Thoughtful Thursday–Don’t forget your spouse on Valentine’s!

I need to be honest.

My hubby and I do not always celebrate Valentine’s Day. We’re some of those that think it’s a commercialized holiday and I don’t need to be told when to love my spouse. BUT, with that said, why NOT take an excuse to love my spouse? Whether guys care to admit it or not, they always love being doted on, am I right?

I’m super thankful to not have the pressure to HAVE to do something for Valentine’s Day, but if I have the time, I enjoy doing something.

This year, I’m gonna do the 14 days of Valentine’s. Here goes…

There will be a lot of links because I haven’t finished putting them altogether yet. So hang with tight!

14 Days of Valentines

First, I’m printing this cute freebie out to lead the hubs to his first “gift”, and will probably try to tie each item to something from here on out, just to keep the theme going:

Day #1: You are the apple of my eye

(swap out the red/green heart – so cute)

Day #2: I’m bananas for you!

We’ll make banana splits for dessert that night!

Don’t forget whipped cream ladies!

Day #3: I wouldn’t “chews” anyone but you!

For free printables for some of these cute ideas, check out this cute website!

Day #4: What are the chances I have a “shot” at getting you tonight?

**Slight side-note here (and I don’t mean to start a debate or controversy here, I’m merely stating my personal beliefs on the issue): I am a Christian, and by that I mean I am a Christ follower, love Him to pieces, wouldn’t be alive without Him, am willing to do ANYTHING He wants me to do.

When some non-Christian friends find out I drink, they’re often shocked!! I live my life by following the words of the Bible. And the Bible states to not be drunk. So I, personally, am comfortable having a beer, or a glass of wine, or a mixed drink, just so long as I don’t get drunk. I am also careful that I don’t drink around others when it may cause temptation. But, seeing as it’s just the hubs and me….a shot for our evening’s festivities seems, well, appropriate. =)

Day #5: Blow me a kiss, Valentine! (or two or three)

Day #6: Have a great day, Cupcake!

I’m planning to get him one of those fancy cupcakes from Icing on the Cupcake this day. And….maybe, perhaps, the kids and I will have to share one while popping in, too! =)

Day #7: Valentine, never “LEGO” my heart

My plan is to take my son to Target to pick out a little lego kit like this one for them to do together.

Day #8: We go together like milk & cookies

For this day, I’ll get him some cookies & milk for work. Not sure what kind yet, maybe even homemade, for the office! We’ll see.

Day #9: I’m “berry” lucky to be your Valentine!

Day #9 is a Saturday, so we’ll have waffles with strawberries for breakfast! And hopefully we’ll have some whipped cream left.

Day #10: I love you, my stud MUFFIN!

For the free printable above, click the picture to take you to the link. They have a recipe, too. Not sure what kind of muffins I’ll make just yet!

Day #11: I don’t know where I’d be if you hadn’t “popped” the question!

This may be more of an excuse to make this for myself, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy a bite, too. Click the picture to take you to the link for the recipe.

Day #12: I think you are “soda”mazing!

I’ll probably get diet coke for my man, but again…click the picture above to take you to some of those adorable free printables!

Day #13: I’d be so mixed up without you!

So many delicious kinds to choose from when it comes to Chex Mix! My man prefers salty though.

Day #14: I’m nuts about you!

Final one! Pistachios will be a hit!

So…choose 1, choose 3, or dive in and do all 14 days!! I may be posting a shopping list tomorrow if you’d like to do all 14. Whatever your plans are for Valentine’s Day this year, tell your special someone that you love them! =)

Happy Early Valentine’s Day!

Octonauts at Ease…

Let’s do an Octonaut party roundup, shall we? Click the pictures below to take you to each individual blog post. Enjoy!

Here are a few more pictures from the party. Such a blast!

Brother and sister love!

Making his 4th birthday wish, blowing out the candles.

Enjoying his cupcake!

One final image of the kids watching Octonauts. I love the craziness that was this party. Check out how maxed out our house was! Yet, fun was had and memories had.

One final Octonaut FYI, we splurged and bought Octonaut toys on Amazon (so shipping was included with Amazon Prime), but they ship from England so the shipping costs are rolled into the price. BUT, the Octonauts FB page just announced they will be available here in the states starting March of 2013. The toys are by Fisher Price and well made. Cooper got (through the love of aunts, uncles, and grandparents) the Octopod, the Gup-A, the Gup-C and a variety of the characters. My husband and I were equally excited to bust them out of their packages and play. Very true to the show and lots of fun. Here’s Cooper when he first opened his Octopod. So fun! He did an amazing job sharing with his sister, too.

I linked up to...

Nom, Nom, Nom (yes, Octonauts again!)

Yes ladies and gentleman, we’re in the final stage of party planning! Food was the final thing to be planned. I had these amazing intentions of making all the food myself, and then the RSVP’s came in (did I mention around 60 peeps?). I was ECSTATIC, don’t get me wrong! The more the merrier. But, a woman can only do what one woman can do (well, one woman and her AMAZING mother). And I couldn’t pull off everything else, cook for that many, AND be healthy and sane for the party.

Enter…our local grocery Bel-Air and Sam’s Club! My lifesavers I’ll tell ya! Here’s what we served up (along with printables if you’d like! They’re tent cards, that’s why half is upside down)…

We got sandwiches from Bel-Air. You can order them online and they’ll have them ready to go for whatever time you request.

Next up was the famous broccoli salad! We considered buying this from Costco instead of having to cook the bacon, etc., but we didn’t for two reasons. #1 – It tastes SO much better when it’s homemade. #2 – It’s way cheaper, too! I was already splurging on ordering out on so many other things, stick with better taste AND cheap on this one! Here’s the link to my recipe. Yum! And here is what was left…I didn’t get pictures of the food “pre-party”, TOO busy!

Oh, and p.s.? Cook your bacon in the oven! So much easier and comes out nearly perfectly each time! Here’s a fabulous tutorial over at Our Best Bites. Love that site!

Next up was artichoke dip and crackers. We had one that had some jalapeno in it, hence the “A bit spicy” label!

Then, for the kids we had homemade mac-and-cheese (although adults dove in, too – I think they couldn’t resist Panera’s recipe, yum!), with shell pasta! In one dish, we added bits of broccoli (hence the “watch out for seaweed” sign, hehe).

Finally, we had goldfish. What would a kid’s undersea party be without the classic goldfish snack?! To drink, we had lemonade, tea and water.

When I was buying the cups, they had buy one get one free, so I got a bag of coffee cups (with the lids) to use as the kids cups. They worked great, and looked cute.

I didn’t bother to make a label for the cupcakes, I figured that’d be a bit redundant. But here’s the dessert table again.

And a close up of the cake and the cupcake toppers.

And…here are labels for your cupcake pleasure! =) I took out the personalization, so it doesn’t say 4th birthday or Cooper. Hope it makes your future Octonauts birthday extra special!

Only one more Octonauts post. I know, stop crying…it’ll be okay.

Cooper Turns 3!

Now I’ve created an expectation. =) Not entirely..but I like to think so. That way I have an excuse to throw a big birthday bash for my son! Year 1 was pirates, Year 2 was Disney Cars, see here. Year 3…

It all starts with the invitations, right? As I was designing them, my husband kept hounding me, “Why are you spending time on something people are just going to throw away?” I have to admit, I did second guess myself. BUT…then moms began telling me how their kids had been playing with the invitations for hours, flying them around the house! Mission accomplished! My whole goal in planning my son’s parties is to make them FUN!

*Invitations*

So, here are the invitations. I cut them out on my Silhouette. It was actually one of my first projects with it. Here’s the front, I used double sided tape to put the cute little ribbons in between the paper for the front and back pieces of paper.

And here’s the back with the party details on it. *Party Favors*

Party favors doubled as part of the decorations. One side said To Infinity and Beyond! This bag is property of: and the child’s name. The other side of the bag had the following graphic (one of the 2, depending on the color of the bag): Inside were all kinds of Toy Story goodies! I just purchased them here and there at Dollar Store, Michael’s, etc. as I found things cheap. =)

*Games & Decorations*

This welcomed people hanging from our front porch light by the front door. A floor puzzle held together in the back with duct tape. Thanks mom for the brilliant idea! And signs on the front door: I used Cooper’s toys to decorate, also a fun excuse to buy some new toys leading up to his birthday. I should probably note here that he doesn’t actually get a birthday present from us, just whatever is covered in his party. I don’t think he minds!   We found a Slinky Dog bubble blower at Marshall’s for $7 that added some bubble fun to the party! And below is the banner my mom whipped up for us.

Bullseye’s Target Toss

(This was one of our “gifts” to Cooper. He does enjoy playing with it! The quality is fantastic.)

Parachute Drop

I found these tangle-free toy parachutes…great idea! We also used these Toy Story Parachute Balls. They’re not super high quality, but they do fly pretty high, which is impressive when it comes to boys and parties. =)

Lasso/Ring Toss My goal had been to paint that cute little rocker to look like Bullseye…who was I kidding?! I now have a 7 month old daughter and am leading a MOPS program for 60 women! Ha! I’m doing good to be hosting this shindig! =) still a fun game.

The Claw Game

I found these awesome “grabbers” at Target, kind of like these, and we used them to play the Claw Game found on this website. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I got. Again, not like I was busy or anything. See the red in the corner? We also had this version out for the kids to play. It was fun while it lasted, but the “grabbers” are cheap and one broke a few days later. But, my son still enjoys playing it.

 Photo Booth Against the garage door (I wish I’d gone ahead and gone over the windows, too, but oh well)…blue wrapping paper and Toy Story shaped clouds cut out using my Silhouette. And, of course, some fun photo props! Here are some of my faves from the day: The birthday boy himself! Sooo sweet!Our own little Jesse herself! Woody & Bo Peep! I’ve got to give my husband credit for dressing up as “Woody”. His costume was da bomb though! Pull string and all, I mean, an actual PULL string! 

Some guests…good sports! And last, but CERTAINLY not least…my in-laws, definitely good sports for dressing up for the occasion. Quite out of character, but very much appreciated. =) The Cake

I’m admittedly spoiled rotten. One of my best friends is amazing at making cakes! We obviously had to keep with the theme, but I couldn’t find anything I loved that was unique and creative. So, I came up with the idea of making the Claw Game. Originally, it was just going to be the red claw game part, but then we realized we wouldn’t have enough cake to feed our guests. So, we added the blue and clouds. I also made alien cupcakes as well. The cupcakes were seriously easy, so if you don’t have a cake connection, these rock! I love the details of the claw game.  Check out Buzz and Woody stuck underneath the claw inside the dome.AND..the blinking light at the top of the rocket?! (It’s a battery powered tea light underneath a clear, plastic easter egg half)  Here’s the birthday boy blowing out the candles… And one last picture of the cake, just because it’s so awesome!

 Costumes

I am certainly no seamstress! But, I got a sewing machine last Christmas, and am determined to learn how to use it. I want to be able to sew my kids’ costumes if they want me to. And costumes are the prefect practice pieces. So, the crazy woman that I am…I set out to sew my own Bo Peep costume. I couldn’t find one anywhere, and I’m picky about how my costumes look. So, I found a Simplicity pattern to follow. Not too shabby for not being a natural sewer… My only hiccup was purchasing the wrong size pattern. TAKE YOUR MEASUREMENTS, PEOPLE! Patterns are NOT normal US sizes. I’m normally about a 4-6, so I bought the size 6. BWHAHAHA!!! It might’ve fit my son. I ended up making almost a size 14!!! I bought my son and daughter’s costumes. Well, I added the cow print fabric I used from my husband’s vest to make little chaps for my daughter. So adorable!Here’s the closest we got to a full body. You can see Allie’s little boots even!  Did I mention I’m picky when it comes to detail? Check out the gun holster I made for the hubs:And last, but CERTAINLY not least, a picture from Halloween night capturing his pull string. I used one of those ID badge pull strings and sewed it into his shirt with a white ring. Cooper had a blast pulling it and making daddy say Woody phrases. =) What a fun memory!Here it is zoomed in so you can actually see it:Ooo..and I found his hideous yellow shirt at good will for a whoppin’ $3! Yay! 

I think that about sums up this year’s shindig! Here’s one final picture…as a reminder…that my goal is for my son to have an absolute blast! Without a doubt, success! Look at the smiles on him and his best bud’s face…