Weston turns 4: An ice cream party fit for a boy!

This week, was supposed to be a nice, quiet week and I have no idea what happened.  Crazy how things creep up on you!  Anyways, February is pretty much over and so it's probably time I get Weston's 4th birthday up.  Seriously, 4?  How can this possibly be?  It seems like just yesterday this rambunctious bundle of energy decided to make an early appearance.  He is such a blessing to our family and I am so glad we were able to celebrate him!  It was a fun day and I can't get over how cute it came out.  Probably, because I couldn't picture this one in my head. 

 Confession: I didn't get excited about this theme until we had the crepe paper up (thanks to my amazing husband!). Ice Cream Parties are easy.  All the inspiration was beautiful (Check out this board to see what inspired me!  The problem with the inspiration is they are mostly all pink and girly.  I had to really get creative.  So I gave my husband several color combos and he picked this one.  It was a good pick.  My husband has a good eye. . .I think he's secretly super creative!  

I made banana split cupcakes, which are amazingly delicious!  Plus they look super pretty.
I also made blondies and brownies really quick to accompany the sundae bar.

We made ice cream cones for a craft!  They turned out super cute!

I can't get enough of this cutie!  He is part pirate. . . can you tell?

We also played a relay game.  It was really quick and tons of fun!

And that's it.  My baby is 4!  Time to start planning a 7th birthday party. . . eek! 

Cinnamon Chip Muffins

So, it's Wednesday Thursday and it has been a few weeks since I posted a recipe.  I made these muffins a few weeks ago for our Tuesday morning Bible Study ladies.  They were really yummy and appealed to everyone in my house.  You remember my love for cinnamon chips?  As in this recipe?  I thought it was time for a new recipe and this one did not disappoint! 

Cinnamon Chip Muffins

from here. 

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/3 cup oats

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup cinnamon chips

2 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 435.  Line your muffin tin or use souffle cups. 

Whisk eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk together in a small bowl.  Set aside. 

Combine dry ingredients together.  Slowly add your egg mixture.  Stir until just combined. Carefully add cinnamon chips.  Be careful not to over mix. . . you don't want tough muffins. 

Spoon cinnamon and sugar over tops of muffins.  Stick in oven, turn down to 375.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Cool on wire rack and then eat.  They are amazing!

* remember when baking mini muffins, they take less time since they are smaller.  I always set the timer for half the time and then make adjustments from there.

DIY crayon hearts (a tutorial)

It's Friday.  Let's be honest, I am ready for a 3 day weekend!  I have been cleaning pretty much all day and I am beat.  So, I am resting and blogging, and dreaming of running away to the beach (it's calling me!)

Remember Wednesday's post?  Ethan has this thing lately of watching you tube videos like this one.  His favorites are watching the Crayola crayon maker and marker maker.  We ended up buying the marker maker (that's another story), but decided that the crayon maker wasn't worth it.  Plus, I had a heart crayon pin pinned since I started pinning things back when Pinterest started (how many times can you say pin or pinterest in a sentence?).  This method was awesome!  Ethan helped for pretty much everything, which is great. . . since they were for his Valentines.

Step 1:  Gather up a bunch of unwrapped old crayons.  Chop them up into small pieces (about 4-5 pieces from each crayon).  Grab your silicon mold (I found mine at Walmart for less than $4!  Total score!).  Fill up mold as full as you can get mixing up the colors.  the ones that look the best have both light colors mixed with dark colors.  I did the chopping and Ethan did the filling.

Step 2: Bake in oven.  230 degrees for about 15-20 minutes worked great!!  We put our mold on top of a cookie sheet to keep it flat.

Step 3: Take it out of oven and let it sit for about an hour, or until completely cool and hard.  

Step 4: Pop crayons out of the mold.  Color or wrap to give away!

Happy Crayon making!  And have a wonderful weekend!

Valentines Day Love

Valentines Day is almost here.  If you are looking for inspiration for something fun, easy, and inexpensive. . . you've come to the right spot!  Seriously.  We aren't even breaking the bank over here, or filling some really wonderful kindergartners up with sugar.  This is also a great activity to do with your kids.  It creates memories.  

Plus, I have a confession for you.  Now, please don't judge.  I know there some out there that feel exactly like I do (I know you are out there. . . don't hide!).  Okay.  I'm ready to tell you.  Deep breath.  Breathe.  Okay, here it goes. 

I am a full fledged crayon SNOB.  Yep.  You heard me.  I am super picky when it comes to crayons.  I only buy Crayola (really. . . no other crayon comes close!) and I only like coloring with sharp pointed crayons.  I stock up every year with those 25 cent boxes of crayons that go up to $3 a month after school resumes and we pull them out every few months when we are ready.  We don't even throw the old ones away.  I hoard them in a box in our art supply closet and bring them out for activities like this.   There are tons of things you can do with old crayons!!!

I really thought they came out so cute!  I wanted to keep making them and experimenting with different color combos, but at some point I had to stop.   We put them in treat bags and attached the tag I designed iwth some bakers twine I found in the gift wrap section at Target.

  CLICK HERE to get the tag printable Crayon Valentine Tag. 

Happy Valentine's Day Week!!!!

Monday Meanderings

It's been awhile since I've written my meanderings down and today seemed like a good day to get back into the habit.  School is out and we are having a super fun day where getting out of our pajamas is completely optional.  It's also amazingly beautiful and we are enjoying our California sun!  

Here's some randomness and some links to click on. . . 

::  I have always been a fan, so when Jimmy Fallon did this, I laughed!

:: Netflix put a the first few seasons of M*A*S*H on. . . I am a happy camper.  I made my husband watch the pilot last night and he found it funnier than he remembered!  

:: I was kind of bummed that I had to miss the IF conference this past weekend, but made some great family memories instead.  Maybe next year 

:: I want to go buy some raspberries right now and make this!  

:: We made GAK or slime today.  There's a bunch of recipes on Pinterest.  It went okay. . . both boys thought it was cool, but don't want to play with it!  I also found it worked better with white clue than clear/glitter.  Although it was very pretty with the glitter glue! 

::We are kind of obsessed with making these diy kind bars!  Way cheaper than buying them!

:: This quilt keeps popping up on my Pinterest feed.  Seriously I want to make one right now!  But, I should probably wait and finish the ones I already started.  

And that's really all I can think about right now.  There's lots of creative stuff in the works around here, so stay tuned!  Have a great Monday!

Flashback Friday: 100th Day of School

I won't lie.  The week after I throw a party is probably my least productive week ever.  In a reality, my brain is tired and I usually just need a little bit of a brain break.  That and it's February and like every year, it thinks it is spring and my allergies went crazy and I think my kids gave me a cold.  Ahh, the life of a mom.

Today was the 100th day of school and I am pretty sure amazing things happened, because my BOTH of my boys are out cold.  It is SO QUIET!! Pinch me. . . I think I am dreaming.  And in honor of that, we are flashing back to a great post that I wrote last year.  It even has a free printable!  Oh, and in the last few days it has been pinned over and over again my really awesome people that I have never met.  Seriously, the coolest thing ever!!!

You can check out my instagram feed and see this year's that I stuck in Ethan's lunch.  

Check out the original post here.  

Click on the picture to pin for later. 

Have a great weekend!