The Proof is in the Pin (Volume 3)

Linking with Sarah at Life {Sweet} Life again!

I love this monthly link-up! It keeps me blogging (at least once a month… hey, it counts!!) and I think it helps motivate me to try out new Pinterest pins.

I try to do three a month, but this month I only have two. I have supplies bought for several other projects, but I was visited by the stomach bug from Hades last weekend and I wasn’t able to complete a few crafty projects that I had planned on doing.  I’m really hoping to complete those and share them next month!

Moving along.

First pin: Pumpkin Rice Krispy Treats – I made these for Christopher’s daycare class for Halloween. His teacher said that all the kids loved them! A few things I would do differently next time… it takes more orange coloring than you would think.  I used orange gel coloring and the melted marshmallow mixture looked like a good color, but as soon as I mixed it with those light colored Rice Krispies, you could barely tell there was any food coloring. I ended up adding more to the krispies mixture, which turned into a big mess.  If you look closely in the picture above, you can see there are streaks of orange running through the pumpkins.  For the green vine/leaf things, I mixed together powdered sugar and water, and it took a sweet forever to get the mixture right. First it would be too runny, then too thick. And I wasn’t really happy with the green color. Next time I would either leave the vines off, or buy frosting in those little tubes to pipe on.

{image via Miss Kopy Kat}

Next up: Curly Deco Mesh Wreaths!  I love this pin! I love these curly deco mesh wreaths. I made myself a “pumpkin” one.Love it? Want it? I’m selling it here. (More about this later… maybe!!)

I even decided to use the curly deco mesh method with my Christmas tree this weekend. I kind of love it!

That’s all I have this month… I’m hoping for several more Pinterest projects next month!

Posts about the Pumpkin Patch and Halloween coming soon. (Hopefully! My final marketing paper is due tomorrow and I should have a few days of freedom to work on random catch-up projects. First on the list is the disaster zone that is my HOUSE! It’s bad, y’all. Real bad!)

The Pumpkin Patch 2012

I had heard about a really fun Pumpkin Patch about an hour from where we live. The last weekend in October, we headed to it for some family fun!

We got there a little late; next year we need to go earlier. It was so much fun though! Definitely something that will be a yearly event. My mom and dad went with us. I’ve already posted pictures of my mom on the big slide with Christopher.

We got to go on a hayride around this big farm.
Christopher was not in a family-picture-taking mood.

The hayride took us by the big slide.  We all went on the slide, except for Stephen. He was the designated picture taker. These shots are not the most flattering of myself… but I love Christopher’s expression in them!

PawPaw & Christopher

Next, the hayride took us to a corn maze! This measurement thing was next to the maze.

After the corn maze, we were able to go pick our own pumpkins.

There was also a small petting farm and some goats to feed, donkeys to ride, etc. So much fun… we’re looking forward to doing it again next year!

Wordless Wednesday: The Slide

We went to a Pumpkin Patch on Saturday and they had this HUGE slide that you could go down on burlap sacks. By the time you reached the bottom you were SCOOTIN’! Mom and Christopher were the first to go down it, so they didn’t really know what to expect…

OH MY WORD… I can’t look at these pictures and not laugh. The expressions on my mom’s face are hilarious. And Christopher’s look of pure excitement – I LOVE these.

sidenote: Christopher’s shirt is not too small. His poor belly… ha. His shirt is just bunched up under mom’s death grip hand.

Christopher’s 3rd Birthday

Christopher turned 3 on August 18th!!! I’m finally getting his birthday post up. Maybe now I won’t feel like such a slacker mom. :)

At some point this summer, he was really into Curious George, which we can watch on Netflix. My original plan for his birthday party theme was going to be Thomas the Tank Engine, but I ended up changing it to Curious George because I thought a monkey-themed party would be fun to plan and decorate, and I figured that next year he’ll want a Thomas-themed party anyway, and I’d rather not do the same theme two years in a row.

Last year I planned a big party and expected a lot of people to show up. Christopher wasn’t in daycare at the time, but I invited acquaintances who had children around Christopher’s age, hoping for a good turn-out. I went to a lot of trouble… and the only kid there other than Christopher was my cousin’s little girl, who my aunt had brought from Texarkana. And the only other people at the party was family and our family friends, the Lawrys. To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

This year, I chose to invite only family and the Lawrys and just plan for them. It was much less stressful on me and we had a wonderful day celebrating Christopher’s third birthday!!!

I don’t love all of these pictures, but I was really too busy prepping everything to worry about shooting in anything other than auto.

{Morning of his birthday…}

I just snapped these pictures before most people arrived.
In this picture, you can see the blue spiral hanging from the ceiling. I had those in different colors hanging all over the living room. The little yellow bucket on the table was filled with candy. The Curious George balloon in the background was also tied to a bucket of candy.

I got the buckets from the $1 spot at Target. I got blue and yellow and filled them all with different kinds of candy. Then I bought the “3” candles and put them on a wooden skewer and stuck them in the middle.

This was our “dessert” bar… I always go overboard with the desserts, but I like for people to have options!

Red Velvet mini cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing. {both made from scratch}

White chocolate pretzel sticks. The sprinkles on the ones on the left are banana split sprinkles… bananas, cherries, and chocolate sprinkles.

Banana Bread

Banana Split Bar. We had homemade ice cream (made by my dad) with these yummy toppings in a waffle bowl.

This is an opening between the kitchen and living room. I wanted to do something fun and came up with this idea. Loved it!

Monkey faces!

4:59 – Birth Minute!

I realized – way after this picture was taken – that in all of craziness of the day, I had never put makeup on. Lovely.

Even though it was “just” aunts, uncles, grandparents, and the Lawrys, Christopher still had a ridiculous amount of gifts to open. He is very loved! (And spoiled.)

There were three things he kept telling us that he wanted for his birthday – balloons, a Thomas clock, and a drum. I made sure plenty of balloons were used as decorations, and Nana and PopPop got him the clock and drum.

This is his face when he realized what my parents got him – he opened up a helmet and then we asked him what he might need a helmet for? And my dad rolled in a brand new bike!

I am so thankful for our family. Christopher’s grandparents, uncles, and aunts all love him so much. Everyone except my parents & the Lawrys had to travel to be here to celebrate his day. I would like to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you! Our day wouldn’t have been complete without you here to celebrate it.