Flat Out Pizza

We needed an alternative to the high fat, high carb, and high calorie deliciousness. We came up with these for dinner tonight. Jack and Henry loved their cheese pizza, and I made a roasted veggie and provolone pizza. Jack helped make them but wasn't in the mood for a picture. Gotta respect that.

 Doug had taco leftovers. I am getting closer and closer to swearing off beef all together. If it weren't for the biannual burger, I think I'd be there... 

Back to pizza. Here's how they turned out. 

We used light flatout wraps. 

I chose to roast peppers, squash, zucchini, and green onions while I fixed the boys' cheese pizza.

Put on your sauce and add cheese.

After a few minutes, the kiddo cheese pizza is done. Yummy looking!

Jack's plate.

Fixing mine up now that the veggies are done. 

Add your veggies and put back in the oven for a few minutes.

This is the deliciousness I got to eat after. You will not miss the meat, carbs, or calories, I promise. 

Scarecrow Crunch

How am I not going to come and eat this in the middle of the night??? 

Jack and I made our version of scarecrow crunch this afternoon. It is perfect for little guys to help out with and talk about measurement. It's even better if you have a dog to eagerly eat up the extra crunch that falls to the ground with some extra eager stirring! ;) We put pretzel sticks, crunch munch, golden grahams, Reese's pieces, candy corn and candy corn pumpkins. It's not healthy. It's fun!

I found the clipart in PowerPoint and then scaled it down, grouped the image, and copied a bunch out. That took maybe 5 minutes. Fast is good. 

I put it in ziplock bags because they are for a soccer match and I want them to be portable and easy to be zipped up when the parents say, "Enough on the sweets!" They would be super cute in a cellophane bag too. 

Left overs to go to work with Daddy. It CAN NOT stay here! ;)

Fall Fun!

We love Fall around here! Here is some of our fall family fun. :)

We went on our annual trip to the mountains and loved seeing all the pumpkins and hiking partly up the Amacalola waterfall. Jack loved splashing around in the creek.

Jack loves helping me get out all of our fall themed reading and small toys. We keep small puzzles, fall books, Halloween books, and Thanksgiving books in our pumpkin basket. 

We always get a  "real witches broom." Jack made up a story about a witch flying around and she must have dropped it on our front yard. ;) It's one of the cinnamon brooms you can get from the grocery store.

Had to get our mantle in fall festive shape. 

Jack helped me make these cool starch ghosts. They were so easy to make and Jack liked painting clear glitter on them and a ghostly face. 

We suspended a couple on our kitchen chandelier so they could look like they are floating. Its just cheese cloth dipped in liquid starch and draped over a toilet paper roll and foil ball. Let it sit over night.

Jack put up his paper bag scarecrow that he made in school last year. :)

Jack's clearance find from last year.

Fall foliage and some dust on the entertainment center. Maybe we can say the dust is part of the Halloween decoration. ;)

Turned an old mirror into a grown-up use only chalkboard. Don't want the kids to break it and hurt themselves. 

Fall artwork by Jack.

Jack added some more fall window clings from school to our back door.

Jack's handprint wreath from last year. I LOVE it!

I always let Jack and Henry decorate their doors for holidays. Jack wanted the black cat. He wanted our hallway to look like a spooky cave so we added some spiderwebs.

Chalkboard Craft. Done and done.

 Chalkboard Craft!

I finally did it! I had been thinking about doing it ever-since I had seen so many cute and seemingly easy examples on Pinterest. My sister-in-law did it on her front door and it was awesome, so I finally tried it on one of my doors and an old mirror I used in college that had gathered a ton of dust sitting behind my bed frame.... They both have been significantly improved and dust bunnies have evacuated.

Anyhow, here is how it turned out today, and I plan on changing it frequently! Now, I am not yet a great chalk artist like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, but I am pleased and so it the 5 year-old inside of me.

Here he is working on his personal touch. He is drawing "spooky"  and "fallish" things.

My witch's cauldron.

Just had to show-off the cool vintage Halloween book my mom found for me.

Here is is again and it having more fun as a chalk board than a dust bunny residence behind the bed.

My fall needlework sampler.

Knight Costume

My oldest son wanted to be a knight for Halloween, so I figured it would be easy enough to make a costume for him. I am a beginner at using a sewing machine so I needed to keep it simple. Probably during last Halloween season, I bought these knight accessories at Dollar Tree. Remarkably, they have held up all year long and are still looking great. (I also found another shield and breast plate at the last consignment sale and bought those both for two dollars as a back-up in case something happens to the other ones between now and Halloween.)

 I decided to use them as my starting point. Since they are black and gold, I found denim stretch black and gold sparkled fabric on clearance at Joann's. I think it was about $7.00 a yard. I bought a yard and a half, since I am a beginner and tend to make lots of mistakes. I have a lot of fabric left over because I worked slowly, measured twice before I cut, etc. This is a HUGE improvement to how I normally operate. I am often to impatient to get done, that I may rush a bit and then the end product is not what I wanted it to be.

I didn't use a pattern or pre-made template. I used a t-shirt cut in half to give me an idea of width and collar shape. I traced it onto craft paper and then used it to make a pattern. I hemmed it all along the sides and the bonus of using a dark fabric and black thread is that mistakes don't show!!! (Good for that too!)


I google imaged "knights" and checked out how the tunics looked, and decided to leave it open on the sides and just use a cord around the waist to close it up. I sewed the shoulder pieces together and it just goes over the head. Easy peasy!! I will buy a black thermal set or something similar to go underneath it.

Here's how it turned out! Not too shabby!

Superhero Birthday Party!

Happy 4th Birthday to my Sweet Jack! 

"I've never been four before!" - in a very excited Jack voice!

If you have boys in that 3-adulthood age, then you know superheroes rule! They are everywhere: sippy cups, potty seats, under-roos, snack packaging, toothbrushes, sheet sets, kites, and the list could go on and on and on.

So, even if my child has never seen any of the Superman, Ironman, Transformers, The Avengers movies or old cartoons, he knows all their names, and what their super talent is. Merchandising....

He loves them all, so we had to have a superhero birthday party. This is a pretty easy party to have because of the availability of items out there that can be used to decorate. I LOVE designing birthday parties for my kiddos. My mom threw amazing parties for my sister and I when I was little and that definitely stuck with me and is what gave me the desire to do it for my kids.

I noticed a HUGE change in the behavior of the kids at this party. They have all finally "gotten how to play" at the party. They will happily play any little game or complete an activity as intended as long as it isn't too complicated or take too long. I think this is the party that Jack has enjoyed most.

The Craft: Superhero Mask

I bought little half sheets of multicolored foam paper. I drew out a design and then traced around various colors for the kids to pick. I made sure there was a good variety of colors for girls and boys and that there were enough for a mistake or two. 

I found foam stars at the craft store too and decided that was enough. It was simple, quick, and would make a cute mask to get the kids excited about being superheros. And...kids just love hats, masks, etc. Anytime Miss Dianne made a hat in preschool, Jack would be wearing it for a week at home. ;)

Activity: Tattoo Parlor

I found the old-school comic book action words for $1.00 at Target. I cut them all out and let the kids choose. Even a few adults wanted one. ;) 

Activity: Captain America Bubble Necklace

I found little blue and red mini bubble necklaces at Target in the party section. They were a seasonal item for July 4th, but since Captain America is as patriotic as Uncle Sam, any patriotic decoration could double for Captain America. I use the patriotic theme in another way too. 

Game/Activity: Brick Blasting

I almost didn't make these!!! It has been raining on and off at least once a day for 10 days and its so humid out that any paper starts to wilt after 5 minutes of being outside. I also wasn't sure if they would want to play with it. Guess what? It was hands down, the most popular activity. I guess since the activity is so opened ended, they were able to use their imaginations and pretend play with it. 

Snacks!

Captain America Crunch: I sent my husband to the store for trail mix-like ingredients. I did include marshmallows on the list, but he found red, white, and blue star marshmallows.(Way better!!) Again, Jack's birthday falls close to July 4th, so we scored on finding cute patriotic details. I found little chocolate covered candies in red and blue at Party City to add into the mix. Yum!

Cheese Crackers: Jack helped me make wrappers using stickers we found at Target for his favorite cheese crackers. 

Hulk Grapes: Anything green can become Hulkish. 

Hulk Juice: Another great idea from my hubbie. We just colored yellow gatorade to make it green. We borrowed a clear plastic drink dispenser from Aunt Shell and the kids LOVED dispensing their own drink. We actually had to stop Jack from getting more so he wouldn't get sick.

Spiderman gummies or fruit snacks: Those are a big treat for Jack. We don't consider them a real food. To us, they are just candy, which means it is a totally appropriate snack for a birthday party!

Party Favors:  

For the superhero gals, I found "Wonder Woman Lips." I made a little tag that looks like this to attach to them. I also found gelli "power bracelets" for the girls too. 

Here's my little label I made for the little girls' favor. 

For the superhero gals, I found "Wonder Woman Lips." I made a little tag that looks like this to attach to them. I also found gelli "power bracelets" for the girls too. 

Cupcakes: 

My sister-in-law, Aunt Shell, recently became insterested in cake decorating. She is really talented. She made the deeeeelicious chocolate cupcakes for Henry's birthday party. I asked her to make yellow, red, and blue ones for this party. She did an amazing job and were eaten up. 

I made the little "Jack Attack" Superhero cupcake topper for Jack's cupcake. I forgot matches, so no candles. :( Oh well, cake is good without it. His real birthday is still a few days away, so he can save the wishes for the real day.

Fun times!!!

People frequently and innocently remark, "Don't  you wish you had a girl?" Well, that is a complicated and personal question to begin with, but seeing as I have two awesome boys, the answer is no. I love watching my little guy pretend to save the day in his flowing cape, and vow to "patect" me from the bad guys with his little batman shooter. To see my little guy starting to really look and act like the man of my dreams, his Daddy, just melts my heart. Any child is a blessing for sure, but right now, I am not missing a thing!

My camera charger went missing right before the party, so I had to use my mom's camera. Not sure when I'll get those pictures, but when I do, I'll add them!!