My own little piece of heaven

Sigh.  :)

More amazing work by Kristie.   So thankful to have her to capture all these precious memories. 

Sissy is turning 5

this month and I just can't believe it!  When did time fly by so fast?

Kristie got TONS of amazing shots of her when we got together recently.  And here's my fav one (although it was hard to just pick one!)

Say Cheese!

My favorite time of the year is coming up quickly!  First it's fall, which means football season, my favorite smells and pulling out all my fav recipes.  Then we're on to the holidays!  I love, love checking my mailbox for all the amazing cards from family and friends.  So.... if you're in the Dallas area and wanting to have a truly special holiday card this year, contact Kristie!  Y'all have seen the great work she's done with my family (she did the family pic in my sidebar, as well as the pics of Big Sis and G-man over there, too!)  She's a teacher and a whiz with kiddos. 

Contact her and tell her I sent you!  (Awww, look at those cute kiddos in her flier!)  ;)

xoxo,

Be Joyful Always

Happy New Year to you and your family!

Love ya, The Semi-Homemades

Check your mail!

The Semi-Homemade card is in it! Can I just tell you how much I love mail this time of year? Today was Christmas card day - we got 10 just today! From old friends we've had forever (Mr. Fix-It's best friend growing up) to friends from various stages of our life (like Val, from our KS days!), to friends that are new just this year (like Kimmie! Your card made me smile so big today - thank you!!)

And since most of them are in the mail, as of today (thank goodness the studio knew that when I ordered 75, I'd really need 100 and just sent extra!).... I'm ready to send the Semi-Homemade card to you!

(front)
(back)

Then there's the packages.... Shopping online is a neccessity in these crazy times (and 12 hour workdays!) But today.... I got something that I had ordered for me. (Technically, it's 'from' my sister Erin.... hey, she needed ideas and I was happy to provide!) This might be one of my favorites of the season... Custom Photo Ornaments from kkhoff11's Etsy shop.

You pick the colors and customize 4 sides with pictures or text. I don't think I have to even tell you how hard it is to find a totally cool, totally custom, totally reasonably priced ornament for a child's first Christmas.

I chose to put 2 pictures on each of kiddo's ornament. One from the newborn days.... Big Sis:

and G-man:

.....and one from their first Christmas (so Big Sis was 4 days shy of turning 1... G-man was about 5 months).

I picked 2 sides of text. One says "First Christmas" and the other has their first and middle names and birth date and year. I AM IN LOVE! Check out Katie's shop on Etsy and tell her I sent you!

And (by the end of this weekend!), I WILL have pics from Big Sis's Semi-Homemade Nutcracker 'Sweet' birthday party!

Let's just say.... the line between bravery and stupidity is very, very fine when it comes to hosting over a dozen 4 yr olds in your home. ;)

G's Semi-Homemade Pirate Birthday Bash

Are y'all ready for the (gigantic, Texas-sized!) recap of G-man's Pirate Birthday Weekend? I hope you like pictures. I do... love 'em! (One of these days, I'm gonna take a photo class!) There's probably... a hundred pictures here.... I wanted to share all my semi-homemade ideas and all or fun! But don't say you weren't warned!

But first things, first... I'd love, love if you'd go check out the sneak peek from G-man's Rocker Baby Photo Shoot with Kristie last night. I get a free print if I get a certain number of comments on her blog, and I'd love to blow her away with tons of comments! Check out my punk baby & also the sweet pics he took with his Big Sister and 2 very large lollipops in front of the old fashioned candy shoppe downtown! Then be sure to leave a comment. Much thanks!

But back to the all pirate weekend.

Let's start at the beginning..... after running around like a mad (wo)man on Friday, putting together all the special touches, we woke up on Sat to this:

RAIN!!!!!! Can you believe it?! Of course, I had NO back up plan.... (How could I? I mean, I had just put together Plan A within the past 24 hrs.... Plan B was still on my to do list, somewhere under "make sure all guest bathrooms have toilet paper!")

Luckily, most our guests were family from faraway places, and we were flexible as far as start times. (I got extra points with the manager of the beach club for being a "breath of fresh air".... apparently, another party-planning mom was not being so... ahem.. flexible... and made a scene.)

Out of nowhere, the rain cleared, the sun came out, and it was perfect party weather! We headed off to the beach club....

We had rented the pavillion closest to the splash pad! We hung Cap'n G-man's sign, some balloons...

and some pirate pennants and we were set!

While our guests played, I set up lunch.

Semi-homemade beach party menu:

sub sandwiches (picked up by Mr. Fix-It earlier that morning)

pirate peg legs (cheetos!)

goldfish crackers

assorted drinks

and pirate cupcakes to celebrate G-man's first!

I made nothing for this party.... just added my little creative touches to (try) to make it look special! Our sandwiches looked like boats after I added sails:

To decorate, I used the red tablecloths and bowls I scored for 75% off because it was 4th of July clearance! Then I framed G-man's birthday invite and a storyboard I made that said, "thanks for coming!"

We had invited an intimate crowd for G's first (afterall, I DO realize he won't remember this party. But I will. His Big Sis will.) But it got even more intimate when our friends, the P's, had to leave town for a funeral... and when Mr. Everything and Miss Priss had to be out of town as well. But when you plan an intimate party, you just have to be prepared for it to be very.intimate. I do think tht Mrs. Everything and the fam had a ball! (And we'll have to make it up to Miss Priss and Presley with a future beach club date!)

G-man's very first taste of cheetos! Loved 'em (of course!)

On to CAKE!!! The toppers from Custom Parties to go were awesome! They have tons of party themes to choose from. Go check them out and tell them I sent ya! They did the fun Cap'n G-man sign (pictured above), these toppers, some stickers and favor tags (all pictured below). These semi-homemade touches (meaning homemade... but by someone else!) totally made the party!

Here, G has just caught sight of the cupcake deliciousness.... (see the splash pad in the background? Tons o' fun!)

And now I'm super excited, Mom.... bring on the cake!

Time to sing!

The favors.... well, I ended up with alot of good ideas. Which I mostly couldn't use because I had run out of time (saw THE cutest pirate-y stuff on Etsy that I wanted to do... this and this... but it was too late to order!) So, I took that inspiration and came up with my own semi-homemade ideas...

I found some funny color bath foam at the store (top right) and personalized it with those fun stickers from Custom Parties To Go. Then I added goldfisheys in a pirate cello bag, skull suckers, pirate stickers and pencils, plastic telescopes and big bling pirate rings, and nemo fruit candies. Threw it all in a red paper bag (bottom right), with the favor tags (that read: Thanks for coming to my party! Love, G-man) and some red tulle (duh. YES, even for a boy's party!) and it was done. Lesson here? Think it thru earlier... not day before the party. ;)

So the dinner turned out to be a family-only affair.... which was probably for the best, considering the silly factor and how out-of-control it got.... I bought tattoos, thinking the kids would love them. As in the kids under the age of 5. Turns out, tattoos are fun for all ages! But first, dinner....

Semi-Homemade Birthday Dinner -- Brisket Tacos

Brisket Tacos - Those of you who know us, know our love of brisket tacos. Which we were so excited to share. If you'd like the recipe, check it out here. It's a crock pot recipe, so I turned it on before we headed to the beach - easy!

Queso, chips & Mr. Fix-It's famous guac

Cake

Homemade Ice Cream (I'll post the recipe I used soon - it was yummmmmy!)

Aren't those paper plates cute? Almost as cute as Mr. Fix-It working on that ice cream freezer! :) And it was beeee-utiful outside that night, so we had people eating both indoors and out. When I breezed through to take pictures, everyone gave me their best "Arrrrr!"

I decorated the house with gold coins, skull balloons, the color red, Little People pirates, and this Semi-Homemade Pirate Centerpiece:

The "how to" is easy and totally semi-homemade. I took a red ceramic container..... bought a block of craft foam that fit inside.... covered with a red napkin from the party..... and stuck skull lollipops in a stair-stepped set of rows. Then I taped on a leftover from my favor tags. Done!

Remember those Watch Me Grow (pirate edition) pictures? They hung on the fireplace, over the gifts!

We also had misc pirate banners...

After dinner, we opened up G-Man's Tattoo Parlor! I love the bottom left picture of my brother (aka Uncle Frank).... he looks like he's in pain, doesn't he? ;)

The pic on the bottom left is me and my 3 siblings... playing silly! Then it's the Semi-Homemade gang on the bottom right!

After tattoos, we moved on to gifts. It was so nice outside (in Texas! in August! I still can't believe it!) that we decided to do them outside, since we were all out there anyway!

I just love that little OSU jersey in the middle pic (Go, Pokes!) Much thanks to Aunt Ellen. :)

And then we moved on to THE entertainment of the night.

Because, really, with a newly-1-year-old, it's all about the cake. The destruction. The sugar. The mess.

I have dozens (or more!) of pictures of this child eating cake. And most of them make me laugh. But I tried (really hard!) to narrow them down... to maybe my favorite dozen or so. ;)

And now, a glimpse into the thoughts of G-man....

Alright, everyone is watching me, but I'm gonna keep on concentratin'.....

This seems a little wrong.... but everyone is laughing, so what the heck?

Oh, how I love cake......

....especially all over my face, inside my ear, and in my hair....

Did I mention that I love cake?!

Hmmm, I wonder if anyone will notice if I cut out the middle man, and just put my face directly into the cake itself.....

Woooo hooooo! Yea for me!

Mommma! Come and get me - I've gotta hug with your name on it!

I hope y'all enjoyed a peak into his birthday weekend. I know these are some memories I'll never forget! For those of you who don't know us, his pirate birthday bash was inspired by his (my?) love (obsession?) of all things pirate and by his Semi-Homemade Pirate Nursery. Thanks for stoppin' by, mateys!