Friday, June 22, 2012

A Half Birthday Party

Do you realize
that Taylor now turning two and a half
makes her THIRTY months old?!?

We decided to throw her a slumber party
with her 2nd cousins
and the theme was GLOW IN THE DARK!
We had a blast.
Here's a little tour through pictures

I got over half of these ideas through Pinterest.
So fun!

The dollar store had SLIME to play with!
It looks glow-in-the-dark doesn't it?

One of the ideas I saw on Pinterest
from this site here
was to play "keep-it-up" in the dark
with glow sticks inserted into balloons.

That same site also gave us the idea to do bathtime
and use glowsticks in the water!
So I got them big glow stick necklaces,
a big glow in the dark wand,
and several mini glow sticks to toss around in the water.
Kathy has a big "hot tub" spa in her bathroom
so we let the girls put bathing suits on and...
a few squirts of bubble bath + air jets = LOTS of bubbles!
So much fun!

We also did a photo shoot with glow sticks
(an idea from this site here)
and jars I had painted with glow in the dark paint.
Only trouble was that you had to keep COMPLETELY still
while the shutter of the camera was open...
something the older girls did quite well
but Tay struggled to do =)
I still love her lil' photo though!

I also took glow in the dark puff paint
and stained-glass paint
and made a plate for each girl to take home.
This is Addie's plate!
They won't last forever, I'm sure,
but while they do last they'll be fun to use now and then.


This idea came from a post in a foreign language
on a blog that no longer exists, so I can't give you a link for it...
but I adapted it, so we'll just call it "Hot Dots".
I cut each hotdog into four even pieces.
I took Bucatoni pasta (like spaghetti but hollow in the middle)
and pushed three pasta pieces into each piece of hotdog,
sliding the hotdog down to the middle of the pasta.
I cooked them in a LARGE pot of boiling water
(as the noodles were so stiff they needed to fit almost straight up and down in the pot)
and followed the pasta packaging directions for doneness.
Then I opened a box of Kraft Mac'n'Cheese
and took out the cheese packet, emptying it into a microwavable dish,
adding 1/3 c. milk, and 2 Tbsp melted butter.
I cooked that for 30 sec on medium.
(I saved the Macaroni noodles to use another day.)
When the Bucatoni/Hotdogs were done I drained the water
and used a soft spatula to stir in the cheese sauce.
The girls loved it
and were "Mmming" and commenting the whole meal!
There weren't any left!

And then I made finger jello
and put the green and yellow gummi bears into it
to represent "glow in the dark" for the meal!
Quite a treat!!

Then we had "pudding" cheesecakes instead of cake
because we had just celebrated two other family birthdays
and had eaten plenty of cake!
I took Oreo cookies, "twisted" them apart, and used the side withOUT cream,
and then put that cookie in a cupcake paper as the crust.
Then I mixed together an instant pudding "Cheesecake" flavor,
and put it over top the "crust" and topped it with crumbled Oreo with Cream cookies,
and put four together to make a "cake" I could put candles in.

Taylor was STOKED to sing Happy Birthday
and she even pointed to herself and sang " Happy Birthday to me..."

and she sang "...dear Tay-Yore..."


and she LOVED getting to blow the candles out too!

After dessert we headed downstairs
and munched on "snack necklaces" made of neon colored fruit loops and apple jacks
strung on curling ribbon and made into necklaces
and listened while Auntie Anna did story time
and read a few books about the new Disney Pixar movie "Brave"
which will be coming out soon!
She even found one book that GLOWED IN THE DARK!

And then we set up the beds
on the downstairs living room floor.
Believe it or not,
Taylor actually stayed in her "bed" until 4am!
(She awoke crying and joined us in our bed for a few hours.)
Then all but Tay slept in well after 9am!
We had to turn lights on, play music, and then start talking to them
in order to get them to wake.

Then we had breakfast popsicles
while Daddy made waffles and bacon.
I was inspired to make the breakfast popsicles
by a Pinterest at this site
so I made two variations!
First, in Taylor's hand you can see a Blueberry-Vanilla Popsicle.
I used vanilla flavored greek yogurt, and then I made a blueberry mixture.
For four pops I microwaved about 1/2 c. of blueberries,
about 1 Tbsp grapejuice,
1 Tbsp Splenda
and a drip of almond extract.
I alternated yogurt and blueberry mixture in the popsicle mold, then froze!

Second, in Grace's hand you can see a Lemon Popsicle.
I used lemon flavored green yogurt, and made a lemon "goo".
For four pops I juiced about 1/2 c. of lemon juice
2 Tbsp Splenda & 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
and microwaved for 30 seconds on med (power 5).
I added 3 drops yellow and 1 drop green food coloring.
Then I whisked in 2 Tbsp cornstarch
and microwaved for another 30 seconds on med (power 5).
(as an aside- I tried these again and used all Splenda 
and no powdered sugar- and the texture was really weird
so don't substitute the powdered sugar...)
I alternated yogurt and lemon goo in the popsicle mold,
making sure the lemon goo was not very thick each time,
then froze and we enjoyed
bedhead and all!


Before it was time to go home
we made HOMEMADE LAVA LAMPS
which I learned to do from this site here
and it worked SO well!
We poured oil into a clear glass bottle until 3/4 full
(we had leftover IBC cream soda bottles)
and then we put water in until there was TWO inches of free space at the top.
Then I let Taylor choose her color for her water, 
and put 4 drops of foodcoloring into the bottle.
So, below you can see the blue food color, 
and then watch as it slowly dyes the water!

Once the water is dyed,
drop about 1/3 of an Alkaseltzer tablet into the bottle
and watch the "lava lamp" begins to fizzle
and then creates the bubbles!
When the bubbles subside, add the next piece of Alkaselter tablet!
Seriously... HOURS of fun!

It was a fantastic time had by all.
Taylor had so much fun
and felt very special with her friends!
Thanks, girls, for coming!

The happiest 2 and a half year old I know!!

At her lastest WIC appointment we weighed and measured Taylor.
She was 31lbs 12 oz and 37 inches tall.
That puts her in the 66th Percentile!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Bridal Shower for a Friend

My Mother in Law hosted a bridal shower for a good friend
and I got to help with the decorations!
It was extra fun to put together the tablescape
because after all the construction on the living room
there is still a variety of knick-knacks that don't yet have a home
so I knew where everything was packed up
and I just went "shopping" for anything yellow or gray!
I made the little banner out of dollar store plastic table cloths
and puff paint for designs on each triangle
and glued them to silver ribbon.

And we bought this great yellow frame at a local shop
and put a black&white of the happy couple in it.
The bride got to take it home after the party!

I got this great idea from Pinterest
and adapted it to the bride's favorite candy
and the yellow & gray theme!

I bought round pretzels,
put them in mini cupcake papers,
and put one Rolo on the center of the pretzel.
I put six on a microwave-safe plate
and cooked it for 25 sec on Power 5 (med).
Then I would press the Rolo down to get it intertwined with the pretzel.
Then I put another Rolo on top of that,
and cooked them again for 25 sec on Power 5 (med).
Then pressed a Sixlet candy (you could use an M&M)
into the center of the top Rolo,
"squishing" the bottom one until it oozed out a little further than the top candy.
Cooled completely, and stored in an airtight container until the party!
Salty, sweet, caramely, just GREAT!

We put out recipe cards and wrote
"Recipes for a Successful Marriage"
and had guests fill out their advice.

We made fancy lemonade
(see recipe below)
and also served fancy water
in these cute Mason Jars.

Drinks Table

Gifts Table
(in the frame on the right
you can see a copy of her wedding invitation
which we used as the inspiration
for the whole shower!)

Party favors for each guest
included a mini flower pot with decorations
and the initials of the Bride and Groom. 

Snacks included "Avocado Salsa Boats" in Romaine lettuce leaves,
Home-made Chocolate Dipped Strawberries,
Cucumber Feta Crostinis
(recipe adapted from a friend's blog
which she adapted from Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze)
some wonderful individual Cherry Cheesecakes made by the bride's sister,
Parmesan Cheese Tuiles
Mixed Nuts with Rolos and Sixlets

Drinks were inspired by a Pinterest Pin or two as well.
We had extra fresh tasting water
with Lemon and Cucumber floating in it.
(bonus: added a lil' yellow) 

We also had a fantastic, refreshing, creation
we like to call Mint Grapefruit Lemonade!

Here's the recipe!
Ingredients:
2 cans Frozen Lemonade
100% Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
Cold Water
2 Pink Grapefruits
2 Ripe Lemons
1/4 c. Splenda (could use other sweetener)
Fresh Mint

Directions:
In a large soup pot whisk the cans of frozen lemonade
with 8 cans-worth of cold water.
Fill the can twice with grapefruit juice and add to the lemonade.
Take three of the mint leaves and mince finely.
Whisk together.
Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Meanwhile thinly slice halves of grapefruit and freeze in a tupperware,
separating layers with wax paper.
Do the same with lemons.
When ready to serve, put whole mint leaves, 
frozen citrus and lemonade in punchbowl.

Here you can see all the decorations together.
Congratulations to the Bride and Groom!
They get married this weekend!!
I can't wait to see pictures!