by jcastles | May 27, 2012 | Family, Recipes
It came and went so fast. We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on May 24th! Well we actually had our “dinner” the night before so the older kiddo could watch the other kiddo’s since he had that day off work.
We were given an Outback Steakhouse gift card so yah….we went there! We both had the new york stip steak, garlic mashed potatoes and a salad! And we had to get the bloomin onion and scarf as much bread as possible! We were so full from our meal we decided to get dessert to go. He got cheesecake and I got key lime pie….they don’t really have a selection so i settled on something i’d have a bite of and pass it on to the hubbs. Which is what happened 2 days later!
On our actual anniversary the hubbs came into the bedroom after I woke up and he had 2 glasses of what looked like champagne or white wine. It was red bull! We’re funny like that…..who has a red bull toast?!
Since we celebrated our anniversary with a nice dinner the night before I knew we weren’t going to do anything the rest of the day so I decided to make a nice dinner and his favorite dessert!
Pork chops, buttered parmesan noodles, carrots, and his favorite chocolate pie!
In preparing this dinner I knew I wanted to make something good and we’ve had a lot of chicken lately so I went with pork chops. I wanted to do shake n bake but kroger was out of the generic and I just couldn’t/wouldn’t pay for the name brand there…yeesh it was expensive. So I went with seasoned bread crumbs and seasoning salt….yah, I should have paid for the brand. Then I wanted a buttered noodle and I had some leftover parmesan so I added that to the noodles. OMG best thing ever!!! It’s definitely going to be a new favorite around here. Then I chose regular ole canned carrots and added salt, pepper, and butter. Easy yummy satisfying dinner!
The chocolate pie is just a regular ole jello pudding chocolate pie. I just put my cool whip in a pastry bag and piped it on top and added mini choco chips. The hubbs favorite crust is the shortbread but kroger was out of it too! So I went with a chocolate crust since we both don’t really care for a graham cracker crust.
Happy Anniversary dear! Let’s have MANY more!! Love you!.
by jcastles | May 4, 2012 | Birthday Parties, Family, Recipes
Well…I dunno if it was the best but it sure was for me and everyone that came! Here’s a snapshot of the items we made.
The cupcakes are not in the ninja colors my son wanted….but it’s so hard to get red frosting!! So if he wanted frosted cupcakes he was getting what I made, lol!
I did make the white buttercream frosting but I had a little trouble with the chocolate frosting this time. Which is weird since I’ve made it before with no problem. But this time it was so gritty. I tried all the tips online that I could find on how to reduce or fix the problem but nothing worked. I eventually had to toss it. I think I know what the problem was…..I started out using one brand of powdered sugar and finished with another. It was the Target brand powdered sugar….even in the bag is was so gritty. I tossed it too! So at 11 o’clock at night I wound up doing what I thought was best….canned frosting!! I know I know!! But I had everything on such a tight schedule that I didn’t have time to mess around with it and well…it was for a kids party…not like they really care. It was frosted and yummy! Sure I could have started over but I had already tossed a batch of red buttercream…that looked more mauve and speckley than the elmo red I was going for.
Each kiddo got to take home a sword, headband, sushi, and popcorn (and some snuck home the ninja stars–that’s ok though). They all loved it too!
Ok…so now the good party stuff!
My hubbs designed the invite (I want to say i’m sorry for all my input but they turned out fantastic!). Then we sent it to Walmart and had them printed….which I love because it’s WAY cheaper to do that way! We spent under $7 on 35 invites! But the real money was spent on the envelopes….$10 at Michaels!! Still not bad (I used my 20% off coupon–get their app and become a rewards member to get their coupons). We could have gone with plain white generic envelopes but this was a cool party that needed cool black envelopes.
The thank you card is being created now so I don’t have an image of that but it’s going to match the invite.
For weeks I’d looked online and got lots of good ideas for stuff to make for the party. We wanted swords, chinese stars, the sushi snacks, pinata, chinese lanterns…the whole deal! So we started planning.
We had everything planned down to the minute…and of course that didn’t go down the way it was suppose to. We let the kids play on the playground as they arrived until the pizza arrived. It was suppose to be about 30 min of free play there..wound up being 45 minutes but I don’t think they really cared. Once the pizza got there we ate lunch then cupcakes. It was so windy out that I couldn’t even have a candle (or the decorations I’d bought–grrr, I had some cool chinese lanterns that I searched and searched for too) so I told my son to pretend to blow the candle out. He took me seriously and as he leaned in he got a cupcake smooshed in his face…..total accident!! Seriously it was! I was thinking about doing it though. After food we played some ole fashioned games!
Our first game was Capture the Ninja. We broke the kids into groups of 2 and gave them 2 rolls of crepe paper (dollar tree—2 for $1!!). They had so much fun! Then we made a game of picking up all the paper and throwing it away, lol!!
Our second game was the ninja star throw. We found some stars we wanted to order on Amazon but we waited WAY too long to order them so I said I’m sure I can make them outta duct tape. Turns out you can! But I couldn’t….at first. My stepson is a duct tape guru. Seriously he is! He made a duct tape suit once…yah, he’s awesome! So I said here’s the duct tape and here are the instructions, show me. Nope, still couldn’t understand it. So he made me 4 (all the time we had that day before he had to go to work). So while he was at work I tried and tried and tried. And finally like they always say…practice makes perfect….I had done it! I was a ninja…a true duct tape ninja star maker! So I made 8 more! Yah they’re awesome! This is the tutorial we used.
To play the game we used a hula hoop we got at The Dollar Tree, duct taped it to a large wooden dowel and spray painted it all silver….oh and our grass in the front yard, lol. So they stood a good distance and each kiddo had 3 turns to toss a star through the hoop. But we were going to let them until they got it through. Most got it through the first time so I’m guessing it wasn’t as hard of a game as we thought. Once they got it through they completed ninja training and received their sword and were allowed to battle.
Our last game was the Ninja Battle. We loved the paint stick idea for the swords (paint silver use duct tape for the handle) but when Home Depot was out of paint sticks (we even offered to pay for them hoping they’d find a stash, lol) we decided to go another route. We bought eight 8 foot foam pipe covers and cut down to sword size. Each made 3. Then I took black duct tape and wrapped 3 pieces around one end to make a handle. We really liked it in the end because they are much safer and the kids could actually use them at the party rather than a wooden sword no one would let them use…ever!
The sushi was very fun and easy! Everyone loved it. I got the tutorial here. Seriously so easy. My concern was how the fruit rollup was going to stick to itself but it’s pretty sticky and it stuck to itself with no problem. I actually made them the day before and tied them in lil bags. I was worried they’d dry out so I didn’t use the twist tie show above, I changed it after the pic. I used regular ole gift wrap ribbon and tied them real tight. We had no issues with them being dry. I actually ate one several days after the party and they were still super yummy!
I really loved this party! It was so much fun! All the kids and adults really enjoyed themselves….even ole Aunt Kim…I won’t post the pic unless she tells me I can but she’s one awesome ninja aunt!
.
by jcastles | Apr 12, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
It seems like everyone likes to come ring my doorbell or knock so loud on my door during nap time. If it’s not scheduled deliveries it’s scheduled maintenance (everything seems to be breaking or need maintenance in this rental home!). So I grabbed me a hot pink sticky note and a sharpie and wrote “baby sleeping, please knock quietly!”. It worked 99% of the time, YAY!! But it was UGLY!! So I’d been thinking of hanging a picture outside but couldn’t come up with a cute way to display it.
We recently went to a local resale shop and they had several pieces of wood for super cheap….like under 25¢ each. Yup, got those! Then it hit me a couple days later….make a sign out of it.
I painted the wood black and used some sticky stencils I got from walmart. My paint is a folk art aqua….I might be redoing it soon to match the green ribbon but it’s what I had and I went with it. Once the stencils were on I brushed the paint on and did 2 coats. After it was all dry I used a matte clear coat to seal it all. To attach the ribbon I used two thumb tacks. I pushed the tacks through the ribbon then hammered them into the back for a tight fit. Oh and I didn’t have any bright ribbon (need it to stand out ya know) and as I was walking away from my ribbon stash all sad that I had to go back to the store I saw it! A gift bag with this ribbon for handles. I cut it off…perfect size!
I believe it works too! There was suppose to be a contractor coming to the house today to replace an awning on the front of the house. Our landlord said they’d knock to let me know they were there. So they either didn’t knock or knocked so quietly I didn’t hear them…which I’m totally fine with!
My napper napped on and I blogged on….great nap time today (2 whole hours!!)!.
by jcastles | Apr 10, 2012 | Family
I have FINALLY got my chore charts on the wall!! I got the chore chart from Leah Remillet Photography and the potty chart from The Scrap Shoppe Blog. I LOVE them!
Mine went through several modifications though. Don’t worry, I’m going to give you all the details!
First of all I printed the charts from the website I found and had them laminated at a local teacher store so I could use a dry erase marker on them (soooo cheap, 49¢!!). I got the clipboards at Dollar Tree for $1 each! Scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby. I chose paper the boys would like. They were on sale at 40% off when I got them, so 29¢ each! I already had mod podge so bam, I was ready! I did my best to make the paper fit (not that easy i tell ya!). There are imperfections….SHHH!! So I cut, mod podged and voila! I thought they looked great!
But the hubbs said no way…he thought it was ugly. So I said well what about a frame? He agreed to that. I found some awesome black 8×10 frames at Target on sale for $3.99 each but on sale for buy 1 get 1 1/2 off! Problem was my chart was 8.5 x 11.5.
So I cut them down…they are NOT straight, don’t judge! I put the chart in, glass behind it and kept the cardboard in there too. I wanted them snug. So I put them up….then oops! The frames I bought had the stand on it…no biggie I’ll remove it. Then I dropped one…on the tile and broke the frame (not the glass…the actual wood frame!)!! DANGIT!!! In all the frame craziness I bought wet erase dry erase markers–they had the fine point I needed. Well the steam from the oldest boys shower resulted in a complete mess. So nix that idea too….I used regular dry erase markers and it worked. Now I just need to find a super fine point tip set and I’ll be ready to go!
So we’ve tried and tried to come up with other ways to do it….hubbs just didn’t like any of my idea’s. So I took back the clip boards from the kids (I wound up giving them to the kids because what was I going to do with it…they can surely use it to draw on). So now my papers are shorter than I wanted but they’re up! Eventually I’ll re-print and re-laminate but for now they’re ok.
Just so you know when looking at the charts the ages of the kids are 18, 7 (8 in 3 weeks!!!), and 3.
.
by jcastles | Mar 16, 2012 | Family
So today’s the last day of spring break. Let’s see…what did I do with the kids. NOTHING!! I totally sucked as a parent this week, lol!!
We went to the park a few times to try and feed the ducks….they just weren’t eating so that was a bust. We made cookies the other day and made peanut butter cap’n crunch bars (like rice crispy bars) today. We’ve cuddled and napped on the couch (uhhh, probably too many naps). But in my defense we had 3 repair appts this week so really half my day for 3 days was waiting on them.
So let me document the 1 memorable fun time we had this week. We ate lunch at the park! We’ll call it the lazy mom picnic! McDonald’s nuggets for the kids and I got a Subway sandwich. Pretty awful huh?!
.
by jcastles | Mar 9, 2012 | Birthday Parties, Family
Well I turned 32 the other day……it was a normal day, lol! Nah it was a little different. My hubbs had to work late so we decided to celebrate it the next day.
To start my actual birthday day off my husband got up early and made a trip to Starbucks (for my free coffee–sign up and get free coffee on your bday too!)!
Mmmmmm….then he left for work shortly after and I didn’t see him until after 9 that night. 🙁
So to start my actual birthday my husband brought home my FAVORITE cupcakes!!
Looks delish right?!! Well they were! My hubbs made sure I got 3 and everyone else got 1 cupcake (well except Jayson (my 3 yr old), he doesn’t eat cake—is he even related to me?!!)
So before we went to dinner I scarfed down a black and white….I needed it. It was a hell of a stressful day for me. So then we went to dinner….Casa Rita’s Mexican Grill. I wasn’t a fan but the drinks were good. And one kiddo had fun, lol!
But….it must all come to an end as everything eventually does. Sending thanks to my family for another wonderful Birthday!! Here’s 1 last YUMMY look…..btw, I still have this one. There’s no way I could eat 3 of these in 1 day!
.
Recent Comments