My First Blog Award! - Happy 101

I received my first blog award!  Woohoo!  Lots of Thanks goes to Suzanne at Surviving a Family of Nine!  I know Suzanne personally and she is amazing!  Such an inspiration to me to be a better mom!

10 Things That Make Me Happy:

1. When my kiddos are in bed, sleeping!  They look SO sweet!
2. Getting one-on-one time with my kids when I can truly ENJOY them!  That's complete JOY!
3. Going outside right after a hard rainstorm and taking a big breath of the fresh, clean air! 
4. Chocolate-covered Raspberries!  YUM!
5. Vacations - even short 24-hour vacations...  Just getting a break from life is awesome!
6. The Gospel and the peace and joy it brings me!
7. The Sun!  There's nothing better at making me cheerful than a nice, sunny day...
8. A clean house - especially when it's mine...
9. My husband
10. The laughter of my kids!

I'm awarding this to:
Crystal's Craft Spot
Secrets of a Super Mommy
Our Family Treat
Someday Crafts
Tummy Yummy's
It's All in My Head!
And about 100+ more blogs I read!  How do you choose?

Here's the rules for accepting the award:
1. Copy & Paste the award on your blog
2. Tell who gave you the award and link to their blog
3. List 10 Things that make you happy
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know about the award.

Football Themed Birthday Party

My son recently turned 8-years old and wanted a football themed birthday party, as well as a "late-night" over (we don't do sleepovers at our house, but that is a different post! lol)

So we decided on a 5 hour long football party with a late-night movie to end it...  and invited 11 boys to come!  I was a little nervous to have it at my house, but it was a HUGE success!

The invite:
We handed out letters explaining that the boys were drafted into the NFL and invited to attend a Spring Training Football Camp.  You can see in the invitation we put the location as "Nelson Stadium" and then our home address and then gave them an idea on what we would be doing.


The party:
When they arrived, we let them decorate flag pendants and then took them outside to take photos in their best photo pose.  I am kicking myself though because I forgot to take a "team" photo with all of them!

My son in his best football pose - and you can see his VIP Field Pass Hanging from his neck...

We made them each VIP Football passes that had a checklist on the back of all the football drills we would be doing.  We put them in vertical badge holders that we had bought from Walmart.

They did the drills, we had dinner, and then I sent them back outside to have a scrimmage game.  Once they were freezing, they came in for cake, ice cream & presents.  We then had them change into the pajamas, play "pin the football between the goalposts" and then settle in for a movie.  The parents started showing up just as the movie ended and the boys squeezed in a quick pillow fight - which is what my son was looking forward to all night!  lol

Football Drills:  We did each of these drills until they were tired of them (except the tackling which they could of done ALL night!  They LOVED it!

Our checklist included -

• Sit-ups
• Push-ups
• Running in Place
• Throwing - we had them throw a football through a hula hoop. 
• Punting - we just had them practice drop kicking a football.
• Kicking - I made a goal post out of PVC pipes and they practiced kicking the football through the uprights.
  
• Tackling - We put a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor to make for a soft landing.  We then held a rolled egg-shell bed cushion up for them to run and tackle it.  The LOVED this! 
  

The Food:
For the food, I just made it EASY! For dinner we did hot dogs on the grill, chips, and powerade.  The cupcakes came from Sam's Club.  Very easy and they boys loved it!

The Movie:
We watched the "Game Plan" which all the kids really like but it was a little long.  Other football movie ideas I had was "Air Bud" or "Little Giants".

I did have some concern before from a few parents who said that their sons were a little nervous since they didn't know much about football, but I just reassured them that it wouldn't be awkward.  I know that all the boys had a BLAST and were talking about it for weeks!

I actually had even more games planned such as football bingo and a dizzy kicker game with a balloon but we just didn't have time...

I got a lot of my ideas from here on BirthdayPartyIdeas.com.

Thursday Thirteen Inspiration (A few days late!!!)

Okay, I'm DAYS late on this, but I thought I'd share some inspiration I added to my Notebook on Tumblr...  Aren't these women amazing?


#1 - DIY Barbie House from A Girl and a Glue Gun - I LOVE this Barbie house and wish my daughter was more interested in Barbie's so we could make one!  Now I'm hoping my baby girl will have an interest when she gets older, JUST so I can make a barbie house!  lol

#2 - Silk Tie Dye Eggs from A Little Tipsy- I bookmarked this LAST year and think it is awesome!  It's a little late for this Easter but put it in your files for next year!  These eggs are incredible!

#3 - Mac and Cheese at The Pioneer Woman Cooks -

This Mac-n-cheese looks AWESOME!

#4 - Flower Pot Magnet Board by JK Made - How cute is the magnet board and flower magnets? 

#5 - Crafty Storage by Controlling My Chaos - I LOVE this because I have lots of cards and puzzles that REALLY need new boxes or containers!

#6 - Memory Makeover at Infarrantly Creative- Another great game container redo!

#7 - Easiest Cinnamon Rolls Ever at That's {FAM}tastic! -

These cinnamon rolls look DELISH!  Can't wait to try them!

 

#8 - Family Game Night Board at How Does She? - I LOVE this board and I can't wait to make it into a FHE board!

#9 - Mickey and Minnie Cake Pops at Bakerella - I LOVE Mickey & Minnie House and I LOVE cake pops!

#10 - Family Photo Coloring Pages at A Little Tipsy - What a GREAT idea to make coloring pages for the grandparents!  LOVE it!

#11 - Towel Rack at Poppies at Play - I've been looking for a towel rack idea for the kids bathroom and this is definitely a winner!  Now to find me a cute cabinet door!!!

#12 - Big Dice at Lemon Tree Creations - One day I will have my dream house which will have a fun game room in it and this will make an awesome decor piece for that room!  LOVE it!

#13 - Sock Exchange at Lemon Tree Creations - Another fabulous decor project!  I've been thinking of doing something like this with my mismatched socks for my laundry room, but this is SO much cuter than what I've come up with! 

And for LOTS more inspiring ideas, feel free to visit my Notebook on Tumblr  or my bookmarks on Delicious!

Thursday 13 - April 8th

I'm going to share thirteen of my favorite inspiration ideas that I've added to my notebook from this past week...

In no particular order:

#1 - Easy Teacher Appreciation Gifts from How Does She? - How cute and easy are these?  My kids would LOVE making these for their teachers!!!

#2 - Twirly Skirt from JK Made - Jeanette is a friend/neighbor of mine and she is AMAZING! I can't wait to make matching twirly skirts for my girls! 

#3 - Driveway Signs at Family Fun - LOVE these signs...  I think I will just paint some to put in my garden!  Too cute!

#4 - Dress-up Suitcase by A Girl and a Glue Gun - LOVE this!  We are getting quite the dress up clothes collection and I would love to make one of these to store them in! 

#5 - Inbox by How Does She? - I am THE WORST at paperclutter and I have just the spot I could hang one of these if I made it!  Love it!!!

#6 - Bird Bath at Family Fun - LOVE this!  You could decorate it to make it all cute and the kids would love it!

#7 - Fabric Flowers at My Blonde Ambitions - These Fabric Flowers are SO cute!  LOVE them!!!

#8 - Don't Eat Pete Game at Crafting Chicks - How much fun is this?  My kids will LOVE it!  I can't wait to design it up to play with them!!!

#9 - Letter Hanging at The Virginia House - I can't wait to make one of these for my plant shelves!  Cheap, Easy, and Beautiful!!!

#10 - Giant Carrot at Restlessrisa - I know Easter is over but I can't wait to make one of these for next year!  Awesome!!!

#11 - Bunny Bread at The Little Green Bean - Another one for next Easter!  How fun would it be to have this veggie/bread tray for next Easter!  LOVE it!!!

#12 - Strawberry Short Cake at Every Crafty Endeavor - I LOVE Strawberry Short Cake and can't WAIT to try this one out!!!

#13 - Fun Spring Crafts at Lyndsey's Craft Spot - I LOVE these!  How fun and bright!!!

And for LOTS more inspiring ideas, feel free to visit my Notebook on Tumblr!

Washer Necklace Tutorial

A couple weeks ago I posted over at Crystal's Craft Spot a fun tutorial on how to make washer necklaces - something my daughter and I have fun doing together...  Thought I'd post here in case you missed it...  Enjoy!


Items needed:
- Washers (you can get them from any hardwood store for CHEAP - I paid around 20 cents each for mine!)
- Glassy Accents (you can find it in the scrapbook section at Hobby Lobby - I used a coupon for mine!)
- Scraps of scrapbook paper
- Mod Podge


First trace your washer on the back-side of the scrapbook paper...


And cut out... When cutting the outside, cut just inside the line so that the paper is JUST a BIT smaller than the washer...

To cut the inside out, I slightly fold the paper (don't crease) and snip a little slit in the middle. Then I turn it 90 degrees, SLIGHTLY fold it, and snip another little slit... This gives me an "x" to put my scissors in to cut the hole...


Then I cut just a bit on the OUTSIDE of the circle so it's just a LITTLE on the inside of the washer...


I then paint the washer with Mod Podge...


And did I mention that this is a great project to do with your kids? My daughter LOVES it!!!


And then you glue your paper on...


At this point, you can take some sandpaper and sand any edges of the paper off if they are a bit too big for the washer... but if you cut just on the inside of the lines, then you probably won't need to...

Then you let the glue dry...


Once dry you can take your Glassy Accents...


...and coat the top of the scrapbook paper. I like to do mine pretty thick - don't worry, it will dry clear...


Let dry for 48 hours (I know - PATIENCE!!!) and then thread the cording through...


You can hold it up to measure how long you want it to be, and then tie it off...


And there you have it!


Oh, but you may want to watch the baby or she might be unraveling your cording... lol