CRAZY WEEKEND

Hey all... First off sorry for being a horrible blogger and leaving you all hanging last week.. the week was jam packed with beyond craziness and sitting down to blog was pretty much the last thing on my list...
  There was a Nor Easter in there, with a visit from my  mum , followed by a birthday party for my 2 kiddos.. they are 3 years and 1 day apart so it makes the most sense to just have a joint party...HOWEVER that involves ALOT of work.. even scaling back and just doing some streamers and a few balloons..


SOOOO here is what I was up to while NOT blogging..

First off my mum came.. THANK GOODNESS..she came to visit for the weekend before the big storm hit.. I know the last total on Saturday right before it stopped was over 14".. sooo we had quite a bit of snow but not as much as some..

Here is a photos of the picnic table in my backyard on Saturday morning.. we had snow for a few more hours after that..

So for the kiddos party we decided to have Family only this year.. but you just add up my husbands immediate family and there's about 16 people right there..lol..

So instead of going money crazy and spending a ton of money on food.. I made pizza for everyone.. my mom was here and we prepped the dough on Friday.. We made 6 pizza dough's in my kitchen aid.. then fridged em up to keep em cool..

NEXT was frosting.. I had baked 2 cakes earlier in the week.. they were 9 inch rounds.. one for each kid.. now its not that I don't like homemade cake.. but I have never really made my own before.. it was not bad by any stretch but I'm super used to a box of Duncan Hines.. so the chocolate one to me was the easiest to know was home made.


FROSTING

Now, Frosting intimidates me.. I dunno why.. it just does.. however once I got going.. besides the mess it was SUPER easy.. generally any butter cream frosting recipe I found called for TONS of powdered sugar.. My mixer and counter after 1 batch..lol

My Daughter who was turning 5 is IN LOVE with Disney CARS, more specifically lightning McQueen.. so the goal was to make her a lightning cake..lol.. so a batch of red frosting which I thought came out quite well..

My Son Loves ANYTHING toy story.. I thought  Buzz Lightyear cake would be lots of fun.. so Buzz Green as its been dubbed was what I made for him..  (he turned 2 today)

To Continue with my inexpensive route I just took cardboard found from some boxes in the basement and covered them in tinfoil.. FREE. compare to 6  bucks for 3 round cardboard pieces from the crafts store..

FINISHED PRODUCT

Here is Makennas finished Cake.. my mother who is AWESOME.. took some Lightning McQueen images I sent her and she laminated them.. we then cut them out along with some lightning bolts.. I then bought 1 sheet of checkered paper from the craft store for .50  I cut some pieces up and taped them to some sticks.. CHECKERED FLAG DONE... (that for some reason was the important thing for my daughter for this party.. Was Checkered flags on the cake and Party hats..lol

We did the same thing with the laminate for a BUZZ image.. then last minute I felt his cake needed something.. so we printed off the Toy Story aliens (which my mother claims are called the "ONES" I stuck those to some flat cocktail sticks I had laying around.. added some sugar crystal sprinkle things to each cake and there we have it.. minus the 2.99 for 4lbs of powdered sugar and some Unsalted butter, and gel coloring to get my frosting the right color.. I did not spend ANY money on making these cakes.. WOO HOO

THE BIG GIFT

Now Most of you have seen the blog post or FB post where I took a BUNCH of dusty items in my home and was planning to make my daughter an art center.. I found a small folding table no longer being used, an old 3 drawer cart, as well as a chair.. My daughter needed an area for herself.. and area to keep her craft and art items where her brother would not get a hold of them.. he has ruined QUITE a bit of her items.. So it was important to me for her to have her own space..

The pic above was how I kept it a secret..

BELOW.. the finished product

I painted the desk in chalkboard spray paint I had leftover from another project.. I did spend money on the purple spray paint.. I had rope left over from decorations for a party I held at my home, I always have clothes pins... my  mother for part of her gift bought the poster and wall stickers as well as some cork board pieces.. so All in all under 10$ for the actual pieces to the craft area.. NOW.. if your wondering.. yes that's my front door and NO.. NO ONE uses it..lol.. well except for me to grab the mail from the box.. which with the chair pushed it can happen with no problem.. I would eventually like to have this in her room.. for now its good.. the baby gate is right there.. so her brother can not get to it.. the living room is right through the door so she can watch TV if she wants..and its right down the hall from the kitchen, which is where I spend most of my time.. so its quick and easy to just check in on her..

SOOOOOOOOOO that's that my folks.. Hope you enjoyed the post.. I know I enjoyed the party and the planning.. however I'm sad my babies are growing up. sniffle sniffle.. 

HAPPY MONDAY

Much Love and Blessings

Shanun