Are you ready for some football?!

I will let you in on a little secret. Don't tell, but I am really not a football fan. I would much rather spend my Sunday afternoons at the mall then at home watching football! But I am a a HUGE fan of parties! Theme parties! Since Scott had off on Superbowl Sunday this year, I decided that it was a MUST to have a party! Yay! Here is a look at the football themed food that I made.

One of our main entrees was football pizza!

All we did was get our favorite frozen cheese pizza. We added pepperonis in the shape of a football. Then we used American cheese to make the football laces. Simple and cute!

Scott's favorite snack is a 7 layer dip. So I made him this one to look like a football field!

Just make bean dip any way you like. But make the top layer guacamole. Then you can put sour cream in a Ziploc. Snip the end and pipe it on to make some yard lines and end zones. I added toothpicks for goal posts just for the fun of it! I wanted the chips to look like the stadium. Not sure if you get that but that was my vision!

Another snack we served were these cute football meat, cheese and crackers...

I bought oval shaped crackers and then we cut the cheese and meat into a football shape. That was a bit tedious! To make the laces, I piped Ranch dressing on top.

I think the snack that was gone first were these football deviled eggs...

All I did was make deviled eggs and use fresh chives to make the laces. Easy!

I couldn't decide on just one dessert so we ended up having 3! My favorite were these football shaped Brownies...

I made brownies and then used a cookie cutter to cut them out. I couldn't find a football shaped one, so I just took a circle cutter and bent it a little. Voila! Football shaped! Then I piped a little white chocolate on top for the laces. (I sure did do a lot of piping, huh?)

The next dessert was actually store bought. I don't buy many store bought dessert but this one is SO worth it! It is a snicker ice cream cake in the shape of a football!

It was delicious!

The last dessert that I made was chocolate covered strawberries.

All I did was pipe some white chocolate laces on to them. Easy!

We also made some delicious meatballs and a friend brought potato skins (You could make potato skins look like footballs by piping sour cream on top!) so we had tons of food!

I got lots of these ideas from this site.

Enjoy!

8th Birthday...Angry Bird Style!

There is no way that I will ever be able to get my blog all caught up! But I thought I would try and do a few posts about some of my parties and holiday themes. I get requests and questions about them all the time, so I am going to do my best to include links to tutorials too.

For Kyler's 8th birthday, he requested an Angry Birds party. I was NOT too excited! Angry birds is too new. You couldn't just go to the party store and buy stuff! But he insisted and so I agreed. (The crazy things we will do those cute kids!) I did lots of research and managed to put together a really cute and fun party! (Last week I was at the party store and they now have a whole display of angry bird plates and things! Of course!)

I got things started with this fun party invitation..

I bought the invites from this seller on etsy. I see that she doesn't have an etsy store anymore but th link has an email address for placing orders. I just told her the name and other info and she sent me a digital image of the invite. I sent the image to Costco and had 5x7 prints made. Turned out perfect!

Now my next big project was the game for the party. I wanted the kids to get to actually play Angry Birds! I found this great site here and decided to make a similar game!

I went to tons of stores looking for the plastic balls she used but couldn't find them. I settled for these red playground balls for $4 each from Wal-Mart. (A week after I painted the balls, I found the plastic ones at Wal-Mart. That is the kind of luck I have!) The playground balls worked fine and are still a favorite backyard toy.

Since I didn't have the green plastic balls, I used cans for the pigs. Now the game can double as an Angry Birds bowling game! I used this tutorial for painting the cans and the ball. I even used the same pain colors! I think it turned out great!

Then we just collected some boxes from neighbors and added a few extra cheap ones from Wal-Mart. Voila! We had an Angry Birds party game. All the guests loved it!

Now it was time to get to work on party favors. I saw all kinds of cute treat bags online but I really wanted to keep the costs of the goodies down. I hate taking my kids to parties and coming home with a bunch of candy, bubbles, tatoos and other junk. So I decided to make each girl an angry birds hair bow!

Isn't it cute?! They were tedious but not hard. I used this tutorial. Then I just put the bows in clear cello bags and tied with red curling ribbon.

I don't have a picture for some reason (it gets so crazy when hosting a kid birthday party) of the boy favors. I decided to really make the boys' parents happy (he he he) and give them sling shots! I got these ones from Oriental Trading company. I put them in clear cello bags with blue curling ribbon. The boys were super excited!

I didn't really bother with a lot of decorations. I just got table clothes and paper products in primary colors very cheap at Wal-Mart. But I just HAD to have balloons! I got a couple dozen balloons from my grocery store and used these free templates to make them into the birds and the pig! Look how cute they are...

Now it's time to talk about the food! No party is complete without it! We served Angry Bird English Muffin Pizzas! They were a hit!

We found huge pepporonis and used those for the face. The eyes are olives and the nose is a piece of pineapple. And they were actually quite tasty too!

Another food that we served were these deviled egg Angry Birds.

The eyes are deviled eggs with olives in the center. The beak is a half a piece of American cheese. Then we just took a sharpie and drew in the eyebrows. I was surprised by how quickly the kids gobbled up the eggs!

We also served popcorn in fun cups, but of course I never got a picture!

Now on to the sweets!!! I am NOT a cake maker! My husband has gotten a good laugh out of a few of my cake attempts. I usually order my cakes from the grocery store. But they are so expensive! I really wanted a playable cake. I figured that if I kept it simple, I could make it myself.
It won't win any prizes, my I think it turned out ok and Kyler loved it so that is all that really matters. I made two cakes and then frosted them together with green frosting. The tower is made with fudge stick cookies. The slingshot and birds came from an Angry Bird board game that we got Kyler for Christmas. I added some rocks around the edges. They are just milk duds.

So instead of blowing out candles, Kyler got to try and knock the pigs down. He and his friends thought that was pretty cool.

I wasn't really sure how messed up the cake would be after the playing, so I decided to also make Angry Bird cake pops! I got a cake pop machine for Christmas and so this was my first chance to use it. I am SO glad I did because they turned out amazing!

I just made the cake pops in my machine. Then I dipped them in melted red candy melts. Before the candy set, I stuck candy eyes and beaks on. I found them at Michael's. Then I piped on a little chocolate for eyebrows. Cake pops are a lot of work! Cupcakes would be quicker. But these are so much more special! I received TONS of compliments on these!

All of the guests loved the party and Kyler was one very happy birthday boy! The only thing left to do is scrapbook the event! I bought this kit and digi scrapped using Photoshop Elements.

I hope you enjoyed reading about all of our angry bird fun!

Time to party!

I am so spoiled! Scott threw me a beautiful graduation party! Dinner, drinks, good friends and a chocolate fountain. What more could a girl ask for?!

I was busy enjoying my guests that I didn't take any pictures. But a friend took some beautiful shots for me to share.

This was my cooperating teacher, Mr. Craig, with his wife....

I love this man. He made it possible for me to go back to school and gave me a swift kick in the rear when I got discouraged. I couldn't have done it without him. (Hmmmm...I wonder if he even reads this....)

When I think about all that happened last October and November- I feel so blessed to have made it to this point. I thought I might drop school! But no! And I am seizure free so far! Lots of reasons to celebrate!

Kyler Turns 7!

I have been MIA since I spend every last moments writing lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, papers, and tests and going to staff meetings, IEP meeting, AIMS test training meetings and parent teacher conferences. I kinda thought my student teaching would be a 8-3 kinda thing. I imagined doing all my homework during lunch and plan period. I was sadly mistaken. There is so much to do! Even as I am writing this, I am thinking "I really shouldn't be doing this because I have PowerPoints, lesson plans and a huge paper to be working on." But at the end of the day (well maybe before I fall asleep on top of my computer at 8 o'clock), I am actually having fun. The teenagers were pretty scary at first. I saw and heard some things that I wish I could erase from my mind. But after I came to grips with the fact that they are just kids, I started to enjoy being around them. I am finished with my student teaching on March 24th. I have just 12 lessons left to teach since there is AIMS and spring break in there. I am excited to be done and kinda sad to see it end. Now it is time to get a job! I haven't had one since the twins were born 5 1/2 years ago.

During my 2nd week of teaching, Kyler turned 7. I won't lie...I cried a little about not being home with him and not being able to bring the cupcakes to his class. But Scott took care of it. It all worked out.

Now how in the world did my boy get to be 7?! I feel like January 13, 2004 was just yesterday! I remember that minutes before my surgery, my mother-in-law opened the blinds in the hospital room. The sun was just coming up and it was gorgeous colors of orange and red. And I remember saying "It is the perfect day to have a baby." Now look at my big boy.....

Kyler asked for a camping birthday party this year. We invited lots of family and friends for a fun cook out. We had hotdogs and s'mores. The kids decorated camping bags, made trail mix and played in the tent. After the cookout, Kyler had 2 friends from school stay the night. They made tye dye shirts, watched a movie, used the telescope to look at the moon and had a camp fire. They camped in the backyard. I think the party was a huge success! My little man was very happy!

The next morning with the tye dye shirts...

Now Kyler is already planning his party for next year!

Nursing School Graduation Party

I have pics from the Nursing School graduation party that I hosted for Scott. This party was a blast to plan! The whole party had a medical theme. I think everything turned out pretty good!!!! And Scott had a great time!

First, here is the invitation that I made...

Edited to Add: I have received so many emails about this invitation! How exciting for little 'ole me! Let me try and answer the most asked questions. I made this invite using this kit in Photoshop Elements. Then I printed them at Costco in the 5x7 size. If you do any digital scrapbooking, you will know just what I am talking about. If not, I am considering making and selling the digital file. Basically, you would send me your party info. I would make the invite and email it to you for a small fee for my time. If that is something that interests you, please email me at sears1130@gmail.com.

Next, the food!

Brain Cupcakes! How awesome are these?!!!

They were a piece of cake (pardon the pun!) to make. Check out these instructions.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Phalanges (That is a fancy word for fingers for un non-medical types!lol!)

I bought the finger candy mold from Michael's during the Halloween season. But I just looked and found it here!

Finger Sandwiches! We just ordered some subs from Quiznos. But the nasty looking hand candy really added some spunk don't you think?! (I bought it at Wal-Mart during the Halloween season.)

Brain watermelon and fruit! I LOVE this one!

We got lots of compliments on this bad boy! I got the instructions from here. If you are planning a medical themed party- you MUST make one of these!

Bone bread sticks

I just bought pre-made Pillsbury bread sticks and molded them into bones. Easy!


Bandaged Toe Wieners!

Now these are supposed to be toes with bandages but they look like another body part as well. But this is a family blog! Keep it clean! Lol! All I did was wrap cocktail wieners in crescent rolls. And that candy foot really makes the tray look so much more appetizing, right?!

Plus we had meat"balls" and "Elbow" Noodle Salad.

I decorated with streamers that were actually gauze, balloons that were actually medical gloves, toy medical supplies, etc. Name tags were actually band aids. Check out our privacy policy....he he he...

Here is Sara....

And Heather (who was my best friend in high school and graduated with Scott)...

And my graduate.....

Do you notice those plates? They have compartments and reminded me of hospital trays. I found them at Wal-Mart

Scott handing out "shots"!

Check out the gift I got him..... :)

Then it was time for games......the first game was "Diagnose Your Condition." I put a condition on each person's back and they had to go around asking yes or no questions until they diagnosed the condition. My Aunt Kathy won! Everyone loved it! Lots of laughing!

I couldn't believe that Scott didn't win seeing as he had the easiest condition!!!!

The game just gave everyone lots of laughs!!! Then we played a quick anatomy game with the nurses. They had to stick the body parts to the body with the right label. I bought it here.

(Did you notice the dip bowl on the table? It's a hospital puke bowl! Lol!)

Scott ended up wining this game!



Then they played a few rounds of Operation...

One last photo.....we used a urinal as the punch ladle. So funny!!!!

I had a blast planning the party. And I am so very proud of Scott!!!!

I was joking with Scott and said that he will need to throw me a party next year and we can have a contest to see who wears the tackiest "Teacher dress." Mine will have appliqued apples for sure!!! lol!!!