Knoxville Christmas

Better late than never, eh? Yeah, I might as well just say, hey! time goes by too damn fast, amirite?

Whew, well, I might as well recap our Christmas a month or so later. Knoxville Christmas was fabulous as always. All my extended family meets from all over at my Aunt Clara's home in Farragut, TN. "Santa" comes visits all the littles and there is lots of laughs, love, craziness, and drinks :) We call it our Dysfunctional Family Christmas.

before and after!

The big kid pics!

Our First Nutcracker "Date"

This will top my list and my memories as one of the very favorite days with my daughter. I decided this year will be the year that Jules and I would try to go see The Nutcracker. They have a "Mini Nutcracker" which I would have preferred, but tickets went soooo fast, so the big girl Nutcracker at TPAC in Nashville would be the way to go! It was a risky move, since tickets were over $100 for the both of us, so it would have been an expensive mistake if she hated it.

She couldn't have been a better girl, and the afternoon was absolutely lovely. We went to lunch downtown beforehand at a place called Demo's. She requested spaghetti, so what better place than Italian? About 50 people stopped us to tell Jules how pretty she was. She was on her very best behavior the entire time.

The show started and she loved it. It was long, yes, and by the end she was ready to go, but she honestly did amazing. I loved every single second of it. Next year I think we'll try to do the Mini Nutcracker again though.

As special as it all was, I have discovered in my adult life that I still DO NOT LOVE The Nutcracker. I thought maybe it was because I was just a kid? Nope. Yes, I know, I suck. but I honestly hate it. HA!! Isn't that horrible? It's the most boring this ever. It's like CATS the musical but with no singing. Everybody just gets a ballet solo. But Jules loved, it so I loved it with her. It's one of those mother/daughter tradition things that I've looked forward to since the day she was born. It was incredibly special.

But maybe next year going the "shorter route" will help out this mama. Hehe.

I promise she's excited!

Tried to set the camera up to take our picture. Kind of a fail. Need a tripod!

Phone picture. She got to pose with one of the ballerinas from the show!

My little Eloise at the Plaza.

And don't feel sorry for Josh, he got a super date too. He got to go with his daddy to the Titans game!

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.