Celebrations Galore!

 Gianna's birthday celebration!

We went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for Gianna's Birthday!
 First trip to NYC, first train ride, and a fun day had by all!!

Move over Carvel... this mommy made a
homemade Super Girl ice cream cake!
Mint Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Fudge Brownie!! 

Dream Big, big girl!!

 

 Thanksgiving

Their annual Turkey Fry picture!

Our first Thanksgiving without Grandma.
This candle is her candle, she was with us in spirit

Our cute little pumpkin and pilgrim girl!

My antipasto platter... remember, our family did own a
deli for years! Gobble Gobble!

At the Frosty Parade

Frosty Parade in Armonk

One of our favorite traditions is celebrating the Frosty Parade with our family. The town has a variety of winter themed activities, hot cocoa and fun! It ends with a parade, featuring Frosty!!

Frosty!!!

Tommy's 4th Birthday

Tommy and his homemade dinosaur cake!

May all of your wishes come true!

Cupcakes for school celebration!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow... Gianna & Tommy's birthday party 2017

Wizard of Oz Birthday

We're off to see the Wizard... the wonderful Wizard called Mom!! This crafty mama had so much fun creating a Wizard of Oz inspired birthday party. This party was filled with Oz themed food & drinks, treats galore, and even a photo booth complete with props! Children and adults alike had a blast following the yellow brick road! 

My cuties enjoying their birthday celebration!

The kiddos (and some momma's) somewhere over the rainbow!

The adorable cake!

My "famous" pretzels...

Look at the adorable ornaments I made for the favor baskets! I created the ruby red ornament by using floor wax & glitter. I used my Cricut to cut out the character silhouette and added some Dorothy inspired blue gingham ribbon! 

Some cuties with their favorite props!

Favor Baskets filled with the ornament, tin man hat kisses, witches slime, yellow brick road rice krispie treats, and lollipop guild lollipops!

Nail polish covered pumpkins...

Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween from Sleepy Hollow

The 4th grade team as idioms & word play...

Our Celebration Stations...

1) Smart board Spooky Math that concentrated on place values

2) Pumpkin Decorating

3) Slime making... this was their favorite activity! The children took turns adding each ingredient, stirring, the mixing and kneading the slime until it formed. Each child brought home a bag of slime!

 

 

SLIME!!!!

I'm happy to say that I finally joined the SLIME CRAZE of 2017!!  My kids have been asking for a few weeks if we could make slime. Since today was a rainy afternoon I figured it was a perfect time!
Thank you, Elmers, for playing the commercial basically on replay, Tommy could repeat the entire supply list!!!

So off to Target, my second home, we went and bought some glue!! Tommy made sure I had "soda, baking soda!!" and "contacts, solution" hehe! He must have asked every 10 minutes when we were going to make slime.... "AFTER BATH" I told him for what seemed like the one millionth time!!

Bath time came and went and my kids COULD NOT WAIT!! We had a blast making slime, it was extremely kid friendly, and they loved that they could be involved in the entire process. I helped mix the contact solution portion because that took a while! They watched as I kneaded the slime, it was fun to watch come together. If you know me, you know I went the extra step to add...... GLITTER, of course!!

Final Product- Green & Purple Glitter Slime

The recipe we used is as follows:  (This can easily be made into large batches)

3- 4oz Elmer's Glue
1 1/2 TBS Baking soda
Food Coloring
3 TBS contact solution





Directions:
Empty glue from containers into bowl then mix in baking soda. Once mixed, add whatever food coloring you would like until you get your desired color. Finally, add in contact solution and mix, mix mix. I kneaded a little in the bowl to soak up the last amount of contact solution. Remove from bowl and knead for a few minutes until slime forms to the right consistency.

** If adding glitter, you can add before contact solution or when kneading. BOTH WORKED WELL**

Some more pictures of our slime making adventure.... these kids loved every minute and have been playing with the slime for over an hour!! MOM WIN!

The Tooth Fairy made her debut..twice in one week!

I can't believe it, but my baby girl lost 2 teeth within a matter of days.  We started off May with two less teeth... wow! What an adventure it was from the moment we found out her teeth were loose. Gianna quickly announced "I'm not eating anything crunchy or hard!!" Well, my dear, let's see how long that lasts..... she quickly learned to chew on the sides of her mouth because her two front bottom teeth were on their way out!

Gianna avoided those crunchy foods, and Grandma D brought over some munchkins as a treat, and BAM! the first tooth came out... she was so nervous it would hurt and this was the best way for her to loose the first tooth. She was now a pro!! She couldn't wait for the tooth fairy to visit.. but if you know her, she did  NOT want her to come into her room. So, mommy decided we would have the tooth fairy enter the front door and left a note there. She left some sparkly money, gold coins, a couple of books and a tooth fairy pillow for future visits! She also left some glitter from her wings.. hehe!

 

This crafty mom couldn't let the tooth fairy come and go without creating some sparkly money!! I had seen on pintrest a few weeks ago an easy trick for Glitter Money... wow, super easy, and made my SPARKLE LOVING girl very happy!!

Want to make some of your own?? Simple.... Get fine glitter and some spray adhesive. Spray the money with the adhesive on a paper plate/craft cloth/paper towel and then sprinkle glitter all over. Do both sides!! Let dry overnight or at least a few hours!! ENJOY!!

Trolls Inspired Headbands

When your daughter's class is doing a Wacky Wednesday, you do whatever it takes to make her look wacky!! Backwards shirt, mismatch pants, skirt over pants, mismatching socks, and of course her headband!! Gianna loves her curls, so she insisted on wearing her hair down. I asked her after bath if she wanted silly pigtails or a crazy hairdo, but when she said she wanted something "MORE WACKY MOMMY!!" I knew what I had to do!. So, I pulled out my craft boxes and got crafting!! I had seen adorable Trolls headbands on Pinterest a few months back, and of course I had all of the supplies, so why not?

I pulled out some tulle, felt, my FABULOUS hot glue gun and got to work!! I let Gianna pick the colors of tulle and felt. I tried using just a hair tie to keep the tulle standing up, but found that it quickly leaned over when she moved. I added the flowers at the corners to keep it from flopping over.

To make this a little more educational, I taught Gianna how to measure. She learned about inch, 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch measurements. She had fun trying to figure out which measurement we were at while I pulled the tulle.  As we made this, we of course sang our Rainbow song, naming the colors of the rainbow. She has already asked to make one that looks like I rainbow!! Tommy has his request in as well... he wants to look like a dinosaur... GOOD LUCK TO ME!

Easter Party Time!

Easter is one of my absolute favorite holidays! I mean, who doesn't love a bunny butt??? How adorable are these cupcakes I made for Gianna's class. I have seen these on pinterest for years and always though "Wow, these are cute, but how long will it take to make all the little details!" Well, my friends, WILTON did it for us!! I found the kits with everything needed to make these adorable cupcakes. I enjoyed baking funfetti and strawberry cupcakes (I usually make everything from scratch, but it's been a super busy time these last few weeks) to create these adorable treats for the Easter party.

While it started out that I only needed to bake a treat for Tommy's class, Gianna asked so she received, OF COURSE!! I realized it's my last preschool party for her and I could not bake when she asked.  For Tommy, he insisted on Peeps cupcakes so I made his little dream a reality with these cute cupcakes.  I found edible grass, which has very minimal taste, but looks super cute! Add a Robin's Egg candy and call it a day!! Super cute and easy is always the best!

Finally, my friend and I created these adorable centerpieces for the Easter party. We decided to mix a few ideas we saw together to create these adorable and personalized centerpieces. We simply put some grass, two peep bunnies, and candy eggs into mini mason jars. My friend cut out paper to go on under the lid and we wrote their names on top. After, we embellished the tops with ribbon we hot glued on. I can't wait for the kids, and parents, to see these adorable treats tomorrow at the party!!

Leprechaun Fun- Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little leprechauns! We have been getting ready for our playgroup party and it's been DELICIOUS!! We first baked some yummy Irish soda bread- a favorite of my entire family! Over the years I've combined different recipes and continue to change my recipe a little here and there. I always use the golden raisins, as I find they stay moist and don't crisp up like regular raisins. The smell wafting through the house is just amazing! Now to make some tea and explain the rest of our fun party prep..

Of course I always try to sneak in a little learning when we have our parties, so I decided a fun activity would be sorting Froot Loops and making our own rainbow necklaces. I also found the most adorable shamrock pasta (where else but Christmas Tree Shop) and we will be using those on our necklaces as well! Since our group ranges from one year to age 7, we will pair up kids to work together to sort the cereal by color. I will challenge our older kiddos to make a pattern if they're up for it!!

I made a few treats for the party to go along with our theme in addition to the soda bread. I make Gold Coin Oreos by spraying them with edible food spray- what fun!! I think I need to play around with edible food spray more often, it was great and made them look amazing!! My kids couldn't wait to eat them! If those adorable gold coins don't attract the little leprechauns, these yummy Trix the Leprechaun bars will... Using the rice krispie treat recipe, I substituted Trix cereal to make these colorful treats. (See the cute Lucky Pasta???) I will also be making a fruit rainbow and will update with a picture once I take one!! Now I'm off to my parents for our annual Italian Irish St. Patrick's Day Dinner.... yummy!!!