Our Weekend.

Whew! This weekend went by so fast. We had so much packed into three days I'm not sure I would have survived (and let's be honest, Sunday I was feeling a bit puny)

Friday afternoon sweet Jules started Ballet again. (well...Creative Movement as it's called when you're 3/4). We are doing it a a new place and I liked it so far. It's an hour as opposed to 30min, so I think it will be better for her. Also? Josh is rocking the crap out of some colored skinny jeans.

Another great thing about enrolling them in classes, is that I get one-on-one time with the other twin, which we don't do far often enough. I forget how important that is. So, Josh and I headed to the library for some Mommy/son time.

After lunch we headed over to the Nashville Humane Association. As mentioned in their party post, I decided to name a charity this year in lieu of birthday gifts, and I'm so glad I did! It was a great experience and the kiddos enjoyed delivering everything and seeing the dogs and cats. I will definitely be doing this again.

Friday night was a family date night to see The Fresh Beat Band at the Grand Ole Opry. I have been to the Opry before, but Jake hadn't. I told him 20 years from now if someone asked him if he's been he can say "Yes, I saw The Fresh Beat Band there is 2014." And he would seem super cool. Syke

Jules wanted to take a pic of me in my nerd glasses. Also - Jake is trying to photobomb.

And OMG - This was fun. It helps that I knew 90% of the songs, and might have been singing and dancing more than my 4 year olds. Also, it's super awesome that it's actually the same kids in the show, and not look alike actors or something.

*aside - I kept things how awesome it would be to be them. They are like my age, and travel around and make awesome money and get to have fun all the time with kids - how cool is that?

Saturday morning we had a birthday party to go to. Some awesome things:

1. a morning party - genius. My kids are already bouncing off the walls at 9:00. Might as well bounce at a bounce house.
2. different! The food was breakfast type food. And who doesn't love Krispy Kreme?
3. the dad was a wine distributor, so the adults got goody bags as well. Triple Score.

The kiddos then went to Grama's house and Jake and I had a fun night planned. I am kinda sorta obsessed with Chris D'Elia. He is a comedian who has been of lots of different shows. However, I fell in love with him
started following him on Vine. (I am also OBSESSED with Vine). He is hysterical, and when I saw he was coming to Nashville I was super, super excited. 

For those that have never been to Zanies, I highly recommend it. We don't go near enough, and each time we go we have a great time. Its small, intimate, but also crowded at the same time. There is always a good seat and good service. 

I  might be a little excited, and I also might have my hand groping his abdomen. 

Sunday we picked the kiddos up and it was actually pretty nice outside so we did us a little bike riding. Naturally that was short-lived and it's 20 degrees again. Gotta love living in the south!

Linking up with Monday Mingle, Join The Gossip

Pirates and Princess Party - Pirate Party Food

Hopefully, you have already seen the summary post on Josh and Jules' Pirates and Princess party! If not, here is is again.

I did a lot this year and my last post was so picture heavy that I decided to separate it out. So, here is the food post! It was SUCH  a blast to plan!

I wanted to keep things simple, but cute. I did normal food on the pirate side, and the sweet stuff on the princess side. I designed and printed all the tags myself.

Next, for the Pirate Side:

"Pirates Punch" - AKA water with raspberry flavoring

"Shark Bait" - AKA goldfish crackers

"Veggie Island" - note the uber fab octopus

"Pirate Ships" - AKA orange slices with DIY flag masts

"Peg Legs" - AKA pigs in a blanket

"Cannon Balls" - AKA sausage balls. You could also do cheese puff balls, or grapes

"Ships and Dip" - AKA chips and salsa

"Salty Bones" - AKA pretzel sticks

Tada!! Hope you've enjoyed the food section. The DIY section is coming next with some printables and how-tos.

Pirates and Princess Party - Princess Party Food

Hopefully, you have already seen the summary post on Josh and Jules' Pirates and Princess party! If not, here is is again.

I did a lot this year and my last post was so picture heavy that I decided to separate it out. So, here is the food post! It was SUCH  a blast to plan!

I wanted to keep things simple, but cute. I did normal food on the pirate side, and the sweet stuff on the princess side. I designed and printed all the tags myself.

First, the Princess Side:

"Mrs. Potts' Punch" - AKA raspberry lemonade

"Princess Popcorn" - AK DIY popcorn cones cut from scrapbook paper. added rhinestone, then spray painted popcorn with pink food coloring. 

"Ariels Ocean Cups" - AKA blue jello cups (or virgin jello shots - not the college kind)

"Snow Whites Apples"

"Belles Roses" - AKA marshmallow roses I got from the Dollar Tree

"Princess Pops" - AKA rice krispy balls sprayed with pink food coloring. 

"Rapunzels Tower of Donuts" - AKA powdered donut cake with flowers

"Cinderellas" Cupcakes"

cupcakes! I did yellow and chocolate cake with blue and chocolate icing. the toppers are DIYed, and hot glued to toothpicks. Also DIYed are the cupcake wrappers. They are cut from scrapbook paper. 

Tada!! Next is the Pirate Side. Argh!!

Princess and Pirates Birthday Party

Well, it happened. FINALLY. The babies turned 4!!! And as usual, I had a ball planning their party. Their first birthday we did an Elvis/Rock and Roll theme (their birthday is the same as Elvis'), their 2nd birthday we did a Mickey and Minnie Mouse theme, last year was Yo Gabba Gabba, and this year is Pirates and Princesses.

The theme fits this year. For one, they are obsessed with Pirates and Princesses and two, we went to Disney World at the beginning of December and they each did the Bippity Boppity Boutique and Pirates League, and three, they were that for Halloween. So there you have it!

As usual, I didn't start planning it until after Christmas so I tend to get a little nuts. And as usual, I went over the top. So much so that this year at the party Jake told me numerous times NEVER again at our house. Boo, lol.

I got lots of ideas from Pinterest, but I also came up with alot on my own. I love parties!! Happy 4th Josh and Jules!

Their little invite I did. It's not as cute as I one I did last year, but I still like it. This invite was the least of my worries, lol. It only went out a week before. 

Here is a run down of the party. I'll try to do the food in a different post and then a DIY post as well.

We let the kids open family gifts before the party. We are "gifted out" due to Christmas so only immediate family gave them birthday gifts. I included a charity insert in the invitations to give instead to the Nashville Humane Association. That was SUCH a great idea and I'm definitely doing it again next year. 

Oh boy! ANOTHER princess dress!

Table when you came in. I did  DIY Pirates and Princess pennant banners that hung throughout the house. Also I blew up one of their invitations and framed it. And I did treasure maps.  Thanks to January temps, we couldn't do a treasure hunt, so the invite was more about everything we were doing. I printed it out on white paper, crushed it up until it got super wrinkled, then rolled and tied it. 

These were the boys'. As you can see, I did it as a "journey" instead of an actual hunt. So, this kind of gave them a guide of the activities planned (however, you know how that goes with 4 year olds)

The girls' map

Banner going along staircase

When you walked in you had your choice of Pirates or Princess. We had LOTS of dresses to choose from (and sadly, all Jules')

The girls got to decorate tiaras and magic wands with stickers and jewels. (from Oriental Trading and Dollar Tree)

Boys got a pirate hat and eye patch. 

I did these last year and their Yo Gabba Gabba party. They were white though. This year I'm kind of obsessed with chalkboard stuff, so this year it was chalkboard esque. Last years here

I hope you will notice how much healthier Josh eats than Jules. Sigh...

Here's one of our games of "Pin the Hat on the Pirate". Total DIY - total free hand, and totally simple. I just cut out pieces of felt I got at the Dollar Tree and glued it on foam board. Easy. 

Same - except "Pin the Crown on the Princess". Shes a hottie, no?

Another game we did was make "ocean bottles'. This was a hit as well. Fill up an emply water bottle with 1/3 oil, 1/3 blue water. then add glitter and these little fish I got at Oriental Trading. Then we hot glued the lids on. They loved them!

Josh's table - The Pirate side. I decided to do normal food for him, and the dessert/sweet table was the Princess side. As far as decor, I did a Dollar Tree table cloth, a DIY burlap table runner, red/white striped scrapbook pages layed out around the table, a DIY painted treasure chest that I found at Michaels with a 50% coupon (more on that in my DIY post), a framed chalkboard "Crewmates Forever" print (also available in my DIY post), and I used his toy Pirate Ship as decoration too. Then just scattered gold coins from Oriental Trading. 

We have a large leaning mirror in our dining room, which serves as a prefect backdrop :) So, I draped a sheet then went to Joanns and got a bunch of scrap fabric and draped it all around. Got the Fish net off ebay. and the banner is DIY. 

Princess side! Lots of DIY here too: cupcake holders, banner, streamers, another chalkboard print, popcorn holders, pinwheels, and DIY tulle table skirt. (more on this in my DIY post)

Framed this quote from Cinderella. 

The inspiration for her entire side was the Cinderella dollhouse/castle she got for Christmas. I decided to use their toys this year as decoration and I'm so glad I did! So easy and inspiring!

I got the plastic pink tablecloth from the Dollar Tree and then did a DIY tulle skirt overlay. I used about 15 yds of tulle. Easy, but time consuming. For more on how to do it yourself, click here. 

This was fun and the kiddos loved it. I got some bagged sand from Home Depot along with lots of little trinkets at the Dollar Tree and Oriental Trading. The kids got to "dig fer treasure" as their goody bag. Signs were DIYed and hot glued to sticks in the yard :)

"loot bags". Got some muslin bags off of ebay and did little iron on decals and added them. 

Okay, so this was a VERY last minute decision because the weather turned out nice. Just a plank of wood sitting on two full paint cans. HOWEVER,  my son bit the dust and bit his tongue as well. So imagine lots of blood, lots of crying, yeah - that was fun. So my son was the only one that did this. Thank goodness. Bad party game - bad mommy. 

My neighbors cousin and her friend came dressed up to the party as Cinderella and a Pirate. Best money ever spent! The kids adored them!! *hint* just hire a high school or college girl!!

Pirate Josh and Cinderella coloring with the kids. I printed off lots of stuff from Disneyjr. 

some of our guests!

Papa and Baby Olive

Jen and Olive

At our "tattoo parlor". We had lots of pirate tattoos to choose from. 

Making our "oceans in a bottle". Note the bandaid. Poor little guy :(

In goes the water! (with added food coloring)

Josh and Luke

Such a ball!

The guests of honor with the guests of honor :)

Baby Blake - AARGH

Grama and Aunt Bennie

Phillip and Monique and their twins. 

Polly and Mae. 

And whats a party if we don't dress up as well? I got a tutu off ebay and Jake has an iron-on tshirt and a hat from Oriental Trading. 

Stay tuned for a big DIY post! You can find all the Princess Food we did here and the Pirate Food we did here.