Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful

Instead of posting to the world on facebook of how thankful I am w the intimate crowd of my blog.... Haha

I am so thankful to be able to host thanksgiving dinner for my mom and dad and our family today. The life God has laid out for me is so great. I am continually challenged to find the good in each circumstance. Recently it hasn't been so tough. I am thankful for a loving handy husband who is really working very hard to put a roof over our heads, guiding my boys by reading and teaching the life lessons a dad can only teach, a great listener and friend. I am thankful for Kenner who is yearning for more knowledge every second. He is constantly wanting to read more, desiring greatly a relationship w God as evident through his prayers, constantly wanting to serve and help me and his caring heart. Patton.... Well Patton I am constantly thankful for the absent presence of my sister Annie and the gentle reminders of the actions of Patton to remind me, the phrases that he says like ,"I have no idea." in response to the load of money that mysteriously appeared in his pocket after I began the chores for Dave and busters campaign. Kenner rightly did all the chores bit Patton chose to spend his time scrounging formoney instead of earning it. I am thankful for his strong desire to spend and "help" his dad every chance he can get. Ike, I am thankful for his presence as he allows me to slow down and enjoy the small things like a dance in the morning to greet me, using a stroller to walk and enjoy life instead of rushing everywhere, the joy of having someone learn so much in just a few times, the love he has for his big brothers.

Wow this had turned into a much bigger post than expected and i could keep going. These are just a few things for which I am thankful that God has put and brought into my life. Thanks for following us in our journey through life w this blog. I love to read all the stories from the past. I am thankful to have this or those memories would be forgotten.
Happy thanksgiving!

Turkey trot at the y

Casey wanted our family to participate in the turkey trot this year at the y. Thanksgiving has traditionally a holiday where we run around bc we are so blessed to have so many families to see. W the turkey trot we decided to stay put this year. Both Casey and I commented at the fact that we have enjoyed just being home. This is such a hard debate for me. The realization that my grandparents aren't getting any younger and all our time is limited makes me want to run run run to spend w them. After today I think that we will continue to run to see our families, but maybe look at other times throughout the year we can go and spend more one on one time w them. And maybe take some time at home over this holiday.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Huskers vs tigers

We were able to go to the husked exhibition game against the Doane tigers. It was a great night just our little family.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Angry bird birthday blast

Oh My! I can't tell you how much fun it was to see everyone have such a great time and to see how everything turned out.  A huge thanks to PINTEREST for allowing me to have all the great ideas at the touch of a pin.  There is a blog out there that I pretty much copied...find it on my pinterest page. 
Patton (as well as the rest of us) are so blessed to have so many family and friends to celebrate with.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE putting together parties...now if only money grew on trees I could do this every year.  Instead...every 5 it will be. 
Our Halloween costumes as wall art.

The Angry Bird family of cupcakes.  Yes a person could use fondant and make them tons cuter, but time and patience got the best of me.  These are regular cupcakes with white frosting.  I used the color sugar sprinkles.  I frosted the cupcakes, then rolled the cupcakes in a bowl of colored sprinkled.  Then the peaks are candied papaya, the eyes are large shredds of cocount and the rest is frosting pencils found in at Micheal's or the baking section of any store.  Why such odd accessories?  I was going to use the orange slices and marshmellow as stated in other blogs, but I looked through the bulk candy section and found the papayas and coconut.  It was much cheaper for me to do it this way.  Yes they are all missing their white bellies...but something had to give and that was it.    I was able to make all the cupcakes and playable cake while Ike slept on Saturday.  ALLEULIA!  I can't believe he took an extra long nap of 4.5 hours so that I could do this.  God was definitely involved in that planning.
Sorry this post is really out of order...but they are posted:)  Here is a pic of Casey and my dad and the birthday boy strengthening the boxes for the live angry bird game.  I did have every intention to paint the boxes making them look like wood or blocks...but again time didn't allow.  Instead I created the Mission of the Angry Birds to invade our house, which made the siding box and Pampered Chef boxes fit right in.
Here is the playable Angry Bird cake.  Just google it and you will find the directions.  It was really easy to make and it really did work!  Patton shot his red angry bird after they sang to him.  In all the blogs they say to use fondant and make the birds.  Well in my shopping through the bulk candy section, I found the LARGE gum drops.  So I shoved a candied papaya in their mouth and used the frosting pens that I had to make the pigs and birds.  Not AS cute as the fondant ones...but took less time and money.  People still knew what they were.
I saw on all the other blogs that they had other games for the kids to play.  I found these buckets and thought I would create a game for the little ones to play with if they couldn't sling the birds.  Well, it was cute in theory, but the live angry bird game was such a hit that no one else needed another game to play.  It was fun to make the buckets though.   The key to this birthday party was STICKER SHEETS and LABELS.  All the faces on things were make with those...so all I had to do was color, cut, and put on.  No gluing required. 
The tables.  As I was setting up last night, it would have been really cute to take a bird for each table.  Instead I did blue tablecloths and balloon bouquets of the 4 featured birds that Patton liked.  I also placed the Mission for the Angry Bird game for those that didn't want to actually play the game they knew what the mission was. 
more bucket game that wasn't played. 
Another view of the playable cake.  One thing not mentioned on the awesome pictures i found on the blogs about this cake was how to make the sling shot.  i just sewed a little loop and put two rubberband through the loop to make the sling shot actually sling. 
Silly picture of just the toppings...but wanted to document that we brought our ice cream machine which was a nice addition to the cupcakes. 
Thank you gifts for those that came.  I think I saw on someone's page about making bags with the Angry Birds faces on them.  I thought that it would be fun to give all the kids that came Sling Shots as their parting gift.  So I ordered the Sling Shots from Oriental Trading Company and also priced the paper gift bags.  They were a bit pricey, so I was a little discouraged.  But after going through the online catalog more, I found a misc assortment of plastic bags of 50 for only $3.50.  This was a bit different than 12 paper bags for 4.00.  So  I again used sticker sheets and labels to make the faces.  This is a SUPER easy thing to replicate if you use the sticker sheets.  The Angry Birds are very simple in nature.  I found the key is the eye brows...the bigger the angle the better.
The spread.  I used cardboard boxes and covered them in brown paper that we used to cover our walls when refinishing the wood work.  *This is what I wanted all the boxes to look like in the live Angry Bird game...but time got the best of me and the cake table was the one that got the real look.

The Birthday Boy!  Looks like we don't need Christmas this year!
Angry Bird 101 station.  I created this so that those that didn't know what Angry Birds were could look on the I-pad (my dad's) and see what the craze was all about.
The HIT of the party...the Sling Shot.   Made by the one and only - CASEY.  This was truly a double team.  Without the sling shot, the party would have been a flop.  Casey thought it would have been better to cover the bottom of the sling shot with grass to replicate the game even more.  There is always something to make better...but I have to say this was a good one!
The Spread with my handmade banner.
The Birds waiting for their turn to get the candy back.  I don't think I mentioned the mission.  The sign is closer down below.
The Live Angry Bird Game.  I saw on other blogs that they also made a Pinata.  So I made two...but then didn't know how to hang them.  I also didn't know what to put in the Live Angry Bird game to make it exciting...so I mixed the two together.  As you can see I made two Pinatas and the kids had to knock them off to get the candy inside.  It was great and very suspenseful! (if that is a word).  Every time one of them fell all the kids rushed over to see if that was the fall to open it up.  What a great time!
I am so thankful to be able to do a party like this for Patton and just our family.  It completely fills my cup to have people over and serve them to have fun.  I really wish this was something that I could do more.  I will just stick to the 5 year plan:)  A huge thank you to all that came to the party.  My cup was also filled with all the love that our family receives from our family and friends.  It was crazy loud in the gym today...but I loved every minute of that crazy loudness!  To another 5 years (or 3 months...as Ike's 1st birthday is coming).  I did mention that I do this every 5 years...1 starting on their 1st birthday then the 5th, etc.  If you follow me on pinterest you already know what the theme is for him....

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Red angry bird cupcakes

Yes the red birds are missing their white bellies.... But that is all that am doing.

Taste tester

My personal taste tester

Yellow angry bird cupcakes

Again no Martha but sure is fun

Blue angry bird cupcakes

I am no Martha.... But my boys say they look kind of look like them.

Angry birds have invaded

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Fun at work

I have the pleasure to work w such a fun group of people. We won the contest too. 2 for 2 for the confront contests. I think I will stop participating for this year. Ha ha

Hellers

Bub has been SUPER interested in dad while Kenner has been super interested in earning money to buy his own I pod touch or I pad. He helped me do my freezer cooking this month. I am so thankful for another helper!!

Football fun

We are so blessed to have so many grandparents to treat us to nights out for dinner here the boys are waiting for gma and gpa Jim and Jan at pizza hut. The boys have been really really into their dad lately. Alleluia.... Mommy time with Ike

New teething toy

Use what you can use to keep a boy happy.... Daddy's wrench.