Thursday, December 25, 2014

Hope Joy Love

Merry Christmas to everyone!  
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and very happy new year!






Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!



Friday, December 19, 2014

My Little Elves

In my Christmas jammies...




Merry Christmas from my little elves!

Cheers!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Favorite Things Party

I had my Second Annual Favorite Things Party last night and it was so much fun!  Everyone brought three of their favorite items (the same items) with a $10 limit for each present, wrapped up.  Each person puts their name in a bucket three times and then each person draws three names and those are the presents they get.  Everyone goes home with three presents!



I also made party favors for everyone, that incorporated a few of my favorite things.  Who doesn't love party favors?  Ornaments, the state of Montana and chocolate!  I love every ornament on my tree and each one tells a story.  

I cut out the state of the Montana from a copied map and then traced it onto each ornament with a silver sharpie and added a heart.  I added a couple chocolates and wrapped them up in brown paper packages.  I think they turned out pretty cute and I'm going to give a few more out as gifts.  




Montana Ornaments

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Christmas Party Favors


Gift table before everyone arrived




2nd Annual Favorite Things Party - 2014
1st Annual Favorite Things Party - 2013




Montana Love

Happy Holidays!

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Happy Grandparent's Day

Happy Grandparent's Day!  Parker and Ryder have got to see all their grandparents over the last couple weeks.  Lucky boys!  They love their Grandma, three Grandpas and GGB so much!  

Here is a preview of this years Grandparents day card.  A collage I created in Google Picasa, with a few of my favorite pictures from the last six months.  



Here's to Grandmas, Grandpas and Great-Grandparents!

Happy Grandparents Day!

Cheers!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Back to School

Apparently I took the Summer off from blogging...  We had a busy and fun Summer that went by way too fast!  And now we are back to school, trying to figure out a morning routine and waking up to an alarm.

Parker started kindergarten last week!  I can't believe he is in elementary school already!  We were both ready though.  He loves it so far and told us last Friday that he wishes he could live at the school.  Parker has a great teacher, who we are really excited about.  He has a private Facebook page for the class, which he updates a couple times a day with what the kids are working on and doing.  I absolutely love this, because getting information out of Parker about what he did during the day can be a little difficult.  I know he is going to have an awesome year and learn so much!




Gotta love a teacher that takes a selfie with his kids!


Ryder started preschool this week.  He has enjoyed seeing some old friends and his teachers!  This is year 2 of 4 preschool!  


On an important call
Here's to a great school year!

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Friday, May 30, 2014

End of School Teacher Gifts

It's that time of year again, school is getting out and all the kids are ready for Summer break.  We wanted to show Parker and Ryder's teachers some appreciation for all their hard work this past year!  Between both boys they have ten teachers, so that can get kind of pricey for gifts for all of them.  World Market recently opened here, which I had been anxiously waiting for, and I knew I could find something there.  I love that store!  I found these yummy soda's for each of their teachers and then the boys picked out a fun cup for each of their main teachers.

Inside the card, it read, "It's so REFRESHING to have a great teacher like you!  Have a great Summer!"  





Cheers!


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Last Day of School

Parker and Ryder have their last day of school today.  They will still be going a couple mornings a week during the Summer, but today is the official last day of the regular school year.  I can't believe how much they have changed since last Fall.  Parker lost his baby cheeks and Ryder looks more like a little boy.  

Parker is all ready for kindergarten in the Fall and Ryder is ready for three more years of preschool.  Ha!  They both have so much fun school!  They love their teachers and all their friends!








Happy Champagne Thursday!

Here's to a great Summer!

Cheers!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

DIY Bar Cart

Hi!  I kind of took a break from projects this past Winter, but now that the weather is finally starting to get warmer I'm more motivated to work on some projects.  My first project I worked on was a fun bar cart. I've seen them all over lately and thought I needed one too!  When I saw this DIY cart on Brit.co, I knew it was the perfect option for me.

DIY Bar Cart


I bought the cart at Harbor Freight Tools for a little over $30.  It is currently on sale and then I had a coupon that they let me use on top of the sale.  Score!  I really liked the light gold color of my coat rack I painted last fall and still had a little paint left so I used what I had left and bought a couple more cans.

Supplies:

 - Cart
 - 2 1/2 Cans Krylon Brushed Spray Paint Satin Nickel
- Two thin boards cut to 15.25" x 29"  I had a guy a Lowes cut them for me, which saved me a lot of time.
- Tarp or something to lay down underneath the cart while you are painting




Directions:

  1. Prime all pieces of cart
  2. Spray paint cart in color of choice
  3. Add top coat
  4. Paint boards 
  5. Assemble cart - Because of the boards I added, I didn't quite go in the order suggested on the directions that came with the cart.  I put the wheels on first, then placed the boards in the trays, added the sides and finally the handle.
I'm sure this could have been assembled quicker with two people, but I got it done on my own.




I love it and I used it for the first time the other night with my Bunco group, even though we ended up playing Cards Against Humanity instead.


Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Cranberry Orange Scones

Are you looking for a tasty breakfast item to make this weekend?  A good friend of mine shared this cranberry orange scone recipe a while ago and I've made them a few times as a special breakfast treat. My boys love them and so do I.  The recipe came from the Go Bold With Butter website, but I altered the recipe slightly and use only dried cranberries.

Cranberry Orange Scones
Makes 8 scones

Ingredients:

Scones:
2-1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
6 Tablespoons Cold Butter, Cubed
1 Cup Half & Half
1 Egg, Whisked
Zest of 1 Orange
3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries

Orange Glaze:
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Tablespoons Orange Juice




Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

*I've used both a food processor and my KitchenAid mixer and the food processor works much better.  The dough is sticky and can get a little messy.

For the Scones:
Mix dry ingredients together in food processor or mixer, then add cubed butter until you have a sand like consistency.  Next add half & half, egg and orange zest until the mixture comes together in a ball.  Then add cranberries and pulse together quickly.  Place ball of dough on heavily floured surface, roll into a circle about 1 inch thick.  Then cut into 8 wedges and place on lined baking sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

For the Orange Glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar and orange juice, then spoon glaze on scones.

Store scones in airtight container.

I've also made Blueberry Lemon scones using this recipe, but substituting the cranberries for fresh blueberries and the orange zest and juice for lemon zest and juice. Both are delicious, but my family prefers the cranberry orange scones.   They are yummy breakfast treat!


Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

School Valentines

Parker and Ryder celebrated Valentine's day at school this week, with a party yesterday at Parker's school and one today at Ryder's school.  I was fortunate enough to be able to attend both.  It's so much fun watching them participate and interact with their friends at school.

Parker decided on a mustache Valentine after showing him a few different options on Pinterest.  He thought they were pretty funny!
I've officially decided printers are not my friend.  I have wasted so much time trying to get my printer at home to work and I've had enough.  I whipped up a couple quick designs in Photoshop and had Chris print them in black and white at work.  Then I cut them out and we used double sided tape to attach them to some red cardstock paper.   I found fun mustache straws at Michaels and we simply punched a couple holes in the Valentines and slid the straws in. 


I gave Ryder a few options too and he chose frog Valentines.  We found a bag of frogs in the Valentine section at Target for $3.  Ryder worked so hard unwrapping each frog and he enjoyed helping put together his Valentines.  



Parker and his friend Brooke after their party.  There was so much going on at Parker's party I didn't get any other pictures.  They each got to do a few different crafts, eat some special treats and pass out their Valentines.


Ryder eating his snack at his Valentine's party at school and then at home checking out all his goodies.  By the way his shirt isn't suppose to be like that, he completely stretched it out.  Ryder had so much fun passing out his Valentines to all his friends.  They all sat in a circle with their bags and each kid got a turn to go around the circle and hand out their Valentines.  

Mustaches and frogs... I definitely live with boys!

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!