Mom to 3 yr olds!! (Toy Story Birthday Party)

I can not believe it ! 

(Stolen from Quincy on Little Einsteins -- I can't be the only mom that knows that quote by heart.)

Found via google image search
http://images.zap2it.com/images/tv-EP00776458/little-einsteins-aiden-pompey-3.jpg

My babies are no longer babies. They are BIG BOYS ! They turned 3 a few days ago and we had a great party over the weekend. I took almost all of my party ideas from Pinterest. I even hired a photographer to do the "photo booth" that I had set up in their twins' bedroom. The pictures turned out really well and I got to enjoy the party instead of being behind a camera.

Christie from Savage Photography was amazing ! She is local to Flagstaff. 

Here are a couple shots :

Me - I am channeling Woody and Mr Potato Head. The hat is from the dollar store and has been smushed by the boys. The nose and mustache were made out of fun foam.

Sam - wearing a clearance costume after his homemade costume was destroyed at Halloween.

Jay - wearing his Woody costume that I made for Halloween 12.

Me with the Etch a Sketch photo prop. The props were made with fun foam and craft sticks. I just looked at the toys and started cutting. No templates, I just eyeballed it.

And some random shots of our Toy Story Birthday Party !

My front door is magnetic so I used brown craft paper, fun foam and magnets to make a Mr Potato Head  for the kids to play with.

Decorations were easy ! Mr Potato Head toys dressed as Buzz and Woody and toys in the window sills and on the counters next to the food and drinks.

Cupcakes with homemade fondant . Aliens were made using two different size oval cutters and forming little antennas. I used Wilton candy eyeballs to finish them off. They were so yummy. The 3s were made from a cookie cutter. The icing job is horrible but nobody seemed to mind.

Well, I will have another post up soon with family photos that we will be taking later this week. We had it scheduled for their actual birthday but it was raining. I will also have a giveaway next week so check back...

~ Courtney

Headaches

Big headaches...

HUGE headaches...

Behind my eyes, near my temples,  neck is tight.

Yet they keep fighting and screaming.

This last time was because Sam took apart the box Jay made out of foam shapes.

So they are in time out.

It has been a very long weekend.

Meal Planning

I have been trying to come up with a meal plan and a grocery list this weekend. As I checked my news feed on facebook tonight I saw a blog post from Karen at Desert Chica Ramblings. She is trying to stick to a meal plan and use items in her pantry to keep from being wasteful. Since I have been stuck on the same idea all weekend I decided it was worth a blog post of my own. I am a stressed out single mom most days and I hate the scrambling that happens at the end of the day when I have to figure out dinner. It is even more stressful when I have toddlers that only want fruit snacks and cold hot dogs. (I hate the idea of cold hot dogs, it makes me cringe just typing it out - gross!)

I am hoping that by making this a blog post it will help me to be accountable too :) I used to have a pretty good plan in place where I had a type of meal for each night. That fell apart as our schedule changed and life got more hectic. If you have seen any of my posts (blog or fb) you know I have been stressed a lot lately. I am hoping this will make life a little easier.

SO, I started with a spreadsheet and started listing types of meals and recipes that I know my boys will eat. Examples: Mexican, Italian, Crock Pot, Easy, Pizza, etc. I then organized the list into these categories and tried to come up for 4 or 5 "recipes" for each night of the week.

Monday - Soup and/or Sandwiches
Tuesday - Mexican dish
Wednesday - Italian dish
Thursday - Crock Pot meal
Friday - Pizza Night
Saturday - Leftovers or Easy
Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner

There were a couple different reasons behind each night's choice. Monday is stressful for most people, so I wanted an easy way to start the week. Taco Tuesday just sounds cool and it is something I love to eat. Pasta  or some sort of chicken/pork on Wednesday will leave some yummy leftovers. Thursday is MOPS so being able to throw food in the crock pot and let it cook is always nice on a busy day. My boys love PIZZA so most weeks will be frozen with the occasional call to Domino's. Saturday is usually hectic so being able to play with the boys and not worry about dinner will allow me to use the leftovers and empty out the fridge for the coming week. Breakfast at our house is usually dry cereal, frozen waffles or fruit - so having it for dinner on Sunday night lets us have a big meal of pancakes, french toast or eggs, hash browns and sausage that we normally don't get to eat.

I am going to link to my spreadsheet and meal plan when I get a chance. I want to add links to the recipes where I can and turn it into a public google doc. Give me a day or two and I will update this post. 

This week's plan :

Monday - Grilled Cheese sandwiches and Soup

Tuesday - Chicken Enchilada casserole (layered like a lasagna, not rolled)

Wednesday - Pasta and Sauce (whatever I have on hand, probably meatless)

Thursday - Southwest Dump (sorta a cross between Taco Soup and Chilli)

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - French Toast and bananas

Well, it isn't fancy but the monsters should eat it. Let me know if you have any other ideas or want a recipe.

~ Courtney