Ham and Cheese Sliders

Okay, so these are my favorite sliders. ever!  When I started planning Ethan's birthday party, I knew that I wanted these sliders as a menu item.  I apologize ahead of time, my dining room is not that great with lighting and so pictures always come out weird.  

You can catch more of Ethan's party here.

Ham and Cheese Sliders
from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
24 Hawaiian rolls, halved.
24 slices honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1 1/2 Tbs yellow mustard
8 Tbs melted butter
1 Tbs minced onion
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
poppy seeds

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lay ham and cheese on halved roll.  Cover with top part of roll.  Place all 24 sandwiches on a baking sheet.

Mix mustard, butter, onion and W-sauce in a bowl.  Brush the tops of rolls with the mustard sauce and sprinkle with poppy seeds.  Cover with foil and bake for about 10 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for 2 more.  Serve warm.

Ethan's Lone Ranger Birthday Party

Howdy!  Ethan's party was probably the hardest one I had visualizing out of all the parties I have thrown over the last few years.  Especially throwing a Cowboy-ish party for a 6 year old for a decent budget was really hard, and I will confess, this is the most I've spent on a party in a long time.  But, still It wasn't as high as it could have been.  But, I think it came together nicely in the end.  I picked red, kraft brown, with blue accents as the color scheme.  I used burlap whenever I could.  The burlap table runner I found on Pick your Plum. Paper products came from Target, in the red collection of party supply stuff.  The tin containers are IKEA.  

I loved the look of the paper mache letters.  I bought mine at JoAnns.  I stamped lassos around the food labels.  I used Stampin Up's new set, Yee Haw.  It came out just in time to use for Ethan's party!

Gummy worms work great for rattle snakes!

The party was from 11 to 1, so I wanted finger foods but didn't want to serve a full lunch.  This worked really well.  

The Menu:

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Pigs in a Blanket

Wagon Wheel tortilla Roll Ups

Tortilla Chips and Cowboy Caviar

Buffalo Wings

BBQ wings

Caramel Corn

I can't wait to show you more from this party!  

Ethan's 6!

September is almost over, which means he's been 6 for over 3 weeks!  I cannot believe how quickly the last 6 years have gone!  He loves building Lego's, watching Star Wars and Marvel cartoons, and playing video games with his dad.  He is creative and loves to learn!  

For his party this year, he picked the theme Lone Ranger, because he loves playing it with his Dad on the infinity and he got to watch some episodes of the original show with his Grandpa earlier this summer.  This week, I will give you the low down on his birthday party fun so make sure to check back this week to see how it turned out.  

Make a Wish! card!

It's Saturday and kids are napping (are rarity anymore), but we were up super early to go see the hot air balloons take off and then planting our winter garden.  So much fun and all before 10!  So here's a quick post before I go hop into the shower before we go celebrate a sweet 6 year old and eat S'mores! 

This summer, my mom bought some new stamps and then took off on a 2 month road trip.  This translated into 2 months of play time for me!  I mean, she couldn't take them with her, right?  

These cards were super simple and incredibly easy.  They were so easy, that they went really fast. . . which are sometimes the best cards to make a bunch at at a time so you have them on hand.  I saw the idea here via Pinterest.  

Stamps are Perfect Pennants, by SU!, Chevron border punch  by SU!, and the Banners Framelits by SU! The embossing folder with arrows is from this cricut set.  All papers are from various scraps laying around the house.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

zucchini love!

My garden was somewhat successful this year (as in things actually produced fruit).  I've got two plant zucchini plants that I really thought were done and suddenly started shooting out zucchini again.  Seriously.  I blame the Fresno heat.  I don't mind, though, because my heirloom tomato plant started making tomatoes last week.  Not kidding.  We must do things slow here.  My jalapeno plant is also going crazy, which means I should probably make something soon.  But, in the meantime I am going to share with you a super yummy recipe that might just make you feel better about your chocolate chip cookies.  Because, the very fact that you have loaded them with shredded zucchini makes them healthy.  Just ignore all the sugar and butter.  

Zucchini-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Nestle

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 1.2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup quick oats
1 cup chopped nuts (I didn't add these)
1 pkg. dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla.  Beat well.  Add in dry ingredients.  Add in zucchini, oatmeal and chocolate chips.  Mix until just combined.  Use a cookie scoop to drop onto lined baking sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.  Cool for 2 minutes before moving.  Store on a wire rack until completely cool.  Eat with a tall glass of milk.  Share with a friend!

Enjoy!

Monday Meanderings

photo from here.

I'm back from my hiatus. And dreaming of all things fall (and trying to block out how hot it is here).  Things got so busy fast, with back to school and Ethan's birthday.  My to-do list seemed endless.  So, obviously I didn't blog.  But, I have lots of things to post about, so hopefully I can get back into a routine.

But first, some thoughts and ramblings.

:: I can't begin to describe how done I am with summer.  My sister called me the other day that she had snow.  I might have been a little jealous since we've had triple digit temps this week.  It's so hard to drink a hot latte when it's so hot!  Bring on the fall. . . and pumpkin!!!

:: Halloween is starting to come to mind. I think we are going to be staying home again and getting to know our neighbors.  I want to do something creative, but I am not sure what at this point.  Thank goodness for Pinterest!  Oh, and I need to come up with costumes for my Jedi and possibly a super hero or a surfer for the littlest little.

:: I've been playing with Stampin' Up's Yee Haw stamp set.  It's so cute and since Ethan's party with a Lone Ranger/Modern Cowboy party I just had to buy it!  I can't wait to show you how I used it for the party and then for some baby cards I am working on for our Family Ministries at church.

:: I downloaded this book for free on my Kindle this summer and I couldn't put it down.  I then bought book 2 and now I am reading book 3.  I had no idea until half way through the book that it was a 400 page book! It's not free now, but it's only 99 cents!  So worth it though!  I highly recommend it!

:: I found this blog post about decorating your house on a budget.  Great ideas!  But, seriously!  I wanted the same couch (not white, though) and bought an IKEA ektorp!  Great minds think alike!

:: I really want to make a family command center (you know, when I have spare time!).  I like this idea, this one, and this one.

:: I am always looking for good lunch ideas!  Annie's Eats has some great ideas!  I plan on trying a few soon!
:: Up until this week, I was probably the only person without a pair of ballet flats.  Well, that what I was thinking anyways.  But I found some great deals on some at the Gap and Kohls this week and I spent less than 20 dollars total!  Seriously excited!  Now to find me a black pair!

::  Thinking about starting this with our 6 year old since he doesn't want to play soccer this Fall.  I think it would be fun for him.

::  I started a new Bible Study last week!  I am co-leading a table this year and I am having so much fun already (it's only been 1 week!).  We are doing Pricilla Shirer's Gideon and It is so good!  I love that I have been finishing up this Joshua study over the summer and it Gideon just follows right along!  I really want to go back and do the She Reads Truth Hosea study.  Since it just ended, I might just do that.


And finally, if you are in need of a good laugh. . . I highly recommend this post!  It made my day!

 Bring on the new week!