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Winter ONEderland first birthday party

I am finally posting this now, a first birthday party celebrated over a year ago!! )

As a mother I should have known that things don't always work out as planned. No matter how much time is spent planning every last detail, it can all fall apart so easily. I, unfortuanetly, was reminded this when my sons first birthday was also the day a blizzard hit Illinois.
I live in Colorado but I am from Illinois so I planned this huge first birthday party that was supposed to be held in a hall about 35 minutes from where I grew up. My boyfriend ,baby and I drove  almost 1000 miles from Denver to Illinois and I had TWO DAYS to celebrate my boyfriends birthday in the city, celebrate Christmas with both families and get everything ready for the birthday party. needeless to say, it was rushed and a bit stressful but I had planned every detail beforehand hoping to lessen the load.
Sunday morning came and guess what I did not plan for? Terrible driving conditions and guests snowed in! My guest count of 43 was rapidly dropping with everyone calling me to say they couldn't make it. My heart sank and I had to act fast when my boyfriends mother offered to have it at her house instead so that we wouldn't all have to make the long and slippery drive out to the hall. All the decorations, food and crafts that I had planned had to be set up in a living room and kitchen now ! Thank goodness for good friends and family who helped me set the entire party up in about an hour before the party started. Running around like a mad woman I taped up at least a dozern paper snowflakes, hung some banners that I made, set out the kids crafts and favors, got the food , hot cocoa bar , candy bar and dessert bar set up with no time to spare. My sister picked up the cupcakes, we skipped the balloons and somehow, it all came together. It was a wonderful party that I will always remember! I think everyone really had a good time and defienetely had full bellies with food and candy to take home with them.

The theme that I chose was "Winter Onederland. "Perfect for a boy born on January 9th! Pinterest, of course, was my inspiration and I really had a fun time planning the party while still on a budget.

Toppings for the hot cocoa bar

                                I made some simple decorations like these bunting banners I cut from cardstock scrapbook paper and taped to ribbon

Some of the yummy food served

                                               Winter punch recipe found 

I cleaned used Starbucks jars and added Martha Stewart sticker labels from michaels  

For milk jars . I added some cute paper straws and red ribbon

I bought red and blue candy from Party City and had little blue and red pola dot paper bags that guests could fillip and take home

Cupcakes were ordered from Walmart 

Liam's smashcake was also ordered from Walmart

The cupcake toppers we're made by my sister Theresa 

Check out her etsy shop to buy adorable paper goods! 

My mother baked sugar cookies and we all helped the day before to decorate them. Snowflakes snowmen and mittens!

I had little cupcake liners filled with snacks for tr kids

I bought this book from Target and had each guest sign the inside cover and first page 

Add caption

I bought all the hanging snowflakes from Oriental trading and taped them all over the ceiling 

Veggie and oatmeal toddler muffins

My son is almost a year old and loves loves his finger foods! Its of course easy to just pick pre-made snacks and food from the store but sometimes I like to bake little goodies for my baby so I know exactly what ingredients are in his food. we are leaving for an 18 hour road trip today and I made these for snacks/breakfast in the car. This recipe has veggies that are "hidden" ,great for picky eaters.

I really recommend using a food processor for this recipe. I do not have one but it would have made this a little easier and less time consuming if I did! I took a couple different recipes and tweaked it a little to make it my own. There are lots of wAys to add or subtract ingredients in this recipe. Next time I will try something new, maybe add a little more cinnamon because my son really seems to enjoy cinnamon! I hope you and your kiddo enjoys these!

Veggie and Oatmeal Toddler Muffins

Ingredients:
1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C rolled oats
1/3 C oil ( I used vegetable oil because I ran out of coconut oil)
1/2 C organic unsweetened applesauce
2 ripe organic bananas
1 small organic zucchini
1 C shredded carrots
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix oil, eggs and applesauce in a bowl with a whisk or fork in a large bowl. Finely chop the carrots, zucchini and banana (or use a food processor) and add to the mixture. Stir in all dry ingredients. Use muffin cups or grease the muffin pan. I used mini muffin pans and this recipe made about 59 muffins.fill the cups 2/3 full and bake for 15-17 minutes.

This is how fine I chopped the carrots

Liam is "helping" 

Here is the first batch, yum!! Baby approved !

Healthy snack Ideas

Being a stay at home mother is the best job in the world but it isn't great for my eating habits. I tend to snack throughout the day instead of having actual meals. Which is fine if every snack was a healthy one. So I decided to stop messing around and take the first steps to better eating habits. If I want my children to eat healthy and continue to eat healthy throughout their lives I need to start now.

The first step is to change the way I grocery shop. If I make better decisions at the store I won't have any other choices while at home.
Making a grocery list is key to this step. Also, I'm sure I am not alone in saying that if I go shopping hungry, I end up bringing home several things I don't need and probably not on the list.
 

Here is a list of some healthy SNACK ideas:

1. low fat cottage cheese and peaches
2. apples, oranges
3. whole wheat flatbread and cucumbers dipped in hummus
4. fat free yogurt (I buy dairy-free yogurt such as soy or almond milk)
5. raw almonds
6. grapes
7. baby carrots, celery and broccoli with fat free ranch dressing
8. oatmeal
9. air popped popcorn
10. peanut butter on Triscuits or celery
11. Kashi crackers and granola bars
12. hard boiled eggs
13. fat free wheat thins
14. organic fruit leather
15. low sodium veggie chips
16. organic applesauce
17. pretzels
18. chunk light tuna in water, drained and placed on a bed of lettuce
19. one 1 oz package of Planters NUT-trition nuts (these are SOOO good!)
20. Annies organic crackers
21. whole wheat bagel with peanut butter, sliced banana and a light drizzle of honey (great filling breakfast option too!)
22. Apple slices with peanut butter
23. Kale chips
24. clementine oranges
25. raisins

I'm BACK!

Holy cow it has been a long time since I have posted anything ! Time has just slipped away! It was a very busy summer and fall and I have been busy preparing for Christmas since Thanksgiving ! I have many post ideas and hopefully will be able to stay more active on my web page.
I first want to wish everyone Happy Holidays ! I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and I hope this merry season will be filled with family friends joy and good food !

A lot has changed in my daily life. Everything from my skincare/makeup routine to having to do some major baby-proofing throughout my home. My son is 11 months already! And boy have I learned a lot ! Looking forward to sharing family recipes, product reviews, my new and wonderful skincare finds, and plenty of fun holiday DIYs!!

How to live like every day is Earth Day

In honor of earth day I wanted to share some of the things me and my family do daily to be "green" and also our goals to improve our lifestyle  and health as an Eco friendly family.

Simple ways to be Green:

1. Always turn off lights, tvs, radios and computers when not using them
2. Unplug all electronics when not using them. We unplug our coffee pot , toaster, cell phone chargers etc because even if they are off they are still using energy. (this will save you money too)
3. At night we try to use candles for light when we can
4. The obvious :RECYCLE ! Recycle paper, plastic ,glass, grocery bags, batteries , electronics, clothes and furniture(remember ,donating to organizations such as Goodwill is still recycling !)
5. Use plastic reusable containers for food instead of one time use bags

DIY Painted Mirror

I love garage sales and Goodwill and always seem to find something I like, but sometimes it's not exactly what  I want so I have to make it my own. Today I painted this wood floor length mirror a minty blue/green. My room is mainly neutral colors so I thought that this would add a nice springy pop of color ! I only did one coat of acrylic paint (Americana in sea breeze) because I wanted just a hint of the wood to still show through the paint to get a little "shabby chic". I have painted all sorts of goodwill items such as frames, clocks, candlestiks, even a basket I now use in my baby's nusery to hold his blankets.
Pick out some paint at the craft store, get a couple different size brushes and get painting !
Don't forget:

• wear old clothes
• always lay a tarp or newspapers down first
• have paper towels and water there for mess-ups
• plan ahead!