Marci's Baby Shower

 My friend Marci is having a baby, and we couldn't be any more happy for her.  Marci is going to be a great mom, she is a natural with kids. My boys adore her!

 Today I hosted a baby shower for Marci, and I was thrilled that so many  of her friends were able to attend and shower her with such lovely gifts.

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Welcome baby Robson

I decided on the theme "In Full Bloom", from hostess with the mostess.  I loved the colours and the flowers and the chic feeling of it all.  You can see it here:

Summer Berry Cake- Marci's Favourite

http://blog.hwtm.com/2012/05/in-full-bloom-a-french-baby-shower/

I just love the idea of using mason jars for drinks and adding coloured sugar to make them match the theme.

mason jar lemonade drinks

Potted flowers

I made this cute banner out of matching coloured scrap book paper and had a frame welcoming baby Robson.

veggie baguette sandwiches and snickers dip

On the menu were the following items:

Parchment wrapped veggie baguettes

Veggie baguettes made with ranch dressing, havarti cheese, cucumbers and peppers in a baguette wrapped with parchment paper.

 Won Ton Caesar Salad Cups

These little won ton cups are an appealing way to serve caesar salad.  Put won ton wrappers in a muffin tin, spread olive oil and sprinkle with basil and Parmesan and bake for 7 minutes.  A cute way to create an individual size salad.

Key Lime Mousse

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking_and_desserts/key_lime_mousse.php

Snickers dip with cherries, apples and pretzels for dipping

http://www.relativetaste.net/snickers-dip/

and of course my Summer Berry Cake recipe.

I am happy to send you the recipe for this.

Smelling Delicious Dirty Diapers

Making baby a headband on the wishing tree

The guests

Marci is trying to figure out which chocolate bar is inside this diaper during the game "Delicious Dirty Diapers".

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Marci at the Wishing Tree

Honey and Krissy are making baby a headband.  On the wishing tree, the guests were invited to make a headband for the baby and to write a special note on pre-made little cards.  I loved this idea.  The headbands turned out really cute and everyone left a note for Marci and her baby.  Even some ideas for boys names!

Happy Birthday Owen June 21st 2012

Owen's Harry Potter Wizard Hat Cupcakes

Birthday Family Picture

Today Owen turned 7!  It is hard to believe it has been 7 years since this wonderful little boy has come into our lives.  

Owen was thrilled to celebrate the day with bringing in Harry Potter Wizard Hat cupcakes.  He was also thrilled that it was "Play Day" at school.  What a lucky boy! 

Owen's new Roller Blades

A pro on Roller Blades

Owen's biggest worry as a seven year old was to decide whether to go to East Side Mario's for dinner of to McDonalds.  He really wanted the Pokemon toy at McDonalds, but wanted the food at East Sides.  We compromised and did both.

When we got home from dinner we gave Owen his present.  He was thrilled to receive roller blades for his birthday.  He couldn't wait to try them out.  We tried to warn him that they were a little tricky and he would need to take his time.  There certainly wasn't any need for concern, he was an old pro.  Owen was awesome on his roller blades!

Owen the minute you came into our lives, we changed forever.  You are more loved than you can possibly know.  Happy Birthday Owen!

Clever Teacher Gift

Griffin is finishing his school year at Montessori school today.  He has three very lovely teachers.  I found this cute idea on http://eighteen25.blogspot.ca/

Clever Teacher Gift

Griffin's Gift for his Montessori Teachers

I printed out  the latte download here:
http://eighteen25.blogspot.ca/2011/04/thanks-latte.html

and purchased Starbucks gifts and used there drink sleeves along with Martha Stewart string to complete the gift for Griffin to give to his teachers.

I love the way they turned out!  Such a cute and crafty gift to give to all those coffee lovers out there.

Happy Father's Day!

Owen giving Tony his presents

Today we celebrated Father's Day!  Early in the morning, the boys gave Tony the presents that had made for him.  Both had very special crafted gifts!  Both Tony and I spent time with our dads in the morning, and then Tony and Owen went golfing in the afternoon. 

When they got home, Griffin and I had set up a scavenger hunt for Tony to go on when he got home.  We had hid presents both inside and outside for him to find.  We took pictures on my iphone of each of the locations and then Tony had to go find his presents.

I think the boys had a lot of fun with Tony trying to find all the presents, I even think Tony liked all of his presents!

The Boys

 He received a golf lesson, steak therometres,  bbq shears, and some treats.  


For dinner we bbq'd steak and all the fixings! We went to the DQ for dessert, and even snapped a couple of pictures of my boys.

Scavenger hunt

Griffin's trophy for the best dad in the world

Lucky would be an understatement for a word to describe how blessed I feel to have such a wonderful, involved, caring, funny,  father for my boys. 

Happy 7th Birthday Owen!

Owen decided he wanted a Harry Potter Birthday party this year, and I couldn't be more thrilled!  The ideas were endless, and we had a lot of fun planning for this party.

Owen decided on an all boy party with 13 friends.  We sent out very authentic birthday invitations with an added wax seal.

The boys arrived and were greeted by me, Professor of Hogwarts school.  The boys sat together waiting for the Sorting Hat ceremony.   Once they all arrived and were given their robes, we started the ceremony and each boy came to the front and sat with the sorting hat upon his head.  Once the hat had spoken each boy was given a label with the school house name on it.  Owen was in Ravenclaw house. 

Next the boys were chosen by their wands.  I had the wands lead me to the boys that were being called by the wands.  I created the wands, and the boys were thrilled with them.

Next we went outside for the Magical Creature Hunt.  I explained that these creatures had escaped and the young wizards needed to find the creatures.  Each creature was worth a certain amount of points and the boys were rewarded with galleons that they kept and could use at the end of party to buy candy from Honeydukes Candy Shoppe.  The wizards were delighted to find all the animals.

Next they were off to play a game of Quiddich.  Tony out did himself with the preparation for this game.  There were actual golden snitches, brooms for the kids to fly on, and hoops to throw the balls through.  The boys loved it, and Griffin said it was his favourite part of the party.

After this the boys changed into their swim suits and met me back outside for a potion lesson.  I had a table set up forr potion class.  The boys were learning to create an experiment called "Bubbling Truth Serum".  As they added the ingredients, and on the count of three I had them pour in the vinegar to have their potion bubble over.  The boys were thrilled!!  I heard for some this was their favourite part of the party.

All of the boys loved swimming.  It was such a hot day, it was nice cool off after playing games in the sun.  Tony and his friend Jeff got in the pool with the boys and were probably the biggest kids there. Check out the picture of Tony jumping in while I was taking a picture of all the boys lined up for a picture.

After their swim, the boys came inside for lunch.  The boys feasted on pizza, fruit and chips.  Once lunch was finished, Owen opened up all of his presents from his friends.  He was thrilled with all of his gifts, and was very gracious and thanked all of his friends.  I was able to snap a picture of each boy with Owen as he opened his present.

After the presents opening, the boys went back to the table to sing Happy Birthday to Owen.  I just loved his cake.  I used a new lady to make his cake this time, and I was thrilled.  Her business is called Frosted n Fancy.  Not only did the cake look great, but it tasted great as well.

After the cake, the boys were ready to use their galleons they had won from playing the games to visit Honey Dukes Candy Shoppe to purchase all of the candy they liked. 

We had quite the assortment to chose from:

Chocolate frogs

Troll Suthers

Professor Dubblerdores blowing gum

Burping Bullfrogs

Mystery Minnows

Radcliffe Rings

Bertie Botts  Every flavour beans

magic wands

and an assortment of toys

Once the boys had filled their Harry Potter bags of candy, we went outside to play pinata. I had a wizard hat that I had ordered filled with candy for all.  It doesn't seem to matter what the theme is, my boys love to play pinata!

Honey Duke's Candy Shoppe

Gearing up to play Quiddich

Magic Wands

Playing Quiddich

The gang playing Quiddich

The party was three hours long and ran right upto the final minutes of the party.  I couldn't have planned it better. The party was busy, the boys loved all the games, and when I asked Owen what his favourite part of the party was he answered "All of it".  That made every minute of planning, all of the work that went into creating a Harry Potter spectacular worth it!

Hogwarts School

Class is in

Summer

Nothing says summer like a hotdog and a swim!

Deerfield Wedding!

 Last weekend we went to Derek and Tanya's 10th Anniversary Renewal of Vows!  It was a lovely ceremony, but more important than that, it was a ton of fun!  A group of our neighbours all went together and stayed at Isiaah Tubbs resort.  It kinda felt like we were staying at the same lodge as in Dirty Dancing.  It was like a camping weekend, but in dress up!  So much fun! 

From meeting the crazy new neighbours, to the "I'm Lorne Brooker" name tag, to ending the night with the brain!  so much  fun with a great group of neighbours!
Thanks for inviting us Derek and Tanya!

Meet The Artist

 Highlight of the year for me from Montessori school is when the kids paint and have a gallery!!  This is Griffin's first year having the opportunity painting and he did a fantastic job! 

I love that he picked Mickey Mouse!  I can't wait to get it framed and put it up beside Owen's painting from last year!

Watch out Van Gogh!!

Silly Kid!