Shower Themed Baby Shower

Planning parties is my thing....so when my niece told me she was pregnant I knew I wanted to throw the shower. A baby is shower is one party that I've never had the privilege of throwing. Good o'l Pinterest never fails me so when I saw a "shower" themed baby shower it was on. I planned everything I could around my theme. Notice the Shower up ahead door poster to greet the guests. It literally had rained everyday that week except for on the shower so I was super happy about that. I also did her maternity photo shoot and had to incorporate the cutest little parasol. She is having a boy and it looks rather girly but I still like it.

A party wouldn't be a party without cupcake toppers and straw toppers, right. Also, the little nappies with chocolate covered peanuts were an addition my Mom just had to do.  And you'd guess all the guests raved about them:)

I didn't get a real good picture of the food. But we had a brunch so we had chicken salad sandwiches, mini quiche, fruit, veggies, spinach dip, chips, macaroons, & cupcakes.

I'm in love with taking maternity pictures. Isn't she just glowing?

Read Across America Week Snacks

This is read across America week and I was asked to bring in snacks for my little's class. I chose Pinterest of course for my inspiration. I'm taking the easy route more and more but of course my OCD takes over and I change something. I reworked the water bottles to fit Sam's club (Walmart brand) mini water bottles to fit perfectly. So, I took off the nutrition facts and QR code. It was making it too cluttered. Original source came from Little Wish Parties.

For the goldfish snacks the link only provided a picture so I designed those completely. Then printed on card stock and used double sided tape to attach them.

And last, the Cat in the Hat cheese stick hats I also just had a picture so I made those too.

I'm an overachiever and I was asked to only bring in one thing so hopefully she didn't ask anyone else to contribute as well or they will be on snack overload:)

Here are my links for downloads if you'd like to use my Dr. Seuss files.
Cat in the Hat Cheese Topper
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish goldfish label
Dr. Seuss mini water bottle labels

MISSION Athletecare’s EnduraCool towel

Fitness is very important to my oldest daughter. She just asked for a Fitbit on her birthday. So, naturally when I was asked to review the MISSION Athletecare’s EnduraCool towel she wanted to try it out on her "workout" LOL. She pretty much does stretches and when she starts to sweats calls it quits. But she does love to look the part:)

I'm a little more realistic and tried it out at the pool. I'm usually pool side fully dressed watching my two girls swim which can get pretty hot here in Texas. I dropped it around my neck to take the edge off. It's become my next best friend. I also really like the fun, funky colors they come in. Thank you MISSION Athletecare for letting me review the new EduraCool towel.

Water Park Birthday Party!

This year we had my oldest daughter's 10th birthday at River Country Water Park in Muskogee. It is becoming more and more challenging coming up with a location for our birthday parties. We've decided since the move to Texas we'd have a family party in Oklahoma so everyone can attend.

One of the positives of having it at the water park means virtually no clean up, but I would not recommend paying the price they have for their birthday packages since they do nothing! I actually had to ask them to have people move from the area we paid to have reserved. Which they ended up not doing and the people still stayed. So DO NOT PAY for their private pavilion. Just have someone go and hold the area. But, what more can you ask for when it's run by a bunch of teenagers and the adult managers sit inside under air conditioning and never bother coming out?

Bottom line it was nice having it where all the kids could have fun and clean up was easy. And as a side note their hamburgers from the concession were really good. But beware no water or any other kind of drink is allowed in at the gate and the water pitchers that you pay for is tap water....and it tastes like it! I know it sounds like I'm being a diva but really tap water is so yucky!

For the party favors I made personalized tumblers with each guest's name. This made it really easy to figure out who's cup was who's.  And I packaged a small sunscreen and sunglasses. The kid's loved it.

Here's the birthday girl with her cake before we got ready to go to the water park. She is getting so big!

How to Keep Your Plants Alive While Away on Vacation

Have you ever wondered how to keep your plants alive while your away on vacation? Me too!!! I searched high and low and found this method. I wasn't sure it would work, but it did. Insert happy dance here. Plants and flowers for some reason make me happy:) I really enjoy them and when my husband decided on a vacation this summer I thought how in world am I going to keep my flower baskets watered? I was seriously about to buy one of those shirts that say "I can't go....My plants need me."

So here it is.

• You'll need a big container (I used the largest kitchen pot)
• Twine 
• Scissors to cut the twine
• Screwdriver, optional. I used it to poke a hole into the soil where I put the twine into.

So, I think the pictures make it pretty self explanatory. Fill a large container to the brim with water, soak the twine in the water until thoroughly wet, then put one piece of the twine in the pot and another end into the soil. Space out the twine so equal parts of the plant will get watered. I was gone 10 days and noticed that a little bit on the end of one plant got a tinge of yellow (meaning that part got over watered). I never imagined it would get over watered.

It was really hard to get a good shot of the plants in my tiny bathroom. But this should give you an idea since you'll have a different size of plants than I have anyways. I have flower planters that hang over my deck railing. I wanted to originally put them in the bathtub to create less mess but they needed something to support them from falling over.....so the bathtub was a fail. I then thought I might be able to put each one in front of each sink and (the faucet would be the brace) to keep them from falling over. Bingo bongo! Then, I need something to elevate my pot of water. The pot needs to be elevated to wick the water down through the twine. I used my 4 year old's step stool but needed more height so I got a skillet and put that under the pan. I also covered the stool with a towel since it was wood and she'd totally freak out if it got messed up.

Here you can see the water soaked twine that ran from the water pot to the plants. I put approximately 8-10 strands of twine for each plant and my planters are 3 feet wide.

I used a screwdriver to poke holes in the dirt and place the twine as far down as I could.  The roots is where the water needs to get to.

This is a close up of what my plants (coleus and sweet potato vines) looked after 10 days of the self watering system.

My pan of water was bone dry so I should have used a bigger pan but didn't have one. I'm not sure when the water ran out but do know it did a great job of keeping my plants alive while I was away. There was NO WAY they would have survived in the 106 degree temps we were having in Texas. I'm sure also the cooler temps inside also added to the survival but you can believe next time I go out of town, which is quite often this is the system I will use. Sometimes you just don't have someone to water the plants or want to bother them for that many days. This way the plants water themselves!!!

Little Tikes Cape Cottage Review

Someone is excited they got a new Little Tikes Cape Cottage Playhouse! Even looks great in the box.

The Little Tikes Cape Cottage Playhouse is so easy to assemble that even my 4 year old daughter was able to lend a helping hand deciphering the instructions for us.

I was pleasantly surprised at how simple all the parts snapped together and how sturdy everything felt once in place.

Putting the Little Tikes Cape Cottage Playhouse together proved to be a family affair with even the little one screwing some of the screws in place. 

As you can see in the pictures the playhouse was not only adored by by 4 year old daughter it was very enticing to my 9 year old daughter as well.  The playhouse can span a variety of ages and in my opinion you could also buy one of these for a child younger than the recommended age of 2.  My girls loved the windows that can be opened and shut as well as having 2 doors one on each end.  As my husband works for the Postal Service they also found the mail slot to be quite entertaining as well.  The Cape Cottage Playhouse is light and durable and can easily be moved around the yard, driveway, or basement.  The vibrant colors make it very aesthetically pleasing to look at in your yard as your children spend hours in and out of the playhouse.  Little Tikes has a great reputation for building quality children's toys and the Cape Cottage Playhouse definitely lives up to all expectations and is a must have for any household with kids. 

*This was a sponsered post from Little Tikes but all opinions were forthright and truthful regarding the quality and craftsmenship of the Cape Cottage Playhouse.

DIY Drummer Boy Silhouette Handmade Christmas Tree

Litte drummer boy and silhouettes was the theme I was going for this year for my Christmas tree. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money since I didn't even think we were going to be in an apartment at Christmas time. But, we were so I had my husband's office Christmas tree pulled off the moving truck as all of stuff went into the storage unit that I wouldn't be able to touch until it actually went back into a house....just in case we were. So thankful I did.

I also did a little DIY wall art for above our tv and some gift tags to jazz up the brown kraft paper I wrapped the gifts in. I liked the paper. It went along with the natural theme I was going for. The kids also got to string real popcorn for a garland, which I think might be an annual tradition now. Tip on that: use dental floss it slides easier.

Vintage Barbie Birthday Party

Vintage Barbie Party! My baby turned 3! My husband insisted on having her a Barbie party since she likes to play with them so much. Seriously though, what man decides on the birthday theme? Mine, apparently. LOL. I love that he joins in helping me throw all the parties I like to have. Here are some of the party details.

It's my birthday, really???

Watching the candles get lit.

Easter Tablescape 2014

Bunny butt pancakes to start the morning off.

Emmy loved her pancakes so much she wanted to pose with them:)

I'm going to be so sad when they don't like Easter baskets anymore. Here is Payton getting so excited because Frozen was in her Easter basket.

Can't believe my little girl is getting so big. 

Winter Wonderland in Virginia!

 

My girls loved all the snow we got this winter. I think we are the only one's in Virginia that loved this winter! We aren't accustomed to getting 8 inch average snow falls every few weeks.

100th Day of School Shirt 2014

Mason jar 100th Day of School Shirt for 2014! We made a mason jar filled with foam hearts. This was our inspiration. I'm such a terrible mom though she went to school strutting her stuff only to get into the car at the end of the day and tell me that it WASN'T the 100th day!  Nice going, mom.

Oklahoma Visit

This summer we went back to Oklahoma to visit family.  And this was my first time meeting my new great niece, Ellie. Isn't she the cutest. I just loved this picture of Ellie and mommy together.

Today is my neices, birthday.  Happy Birthday, Brittany!  Love and miss you.
 

Bumble Bee & Little Red Riding Hood Halloween 2013

Here is what my girls were this year for Halloween.  They were too easy!  Payton's classs two weeks before Halloween informed me that their costumes had be a book character.  Great.  Thankfully she was Little Red Riding Hood last year and agreed to be it again this year.  Usually, I wouldn't do this but simpler the better this year was my motto. Emmy was a recycled bumble bee that Payton was at this age.  Aren't they too cute!

Emmy's 2nd Birthday!

Isn't she the cutest thing, ever?  I love her so much and can't believe she is two.  Well like three months...ago.  Life is busy!

  

My little cheeseburger in front of her birthday display.

She's so civilized. Lol. She is only two so I thought a smash cake was still appropriate but apparently not.  She wouldn't touch it until we gave her a fork and then fed her sister cake.

Here is her party set up.  I tried to reuse anything I had left over from last year and previous parties.  It was a very simple gathering.

Girl Scout Water Bottle or Drink Container

I volunteered to help with my daughter's end of the year Girl Scout party.

This is what I came up with.  I used this same idea also for the Batman party I helped plan.   I topped the water bottles off with a brown and white polka dotted ribbon just to make it cuter for presentation and because they will now be officially be Brownies and no longer Daisy's. My little girl is getting so BIG!

Update: I sell something similar to this now in my Etsy Shop.

Apparently, you can't sell anything remotely related to Girl Scouts. Even the flippin words Girl Scouts are trademarked and removed them from my Etsy shop.  

Update: 2019 Fully stocked for this season!

5/15/18 less than 20 water bottles left.

5/18/17 UPDATE I ONLY HAVE 40 WATER BOTTLES LEFT!!!

Contact me about placing your order! mspaytonjones@yahoo.com

2/5/17 UPDATE: Reordering stock today. Order soon! I sold completely out last year before the end of Girl Scout season! Looks like the bottles will be back to the longer one's (like the first picture above)