Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

So my baby boy turned four last week. FOUR! How does that even happen? One minute he is this red-faced screechy little baby & the next he is my fun, smart, articulate, hilarious little man. For a few months before his birthday he kept telling me over & over that he wanted a pirate party. Just for jokes I would ask him randomly, “So Conner, you want a clown party?” or “You’ve been asking for an animal party, right?” and each time he takes a deep breath & says, “No, mom, a piiiirrrrraaaattttte party. Pirate.” Isn’t he adorable? I found a stamp set I wanted to use, gathered some paper & started planning. I definitely got into it - I mean, in the invitation I really used the term “come have a swash-buckling good time!” *insert eye roll* but it was a lot of fun, especially the cake!!

Isn’t it awesome? Beth at Taste Selects, a local bakery took my design & ran with it. Love how it turned out! I did the red cuppies to accompany it & our good friend Ryan Portnoy came to snap the pics.

cupcakes…..yummmmmmmm

This is the pennant I made, which was super easy - cut out triangles, hole punched the edges, slide cotton yarn through, hang, voila - pennant. Conner loved this thing. When hubby & I were hanging it his eyes lit up & he kept asking, “Is that for me? Is that for my party?” The concept of alllllllll of this being for him was blowing his mind.

I am such a fan of cookie favors. I highly highly recommend doing them for your next party. No annoying toys that fall out of that awkwardly small little bag, no more leaked thing of bubbles all over your car, no. Instead, you spend a fraction of the cost (even if you buy already made sugar cookies & let your kid decorate them) & your guaranteed that everyone will love & use your favors.

These are the thank you’s that I did & while they were time-consuming they were still fun. Any excuse to nerd out with paper crafts & I am there! Piecing the squares together took the most time, but after that they came together easily.

Overall the party was a blast. I got to see my little guy set loose with eleven of his most-loved peers & while it parted my hair quite a few times, they all had a great time.

Happy 4th birthday my sweet Conner!!!

Well, I guess it’s week 1 for me since I’m just now jumping in. I was thinking of tackling mini-posts but even those can be a little intimidating. There’s Top Ten Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday & I keep thinking I want to start a Confession Thursdays cuz Lord knows I got lots of those…

So anyways, back to 52 new things. Brandi, I don’t even know if I’m doing it right but I’m giving it a shot! One of my goals for the new year was to try a new recipe every week. I hate cooking. I love baking (love. love. love.), but hate cooking. Because of said hatred, I cook the same things over & over. I’ve got a solid dozen recipes, but we’ve been eating those over & over since hubby & I said “I do” seven years ago. Hubby loves when he comes home & dinner is on the table. Seriously, he beams - that’s the only reason I do it. That & I don’t want my children to tell their teachers that “mommy makes the best turkey, cheese & ketchup crackers ever!” So to try & make the whole thing enjoyable for everyone I am experimenting with some new dishes. This one I did last night & it was so good, but so unbelievably filling I am pretty sure I was still stuffed well into this afternoon.

It’s Warm Tortellini Salad & Roasted Tomatoes with Green Beans. The only thing different that I did was I didn’t cook the green beans with the tortellini, but instead sauteed them with extra virgin olive oil & garlic salt. It was super delicious & like I said verrrrrrry filling. Go on, give it a go!

WAIT! Nobody move just yet! I make no promises a post shall follow up this one in the next 30 days (or 6 months) but dang it I’m gonna try! Blogging is one of those things I wish I had more time for. And it’s not that I have no time, it’s just what free time I have I just can’t make myself do it. But I am giving into the siren’s call yet again so y’all pray for me cuz I really want it to work this time. Sometime I feel like this blog is just a bad boyfriend, yanno?

First, did I blow debris into anyone’s face as I dusted off this thing? Yeah? Sorry about that. I feel like we need an icebreaker game or something, get reacquainted again. Many of you are following me on twitter so you know what I’ve been up to. I thought about posting one of Amanda’s fun Top Ten Tuesday list of all the things I’ve been up to since we last spoke but man alive, I blacked out thinking about that. You would’ve been bored to tears. So instead I’m just gonna hit the ground running with what’s been on my mind-grapes. Oh, & for those of you who don’t know, I am slightly obsessed with the show 30Rock. Love it. LOVE. IT. I think my goal for last year was to work as many quotes from the show into every day conversation as I could & hubby can attest to that as I tried. He said, & I quote, “Please stop, you’re killing the magic”. So be ready to catch ‘em (Heather, so far you’re the only person who’s risen to the challenge of identifying them but I challenge others. Maybe I’ll start doing a contest or something).

Okay so this was a little painful! Easing back into blogging is definitely intimidating. I know I’ll get the feel for it again & don’t want to be scared away but geeeez I feel rusty! Okay wait someone wants to say hello:

Hey Conner, what’s up? You wanna tell them what? ‘kay, go ahead sweetie

Aww that’s so sweet, well…what…oh, sorry…

K, are you done? I don’t want to be rude…

….how ’bout now?

G’nite to you too.