Getting Cozy: You've Got Mail Movie Night

One thing that is tradition in my family (with the girls anyways) is watching You've Got Mail every fall. We love to get cozy on the couch, grab a hot drink and watching one of our favourite love stories. And of course, to quote the lines. We can be quite annoying. :)

This fall, I decided to invite my sisters and some friends over to watch the movie one night, while the guys watched our kiddos.

Gavin and I had made ginger crinkles earlier in the day, which I set out on a white platter. Licorice went into a Starbucks cup and a mason jar. Homemade pumpkin spice lattes kept warm in the crock pot. Popcorn, with peanut M&M's, cranberries, and smarties went into brown paper bags and I even wrote a few favourite quotes from the movie on the bags.

A square glass jar filled with new pencils, went perfectly with this free printable that I found on Pinterest.

Daisies, which are Kathleen Kelly's (Meg Ryan) favourite flower, went in a enamel jug. The "fox" flashcard was a nod to Fox Books, the big bookstore that overtakes Kathleen's small children's bookstore.

Though this is not something that I usually do, it was fun for me to set up this table with all kinds of reminders of the movie.
After we filled up our mugs with lattes and got our snacks, we settled down for the movie!

 via

What's your favourite movie to watch in the fall? Is it You've Got Mail too? 

This is day 14 of our Getting Cozy series.

Click the button above to catch up on the rest of the series! 

Birthday Party {Numero Deux}

It's hard to believe, but Gavin is turning two tomorrow!

 

Look at those chubby cheeks! 

Gavin is definitely a little monkey these days! He makes me laugh each and every day with the things that he says. 

He is obsessed with hockey, big trucks, drums, his little brother, Curious George and being outside.

I am so thankful for this little boy!

Like we did last year, we are having a small family party, although I laugh at the word "small", because our family count is at 22, with the 23rd one on the way. :) 

We'll be having pizza, veggies and cake. I decided against a theme this time, but there will be sprinkles, balloons, and lots of pendant banners. Here is what I am thinking: 

Printable from Tried and True // Fun banner from the Purl Bee // An easy way to decorate a cake!

Balloons hanging from the ceiling // Polk-a-dots on kraft paper // Sprinkles melted in tea lights

Tomorrow we'll have balloons, donuts, a birthday shirt, and a few surprises throughout the day. I can't wait! :)

How do you celebrate your children's birthdays?

Wedding Week Countdown!

This week on our blog, we've decided to do a full week of wedding. You might be wondering why and the answer is quite simple. Our little sister is getting married this week! Yes. There is another sister (actually two more plus a sister-in-law!) and she is getting married. After four wedding in our family, we're getting quite pro at throwing showers, making flower arrangements and anything having to do with weddings and we thought we'd share! Hopefully you can use some of these ideas for yourselves.

On Saturday, we had a bachelorette party for Sara which was hosted at my house. We invited some of her closest friends, had some great food, music (Zac Brown anyone?), and an awesome time! I decorated for the party the night before and in total, it took me about 2 hours to decorate everything and make the food. We decided to keep it simple so that we weren't rushing around at the last minute trying to get things done. We like to enjoy our parties! So without further ado, here are some of our best tips:

• If you're hosting a party in your house, don't be afraid to move furniture into another room. It can free up a lot of space and you can always move it back later! In the picture below, I moved all the chairs away from the table and moved a bookshelf into another room. It allowed me to push the table up against the wall and make it my food/display area. 
• Pick a few colours for decorating and stick with them. I tried to unify things by using white platters and bowls to hold the food. I also used a pale yellow table cloth. I added colour with the pennant banner, the flowers, the food and the pictures on the wall. 

• For the food, pick a few foods that are simple and can be put together beforehand. I chose to make mini strawberry shortcakes and pizza crescent rolls. I had Faith bring her famous cupcakes (get the recipe here) and we served everything with chips, popcorn, veggies, and pumpernickel bread with dip. Everyone enjoyed the food and was full. There was still lots of food leftover!

• Make some cute little signs for the food so that everyone knows what everything is. This saves a lot of confusion and people standing around the table wondering exactly what everything is. I made these chalkboard signs by cutting out some squares of chalkboard paper and putting them onto matching scrapbook paper. 

• Don't forget to add personal touches to the decorations. I printed off some pictures of Sara and Aaron and placed them above the food table and also had them rotating on my iPad. It's another touch that doesn't really cost anything, but makes it more special for the bride. 

And lastly, but definitely not least, remember to sit down and enjoy yourself! 

All of us girls!

Remember to stop by lots this week for some great wedding ideas! If you don't want to miss any posts, like us on Facebook or subscribe to our RSS feed. 

Time to (1st Birthday) Part-ay!

We celebrated Gavin's birthday on Wednesday night with our family. A nice, simple party with only about 22 people. (We have a big family) (And two were missing).

Since the weather was nice, we had the party outside. I didn't go all out or do as much as I was thinking I was going to for the decorations. 

Ever find that when your day gets going, the plans that you have go out the window? It was kinda one of those days. 

 I made this banner out of old book pages and cut out the letters on my Cricut machine. (It really does say "Happy Birthday" not "Appy Birthday".)

One of my friends found the cutest little cupcake decorating kit at the dollar store! Since Gavin's room has the owl theme, they were too perfect for her to pass up. Thanks Karissa!

After Gavin opened a few presents, 

 It was cake time!

 I decided to make a healthy birthday cake (I know. BORING. But Gavin liked it!) and this one was easy and tasted really good too! You can find the recipe here. 

We sang 'Happy Birthday' to Gav and then he had the healthy birthday cake, 

 and we had the not-healthy cupcakes. 

 All in all, it was a nice way to end the day celebrating our little guy's first birthday. 

Now he has so many toys and books he doesn't know which one to play with...or eat. 

Have a happy weekend! 

 

 

Birthday Happenings

Well the day has arrived! 

We're busy (well I'm busy. Gavin is having a nap) with running errands, getting some work done, making cupcakes for the adults and a baby friendly healthy cake for the little ones, tidying up my house and being thankful I'm not in labour like I was at this time last year! 

I'll be popping in later this week to give you the recipe for Gavin's first birthday cake (looks good and easy to make!) and pictures of the party. 

Oh, and if you missed it, Melody had the opportunity to be interviewed on blog talk radio this morning. We hear that they post the interviews to YouTube later, so hopefully we'll get that up sometime so you can hear the interview!    

 


 

I Guess Time DOES Really Fly By...

Warning: Sentimental post from a mommy who's baby is turning ONE...!

 

 Oh, how has the time flown by...

From the first time that I held him in my arms, to bringing him home from the hospital and not getting any sleep that night, I knew that I would treasure every moment. Even the not sleeping. 

We had prayed for Gavin for a long time and when God answered our prayers, we were overjoyed! Shocked and surprised, but overjoyed! I don't think Jesse and I slept a wink that night that we found out that I was expecting. 

Gavin has been such a joy in our lives this year and I can't wait for all the upcoming milestones as he grows...well. Maybe I can wait. I don't want it to go by too quickly. 

 And now that his first birthday is quickly approaching next week, 

I have been spending a little extra time on Pinterest searching for some cute birthday decorating ideas. 

I didn't want anything over excessive, because really. He's one. He's not going to remember all the little details. I did want it to be special though. 

So here's some of the ideas that I've found: 

(Remember, as always, please don't pin an image from this blog post. We like to give the original websites and bloggers all the credit. Thanks!)

 {Kara's Party Ideas} 

 {Kara's Party Ideas} 

 {blogs.babble.com}

 {cheap chic nursery} 

I love the rustic/vintage look to the little bunting on the cakes and hanging from the walls. Easy, cute, and inexpensive to make! 

I'll show you next week some pictures from the party. ONE! He's going to be one...I still can't believe it...

Happy weekend! 

 

The Hostess With the Not-So-Mostest

When we were growing up, it seemed that my parents were always having company over. It was never a formal affair, it was always an open invitation for anyone and everyone to just stop by. It didn't seem to matter to anyone that there were kids running everywhere, or the floor hadn't been perfectly swept or the garden wasn't always perfectly weeded - it was just a nice place to be with friends.

So often as an adult, I seem to get caught up with having the "perfect house". Heidi actually posted about that a while back and I thought I'd just touch on that again (read that post here).

I focus too much on not having the nicest furniture, or the paint on my walls or the nicest accessories when really, I should be focusing on making my house a warm and comfortable place to be. If you have friends over, are you constantly fussing and trying to make things perfect, or are you focusing on making good memories? Are you worried about what they'll think about your not-so-new furniture or that you forgot to pick up the crumbs off the floor from supper-time? I don't really notice those things when I get invited out to a party, so I'm not too sure why I think that people care about those things at my house. It's not really the point of going out and being with friends!

So in the spirit of being a good hostess, yesterday we had friends over for a beginning-of-summer bonfire. It didn't seem to matter to anyone that you can't go out the back door to a beautiful new deck or that there might have been some Cheerios on the floor that were dropped from my daughter's snack time, or that I forgot to pick up the mounds of grass that were left over from mowing the lawn. We focused instead on the food and the company. The boys played an impromptu game of soccer in the yard and the girls sat around the fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Everyone seemed to like it because they stayed till midnight!

So because I can't be the only one who worries too much about what their house looks like, why don't you try inviting people over to your house, no matter what the state it's in? Just focus on enjoying your friends instead of making everything perfect. Make some good memories!