It's A Cupcake Decorating (Birthday) Party

When you're celebrating a nine-year-old's birthday, there's nothing better than using every girly/pretty color that's out there.

Finding the theme and inspiration was easy with Pinterest and a purchase of cheap party lanterns!

And even though I'm still a believer in going big on the decor and food, I try to keep the cost down by being creative and shopping various dollar stores.

Lanterns: Originally $8, clearance $2: Family Dollar Stores. Streamers: $1 each.

Clearance glass containers for sprinkles: 25 cents each. Sprinkles from a local bulk food store: aprrox. $1.50 per container.

Girly storage/tackle box filled with gummy worms and fish candy: $1.99 on clearance at Shopko stores.

Paper goods: all $1.00; Cupcake wrappers: $1.50 (Wilton); frosting: Homemade Buttercream. Find the recipe here.

Vinyl Tablecloths (3): 25 cents each on clearance: Dollar General stores. I used three and as each one got dirty, I rolled it up and tossed it. (They made it through cupcake decorating, the girls putting on nail polish and breakfast.)

Homemade Tissue Paper Pom Poms or Flowers: tutorial here, price varied for tissue paper. Cupcake Piñata: $11.97 Walmart stores.

This was the 'Breakfast Bar,' with two cereals, cut up strawberries, chopped walnuts and mini dehydrated marshmallows. Marshmallows: $1.87 from bulk food store. Used two plastic ice cream scoops to serve cereal: $1.00 each at Dollar Tree Stores. Did I mention it was a sleepover?

Inspired by Pinterest and these lantern colors, I'd say this was a successful birthday party!

Until the next party...

The Last Baby...

In about a week, our youngest child will turn nine. Wow. I've heard many moms say that "time flies," how "they grow so fast," and I'd grab these nuggets of wisdom and store them away in the back of mind. Not forgetting them, but processing them over the years. I've done this for almost 16 years.

But it only occurred to me (in a heart-wrenching way) a couple of weeks ago that we also have a sophomore in the house and her days of living at home are dwindling away. :(

And it also only hit me a little while back when friends were visiting with their two and four-year-old sons, that my days of toddlerhood and preschoolers are gone forever...

(Suffice it to say, when I sat on the floor with the two-year-old boy singing Row Row Your Boat, I relished in the moment!)

So now it's my turn, when you think you'll be changing diapers forever and never getting a moment to yourself, remember this is just one season of your life. Revel in it, because sooner than you think, you'll actually reminisce about the tough moments and grin and when you think back to the better times, it will be bittersweet.

But this post is a celebration of growing up. About how we all grow up, even our last baby. One day the dolls will be stored away in our basement, the dog won't have someone to sit with on the floor, that the days of putting up streamers and decorating cupcakes will be memories of my kids' childhoods.

And because this is our third child, I did relish every moment, I did secretly smile at the antics, holding my hand over my heart (the way Husband often does when he talks about our beloved children.)

What a privilege to have children in the house, making it a home...

What Do You Do All Day?

Has anyone every asked you that? Or insinuated that maybe you didn't do much because you're a SAHM? Then you need to read this book.

A few weeks ago (when I was away on a week-long business trip) I was able to start Amy Scheibe's novel "What Do You Do All Day?" about a stay-at-home mom who was struggling with her decision about leaving the "working" world and choosing to stay at home with her two children instead.

Her adaptation of mommy hood hit the nail on the head. She didn't sugarcoat it, or pretend by any means that mothering was the easy road taken. In fact, some days it was incredibly draining. (I sense she had hands-on experience with this topic.)

I mean, on a tiny side note, as a mom, who has time to read a book anyway? If you work outside the home, you are exhausted when you get home because you face all that your family and home demands.

But if you stay at home, you're either up to your neck in diapers or the messes your children have created and ready to secretly run screaming out the door when your husband arrives. (Don't judge me, I have three kids.)

And let's not delude ourselves that working from home is a treat either, because somehow laundry and dust bunnies are always calling your name as is your computer/phone/clients etc all at the same time.

I'm almost done and have enjoyed reading this book, but if it takes me another few weeks to finish it, don't think it's because I'm a slow reader, it's probably because the oven/dog/softball, baseball, play, swim team practices are beckoning.

This Is Not My Idea Of A Getaway...

A few posts ago I wrote about trying to plan a getaway trip with Husband. After many hours on the internet, talking to bloggy friends and people IRL (which included a travel agent) I failed to accomplish this goal. :( Two reasons; time and money. Aren't those always the reasons? Anyway, instead we went on two mini trips (one was to Madison) and then to the Door County area. Why? So Husband could jump out of an airplane. Huh?

That's right Husband wanted to skydive. I did not. After a some Googling, he decided tandem skydiving was the way to go. I have to admit, the conversations were priceless:

Husband: Do you want to do this to?

Me: No, I don't want to die.

Husband: It's not like you're going to hit the ground...

Me: Of course not, I'd be dead from the adrenaline rush to my heart when they pushed me off the plane.

---

My mom: He has life insurance right?

---

His mom: I wish you never told me you were going to do this.

---

Our youngest: What are you going to do next Daddy? Swim with the sharks? They put you in a cage you know, and you can poke at them! (She's eight.)

So how does this work? You watch a video basically saying there's a chance you could die (but you will sign a waiver that you or your family will not sue the company) I'm serious. Next you get a little tutorial on how to do it.

Flap your wings (I'm joking.)

Yeah, suit him up, he's ready to go...

That's right, it's so funny (giving him his last rites...) who's going to be the widow with 3 kids?!?

All I could think of when I took this picture was Armageddon, with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck before they are about to board the space shuttle. Sheesh.

Thankfully, a safe landing after being 12,000 feet up in the air at cloud level!

Note to all females:

After, Husband made sure the rest of the day would be spent doing what I wanted to do. So we did some wine tasting, ate good food with good beer and walked around being all tourist-y-like. Our afternoon was much more relaxing than our morning. And even though we don't have a bucket list, we talked about other things we could do. I'm still waiting for the vacation where I can sit on the beach under an umbrella with a cold drink in my hand... *sigh* maybe next year.

(Thanks to SkyDive Door County for the very fun time and wonderful service.  If we ever want to do this again, we'd go back to you! You guys are awesome!)

Triple Berry Baked French Toast

If you want an easy, but elegant dish to serve for breakfast or brunch, try this baked french toast recipe. I used frozen berries and made it the night before which made it even simpler. Please note that I almost always use skim milk and I save the ends of bread loaves, freeze them until I have enough to make this recipe!

(No good photos I'm afraid, these are just from my iPhone!)

Triple Berry Baked French Toast

(made in a 13x9 pan)

Butter for greasing the pan
6 eggs
3 C milk
3/4 C maple syrup
2 tsp cinnamon + 1 Tbsp for later
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Zest of 1 lemon

Day old or left over ends of bread cut into cubes (maybe half a loaf?)
2 C fresh or frozen berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries)
6 Tbsp sugar


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the 9x13 pan and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Add milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and lemon zest. Add bread cubes until fully coated. Stir in frozen berries and pour into prepared pan.

3. In a small bowl mix sugar and 1 Tbsp of cinnamon, sprinkle on top.

4. You can bake this right away, or refrigerate overnight. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

5. Drizzle with extra maple syrup when serving.

Adapted from Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis' recipe.

Thanks to all the bloggers who emailed me or left a comment about wanting this recipe. Enjoy!

The Dog Days of Summer

Aside from work and summer vacation for Husband and the kids, we've been pretty busy this month. I've still managed to paint a door, try some new recipes, take a few mini vacations and do a little shopping...

Right now I'm in the midst of planning our first beer tasting party. I'm kind of excited because we never really had a housewarming (with couples, that is) at the lakehouse, so it will be nice to have people over.

I've designed the invitations, we've decided on the menu and Husband has been busy growing his hops and making his beer. Life is never boring around here.

Here's my Instagram dump of what else we've been doing:

• Husband starting to condition our two swimmers
• I made Triple Berry Baked French Toast
• Our laptops lined up and ready for duty
• Husbands hop are growing
• A trip to Wisconsin Dells
• My stop at the Coach Outlet store
• Ingredients for delicious Zucchini Brownies
• New throw pillows for the living room
• Bucket-o-Salsa (homemade and delicious!)

Two weeks left until school starts in our neck of the woods! What's going on where you are?