Sissy's Semi-Homemade Birthday Party - A GIRLY Painting Party!

Y'all.  I have a SIX year old!  Unbelievable...

What's even MORE unbelievable is that she declared, less than one week before this party, that she wanted everything to be "zebra" and "cupcake."  And I was able to indulge her, because - except for the location - I had done NOTHING for the party.  Nothing.  And I thought when that happened last year, it would be a fluke.....sigh.  But isn't that why Our Semi-Homemade Life even exists?  ;)

Theme:  pink.  zebra.  it could have only been more girly if there was some Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez.  (Oh, wait... she got both those cd's as gifts.)  ;)

The fun:  Painting!!!  When Sissy came up with this idea, I thought it was genius!  I did this a couple of summers ago with a girlfriend of mine and we couldn't have had more fun (of course, there was wine involved, but...)   We had Sissy's party at the same type of place (they do kiddo parties AND girls' night outs, etc!)  Basically, you bring the kids and the cake - they do the rest.  That even includes a couple of super fun instructors!

They even customized a current painting in their gallery.... they zebra-fied their cupcake painting!

Here is Sissy, hard at work... :)  (See?  They even include the smocks - everything!!)

A look at the final products..... aren't these kids amazing artists?  And each one is so unique!

We only had one (lucky!!) guy invited.  And the instructors let him pick out ANYTHING he wanted to paint.  He picked this super cool guitar painting, they sketched it up, and away he went!  LOVE IT!

The decor:  Oh, THANK YOU, Michaels and Hobby Lobby!  For making my last second party planning super easy, by having an abundance of hot pink and zebra on almost every aisle!  I started scheming/shopping/crafting on Thursday... the party was Sat.  But look at all this fun stuff:

I HATE throwing parties at locations other than my home.... because it's such a rush to set up!  I knew I'd only have about 20 min for set up before guests would start arriving.  So I mocked it up at home. :)

Oddly enough, this place had some of its OWN zebra decor!  Like this table runner and the seats in the background.  I love the modern look of the invite Sissy picked out, too!  It's by Katherine at Etsy shop Hopscotch Ink - check out all her other cute (modern!) items in her stationary boutique!

The cake:  I tried a friend of a friend of a FRIEND who does cakes - she's the Queen of Cakes, in fact!  And she was just a doll to work with!  (If your local to me and want her info - let me know!)  She whipped up this cuter than cute cake, and it was sooo good... that a self-proclaimed Cake Snob Mom said it was delish!

The sweets:  In my mad dash down the aisles of Michaels, I grabbed some molds for these "pop princess pretzals."  I did chocolate and pink vanilla and the moms couldn't stay out of 'em.  ;)  And look at that picture of Sissy (another masterpiece from Kristie Clark!)  She's just growing up so fast!

Ahhh...... Pinterest.  Because I had such short time to plan this party, I FINALLY GAVE IN.... and activated my Pinterest account.  And thanks to all those creative people, I made these darling marshmallow pops, and these wild pink zebra cookies. 

First off, these marshmallow pops are the easiest thing in the world to do and were snatched up by those kiddos faster than you can say, "sugar high."  You will probably see them at all our parties for the rest of the year.  (And Sissy took them to her Valentine party at school this week!)  I got my directions from The Hostess with the Mostess HERE.

And I had to turn the cookie recipe into something more semi-homemade-approved.... Semi-Homemade Wild Pink Zebra cookies!  So I basically took a sugar cookie mix, added in some bright pink food coloring, baked them, and threw some Hershey Rasberry Hugs on top as they were cooling.  Easy!

Y'all know how much I love printables (they're a lifesaver for moms like me who are perpetually RUNNING BEHIND!)  All You Need Designs on Etsy did these cute custom zebra water bottle wraps - with such a quick turnaround!  The little tents pictured above are from CupcakeCutieesParty on Etsy, too - even MORE cute party stuff!

The favors:  Just a mix of girly stuff!  Cupcake lipgloss, zebra bandaids (for those stylishly injured, ha!), chocolate from Dylan's Candy Bar, Hello Kitty stamps, and an assortment of bracelets, rings, and funky colored hair extension clips! 

The crew:  Here they are!  All but one kiddo was able to make it, and you can tell here how much fun they had!  Starting kindergarten was such a big change this year.... We'd always had relatively the same invitee list - the kids she'd gone to school with since she was a baby.  Only one of these kids was at her party last year... but she's so blessed to have a great, core group of girl friends!

Like this one... her best friend... Giggling together while everyone sings Happy Birthday to her.  (Love this pic!)

See how good the cake was?!  Almost GONE!  2 layers!  lol

And here's the birthday girl with the biggest party favor they got - her final masterpiece!

What a sweet party for such a sweet girl.  I can't believe she's already six... and so smart, independent, confident, friendly, outgoing... 

This is from her actual birthday, back in December.  (We didn't throw her party until January, because of her crazy basketball schedule!!  See what I mean?  Grown up!)  After a day with mom (pedis, lunch, shopping, the merry.go.round at the mall!).... she came home to just ONE birthday gift.  But it was a good one!  I'll never get tired of looking at this picture and remembering that happy day!

xoxo,

Why I Hate Doritos

Listen up, all you mommas of BOYS. 

This is why I now HATE Doritos (and no, it has nothing to do with yesterday's Super Bowl commercial!)

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday.  (I know YOU know this... but just getting us all on the same page.)  We went to a party.  It was a big party, probably 30-40 really fun peeps, lots of which were (really suprisingly well behaved) kiddos.  Good times, just a really nice afternoon in TX.

And this momma was BUSY.  Because the party was so crazee, I had to hold the sweet punkin most the time (lest she get trampled by the bigger kids while she's trying to figure out the whole walking thing - see how close she's getting?)

Between the punkin AND tending to my drink (vodka. fresca.  Have I told y'all that we're halfway thru a 10wk Biggest Loser contest and I've been winning the entire time?!)... So between the punkin AND my drink AND socializing... I didn't have time for much else.  And my big kids were being really good, so I didn't get in their business much.  I noted that Gman had a handful of Doritos EVERYTIME I saw him, but I was like... Whatev.  It's a party, he can knock himself out.

Cut to 2:15a.m.  Gman calmly shows up at my bedside and says, 'momma, I spit up on myself.'  I take him to the bathroom, where we can take a peek in the light.  He is covered, on one side, in NACHO CHEESE VOMIT.  All in his hair, plastered to the side of his face, all in his PJs, in every nook & cranny of his little left side.  AND, all over his bed, he announces.

He's calm, not scared or acting like he's got a stomach bug.  Because he doesn't.  He's puking because - in typical BOY fashion - he ate his weight in freakin' nacho cheese Doritos.  mr. fix-it put him in the tub, and I went up to his poor room.  Remember the one?  We may have to change the color scheme.  To navy blue, crisp white.... and nacho cheese orange!!! 

Hope you enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday as much as we did.... minus the 2am repeat of nacho cheese!!
This is post-party, on our way to Punkin's crib... with 52 seconds left in the game.  I think the GIANT football head behind us is hil-arious.   :) 

xoxo,

It must be January....

...because my whole house is sick!  Everyone but me (knock on wood!)  So... fingers crossed that translates into a blog post or two?  At the moment, everyone is tuckered out!

Happy Holidays!!!

I'm going to make BLOGGING one of my new year's resolutions!  :)  As I head out of the office until Jan 3rd (woo hoo!), just wanted to wish y'all a Merry Christmas!!

Punkin

It's what I call her EVERYday.... so might as well sit her in one, right?!

Blogging.... Wish I could find more time for it!  But right now, being mommy to 3 and working full time is just keeping me TOO busy!  I will tell you this... for the first time EVAH, I'm hosting the entire family for Thanksgiving!  So... I'll try to find a little time to be creative and show y'all how it went.  (And if all else fails, I'll just show you Punkin's nursery - I know I STILL haven't done that and it's too cute not to share!)

xoxo,

Semi-Homemade Bedrooms: Big Boy's Vintage Trucks

I'm finally sharing Gman's big boy room with y'all!  And I'll let you in on a secret... his room was the first one done in the new house...  and has actually BEEN done (all but switching out a chest of drawers for a black bookcase) for months... Pictures taken... Complete.  But I didn't LOVE the pics, so I kept thinking I'd retake them (because I can be a perfectionist like that).  But you know what?  Life with 3 kids and a more.than.fulltime job is crazy.  I'll never retake those pics.  So... here you go, imperfection and all!

The idea:  Vintage Trucks

The inspiration:  Gman's love of all things with wheels, but especially trucks.  This boy is ALL boy.  Except that he tells me he's not a boy, but a man.  A BIG man.  His words... ;)  So babyish themes with cartoonish vehicles was not gonna work for my lil - err - BIG!! man.

The sentimental touch (and focal point!):  The old truck of mr. fix-it's dad, aka Papa.  This old truck is now solely used on their farm and goes literally only yards in a day.  Papa loves that truck... it's a reminder of a simpler time.... and, to the kids, it's part of who Papa is.

Last June, I took several pics of Papa's truck. I took them with this room in mind (three of them hang over Gman's bed and are the focal point of the room), but I also ended up using them for Gman's Semi-Homemade Vintage Truck Birthday Party last summer.

The fun touches:  There are vintage trucks throughout the room, of course!  This one happens to be a fire truck....

My sister Ellen got Gman these vintage truck pillow cases last summer for his birthday.  I had found them on Etsy (of course!) and they are just too, too perfect!  Love 'em!  They go perfectly with the bedding I (finally!!) found him (it's Tommy Hilfiger from overstock.com, and I love the bold colors of the set, and the stars on the pillowcases!)

Remember back when we lived in the Summer House last year?  Um, yeah, I've mostly blocked it... but while we lived there, I found 2 of these great metal wall hanging on super low clearance at Hobby Lobby.  Each one has 3 vintage vehicles on it, and they're hanging on either side of his red (super cheap - $10!!) curtains.

The color scheme:  Gman's Semi-Homemade Pirate Nursery was - and maybe still is! - my favorite of all the kids' rooms I had designed at that point.  So I decided to keep the elements I loved in that room (the navy blue paint - Pittsburgh's Star Spangled - and the white beadboard) and throw in red to go for an Americana feel... to pull in the patriotism and wholesome feel of the time when Papa's truck was new.

I love the canvas hanging over this dresser.  (This dresser will soon be moved to another bedroom and replaced with a black bookshelf.  When we went shopping for Gman's big boy furniture, we found that we were drawn to black furniture.... again... somewhat similar to Sissy's... what can I say?  We're consistent.)  :)

I love this license plate frame (HL again!!) and a few more metal vintage trucks (yes, HL.  I know, I have a problem.  But the frame, and the trucks... each item was under $10!) 

And the license plate frame ties in to the picture of the US by license plate... which is hanging over the vintage red chair I found on one of my trips to Canton with Mrs. Everything.  That chair was.... are you ready?  $22.  Amazing, I know.  And I took some navy blue vinyl and put Gman's name on it - he loves that!  Lastly, the clock hanging over the door reminded me of a hubcap... and was a $12 clearance item at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  I love it when a ton of clearance buys come together! 

Ahhh, looking at that last picture, with that tiny baby in the doorway.... I took these pics during my maternity leave.  Can I go back?  ;)

Happy weekend, y'all!  Next up.... the Semi-Homemade Modern Black and White Safari Nursery!

4 months!

My sweet baby girl is almost 5 months... but since I scheduled this to go back on Aug 20... and it clearly didn't... (grrrr!)  Here's what was going on almost a month ago! 

Punkin was 4 months old yesterday... and today I finished c25k!!   My goal was to complete it by Labor day weekend and I'm so happy I finished 2 weeks ahead of time!  Um, and good thing I was 2 wks early... because right after I finished it, I ended up with bronchitis and didn't run for 2 1/2 wks.  Seriously...

Here's a few pictures of my sweet punkin...

Her bow is only as big as her smile, hee hee!

 She's starting to push up and roll over... the last 2 mornings, I've found her on her belly in her crib.  I think she likes it, at first... ;)

Hope you're lovin the weekend as much as we are!  At least this still makes since, seeing that it's weekend again and all.... ;)

School starts TOMORROW!

Gasp!  How did this happen?  Sissy starts KINDERGARTEN tomorrow!  She went to bed tonight, like a kid on Christmas Eve - she can't wait!  And that makes me so happy...

Friday night was Meet the Teacher, and I was in my typical mode... I didn't want us to show up empty handed, but I've been even more swamped (overwhelmed?) than ever.  So... mr. fix-it was on popcorn duty (that guy is THE sweetest... ran out last second and got the cutest popcorn gifts in these little teacher gift boxes - I was so crazy I didn't even get a picture, but they were super cute.  Way to go, dad!!)

Anyway, the night before, I had Sissy write both her teachers (her English teacher and Spanish teacher - she's in the Dual Language program!) notes about how excited she is for the school year.  I found these from Cut & Create and they were PERFECT!

Gotta run - my chocolate chip cookies are done in the oven and I'm writing more thank yous to the little kids' teachers.  This is their LAST WEEK at the school we've been at for 4 years - and the only school the little kids have ever known!  We're moving them to the same town where Sissy's elementary school is (and where we moved in December).  I've got alot of love to put into these cards!

Happy Back-to-School, y'all!!

Meet the Teacher(s)!!

We are so lucky to live in a town that's entering it's 7th year of a Dual Language program.  And Sissy got in!  They put all the 5 year olds through a 45 minute interview, basically... then they fill 2 kindergarten classes with a combo of native Spanish speakers and English speakers.

Here is Sissy with her homeroom teacher, which is also her Spanish teacher.  She'll spend the other half of her day with her English speaking teacher.  School starts Monday - I can't believe I have a kiddo in elementary school!  (I did super easy teacher gifts for tonight... will try to get them up here this weekend!)

Happy weekend and Happy Back-to-School everyone!

Giving up Dairy

Hi, y'all!!  Remember me?  :)  Another "meet someone I think is funny/cool/sassy" post to tide you over until actual blogging occurs over here again.

Remember when I had to give up dairy when I was nursing G-man?  And it was so awful, all I wanted to do was complain... and share the precious few recipes I had that my whole family loved... and then complain again?  Well, we're at it again (so this is the 3rd time I've had to give up dairy... out of 3 babies, for those of you keeping score at home!)  This punkin fooled us and kept her symptoms away until she was 7 weeks!  Sigh....

Anyway, to cope this time around, I've done 2 things:

Started reading this blog.  MODG. 

Omg... she is toooo hilarious.  I've had to walk away from my desk at work because I was laughing so hard that I feared I might snort or choke on my (soy) starbucks or something.  Today, she's talking about giving up dairy, too... Hello again food, you dirty dirty lady.  I was first introduced to her by a friend who also has a newborn....and this post totally describes my maternity leave:  10 things about boob feeding that only I'm going to tell you. 

You're welcome.  ;)

The other thing I did.... I ordered this cookbook from Amazon:  Go Dairy Free. 

I hate that the only thing I've cooked from it so far was some yummy cinnamon bread.  (I might have woken up on a Sunday morning.. after a Saturday evening out without kids!.... and needed something yummy and carby.)  Anyway, my menu planning has been totally a low priority lately, so I keep going with my dairy-free standbys:  chili, BBQ chicken, grilled chicken, fish.... But as soon as I try some, I'll be sure to pass them on!!


xoxo,