Halloween Pillow Case Dress

Last year for the pumpkin patch I wanted something cute and girly for halloween.  Everything I found was obnoxious or not feminine enough.  So I found some cute fabric at Joanns and made a VERY simple pillowcase dress.  It was exactly what I wanted.  And the pictures turned out amazing.  I will never forget how fun this day was.

 Not quiet walking yet,

 But SO big!

 This is the first picture of Lotte and Brother.  We didn't know he was a he yet, and she was so cute.  I would say, "Where's the baby?" and she would rub my tummy.

 And she would lift up my shirt every time to see him! 

Kisses for the baby.

What. A. Day.

Oh and I am going to be linking this up to a super fun link party that Maggie at Mid Western Sewing Girl is hosting.  She loves Halloween and is doing a week long party with a halloween themed link up...she has even hinted at a cool prize pack!  You should join in too!

Autumn Printable

I made a autumn printable.  I really like it.  There are tons of them out there, and here is my version.

ENJOY!

Linking my printable up to these LOVELY hosts:
Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design

Another week of meals

Here is to another week of meal planning success! This makes my life so much easier!

I don't really "plan" anything out for the weekends, because we usually eat on the fly, but tomorrow night I'm making a big pot of chili! Yum!

Super Potatoes!  A BIG baked potato with LOTS of fixings!

Shrimp Linguini in a pesto sauce.

Ham and Cabbage Skillet.

Baked Salmon with rice.

Whatever Daddy wants!  I'm on the road to Kansas!

Favorite Quote Printable

This is my favorite quote ever.

It's from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Pretty much sums up my life.
You can print it out too.  I'm going to put it in my craft space.

Mister's Little Mister Party

Brother was baptized a little while ago and we hosted a Little Man Luncheon in his honor.  I did THIS post awhile back to show some of my inspiration.  So without much further ado, here's the party!

The party was at a local park under a pavilion.   Here is the mini desert table.  I did chocolate cupcakes with blue buttercream icing and chocolate covered pretzels (made by Brother's Godparents).

Thanks so much to Emily from Remarkable Home for the cupcake toppers!

{if you would like the free mustache printable, you can get it from me HERE}

The neck ties on a clothesline to add a little somthin-somthin.

I didn't want to do bottle labels because I wanted the water to be cold, and labels just don't work for that.  So instead I tied some of the torn fabric around the bottles.  It worked great because they weren't ho-hum water bottles, but it didn't matter that it got wet.

One of my best friends {also my aunt} is a PROFESSIONAL themed-food-namer, renowned for her skills in alliteration and clever titles for random things.  She helped me come up with some clever names for the food.

The straws had paper mustaches on them.  I used mason jars filled with chocolate candies (malt balls, raisenettes, and goobers) as "centerpieces".  I ripped strips of fabric and tied them like neckties around the jars.  LOVE THEM!

A Little Man party wouldn't be complete without mustaches on sticks.

And a cute Little Man!

Lotte thought they were funny too!

PERFECT family picture

The fabric was used to tie just about everything together, including the kids' shirts and Lotte's facinator.

Hope you enjoy!

I'm linking up to these fabulously generous lady bloggers!
Get Your Brag On @ Gluesticks
Linky Party @ The Idea Room
What are Little Boys Made Of @ 733
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
Sundae Scoop @ I heart Nap Time
Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Designs

Ninjas, Magic and More??

My Godson is turning 8 in a couple of days.  And he asked me to make invitations for his party this coming weekend.  His party theme was a little difficult to make invites for...I really need to get used to boy things now that I have one too!

He is having a ninja themed party, including a ninja movie and a magician is coming too!

He came up with the "Ninjas, Magic and More".  So we ran with it.

The ribbon is the "black belt" {tied like a karate belt is actually tied}.

And the actual invitation is folded into a "throwing star".  You open up the origami star and the invite information is written on the inside.  I just made them up rather quickly on Picnik.

{They are split down the middle because you have to cut the square in half in order to fold it properly}

HERE are the instructions I used for folding an origami throwing star if you are interested in making any young boys terribly happy with their party invites!

Meal Planning Made EASY

Meal planning is something I have never been particularly good with.  I plan it out, it doesn't stick.

A few weeks ago I read an awesome series on meal planning from Stephanie @ Somewhat Simple.

She goes through in a five part series how she manages her weekly meal schedule.  THIS is the first part.

VERY inspirational, VERY motivating, and EXTREMELY helpful.

I have taken in her advice and am currently working on separating my recipes into two notebooks just as she does.

I have also made categories for our days to make it easier to plan.  Here are my days and this weeks meals!

Self explanatory, vegetarian or vegan meals.

This week...Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili.

We eat a lot of "italian" dishes.  So tuesdays will be for pastas and Italian dishes.

On the menu for Tuesday... Whole wheat Linguini with Spicy Chicken Meatballs.

New recipe for the week...One Dish Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Thursday's meals will be things that can be quickly done in the evening, or things that can be set in the crock pot in the morning.  I will also add a few freezer meals here and there.

This Thursday...All Day Stew.

This week our Thursday and Friday are going to get down right chilly {I'm soooo excited} so I'm going to make my personal favorite...Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.

Ummm???? GRRRR! and thinking ahead...

So evidently I have no idea how to schedule a post, or Blogger isn't being my friend.

I have had posts for all week scheduled and nothing actually posted.  So much for preparedness.

It's my fault for not checking my blog and spending my week's computer time just checking in on some of my reads.  I guess you have content to look forward to next week!

SORRY

This is what I was posting for Monday.

I know autumn just began to fall...but is it bad that I'm currently thinking about Christmas?

This weekend I'm going to start on my to do list for presents.

I like to make a lot of our gifts and I always feel like I struggle in December to get everything done.

I want to do one big thing for the kids and I need to jump on it.

Anyone else working on Christmas at the end of summer?  Any good Christmassy Blogs for me to check out?  Any suggestions for presents for Lotte and Brother?

New life goal....

figure out how the heck to make this.

hmmm...any ideas.

I would rather not pay $100 {no exaggerating} for this quilt from RH Baby.

But, I would like my daughter's bedroom to look something like this. HA! I wish!