Vanellope Von Schweetz Birthday Party

Every year I throw themed birthday parties for Zoey in our home.  This year it was a Wreck-It Ralph Birthday Party.  The more I talked to her about what she wanted, the more it turned into a Vanellope Von Schweetz themed birthday party.  Same movie, just a different character.

When we were in Disneyland last year, we saw lots of toys and accessories for this movie.  However a few months later looking for this theme, we came up very short.  Apparently all of the Wreck-it Ralph stuff we had seen in Disneyland was pulled from the shelves.  I have no idea why.  We couldn’t find anything for sale other than on e-bay; and you had to be willing to pay outrageous prices since these toys were hard to find.  We weren’t willing.

I decided I was going to have to be a little more creative.  We focused upon the Sugar Rush theme.  I decorated the whole house with generic cutout candies, colorful swirls that hung from the ceiling and balloons I found at the party supply store.

 Photography is not a gift for me…I need help.  Haha!

Decorations also included Mento’s hanging down – like the inside of Diet Cola Mountain.

We had a “sugar rush bar” (with some non-sweets too).

In various clear containers we separated by colors: M&M’s, in both peanut and regular, skittles, Mike & Ike’s, Mento’s, candy themed – pencils and mini erasers, also colorful bracelets and hair clips.

Yes I used every surface in the house since the table was reserved for dinner:  Mini pizzas the kids made on their own out of English muffins, tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.

The kids made edible race carts out of sweets…

“Treat Bar”

Rules:

1. They had to wash their hands first.

2.  Absolutely no licking fingers or eating while they were creating the race car.

3. There will be a contest/vote at the end for the best race car so do your best work!

I was strict about this since they were all sharing supplies and I didn’t want to be spreading germs.  They took any sweet from the “treat bar” and used frosting to create their own race car.

Everyone voted on paper for the race car they thought was created best.  They couldn’t vote for themselves though.  When they were done we put them on the counter and wrapped with plastic wrap for them to take home.

The cute race cars…

After that we sang Happy Birthday to Zoey with real cake, cupcakes to be exact…

They were allowed to eat these, cause I am not THAT strict!  We have a sweets bar too for goodness sake!

For our non-candy craft, we made banners.  I bought a bunch of colored felt sheets and the kids cut them into triangles.  Then they took a sharpie and wrote one letter on each triangle.  We hold punched the corners and connected the triangles with twine to create a word banner.  I forgot to take pictures of the actual banners but I did find one in this picture…

 See the example on the entry table, next to the cut out triangles?  Sorry it’s the best I could do.  🙂

Next Zoey opened presents and we all watched the movie Wreck-It Ralph.

It was a great time for everyone and now Zoey is already planning next years theme…Warriors.   As in the book series about the cats.  UGH, I might have to read a book to understand what the fuss is all about because I haven’t a clue!

Anyone know or have any ideas???

Valentine’s Day Treats

I made cute baggies of these treats for Zoey’s class party today.  They are actually Muddy Buddies but jazzed up for Valentine’s Day.

Not sure where I ever found the recipe, probably from a box of Chex cereal.  They are so yummy!

Get everything together first…

1 cup vanilla baking chips, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 4 Tbsp of butter into a microwave safe bowl.

Another bowl with 9 cups Chex cereal in it.  (I used Corn Chex because that is what we had in the kitchen, but you could use any flavor).

Line wax paper out on counter or table.

Put 2/3 cup of powdered sugar into a gallon size bag.

Set out red and pink sprinkles along with 1/2 cup regular chocolate M&M’s.

1.  Microwave vanilla baking chips, peanut butter and butter on high for a minute.  Stir well.  If the chips still need melting, microwave for 30 seconds again and stir well until smooth.

2.Pour over Chex cereal.   Stir carefully together making sure not to break the cereal but getting each piece coated with the chocolate/peanut butter mixture.

3. Place half of the cereal mixture into the plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake to mix.  Spread onto wax paper to cool.

4.  Add to the other half of the cereal mixture, M&M’s and approximately a Tbsp each of red and pink sprinkles.  Spread onto the wax paper to cool.

5. After about 15 minutes mix both cereals together in serving bowl.

Optional: Fill decorative cello bags and tie with festive ribbon to hand out to others.  Just be sure to save some for yourself.  🙂

(I made a half batch of dark chocolate Muddy Buddies too.  Those you just use dark chocolate chips instead of the vanilla baking chips.  Also I mix the whole mixture into the powdered sugar then added colored M&M’s.)

ENJOY & HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!

Reusable Beer Carrier

Valentine’s Day just happens to be my brothers birthday.

He doesn’t like that it falls on this holiday.  I think because he feels he gets no recognition, no big party.   His friends are always doing things for their girls and forget about his birthday.

He has had an even harder time since he turned 30 a few years ago.  (He thinks he is getting old- ha- ha).   I have made it a point to celebrate with him.  But usually it is me, his wife and kids and a few (one or two) friends that don’t have girlfriends/wives.

Brian hasn’t been home for a Valentine’s Day for years…I actually do not ever remember him being home for this holiday, but I am sure he has been sometime in our 8 years together. We always say Valentine’s Day is not the day to go out. It should be celebrated a different day to avoid the crowds.  So I go hang with my brother and if Brian is ever home, he will come too.  🙂

Anyways, this year I wanted to do something special for my brother but I didn’t know what.

I was at the World Market and saw some of those big bottles of beer.  He likes beer so I chose four bottles.  Turns out they don’t have a carrier pack to hold the bigger bottles.  They only have those small 6 pack holders.  Well that got me thinking I should make my own carrier for 4 big bottles of beer and it should be reusable.

I got home and brainstormed with my husband.  I don’t sew so I can’t make any reusable bags.  But my husband can build anything with wood!  I didn’t want anything too big but I had to go with my husbands plans since I don’t know how to build things…yet.

We started by measuring the bottles of beer to get the measurements for a box.  Then we cut scraps of wood to those measurements.

Next cut the pieces to fit in the middle to make 4 holder slots…

The hardest part of making the box was creating the handle.

I used an old wooden curtain rod, that I wouldn’t let my husband toss out.  It’s been sitting around while I dreamed up what I could use it for.

Ugly for curtains but great for this project and future ones as well.  🙂

I cut it down, sanded, then cut it again to the desired length for the handle.

Here is the carrier so far with the handle…

We had trouble attaching it since I didn’t want the nails to show on the outside.  However the drill wouldn’t fit inside the cubes so we had to put some screws on the outside anyway.

Everything looks good, time to stain it.

I almost forgot to add my signature…I am loving the new Dremel power tool my husband bought me last year.

My husband suggested using sharpie to write it but I really like how subtle this engraving turned out.  I re-sprayed clear coat over it since I forgot to engrave it before we stained.

I am really happy with the way it all turned out.  Here it is all packaged up and ready to give tonight.

I hope he likes it.  If he doesn’t, I want it back.  🙂

What do you think?

The Super Bowl: A Sex Trafficker’s Playground

Feeling the need to bring awareness to this issue today. This is sickening but we cannot just pretend it doesn’t happen.

Mandy Black

In just a few short days hundreds of thousands of visitors will flood to the MetLife stadium in New Jersey for Super Bowl XLVIII. Many visitors will be coming to show their pride and cheer on their favorite team, but tragically, thousands more will be coming for something entirely different. What most people don’t know is that the single biggest game of the year has also been called the single largest human trafficking event on the planet.

Just beyond the stadium lights, hidden within the shadows will be thousands of victims, women, children and even men, caught in the inhumane web of sex trafficking. For them this day will bring something much different than football, loud cheers, hot dog stands and painted beer bellies. For them it will bring pain, abuse, repeated rapes and even fear of death. The exact numbers of trafficking cases in a given year or…

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