Hi-Ya! It's a Ninja Birthday Party!

Friday night was Ryder's Ninja Birthday Party! IT. WAS. AWESOME.

We had his party in the children's area at my church and it was perfect. The floors of the children's area need some major TLC, but we are working on it. And there is a random map of Canada rug hanging out in there......not really sure where that came from.

Anyway, here we go!

Ryder was so happy! You know how sometimes you think they don't really notice little details, but then later they recall specific things and tell you thank you? Well, this happened a lot over the weekend :) Man this kid needs a hair cut. Oh Heather! Where are you!!!

We hung balloons from the ceiling with bad guy faces drawn on them. The kids loved hitting them. The plan was that they were going to have "Ninja Training". First they would break boards, then hit then pinata, then finally they could attack the bad guys. Real World: those kids ran right in, picked up a sword, and started swatting. We had to make them come over and break boards and hit the pinata. Seriously, if you are looking for a rainy day activity, hang balloons all over your house.

 

Willow was a pro at breaking boards. She is one of the cutest kids on this planet. I mean, HELLO, blonde curls, gorgeous. We bought a huge sheet of insulating Styrofoam at Home Depot, cut it down to the size of boards, and spray painted them to look like wood. George scored them with a knife so when the kids punched them it broke in half. They loved it.

 George kept asking them to head butt the boards. Umm, do ninjas head butt things? This isn't soccer George.......Willow knows what Im talking about. He's crazy.

Either way, Ryder gave it a try :)

 I looked and looked and looked everywhere online for a Ninja pinata. I couldn't find one, so I decided to just make one myself. One of my fav blogs did a tutorial a while back on how to make a number pinata. I figured the idea could be applied to any shape, so I set to work. I got a huge Amazon box out of storage and stacked two pieces of cardboard together. Then I drew out my ninja, cut him out, and cut four 4" wide strips of cardboard. Then I got out my tape and started taping the two pieces together, with the strips of cardboard as the border, if that makes sense. After I had what looked like a 3' tall gingerbread man I got out tissue paper and started fringing it, then hot glued it on in layers. It took me a solid five hours to make him from start to finish, but it only cost $1.50 to make. So I say it was a win. If you want the actual tutorial with way better explanation, go here. Really, you can do it! It took a long time, but it was worth it I think!

Miss Lucy decided to dive face first into a cupcake. Even though it's super cute it had to get wiped off.....

She wasn't a fan.

Finally Ryder got to open his presents, YAY!

We are all super excited about some bowling pins.

Now for the food details, YUM!

I downloaded the "karate" font from Dafont.com to make the birthday banner, and printed it on matte photo paper. The black looks so much better on photo paper.

Cupcakes!

I ordered the printable cupcake toppers and labels from this Etsy shop.

 

We had "sushi" that was made out of rice krispie treats, a swedish fish, and a strip of fruit roll up. Thanks Pinterest!

HI-Ya! Punch! I got those glass beverage dispensers on sale at Target last summer for $10, whoop!

Who doesn't love a fortune cookie?! I ordered a box of 60 off Amazon. They were awesome.

I love paper straws. I know they are probably overdone but I will have them at every party. I always ordered way too many, so now I have quite the color collection going on. I get them from the same amazing Etsy shop every time. Go here for the best selection!

When the kids got there I had this sign and a bucket of black belts waiting on them.

Ryder thought it was an awesome party, and I had so much fun planning it for him. It's funny, right during crunch time, like 2 days before I am cussing myself for stressing out. But then the day after I am already thinking about what we will do for Lucy's in September. 

Birthdays are fun :)

Mine's next!

Busy

*pic from here

We are getting ready to party tomorrow night! Ryder's Ninja themed birthday party is finally here. I feel like I have been planning and preparing for this thing for a year now..... probably because Ryder asks "is it my birthday party yet?" every. single. day.

I have been good and ordered most of the things early on, but I still have a little ways to go. Which means I probably shouldn't be here blogging it up, but I have been running around crazy for the past few days. Can I just take a 30 min rainy day breather? Yea, I think I will. 

So in honor of my break I will list some of the FUN things I have been doing this week. Here ya go:

• Tuesday (George's off day. He works four days a week 10 hours instead of 5 days) I met my friend Heather at Coaling Park and we walked about a mile and then did 15 min of ab workouts with the Nike Training Club app.  I have blogged about it before, and I will probably talk about it again. It really is that awesome. Two days later my abs are still killing me. Seriously, its FREE, go download it. You will love it.
• Also on Tuesday George and I re-painted our porch, front door, and shutters. The porch was looking pretty craptastic, so it needed a fresh coat of paint. Our house is light gray and when we bought it the porch, shutters, and door were painted this kind of burnt southwestern red. I mean, it was alright I guess, but I have always wanted to paint them a brighter red. Now almost five years later we did! The shutters and door are Behr California Poppy. I really love that color red so much. It's the same color I used to paint the apple stand I built. The porch is a dark gray. So yea, our house is an Alabama fan's dream home.
• This week in the mail I was excited to see the Publix Family Style Magazine in my mailbox. They only send it our four times a year, but I am always so pumped to flip through it. There are recipes, fun things to do with your kids, and coupons. Go here to sign up for it :)
• Oh, and lastly, I went to Wal-Mart yesterday for the first time in about 5 months. I am a Target girl through and through, but since I went to wally world at 10 am there weren't that many skankateers trolling around. I guess they were all still snoozing. And I actually had a pleasant experience! I told George I might go there more often in the mornings. I just don't like crowds and pushing through a sea of people to shop. *Not to say that ALL Wal-Marts are gross, Ive been to some awesome ones in other cities. But you haven't lived until you have been to the one in my city. 

Now, off to work on a pinata.

It's Friday!

I think I have Migraines. Yesterday all day and into the night I had the worst headache of my life. The pain is always on one side of my forehead and light and noise make it even worse. Thank God both kids take naps at the same time and always for at least 2 hours....although Ryder will go for a solid 3.5 if you let him. 

George got home from work before they woke up so I could lay in the bed in the dark for the rest of the night. It was heaven. I feel pretty much all the way better today except for a cough. I sound like I'm dying. It's super attractive.

In other exciting news my BFF, Randi, from New York is coming home this weekend!

Here we are at Sea-N-Suds about five or six years ago. It's one of my favs. I like to remember times like this :)

 Randi and her husband, Jamey, moved up to Brooklyn almost five years ago because they think the south is lame..............Just Kidding........or am I? ;)-(I winked Ran, so you can't get mad. Its the internet rule.)

When they moved up to Brooklyn they opened up Roots Cafe
and Randi is working at Anthropologie. Best job ever.

Tomorrow we will have breakfast with them and a few others at Panera, should be awesome.

Other things I hope to accomplish this weekend:

• Get to work on making decorations for my cousin's baby shower
• Finish up making/buying everything I will need for Ryder's party next Friday
• Clean up the kids room. It is a HOT MESS.
• Find some sort of plant or flower that I can put in my hanging baskets on the porch. I'm always glad to pull up to the house in the summer when there are beautiful flowers greeting me. There's gotta be something I can plant in January.
• Work on Valentine's decorations for the nursery at church 
• Make up these buckets to give as birthday presents for kids at church.
• Sit on the couch wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt, while folding clothes, while watching TV

What are your plans for this weekend? Are you busy busy or are you just going to relax? 

Have a great one friends! 

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Ryder's Birthday! Since I'm pretty sure this kid is going to be The Next Iron Chef I knew he would want to help make his cake. 

So yesterday morning after I put Lucy down for her morning nap we baked his Funfetti Birthday cake. NO, it's not made from scratch. But don't sit there and tell me you didn't love Funfetti when you were little.

The only thing bad thing about baking a cake with a 4 year old in the morning is that they certainly do not want to wait until after dinner to have a bite.

SO, I did what any normal person would do, I let him have a bite from the back. I see Paula Deen doing this all the time when she makes stuff, so I assumed it would be alright. Icing on his face.....and in his hair. He stuck his face in the bowl to lick it afterwards.

Last night I made his favorite meal. Baked chicken with rice, crunchy ranch potatoes, corn on the cob, and broccoli. I am new to broccoli. I seriously just tried it for the first time maybe 4 months ago. Dear mom, why didn't you ever make it when I was little??!

Then, we ate cake! Here I am sporting my favorite cardigan from Urban Outfitters. I feel like Ernie when I wear it.

No need to ask Lucy twice if she wanted any cake. She happily shoved it in her mouth.

After we ate cake Ryder got a few more whacks in on the balloons George and I hung from the ceiling the night before. Those Ninja swords I ordered for his party have come in handy--I just hope they actually make it to his party.

Between all the cake baking and eating, and balloon hitting, we had a picnic lunch.....in the living room(it was FREEZING outside!), and opened gifts. 

He is such a sweet boy and I am so thankful God gave him to us. When I found out I was pregnant with him I think I cried for a week straight. I was only 21 and had never even held a baby. I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self that everything works out wonderfully and that Ryder will tell you he loves you 20 times a day and that your are his best friend. :) He is really awesome.

Save Your Money Kids!

Look what came in the mail yesterday for Ryder & Lucy...

 

 Two cute little banks from Mudpuppy! I found these last week on OhDeeDoh!

George and I are Dave Ramsey fans so this little bank fits in perfectly with what we want to teach the kids. 

Our hope is that when they leave our house all grown up they will think debt is evil and laugh at people who want them to sign up for credit cards.

I also love that there is a slot for sharing. What a perfect way to teach about tithing. I haven't decided yet on how we will deal with the share money once it gets full. I definitely want to involve them in the process of giving their money to the church or someone in need. 

And with the way Ryder has been searching out every nook and cranny of the house for coins it will be full very soon!

I bought ours off Amazon, go here to check them out! They have lots of different designs to choose from.

Have you started teaching your children about saving? Do you have them save up for a big toy they want or do you just build their savings accounts up? Im trying to decide what we will do with the save money too.

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It's Ryder's 4th birthday today so we are enjoying him and baking cakes! See you friends tomorrow!

Let's Make A Plan

Sometimes my need for things to be pretty makes buying essentials really hard. I mean its January 16th and I STILL haven't bought a planner for the new year. I just haven't been able to find one that meets all the criteria I want. I want it to be a monthly planner with wide open spaces of lined paper for me to jot down lists and doodles and whatevers.

But above all else, IT MUST BE BEAUTIFUL.

Guess what? Most people have already bought their life organizers so it is slim pickens over at Barnes & Noble and Target. Slim. Pickens.

Just today though, it occured to me that I dont really need a fancy weekly/monthly planner with all sorts of areas to write in. Let me tell you what I do need. Just a simple little monthly pocket calendar that I can easily flip to see whats coming up overall. Im a stay-at-home-mom. Im not going to be scheduling 5 different things on one day with two kids. Maybe when they are older, but for right now Im still sane. One or two commitments, max. Perfect to jot down in a little square :)

And as far as my list jotting and doodling goes, I am SOLD on these guys. $12.95 for three beautiful notebooks. Go here to get them.

Now, back to the monthly pocket calendar. Lets see, when you think of a pocket calendar what do you think of? Ugliness? Maybe some sort of kitten or puppy in a field of sunflowers? Maybe a Thomas Kincaid image? Maybe a "funky" (dear God help me) cross with some quote about reaching for the stars? Um, you are correct if you pictured any of these things. That's mostly all there is.

Until....

I stumbled across this on Etsy.

I love it. Simple and modern and just what I need. I can know what's going on here and scribble all I want in my notebook. And for only $11.50 I am happy to purchase this. If you think these are the coolest planners ever you can go here to check them out.

Do you like having notebooks to jot down in or do you have everything in your planner? I'm glad I have finally found a system that works for me. 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday! Ryder's birthday is Wednesday so we will be partying it up over here!

Favorite Finds

If you have not heard of these yet, get ready.

About a month ago one of my friends was sipping away on these and I thought it was the coolest thing EVER.

Later that same day I saw them at Target and bought a pack of every flavor.

These awesome straws turn plain white milk into those lovely flavors above. The milk is flavored as you sip it through the straw. Its pretty awesome.

Ryder LOVES them. He isn't exactly in love with milk but ever since I bought these straws he asks for it all the time.

The only down side to this is the flavor wont last for an entire cup of milk. Maybe 10 sips tops. But those 10 sips are quite delicious!

My fav is the Strawberry. 

Now go buy some! You're gonna love it!

Let's Work It Out

I don't have a weekend run-down post for today. It's for no other reason than than this weekend was just pretty boring. We mostly sat around the house, played outside, went to Moe's, and drove to church in a monsoon.

BUT! I do have something to share!

Over the weekend I did do one thing that has left such an impression that I am still thinking about it today......

......and that would be because my legs are FREAKING KILLING ME.

I have seen people posting all these awesome workouts on Pinterest and I just have not been able to jump on the bandwagon. Mostly because when I read the list of things you will be doing in the workout the word "burpee" and "frogger" comes up every single time. 

Let me tell you something. I don't know what the hell a burpee or frogger is.

So sorry, these workouts aren't for me. The last time I seriously exercised was in high school.....when I cheered(using that term loosely, as not a one of us could do any sort of tumbling)......in 10th grade. So all my exercise knowledge comes from what our coach made us do. Which was usually a ton of crunches and a ton a laps to run.

Well, the other day as I was blog hopping one of my favorite blogs, Creature Comforts, did this post about the Nike Training Club app.

I was super pumped. Not only does it give you a description of what a burpee is, it shows you a short video demonstrating each exercise throughout the workout. I mean, its a dream come true!

Each workout is 45 min long and it gives you tons of different workouts to choose from. And, since there is a beginner level I was sure it wouldn't kick my butt that bad. Um, no. 

Listen, I didnt even come close to finishing half of the workout before I felt like I was going to die, and my legs are still burning.....two days later. Like so bad that it makes me want to cry at the thought of having to sit down on the floor. 

So anyway, I think I have found my workout partner. Oh, did I also mention that for most workouts you need no equipment? And HELLO!! its FREE!!

This shuts up my excuses about not wanting to pay to go to a gym and not having time to go anywhere. I did this in my backyard.....and looked like an idiot I'm sure. HA!

Have you been exercising? Was it a goal for the new year? 

Hoping I can keep this up!

Poooor Pebbles

*My dad calls Lucy "Pebbles", like from the Flintstones because her eyes are so big. And her hair is a little reddish too...

 

My sweet girl wasnt feeling very good yesterday. She has a cold and has been running a small fever.

When Ryder got home from school and after Lucy picked at her lunch we all went outside to cheer her up.

After I gave her some Advil she started to feel a lot better, but she was still super clingy.

Ryder finally went over to the trapeze part of his swing set. We have had this thing for a year now, and he has always been scared of it. But yesterday I  showed him how to hang upside down....

After I showed him that's pretty much all he did the rest of the time we were out there.

I got on the trampoline with Lucy while Ryder was acting like a bat and just sat with her. The sun was shining and it was warm out, it was so nice. Then the bat decided to get down and come take our picture. He is all about taking pictures, and maybe I shouldn't let him hold our expensive camera but he is super careful. And if I didn't, I would never be in any pictures!

 (yea, Im still rocking the chipped tooth......someone recommend a good TTown dentist so I can get it fixed! The dentist I have went to for almost 20 years doesn't take our new insurance, so we are on the hunt!)

 

I finally got her to smile. You can look in her eyes and tell she doesn't feel good though :(

I am hoping she feels better today, she was up for a while last night running a fever. If not we will be making a trip to the doctor......on a Friday.....in the middle of winter. Should be a quick trip -_-.......... 

Hopefully this weekend can be full of relaxing and staying home.

Ombre Love

I am loving all things Ombre so much right now.

In case you didnt know, here's a definition for ya:

Ombre: refers to a gradual change in shade from light to dark or from one color to another.

Lets look at some pretty pics :)

*Beautiful Flowers

*cakes

Those cakes are super beautiful. I really want to go to a wedding where they have tons of smaller cakes or pies instead of just one big cake. 

*drawers

My pretty friend April pinned these the other night, and I love it. Great minds think alike!

 *backdrop

This backdrop is made of clothespins! How awesome is that! 

*dresses 

Look at those dresses! And lets not forget my love affair with huge ballons, THEY ARE AWESOME.

*cake  

This cake is so beautiful. My birthday is coming up next month, I think I will be making this for myself :)



 And apparently, Ombre hair is super popular right now.

I remember last time Courtney 
did my hair she told me roots were awesome! Whoop! I can wait another 6 months before I get my hair colored again, HA!


Have a lovely day friends!