Parties

Something I really love is parties.  I don't spend a ton of money, but I do try to make them as fun as possible.  I'm in the process of planning Kagen's 5th birthday party.  It's going to be a circus theme and I have been pinning stuff like crazy on Pinterest. 

 Each party I learn something new.  Find something new.  There's always something I wish I would've added.  But the overall experience is just fun. 

 

 

Lemonade Party

Kalli's 2nd birthday party was a lemonade theme.  I wasn't sure what kind of party we would do, then a friend of mine showed me a lemonade theme party and I fell in love.  I could have really gone over the top but I calmed myself down.  And to be honest I didn't get anything done until a few weeks prior to the party!  We actually had two small parties for her.  We had a play date with a few friends and then a family party.  These are pictures from her family party.   I just reused everything for her play date. 

 

 

I actually found these paper straws at Marshall's of all places!  I was standing in the check out line and there they were! 

I bought this piece of wood at Lowe's last year and painted it with chalkboard paint.  I intended to use it as a menu board but it has really come in handy with parties!



I have a very talented MIL and she always makes the cakes and cupcakes for us!!  So thankful for her.  This cake was PERFECT!

I made rice crispie treats and put them in paper cupcake liners.  I used lollypop sticks and place washi tape at the top for a little flag.   Cupcake liners and washi tape were from Pick Your Plum.  They have daily deals.  A friend of mine got me hooked to the site!  You should totally sign up. 
I also spray painted a couple mason jars pink.  I made small bunting using scrap book paper.  I found the wooden crate at Hobby Lobby.  I painted it pink when I used it for Kagen's 4th birthday(below).   

Simple but sweet.  My Mom made her awesome chicken salad for lunch.  I'm telling you, that stuff is amazing.

                            Cowgirl Party

For Kagen's 4th birthday we had a cowgirl theme.  One of Lex's coworkers has a couple miniature horses that he takes to parties, so he brought them to Kagen's.  The kids had so much fun!  I loved this theme!

I made some bunting using burlap and twine.  I just cut the triangles out and sewed them onto the twine.  I bought a wreath at Hobby Lobby and added little rosettes to it using left over burlap.  The table cloth belonged to my Gran.  I was so excited to put it to use.  I borrowed some gorgeous platters from my Mom to decorate with and found the small hay bells at Hobby Lobby.

 

 

The smores pops were SO easy to make!!  Just dip large marshmallows in melted chocolate then sprinkle with crumbled graham crackers.  I put animal crackers in mason jars and used some left over fabric I had.  The powdered donuts where a hit!  I could easily eat a bag of those things by myself!

 

I got the popcorn from a local shop.  It's a mix of caramel and white cheddar. SO GOOD.  The cookies were made by a sweet lady a friend introduced me to.  And I made the cake myself.  Don't look too closely.  ha!

 

Party favors were a trail mix a made.  For the entrance I used Kagen's side table from her room.  Added some extra details I borrowed from a friend and my Mom.  There's that chalk board.  I love that thing!

 

 

And the games.   I made these signs in Photoshop and added them to frames a friend loaned me.  I couldn't find the bean bags, so I just made some.  They were so not perfect but they worked!

 

                        Gender Reveal Party

A friend of mine asked, okay I may have INSISTED,  if I would do a gender reveal party for New Years Eve.  It was so fun!! Gender reveal parties are so neat to me.  Perfect excuse to party too!

Her mom made some yummy cookies and she had some popcorn and pretzels.  This party was so easy because we pretty much used everything we already had. 

We had a hot chocolate bar.  So fun!

 
                               Olivia the Pig Party

Kagen was obsessed with Olivia when she was 3.  Now, not so much.  Here's the details from that party.

Again, my MIL made that adorable cake and cupcakes,  A sweet friend of mine made those really cute cupcake toppers for me. 

Party favors.  White Chocolate dipped pretzels.  YUM!  My friend made some favor tags too.  Aren't they CUTE?!

I found a lady on Etsy that had some super cute labels for water bottles.  I accidentally had cupcake toppers printed on sticky paper, so I put them on the cups and it worked perfectly! 

 

I didn't post Kalli's 1st birthday.  I may get around to it. Ha!   Have a great day!

Five on Friday

                                                                          Hey guys!
                             I'm so excited to be doing my first link up with The Good Life Blog!!!



{1}
 My allll time favorite makeup is bareMinerals.  I was introduced to it over 7 years ago by my MIL.  At the time, it wasn't in all the stores like it is now.  It's so much easier to buy now!!!   I have pretty oily skin so I don't like wearing liquid foundation.  Bare Minerals is the only makeup I've found that has such great coverage and doesn't make me feel like I have a ton of makeup on.   They recently came out with a new color called Golden Fair.  Which has been AWESOME!!!!!   I have a golden skin tone but I'm fair.  So when I heard about this, birds started singing!!! Haha!!  I have been loving the color.  The other products I use is the warmth, which is a must have.  It gives me a little extra color.  And their blush is wonderful.  They also have Mineral Veil that goes on after everything and gives you that final touch. It can also be applied through out the day if you get oily and it doesn't add anything color or make your makeup cakey.   Ulta is giving a medium size mineral veil free for each purchase of bareMinerals foundation.  That was a nice surprise!

Photo credit: Sephora 

{2}
Tonight Lex and Kagen are going on a little date.  She has this obsession with planes lately.   Not sure why?   So when the preview for the movie Planes came on.  Lex said, "I'm taking her to see that!"  They are both so excited.  The movie is a little late so I made Kagen promise she would nap today.  Here's hoping.

Photo credit: IMDB

{3}
 Lex and I will be coordinating our 3rd Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class.  I'm so excited about it.  Mostly because I want to get a refresher.  This man and this class have changed the way Lex and I handle money.  We save like we never have before.  We give tithe regularly.  And we WERE debt free, but we needed a new vehicle.   By new, I mean used. It's nearly 7 years old.  We searched and searched and prayed and prayed.  We hated to get into debt again, but we looked at it as an investment and we are focused on paying it off quickly.  If you've never heard of Dave Ramsey
or his famous snow ball method, you should look into it.  Being debt free (other than one car and the house) has been such a blessing.  We tell our money where to go instead of having to spend it paying off a bunch of debt.  If we want something, like new recliners, ha,  we save until we can pay cash.  We don't believe in the no interest if paid in full.  Because we have been there.  And we NEVER paid it off by the date.  The feeling you get paying cash for something is awesome.  Having an emergency fund is also super important.  We are going to be needing new tires soon.  Thankfully we have and emergency fund and don't have to put tires on credit.   I've become very humble the last few years.  I learned that material things are nice, but that's not really what matters.  I don't care what others think of what I drive or wear.  What matters is that others know we love the Lord and have complete faith that he will take care of us.  Gosh.  I'm getting off subject.  Another post, another time.  Ha!

Photo credit: Dave Ramsey

{4}
Have you seen those Melissa & Doug reusable sticker pads?  No?  Go get some if you haven't.  Thank me later.
 My Mom got Kagen some and she loves them.  I love them because they don't get stuck on things like the refrigerator or my floors.  These have been a little life saver when I need to get something done.  They can sit and play with out me hovering and making sure the stickers are going on the page and nowhere else.  

Photo credit: Toys R Us




{5} 
And finally.  The thing we talk about DAILY around here.  Kagen's 5th birthday.  This kid tells EVERYONE she will be five soon. Not until October, and this has been going on since July.... I think she thinks 5 means BIG girl.  And she's right.  I had a hard time when the girls each turned one.  Then again when they turned two.  I was okay when Kagen turned three and four.  But, five?  I might cry a little lot.
So we have been back and fourth with themes.  As I said, she has been obsessed with planes and wanted a plane party.  Plane party?  For a girl?  *sigh*  But now it's settled.  It will be a CIRCUS party.  This will probably be the last big party I will do for her besides milestone birthdays.  I am getting really excited looking at Pinterest for ideas.  I am doing this party cheap people.  I am determined to spend as little money as possible and make as much stuff as I can.  Kagen's PawPaw has a tent we are borrowing and that is her FAVORITE part. We have been looking at invites and she insists the invite must have a tent on it.  I think I might be more excited than her for this party though! 

Photo credit: Kara's Party Ideas

Have a great Friday!!!

A little of this and that

The last few days have been so.... ordinary. Ha!  Nothing special has happened.  No big milestones.  Just a plain ole week for us.  But I'll give you a recap and mostly because I enjoy looking back and seeing how we spent our days, because frankly I can't always remember. 

 

On Tuesday's Kagen has gymnastics from 11-12.  Next week is actually her last of the summer, then we have one week off and start back on Tuesdays 5:30-6:30pm.  I chose the later time so that Lex could watch her when he can.  She will also be moving up to a more advanced class and I am so excited about that.  Lately she seems a little bored in class so I'm thinking she needs a change. 

 One day after leaving class she told me thank you for letting her do this.  I'm so glad she enjoys gymnastics.  I was so hesitant at first, but she has so much fun!

 

If I'm getting ready, you better believe this kid is right behind me.

Ready to take sister to gymnastics!

 Before we went to gym I took my phone by the repair shop because as you can see from the picture above, the photos were bad!  He replaced the camera for me and now it's good as new.  *Little back story.  I washed my phone with our sheets one weekend.  SO dumb, I know.  I'm still not over it, can you tell?  The hard drive was salvageable so the repair shop put it in a new phone(with a crummy camera) Ha!*   Now I'm feeling complete again.  

 After gymnastics I picked up some makeup, where Kagen introduced herself to the cashier. "Hi.  I'm Kagen!  I did a cartwheel at gymnastics today. Watch this!"  Luckily,  I stopped her attempt of a cartwheel before she knocked everything down around her.  That girl.   Afterwards we met Lex at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. 

                              

The rest of the day was a blur.  And honestly I can only remember this part of it because I took a photo.  See?  Life isn't the same with a crummy camera.   They played so nice together while I cooked supper.   

Little fact about Kagenz: She has decided she doesn't like sleeping in jammies.
 So, when she got up Wednesday morning I told her to get dressed and this is how she showed up.      It's a little warm out, darlin'.

Other than that crazy blonde hair, the girls are so different.  Bugs don't scare Kalli, but terrify Kagen.  Loud noises make Kagen panic, where Kalli could care less.   Kalli is very girly whereas Kagen.... is not.  I think Kalli may be converting Kagen to her ways though.  Ha! 

Future little momma

I let her play Angry Birds while Kalli napped.  Why do children outgrow nap time?  Seriously.  I want nap time.

After supper we went to Lowes to price fencing.  Our neighbors are re-doing their fence.  So now ours looks even worse than it did before.  Ha!   We also had to buy a new battery for the lawn mower.  Which ended up being the wrong one. Figures!  

Up until a few years ago I had never pushed mowed.  Ever.  Then up until a few months ago I had never mowed on a riding mower.  I am now obsessed with mowing.  No idea why.  It's kind of like vacuuming.  I like the way the carpet looks afterwards.  Don't judge.

 

 

Our 10 Year wedding anniversary is next month.  I can't believe it!  10 Years!  We were just babies when we got hitched.  I would die if the girls ever said they wanted to get married at 20. Yikes!   But, I don't regret it one bit.  I love that man of mine.    

 We have been so back and forth on a location to celebrate.  We started out thinking Colorado, then Mexico, then Florida, then San Antiono.  And we finally decided on Lake Degray in Arkansas.  Only 3 1/2 hours away from my babies.  Who was I kidding thinking I could go to Mexico without them!  Really? 

 We decided on 3 nights away. Which is big.  We will probably leave late on day one and get home as early as possible the last day.  Ha! 

This resort looks so nice!  Lex's boss has been there and recommended it.  It may not be the beach or the mountains.  But it's a pretty good combo of water and tall hills!  I'll take it!  No passport needed. 

I booked our stay this morning.  We actually will not be going until November due to work and just lots going on the next few months.  The weather should be perfect then, so I'm not complaining!

 

 

 

 

I needed to work in our flowerbeds.  They looked so pitiful.  I had to get something from our storage building and Kagen spotted the bounce house.  So we hooked it up and they jumped while I cleaned our the flower beds.   You can bet I will be putting news paper down next spring.   But now we have a weed free flower bed.  For now.

Can you tell we haven't mowed?  HA!!!!

We ran to have lunch with Lex and now we are back home and the girls are napping. 

I plan to do a link up post tomorrow that I'm looking forward to!!! 

Happy Thursday!

The weekend and a little of today

We had a fun and hot weekend!   This August weather is no joke.  After breakfast on Saturday Lex wanted to wash my car.  (Is that guy awesome or what?)  So the girls insisted on helping playing in the water.  I put their suits on and off they went.  After a while Kagen decided her car and bike needed to be washed as well, so she got to work on that.  I should've taken pics!!

                                

After lunch the girls napped and we relaxed a little.  That afternoon we had a birthday party to go to.  The youngest little Richardson cousin turned 1!  We didn't stay long because it was just so hot outside.  But we still had fun.  

 

 

Sweet cousins at the party
 

                          

After the party we went to Bill Bill and GiGi's for the rest of the day.  The girls had fun playing and dancing.  Kalli was in a very rare mood.  Okay, she was hyper.  Could be all those cupcakes she had. All I know is something made that child turn into a mini crazy person. Ha!

 

 

I just love Brit. 

 

 

 

Sunday we all got ready and headed to church and actually got there early!  I couldn't believe it! It seems like we are always running late.  After church I needed to run in to Wal-Mart for a few things and Kagen wanted to go with me.  She pushed the cart the whole time and loved being my little helper.

 

                                     

 

 

 

 

When we got home Lex started getting lunch ready.  Turkey burgers.  Yummo!!   It was so hot out and the girls wanted to ride their bikes.  So I let them ride inside.  Kagen's response, "GiGi lets us!" Hahaha.  We love you GiGi. 

 

 

 

                             

 

The rest of the day we relaxed a little.  That evening we loaded up and went over to Shana and Cory's so I could run with Shana and the girls could play.  We are training to run a 5k and I am pretty sure it will kill me. 

 

Sunday night after we put Kalli in bed she got up 50 10 times. She was wearing us out! The last time she got up, she went to Kagen's room.  So Lex told them they could sleep in the same room but they had to go to sleep.  Well, they did and Kalli slept all night!  Lately she has been getting up in the middle of every night and coming in to our room.   I'm thinking she might be lonely and that's why she wakes up?  Who knows?  I'm going with that...  If she will sleep all night with Kagen, I'm in!  If things really start going well we have talked about letting the girls share a room and converting Kalli's room to a play room.  Which would be pretty fantastic. 

 

 

And finally, today....  I took the girls swimming over at NaNa and PawPaw's.  We swam, played and ate lunch.   Came home for naps.  Well, one kid napped.  The other played and had her doll house fall down on her.  She informed me it was just an accident and that everything was ok.  *sigh*

TGIF

Yesterday we stayed home all day, except for an emergency run to Sonic for a Happy Hour drink.
I had loads(no pun intended) of laundry to do. I was so behind!

While I was in the laundry room I heard laughing. So I peaked in and saw them playing a game together!

  The girls played so well all day together until the end of the day...  I think they started to get enough of each other. Ha!  I built a tent in Kalli's room hoping I could distract them with that so I could cook dinner.  It worked like a charm.

Helping Kalli clean her dinner plate off

I planned on us staying home all day  like we did yesterday.  Then I realized I didn't send lunch with Lex.  So we decided to run a couple errands then eat with him.  We ran to Marshall's first and only found a cute hand towel.  I'm on the hunt for a few things to finish off the girls' bathroom.  When it's done I will post pictures!  I love their bathroom!  After that we went to Target for the second time this week.  Ha!  I needed a birthday gift and I also skimmed through the girls clearance racks.  I found a super cute top but it was a size 6.  It was only $4 so I got it in hopes it could be worn as a dress until Kagen grew into it!  I was right!

I used some ribbon here because it was a little big under her arms.  I "love" it!!

There were so many people in town today!  You can tell school is about to start.  We thought the mall chick-fil-a would be less crowded.  It was but, the parking lot was crazy!  When we walked in Kalli spotted the chick-fil-a cow and made a bee-line for him.  It was so cute!!  She gave him a high five and smiled so big.  While we ate she kept yelling, "Cow! Cow!" She talked to him probably 10 times while we were there.  Kagen on the other hand wanted nothing to do with him. Ha!

We came home and played the rest of the afternoon.  After dinner we took the girls to TCBY.  That's their favorite spot.   Perfect ending to the day.  Now we can relax!  I hope!

 Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Hey there August

I am going to try to start blogging again.  I enjoy writing, although it's not about anything in particular, I still enjoy it.  Ha!  Also... I'm getting anxious for Fall.  It's one of my favorite seasons!!!!

 Kalli just turned 2 and Kagen will be 5 in October.  I'm excited and sad at the same time.  I'm thankful the Lord blesses us with life each day.  So each birthday is really a celebration I never want to take for granted.  With that being said, this means Kagen will begin Kindergarten next year!!  It may seem like a ways away, but really it will be here before I know it.  She has asked to go to school this year but I told her that me and her would have school.  She seems excited! 

 

 

Kalli is changing so much everyday.  She has been talking so much.  I swear Kagen didn't talk this much.  But I think it helps having a big sister.  Almost every day she wants to sit on the big girl potty.  Nothing has happened yet and I don't want to push it, but I can't help but get a little excited thinking diapers may soon disappear from this house!!!! 

My girls play so well together for the most part.  Kagen is usually really good about including Kalli when she has a friend over or if we are at a friends house.  This doesn't mean they don't fight though!  My favorite argument is when Kalli is playing with a toy that Kagen had no interest in until she looked over to see her sister has it.  "I wanted that!!!"  Oh Kagen.  She is my sweet, but strong willed child and Kalli is the soft hearted, give you her cookie kind of girl.

Kagen has become more observant of things and asks questions constantly.  I don't mind at all because I know she has a desire to learn what's going on around her.  She is a people person.  Loves being around friends.  She will not play in the Chick-Fil-A play area if there are no other kids in there.  Ha!  As soon as she sees a kid run in there she says, "Oh!  There's some friends!  I'm going to play!" 

We put her in swim lessons again this year and the first day she was jumping off the diving board!  Such a difference from last year.  She is a great swimmer now!  I'm so thankful for her swim instructors.   We are about to end the summer classes for gymnastics.  The other day she told me "Thank you for letting me do this".  I want her to have fun, but also listen and obey her teachers.  It makes me happy when I know she is actually enjoying it.   At the end of this month she will move to a different class where I am hoping it will challenge her a bit more. 

Kalli loves doing "flips" around the house and telling us to look!  She wants to be just like her big sister.  Lately she has been saying her own prayers.  It is so stinking cute the way she says "Amen"  Her prayers are short, but so sweet.  "Thank you Jesus, Amen."  Last night we heard her door open and we expected her to come into our room.  When that didn't happen Lex went to check on her and she was sitting at the dining room table.  He asked what she was doing and she said "I wanna sleep with Kagen"  So he put her with Kagen, who was passed out, but Kalli just kept talking and singing so we had to put her back in her own bed. 



I'm praying about the Lord's guidance on some things in my life.  I have a desire to do something good in His name.  I ask that you pray for me too.  I am thankful for the ability to stay home with my girls and I never want to compromise that.  So, I'm not sure the direction I'm headed but I want it to be great and in His name.

Hope you have a great first day of August!!