CALLING ALL MOM'S OF SCHOOL AGE KIDS

Got any great ideas for school lunches for your kids? Mine get sick of the same old pb&j. I'd love to hear what you do including sides, drinks etc.

JOETE'S PLAYGROUND MOTHER'S DAY AUCTION

Joete's Playground is hosting its Mother's Day auction HERE and it begins tomorrow!! Bidding will go until Saturday the 24th!

Joete's was founded a few years ago by my cousin, Lindsay..

You can read all about the non-profit organization on her website (link above).

Fabulous people and companies have donated fantastic things to this auction... so please check it out, let your friends know and bid on something great for the women in your lives!

All proceeds from the auction will go directly to new playgrounds that Joete's has in the works, so be generous! Give the mothers in your life a fantastic gift and help impoverished children at the same time. We'll ship the gifts directly to mom, or wherever you'd like them to go, it's so easy!

And... if you'd be so kind, it would be very much appreciated if you'd repost this on YOUR blog to get the word out.

HALLOWEEN PARTY

My friend Alisha and I can't resist any reason to throw a party. We invited a few of our friends families and had so much fun (despite it having to be rescheduled to Nov 1st because of my sick kiddos). All of the costumes were amazing!

{the costumes}



{the food}

bubbling cauldron cheese dip with bat wing dippers, bones and blood, mummies with mustard dip, apples and toffee dip, veggies and spinach dip, 7 layer spiderweb bean dip and chips, witches brew, dirt n' worms & pumpkin pie tarts

{invitations & party favors}

{the games}

donuts on a string are always a huge hit. even better when they're tanya's homemade donuts

GIRLFRIENDS CHRISTMAS PARTY 2009

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the Christmas Dinner that my friend Alisha and I host for some of our girlfriends. I love planning, preparing for and enjoying it. It's so fun to get together with friends and enjoy each others company along with good food every now and again.

These were the invitations we sent out and the little craft/favor that everyone made and went home with. It's a recipe book with several of our favorite recipes complete with pics from the party over the years. We'll add new recipes to it each year and it will be a great collection of holiday favorites.

Appetizers:

• Frothy Pink Grapefruit Strawberry Drink
• Tomato, Mozzerella & Basil Skewers drizzled with Balsamic Dressing
• Roasted Red Pepper Dip on a Crusty Baguette

Dinner:

• Christmas Salad
• Cajun Candied Salmon
• Lemon Rice
• New Wave Green Beans
• Fruit Salad with Cherries
• Orange Rolls

Dessert:

• Mini Cheesecakes & Brownie Tarts with Carmel Frosting

It was all soooooo goood!

(most of these recipes are on the recipe blog linked on my sidebar and the rest will make their way there eventually)

We had our traditional dessert exchange which is always fun and exciting. Everyone goes home with a fun holiday dessert for their family and a cute new serving tray. This year we had a banana cake with carmel and burnt butter frosting, peppermint bark popcorn, chocolate covered oreos, adoreable pretzel rod snowmen, homemade oreo cookies with peppermint, peanut butter and jelly bars and fudge, red velvet cupcakes, and a chocolate cheesecake cake.

RECIPES

I get lots of emails requesting recipes that I mention on this blog. Instead of having to email them out to several people or retype them on this blog {here} is a link to my recipe blog where I post almost all of my favorite recipes. I'm in the process of transferring all the recipes from my private blog so it will take a few days before they are all up.

There is also a link on the sidebar.

BIG Cupcake Recipe

I've had lots of emails lately about the recipe for the big cupcakes pictured on the header of this blog. There is no fancy recipe, just a fancy pan. It's made by Wilton and I got mine at my local craft store, Micheals along with the cupcake liners. Then you just use a regular cupcake mix (one mix makes six big cupcakes) and decorate however you like. I hope that answers your questions.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posting, two babies in two years tends to suck your time and energy...in a good way of course!