until next year, Strikers!

Soccer season is officially over, and our family survived Hudson’s first organized sport.

It was a really great season. Coach John was such a great coach. He was so patient and he didn’t take it so seriously that it lost its fun for the boys and girls.

Hudson loved seeing all of his buds at practice and at the Saturday morning games, and meeting lots of new friends, too. And Todd and I loved seeing all of our friends there, too!

It will be nice to return to lazy Saturday mornings without having to dash out the door first thing in the morning, but we’ll be excited to see soccer season return.

One of my friend’s family member was there a couple of weeks ago, and she is a professional photographer. She got some fantastic photos of the kiddos at one of their games.

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 3.56.11 PM

We always joke that the Strikers (our team name) were like the Bad News Bears. We did finally win one game, but our kids were mostly out there to have a good time. And run.

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 3.51.12 PM

Hudson improved a lot this season. At the very first practice, he hung back and hugged my leg a lot of the time. He lost his ball and was mortified, and spent the whole practice telling me he just wanted it to be water break time. And crying and saying he wanted to go home. I didn’t have a good feeling at all.

But by the next practice, he never looked back. He didn’t pay me any attention and he was starting to learn about the game. (Which was a good thing, because I spent most of the practices chasing Hayes all around the field.)

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 3.50.13 PM

We would practice a little bit in the backyard when he asked us to, and he increasingly got more and more confident.

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 3.57.12 PM

He mostly looked forward to seeing all of his friends and loved the after-game snack.

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 3.59.36 PM

And, of course, the post-game tunnel, was another highlight!

Screen Shot 2013-05-24 at 4.00.11 PM

This first little soccer experience for our happy, funny 3-year-old was great!

Go Strikers!

reads for your {Memorial Day} weekend

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

We actually don’t have any plans except to just hang out and enjoy each other’s company. Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments on the Peter Pan Party post. It was so much fun to plan.

I never got to share my favorite reads with you last week because we were up to our knees in Peter Pan party plans (try saying that five times fast), so here is a super-size edition for Memorial Day!

DIY Creaseless Hair Ties from Life in the Green House

My sweet friend, Jennifer, shares a super easy way to save money and make those adorable creaseless hair ties we all love! And you don’t need a sewing machine.

When the Negativity and Pessimism Are Getting to You from A Holy Experience

I just loved this post so much. I’m sure we all have people in our lives who are always negative and pessimistic and I just loved reading Ann’s perspective.

My Son is Being Bullied by Emily Powell from Courtney DeFeo.com

This post broke my heart just a little bit as Hudson is growing up and is facing more and more social conflicts. But I love Emily’s way of dealing with a really sensitive issue.

Disney Extravaganza: The Planning from Glamorous Life of a Housewife

Disney Extravaganza: Art of Animation, Disney Extravaganza: Day 1, Disney Extravaganza: Day 2, Disney Extravaganza: Day 3

My friend, Whitney, went to Disney World recently and she is blogging all week about her planning tips, the resort, the different parks. I’ve LOVED getting to read her tips and ideas! This is a must-read if you’re planning on going to Disney World anytime soon!

The Responsibility of a Megaphone from Marriage Confessions

I think most veteran bloggers would tell you that blogging has high highs and low lows. It’s hard to come up with new, interesting content day in and day out. And I just love Katie’s post about how she’s sorting through that and why she is going to continue blogging. Community means SO much to a blogger.

The Days When Being a Working Mom is Hard from The Land of Cotton

My friend, Emily (we met in grad school) is a beautiful writer and has the most beautiful baby girl. She wrote this week about the hard days as a working mom and I just loved her perspective. This is a must-read for any mom.

Summer Pasta Salad With Baby Greens from Skinny Taste

Yum! I need to make this this weekend. Maybe I’ll go carb-free next week!

Here’s the thing. from Loves of Life

Katie wrote a really great post about why Pinterest isn’t to blame. I wanted to give her a standing ovation. She echoes my feelings that I expressed in In The Interest of Pinterest.

Peter Pan Party: Celebrating Hudson and Hayes!

IMG_9482

peter pan party

IMG_9484

peter pan party 2

IMG_9431

peter pan party 4

peter pan invitation

IMG_3169

IMG_9430

IMG_9427

peter pan party 3

peter pan party 5

IMG_9447

IMG_9441

peter pan party 6

IMG_9514

IMG_3166

IMG_9452

IMG_9557 IMG_9528 IMG_9525 IMG_9518

IMG_9500

IMG_9496

IMG_9494 IMG_9488

IMG_9566 IMG_9564 IMG_9563

IMG_3166

 

Party Details:

 

Hudson and Hayes first watched Peter Pan last year when I rented in on Netflix. When it came out of the Disney Vault a few months ago, I grabbed it for them immediately. And we watched it about 100 times in a month. I’m not kidding. They wanted to watch it constantly.

When I asked Hudson what kind of party he and Hayes should have, he immediately knew he wanted a Peter Pan party. And this totally thrilled me! Peter Pan is one of my most favorite stories. I love the magic and the fairy tale and how it’s not super duper sweet, but it is so much fun! There’s adventure and I just love the overall lesson to never grow up! And think happy thoughts!

It was a little harder to plan this party than parties in the past because all of my party supplies are in storage. We’re still living at Todd’s grandmother’s house.

Todd’s parents graciously offered to let us host the party in their backyard, and I am so thankful. Their backyard is absolutely beautiful!

We used their back porch as the staging area for all the food and drinks. And the place where the fans could live. It was a hot day!

We did a joint party because my boys’ birthdays are exactly a month apart, and it’s just easier on families to do it one time. And my boys have so many friends that are siblings. It ended up being great to just invite entire families to come play for the afternoon.

I ordered all of the baked goods (resources are listed below) and then we picked up a Chick-fil-A nugget tray. I made pinwheels and we also had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, “Lost Boys Trail Mix” and “Tick Tock’s Goldfish.”

I wanted a tall cake with both of their names on it, and a “Neverland” type of background. So Ally & Eloise created a blue cake with stars on it. My mom brought the adorable wooden pirate ship and she painted it for the boys. And I had gotten a lot of small Peter Pan figurines to add to the top of the cake. The boys went ba-nan-as over that cake!

My boys love Tick Tock the Crocodile and Nana the Nurse Maid. Seriously, the Peter Pan characters are the best!

We turned the playset in the backyard into a pirate ship by hanging a Jolly Roger flag. My boys got a tee pee from their KK for Easter, so we set that up in the backyard to be like the Indian Brave village.

We used a large inflatable baby pool and filled it up with multi-colored balls (no water) to be the “Mermaid Lagoon.” It ended up being the most fun little place for the little kids to play!

I also rented a bounce house because, let’s face it, 4 year old little boys love a bounce house and need a place to release their energy!

For party favors, we gave each family a Little Golden Book of Peter Pan, and all the little boys got felt Peter Pan hats and the little girls received a set of fairy wings. And all the favors were super inexpensive and a big hit!

It was a super fun party to plan. I lost a little bit of my planning mojo about a week before the party and considered not doing it at all, but I’m so glad we did. Hudson was just beside himself with excitement over the party, and has been on a Peter Pan high since that day!

Party Resources:

 

Cake, Cupcakes, and Petit Fours: Ally & Eloise in Columbia, South Carolina

Cupcake Toppers, Invitations, Food Labels and other paper goodies: Sweet Birdie’s Nest  (and their shop)

Iced Cookies: The Doughmestic Housewife

Peter Pan Favor Hats: A Rainy Day Play on Etsy

Tree Trunk Cupcake Stand: Your Divine Affair on Etsy

Fairy Wings, Peter Pan Golden Books, Peter Pan Plush Characters, Disney Figurine Set: Amazon.com (all over the course of a year)

Straws, Balloons, Paper Cups: Shop Sweet Lulu

Bounce House Rental: Jumperee in Columbia, South Carolina

messy triple berry cobbler

Now that my kids are old enough, they love to help me cook. And I love to cook, but I don’t love to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I prefer to cook a great, family favorite meal, clean up quickly, and move on to family time and meal time. One of my favorite, quick cobbler recipes is super fast, super easy, and super kid-friendly. But! It can be really messy!

This is my Triple Berry Cobbler recipe.

 

Ingredients

 

1 12 oz package frozen blueberries (or fresh blueberries)

1 12 oz package frozen raspberries (or fresh raspberries)– I don’t care for raspberries, so I use strawberries instead

1 12 oz package frozen blackberries (or fresh blackberries)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 t vanilla extract

1 package refrigerated pie crust (with 2 crusts in the package)– or make it from scratch if you can or have the time

1 large egg, beaten

1 T sugar  

Instructions

 

Stir together first 7 ingredient in large bowl until just combined

IMG_9386

Spoon into greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish

IMG_9387

Roll 1 piecrust to fit baking dish, place on top of berry mixture

IMG_9395

Cut remaining piecrust into 1/2 inch strips and arrange strips in lattice design over piecrust

Brush with egg, and sprinkle with 1 T sugar

IMG_9402

Bake at 400 for 55-60 minutes until golden and bubbly

IMG_9422

When I’m mixing it up, the berries seem to stain everything. And then when I bake it, the berries always seem to bubble over into the bottom of my oven. Burned berries on the bottom of the oven are not fun!

This isn’t going to stop me from baking my favorite easy cobbler recipe, but it’s not my favorite thing to do.

I recently heard about the LG EasyClean™ Double Oven Range. It cleans in minutes instead of hours, so you don’t have to set aside all day to do it.

And so when I want to bake yummy suppers and desserts, like my favorite Triple Berry Cobbler recipe, with my kids, I don’t have to miss out on fun time with my family because I’m cleaning my oven.

LG brings you the new generation of oven cleaning with EasyClean™. All LG double oven ranges provide a quick and convenient way to clean your oven, while still being able to use the conventional self-clean method. EasyClean works in three simple steps. Spray the oven interior with water, press the EasyClean button, then in just 20 minutes, wipe away any residual bits of grime*. No chemicals or high heat needed to keep your oven sparkling clean. (*Heavy build-up may require additional manual effort or use of the full self-clean feature) 

I always get so excited about fabulous new appliances, and I can’t imagine anything more functional and more practical than the EasyClean oven from LG. To learn more about LG EasyClean click here.

 

For a chance to win your own LG EasyClean™ Double Oven Range, tell me… what is YOUR favorite recipe that leaves your oven messy?

 

 

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner  will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

 

BlogHer will pool entries from participating blogs and select a sweepstakes winner at random and will contact the winner with details about fulfilling the prize. 

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 5/22/13 – 7/15/13.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...