blocked out the last name for safety reasons)
Photography was by Darren Youngman.  Graphics were by Lil Sprout Greetings.

Linky Party for Friday

I shared my post about Christmas Traditions at Tidy Mom.  Come visit the link party about "I'm Loving It!"  Everyone is sharing something they are loving--craft, food, activity, anything--about Christmas right now.

I also linked up at Good, True and Beautiful where you can share anything, Just for the Joy of It!

Finally, I linked up here: 

Christmas Traditions

My sister in law, Sarah, recently taught a young mom's group at church about the importance of traditions in our homes--activities that identify what we value and keep our family unit together.  She used a lot of information from a great book by Noel Piper called Treasuring God in Our Traditions.  So what do we value in our home?  To what do our Christmas activities/traditions[ point?  First and foremost, we look to God in everything.  We live for Him, and so our traditions reflect that.  Secondly, we value others.  Family, friends, strangers, and the church body--we serve, hang out with and love on others, praying we constantly grow in our Philippians 2 attitudes.  Of course, fun and food are huge blessings of the holidays, so they are sprinkled throughout all our traditions.
I thought I'd share some of our traditions with you in this post--a sort of pictorial journey for activities I have photographed and a brief explanation for those I have not yet caught in a picture.

      

In late November, we stay at Disneyland for two nights--we have season passes while the boys are young.  The Christmas decorations are freshly up, and the boys love the time at the park.  Of course, as is a family tradition of ours, we never tell them ahead of time but surprise them upon arrival--they'll eventually catch on if we do this every year.  Though, in not too many years, they will be too old for Disney, but I'll cry if I think about that.  It is a special time with just the four of us.

      
The day after Thanksgiving, we head to Fashion Island and Roger's Gardens with the boys and family friends to go take pictures at the BIG tree.  We are big fans of all the amazing lights at Christmas! Jesus is the Light of the world.  Ryan grew up in Ohio and said the lights were much less where he lived--people put candles, or "welcome lights" in the windows. 

                     
We take a Christmas card picture of our family each year.  It is fun to see how the boys are growing and our styles change.  I absolutely LOVE getting Christmas photo cards in the mail each year!  It is a great opportunity to tell friends and family that we celebrate Christ!

                      
This is our Jesse Tree.  We do a Biblically focused Advent, with daily devotions from Old Testament stories, which all point to our need for and the coming of Christ.  This is a great crafty project for those of you who want to make your ornaments.

              
Every year we go Christmas tree hunting with my sister and brother in law and our friends, Justin and Lindsey.  We always take a group shot of all our kids, and this is what always happens--pure chaos (notice Micah crying in the front). It is a great momento of our lives right now--before we blink, they will be all grown up.

There are a lot of nights we just grab a hot cocoa and go explore all the fun Christmas spots around town.  Driving in the car with cocoa and Christmas music, looking at lights, is a December highlight.

Carter is now old enough that we have an annual Christmas program to go watch at his school.  He gets all gussied up, and, of course, we come armed with multiple cameras, video cameras and the grandparents.  I love every minute of it!

We make cookies and decorate them.  I didn't have a picture of our home cookies, but here is a fun picture of Carter eating treats at one of the Mission Viejo Christmas nights.  We watched Charlie Brown Christmas, drove choo-choo trains, played in "snow" and decorated cookies.

We make caramel brownies for the neighbors on our street.  We pass them out as a family and invite them to our Christmas Eve services at church. 

We hold our annual Thrive Christmas party.  Ryan and I co-lead a young marrieds ministry at our church.  We have been doing this for 6 years now, and we have grown from a group of 30 to a group over 200 people big.  Every year, it includes dinner and a white elephant exchange.  This year we also played some fun games on the stage. 

We also host a party for the needy at a hispanic church associated with our church.  Each small group donates toys, food and gift cards as gifts, and we all serve them a fun dinner in a decorated room.  I sadly don't have any pictures of this, but hopefully I'll get some this Sunday when we host the party again.

We love this ministry and are blessed to be a part of it.

We started a new tradition of going to Downtown Disney Christmas Eve day.  We go walk through the fun shops, look at decorations, eat lunch and go to Build a Bear and buy a toy for the boys.  Last year, only Carter got a toy, as Micah wasn't even one yet.  This year Micah will get a stuffed animal too.  Here is Carter with Sporty Dog from last year.

 Christmas Eve we go to church.  It is always beautiful and a great way to focus on God in the bustle of activity that comes with Christmas.  I love our church.  If you are in the Orange County, CA area and are seeking a Bible teaching church, visit us at Compass Bible Church.

Christmas morning has many traditions.  We wake up and have the boys wait at the top of the stairs.  Carter has his Sporty Dog, as this was last year's picture in our old house.  We read the Christmas story in the Bible, open stocking presents, eat a special breakfast--this year it is French Toast Casserole from the Pioneer Woman.  Then we open presents and go spend the rest of the day with our families.

What are your traditions?  I'd love to hear!

Picture Frame Chalkboard

I love my accountability/prayer partner, Jenny.  She is that amazing friend you always wanted--great listener, super creative, strong in the Lord, and down to earth.  With Christmas coming, I knew I wanted to do something fun and crafty for her present.  I decided to make the darling picture frame chalkboards that were featured in a tutorial over at The Rigdons.  I loved the burnt ribbon look and the simplicity of the frame. 

Plus, it was a simple craft that would be used after it was finished.  Jenny and I often ask to be held accountable to memorize scripture, and I thought of this craft being a great way to have our memorization verses hanging around the house.  Here is a picture of The Rigdon's final example product--darling!

                                       

So, I said I would share my flops with you.  I flopped a little with this.  I used a new, unfamiliar greasy glue instead of my tried and true Tacky Glue or hot glue gun.  It ruined my flowers, which originally looked like this (notice the greasy blobs)--ugh!:

Needless to say, I had to spend a little bit of time redoing my flowers.  Also, my Michael's was out of spray chalk paint, so I ran to Lowe's, where they only carry brush-on chalkboard paint.  It took about 5 coats, and I am still skeptical of how well it will stay.  Because some of the brush strokes were bound to show, it ended up looking very rustic and handmade--think of a slate during Little House on the Prairie and you've got the idea.  I kind of like the rustic look since I chose a rustic looking frame.  You can see how smooooth the spray chalk paint looks on the Rigdon's example--the way to go if you aren't going for a rustic look.

Jenny is coming for accountability today.  I hope she likes it!  I had fun making it--even with the bumps along the way.  I plan to make one soon for our own kitchen.  I can write down my son's AWANA verses or my accountability verses I am memorizing. 

Oh, and have you heard of chalk ink markers?  They are chalk, but they write like a marker.  It is perfect for this project or any home chalkboard!  I found mine at Michael's but I heard they are also on Amazon.  I'm giving Jenny a pack to take home with her chalkboard.

Here is a picture of the chalkboard I made Jenny.  I love this verse, and it rings so true of her!  See how great the chalk markers stand out on the chalkboard . . .

Here is a pic of the burnt ribbon flowers AFTER I redid them and used Tacky Glue.  I went for a much more rustic look than the Rigdon's example.